ipl-logo

Big Brain Break In George Orwell's '1984'

733 Words3 Pages

Aymal Yousefzai
Mr. Gray
Sophomore Honors English--8
May 9, 2023
Orwell Essay
Big Brother’s Big Brain Break
The 1900’s world-renowned scientist, Marie Curie, said, “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” The Party, and the whole concept of Big Brother, live to destroy that understanding so the people may live in oblivion. In George Orwell’s 1984, The Party would stop at nothing–with the Ministry of Love utilizing hunger, pain, and bewilderment–to psychologically break its inmates.
The Ministry of Love’s use of hunger in psychologically breaking its inmates is apparent from the time the protagonist, Winston, spent in the Ministry of Love’s preserving cells. …show more content…

“It might be twenty-four hours since he had eaten, it might be thirty-six. He still did not know, probably never would know, whether it had been morning or evening when they arrested him” (Orwell 225). After being arrested with Julia in Mr. Charrington’s rented room, Winston was most likely blindfolded and taken to the Ministry of Love. Since Winston had no clue where he was or what time it was, there was no indication of when he would leave, contributing to a feeling of hopelessness. “Several studies showed that aMCI patients have poor insight into their memory deficits, underestimating them (12–18)” (Bastin et al.). Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) could have been what Winston received from his torture at the Ministry. Those aMCI patients who underestimated their memory deficits could reflect Winston’s bewilderment, where he subconsciously underestimated the amount of psychological impairment he had received, which led to a simultaneous feeling of hopelessness. The Party also used doublethink to perpetuate bewilderment. For example, inmates captured and sent to the Ministry of Love because they knowingly committed a crime against the party are constantly fed the concept of doublethink and compelled to accept the Party’s structure. “And he did see them, for a fleeting instant, before the scenery of his mind changed. He saw five fingers, and there was no deformity” (Orwell 258). O’Brien was holding up

Show More
Related
1345 Words | 6 Pages

Often, we get to hear that criminals were not out of sound mind when they committed their crimes and might receive lighter punishments for that reason. Winston is not like that. He knows exactly what he is doing and still holds a sense of moral when he commits the thoughtcrime at the beginning of the book when he makes the diary entry. He is aware that thoughtcrime is something despicable in the society he lives in and frightens when someone knocks on the door, thinking the Thought Police is already here to arrest him.

Read More
3299 Words | 14 Pages

First, Winston describes the concept of "doublethink," a way of consciousness that the Party demands all citizens adopt. Doublethink involves believing two contradictory things at the same time. Winston's job at the Ministry of Truth involves doublethink; he must delete any evidence that contradicts the Party's new version of the truth, while at the same time erasing his own awareness that he has changed anything. While experiencing doublethink, people must also not be aware of the fact that they are experiencing it. In the text, he states “To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which canceled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic [...]”

Read More
468 Words | 2 Pages

Immediately following this act, Julia states that she must return to work for the junior anti-sex league. This is ironic because Julia and Winston committed a crime, then right after Julia goes to help with the prevention of this crime. This shows us that Winston does not care to follow the rules of the party. He knows that Julia is part of an important movement, aiding the Party in maintaining control, but chooses to disobey anyway. This tells us that Winston does not agree with the party but is continuing to maintain a facade of agreeing with them in order

Read More
1627 Words | 7 Pages

Winston is then captured by the Thought Police and taken to the Ministry of Love. O’Brien then proceeds to torture Winston booth physically and mentally “ 'You are afraid, ' said O 'Brien, watching his face, 'that in another moment something is going to break. Your especial fear is that it will be your backbone. You have a vivid mental picture

Read More
1855 Words | 8 Pages

Winston, like the majority of the public, suffers when he is robbed of his words and thoughts. Consequently, “memory, with its attendant richness and variety, atrophies” since “memories die when they go unrehearsed in words” (Lewis and Moss 51). (Berkes

Read More
1595 Words | 7 Pages

Winston is commanded to love Big Brother when he is clearly living a life full of dread and hatred. Through psychological torture,

Read More
915 Words | 4 Pages

This is especially important in Oceania because more of then not when someone has been convicted of thought crime and they have shown remorse, it is often revealed later that they are released back into society and then despite their interrogation they are vaporized. “He was back in the Ministry of Love, with everything forgiven, his soul white as snow. He was in the public dock, confessing everything, implicating everybody. He was walking down the white-tiled corridor, with the feeling of walking in sunlight, and an armed guard at his back. The long-hoped for bullet was entering his brain” (Orwell 297).

