Control Of History In George Orwell's 1984
The party 's tactics of mind control has resulted in the party having absolute control over the human mind. The party has oppressed its people by brainwashing, taking away individuality, attempting to alter the past, and limiting privacy as well as rights. Although the party has done everything in their power to limit the risks of being overthrown, I believe that human emotions, and instincts can never be oppressed completely. There will always be those who resist the party. As long as humans can feel love, compassion, lust, sadness, hatred, anger, happiness, and most importantly hope, the party will eventually fall.
All humans have an intrinsic desire for power. Although some may disagree, the control of information is the best way to maintain power because it allows the truth to be altered, it sways public opinion, and it is crucial for suppressing rebellion. In George Orwell’s 1984, Winston works at the Ministry of Truth, responsible for rewriting history. The ministry alters the truth until “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been re-written, every picture has been re-painted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date has been altered. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
George Orwell, the author of 1984, writes the book to warn his readers about the possible future of a tyrannical government. The Party manipulates its citizens through psychological methods to gain power. By restricting the words of its citizens,
George Orwell’s 1984 is a novel about a dystopian society, mainly London under the control of the political party Ingsoc which uses their overwhelming influence to control the actions of nearly all party members. The thought that thoughts of sex and other natural impulses and feelings will lead to contradictory thought than those of the party which could spark a revolution. The main character Winston describes London as verry grey in this quote”Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no color in anything, except the posters that were plastered everywhere.” ( page 4) .Ingsoc uses a variety of methods, spies, hidden microphones, telescreens (cameras)... too spy and listen to population in order to prevent such a revolution and to practice full control over the oceana inhabitants.
In 1984, by George Orwell, the manipulation of time plays a central role in how Big Brother controls the masses. Winston’s observation that “Who controls the past controls the future” is a statement that underscores the pivotal role of manipulation in the book 1984’s totalitarian regime. The past is a crucial historical stamp that shapes society’s future social construct. Orwell’s depiction of historical manipulation is chilling and eerie, involving changing the state’s past and other states involved with the state. Orwell shows how the manipulation of history changes the people’s perception of the regime.
In the book, 1984, written by George Orwell, the theme of complete governmental control over individuals can be connected to the article about young Otto Warmbier and his experiences in North Korea. Otto Warmbier was a student from the University of Virginia on a study abroad in North Korea. At a hotel in North Korea he stole a picture off the wall. North Korea quickly took action by taking him hostage and sentencing him to hard labor. Even a small thing such as taking a picture off the wall, showed that the government had a complete overreacting control over people who are in North Korea.
Control is often used and taken as a way to obtain something else: money, love, or revenge. But what if control was taken for the sole purpose of power and without anything else to cloud the motive? In George Orwell's 1984, the party subjects its citizens to extreme physical, psychological, and sexual control, in order to alter and take advantage of human nature, ultimately revealing how this level of control affects humans. As Winson is introduced as the protagonist, Orwell uses imagery to display his environment, as well to show the effects of the physical control used against him.
After reading George Orwell - 20201 김나영 Before reading by George Orwell, I had read by Thomas Hobbes. In this book, Hobbes assumes that the situation before the existence of the state is the struggle of all people for all. And in this natural situation, it is said that the nation was born because individuals' lives and safety were given the highest priority so individuals had to transfer their rights to one another to make a strong sovereign personality that can ensure their safety. He also made it clear that for the state to exist forever, there must be a powerful sovereign rule and a citizen to obey it.
What this is saying is in order to stay in power, they have to manipulate the records of the past. That is actually one of Winston’s jobs as a follower of the Party. There was an instance when a person turned on the Party and was soon erased from history. Winston and others went back into official documents such as speeches and literally deleted the officer. By controlling the past this way, they control the future.
They had the capability to change the past. That was Winston’s job; that’s what he did for a living. The technology being used back then did not seem as very efficient but in reality it was. In my opinion, this type of technology has as much power as it does now or almost close to it. The ability to watch every movement of a person, hearing their conversations is pretty impressive.
In the book 1984 by George Orwell (1949) , the government uses physical and mental methods to control the citizens of Oceania. Orwell portrays an undemocratic government, INGSOC (English Socialism), ruled by a dictator they call big brother. Who seems to have the power to control and the right to anything possible. All the people in Oceania have no freedom at all. The government have physical and mental methods of controlling the population.
In 1949, a man predicted the domination of citizens by the totalitarian government and their custom of technologies to dictate the society. His name is George Orwell, a well-known British author, who wrote one of the most famous dystopian novels, 1984. The novel 1984 illustrates the totalitarian society and the life of Winston Smith, who works at the Ministry of truth and his humiliation by the party of the country, Oceania. George Orwell’s exaggeration and mockery of the totalitarian governments in the novel 1984 is now turning out to be one of the nightmare come true in our modern society.
The Party manipulate history and alter the truth so much so that Winston loses track of time and is unable to accurately recall past events or rationalize his own history. This constant manipulation also results in a loss of faith in his own memory and the unreliability of his own thoughts. Eventually culminating in Winston becoming brainwashed and wholly devoted to the Party. Memory is the recollection of a past event whereas history is the whole series of past events connected with someone or something. (Anon.,2017).
Living through the first half of the twentieth century, George Orwell watched the rise of totalitarian regimes in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Soviet Union. Fighting in Spain, he witnessed the brutalities of the fascists and Stalinists first hand. His experiences awakened him to the evils of a totalitarian government. In his novel 1984, Orwell paints a dark and pessimistic vision of the future where society is completely controlled by a totalitarian government. He uses symbolism and the character’s developments to show the nature of total power in a government and the extremes it will go through to retain that power by repressing individual freedom and the truth.
Totalitarianism in 1984 and the Real World The concept of a totalitarian society is a major theme throughout the novel 1984. This theme of totalitarianism can also be applied to the world today. The definition of totalitarianism, a concept used by some political scientists, is a state which holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life wherever possible. Totalitarianism can be related between the novel 1984 and current events in the real world. George Orwell incorporated the theme of totalitarianism into his novel 1984 to display the ever changing world around him during the time it was written.
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