The book 1984, by George Orwell, is centered on the external conflicts between Winston Smith, the main character of the book, and Big Brother; also, the internal conflict between the two ideals of democracy and authoritarianism. Big Brother is the picture of all the ideals of the authoritarian party. In contrast, Winston Smith retains the concept of democracy and highlights the importance of freedom. However, he needs to conceal his own thoughts since he believes that the party will execute him if they discover his journal. The party’s society is portrayed as a gloomy and depressing place, thus depicting authoritarianism in a negative light. The text cautions against the idea that every person must become slaves of the government if they want …show more content…
Winston works for the party in one of the four main administrative ministries, the ministry of Truth. His job is to revise history books in order to prevent people from learning about what things were like before the party came into power. Winston's occupation is what leads him to realize how little freedom people have under the rule of the party; this allows him to realize that the party has absolute control over the lives of every one of its citizens. However, Winston keeps his thoughts about Big Brother and the party to himself. Later in the book, Winston meets O'Brien, an officer of the Ministry of Truth, and a member of the inner party, or upper class. Winston confides in O’Brien, sharing his ideas about the party with him. O'Brien talks about a man named Emmanuel Goldstein; a man that he says is acquainted with the leader of the rebellion against the party. Additionally, O'Brien promises Winston his help, and offers to provide for him a copy of Goldstein’s book. However, O’Brien ultimately betrays …show more content…
These ideals are summed up by three slogans which, as Winston points out, are obvious paradoxes, "War is Peace" "Freedom is Slavery" "Ignorance is Strength" Winston, in rebellion against Big Brother; criticizes these slogans by claiming that they are illogical. The text depicts these authoritarian principles as nonsense. For example, “Ignorance is Strength” can be interpreted to the party’s altering of history books in order to keep people from learning about democracy because that would inspire them to topple Big Brother, because they would then want freedom which goes against the ideals of the party. The text attempts to convince the listener that authoritarian governments do not keep the best interests of its citizens as its top priority, but instead its top priority is to remain in power. The party is portrayed as an evil minded government only concerned with preserving itself. The Second Slogan, "War is Peace", refers to the constant state of war between the three totalitarian super-states which are Eurasia, Eastasia, and Oceania. The reason for this war is not explicitly stated. However, the party believes that as long as there is a constant state of war, the people will spend their time thinking about the war, they will not realize how broken their political system is. The purpose of the Third Slogan, “Freedom is Slavery”, is to deter