Read More
1738 Words | 7 Pages

As Winston describes what his job is at the Ministry of Truth, he mentions that he has to “rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones” (Orwell 39). Although much of the things that the Party does does not match up together, Winston is trained to make sure all of the events that happen connect with later events and continue to strengthen Big Brother’s power over the citizens. It can be inferred that using a memory hole is a way for the Party to control the citizens and desensitize their brains from acting against the government. Memory holes achieve this task by completely obliterating information that is not needed or contradicts new information in London’s society. The fact that Orwell chooses the phrase “making them” shows how history is being forced to be recreated.

Read More
1018 Words | 5 Pages

The protagonist of 1984, Winston Smith, is not loyal to the government that he works for, which is a serious crime. Consequently, he is sent to the correctional institution called the Ministry of Love, where he is told that “[n]o one who has ever gone astray is ever spared … We shall squeeze you empty and fill you with ourselves” (256). To achieve

Read More
862 Words | 4 Pages

Although Winston is able to grasp the concept of love, he truly understands love when he is with Julia. Initially, Winston sees being with Julia as a political act against the Party. He believes that sex and intimacy goes against the constitutional beliefs of the Party and is therefore an act of defiance. However, as Winston spends more time with Julia, he falls in love. When Winston is caught by O’Brien, he endures prolonged torture without betraying Julia.

Read More
887 Words | 4 Pages

In 1984, a book written by George Orwell, you read of a government who came to power through control, fear, and brainwash. My beliefs on the government system have evolved to a new level since I have read this book. Before I read 1984 I felt that you should always trust your government since they are the ones in a higher power. Now I have learned, post reading, that you should not put all your trust in the government. In 1984 Orwell wrote of a government known as Big Brother.

Read More
884 Words | 4 Pages

Viewers inevitably become enraged with a “hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness” (16). The slogans of the Party, in their contradictory nature, are the central tenets of doublethink. The final slogan of the Party, “Ignorance is Strength” (18), postulates the inability of the people to recognize contradictions affixes the power of the authoritarian regime. Winston observes a Party mantra which states “who controls the past, […] controls the future” and “who controls the present, controls the past” (37). The prevalence of propaganda instilled by the government inculcates the pedagogy of the party to enforce a fervent

Read More
1266 Words | 6 Pages

Adriana Espinoza Mrs. Cooper English IV Period 4 1984 the book was written in 1949. The book describes Oceania as a country of never­ending war, pervasive government, open personality control and limiting the social liberties. Could this be how America can be today? Although, one thing's sure; if America has not yet reached that point , then we appear to be heading in that direction. .

Read More
466 Words | 2 Pages

George Orwell is quoting that power is all that Winston needs, but power is not what he has to destroy Big Brother. Winston's determination does not fail to keep him from protesting against the party. O’Brien begins to show images of Winston body to him to push his limits. Winston continues to blame him for the way his body looks due to the beating and torturing. O’Brien then states to Winston, “This is what you accepted when you set yourself up against the party.

Read More
968 Words | 4 Pages

Fahad Alrebdi Mr. John Smallwood ENG4U September 6, 2014 Julia and Winston In Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell presents the protagonist, Winston Smith and his lover Julia in Oceania, under the rule of Big Brother. Under this totalitarian regime, both characters are Party members. Winston works in the Records department of the Ministry of Truth while Julia works in the Fiction department of the Ministry of Truth.

Read More

More about Big Brain Break In George Orwell's '1984'

Related Topics

Open Document