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Examples Of Brainwashing In 1984 By George Orwell

680 Words3 Pages

In order to have total power, one must take control of everything and everyone within that society. The concept of brainwashing is prominent in the process of persuading a designated group of individuals to obey commands and have them not only agree, but believe that the power is credible and has greater authority. In 1984, a dystopian novel by George Orwell, the central ideas of rebellion, sacrifice, persuasion, and betrayal are showcased by the manipulation of the truth through the oppression within the totalitarian society, Oceania. The reader is introduced to the protagonist, Winston Smith, as a normal citizen who is forced to conform to the strict totalitarian rules in order to maintain his survival. In order to keep control in this society, …show more content…

Within his diary entry on April 4, 1984, he writes, “Thoughtcrime does not entail death: Thoughtcrime is death,” (Orwell 36). Although Winston fully understands that simply owning this notebook has the potential to get him executed, he continues to disobey The Party because this is his only outlet. The to-go-tactic for maintaining the power of The Party is to shift blame from themselves to other people within the community in order to provide them with the false liberty of choice. The figure,“Big Brother”, is the face of all the propaganda and dictatorship despite his failure to be seen in person.The overlying rule of Big Brother in each propaganda poster provides a feeling of comfort and safety for the citizens, when in reality, through manipulation, The Party takes advantage of the people’s vulnerability and fear in order to force them to conform to any request that they ask of them because “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU!” (Orwell 2).The daily ceremony, “Two Minutes Hate” is a cruel way that allows the citizens to witness the horror and torture that will be inflicted upon them if they choose to disobey in any way. In an article from the popular social media platform, “The Humanist”, is is stated that, “Clearly, Orwell understood the importance of being self-governed and unapologetically human, and his ideas on language and independence endure today,” (Humanist). However, this contradicts the

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In the novel, “1984,” by George Orwell the main character, Winston is in a country that is in a war, but they’re also under the control of a government that is very strict and controls the lives of its citizens. In the novel it says that the Televisions in everyone house is set to watch and hear everyone’s conversations. I believe that they are just paranoid to the point where they think they are being constantly watched because they are met with propaganda and posters that say, “Big Brother Is Watching.” In the novel the Two Minute Hate group is where people are manipulated and are told to hate a man named Goldstein and all enemies of Big Brother. Two Minute Hate is an example of Groupthink because Groupthink is kind of like peer pressure

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Big Brother was never one to be questioned, and he made the consequences known to anyone who did so. Winston clearly expressed his hatred for Big Brother and all of the restrictions placed on members of society in the beginning of the book. Despite this, he constantly hid his facial expressions and thoughts from the telescreens, in great fear that the thought police would catch him. Contrary to that outward conformity, he was always inwardly questioning Big Brother. He directly broke the law by writing in a journal, especially since

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Basically everywhere the character Winston looks, there’s always a slogan saying “Big Brother is watching you”. Big Brother is the leader of 1984’s totalitarian society. By Winston seeing “Big Brother is watching you” everywhere he looks, it shows a common threat to him that he is always being watched and that he has little to no natural rights because of the government. If he were to break the rules, serious consequences would happen to him if he were

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863 Words | 4 Pages

A crime which Winston is fully aware of committing, he wrote, "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER." (1:1:36) Winston, knowing the consequences, he continued on, "It was not by making yourself heard but by staying sane that you carried on the human heritage." (1:2:37) He then wrote to an audience hoping his thoughts would be passed on someday, “To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free…from the age of Big Brother, from the age of doublethink-greetings!”

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467 Words | 2 Pages

In George Orwell’s classic novel, 1984, Winston Smith is a secret rebel, fighting the control of Big Brother, who represents the overpowered, all knowing government. Winston is fighting more than his government though, he is fighting his entire society. Big Brother’s power comes from his ability to manipulate the masses, so influentially, that the masses work towards the oppression of themselves. In questioning Big Brother, Winston is questioning the entirety of known society. Winston meets others that share his views on society and expand Winston’s field of thought, leading him to make conclusions about his society; conclusions that lead to direct rebellion against Big Brother.

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790 Words | 4 Pages

The book contains a motif of psychological manipulation, and it is seen through the society that the protagonist, Winston Smith, lives in. Big Brother is the manipulative power in 1984, and his control tactics of Oceania are apparent in current societies. America is one of these societies and is controlled by different factions like the government, companies, and powerful people. It is evident, through the use of conditioning and lies, that the American and Oceanic societies are affected by psychological manipulation.

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As Orwell describes Winston’s flat he depicts a “telescreen”(Orwell, 1) with the caption “Big Brother is always watching you.” (Orwell, 2). Orwell places concept of society always being watched by the government as an allusion to the Soviet secret police always watching society for rebellious thoughts. As Winston is writing his book criticizing Big Brother, he notes that writing this book is “a crime punishable by death.” (Orwell, 62).

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Joseph Goebbels once said,”Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated are confident they are acting on their freewill”. This statement is proven to be true in 1984. The author, George Orwell, creates a fictional dystopian society in which the population is manipulated into thinking they live in a great world, whereas the government has full control over them. In 1984, George Orwell’s prime message, supported by the article called Liberty in North Korea by Hae Re, was the lack of individualism gives power to the applicable leader, which is conveyed using the characters speech and symbolism. Orwell’s dystopian society showed the author 's message through what a character was saying and symbolism.

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870 Words | 4 Pages

Government Manipulation in 1984 People generally rely on the government as a source of protection and stability. However, the government does not always have the citizens’ best interests in mind, as shown in 1984. The government has the power to distort realities and the ability to detect the truth. They can manipulate, or influence people’s minds without them even knowing. George Orwell’s 1984 uses a futuristic dystopia to show how the government is able to manipulate human values through the use of fear.

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In the novel 1984, by George Orwell, he uses truth and reality as a theme throughout the novel to demonstrate the acts of betrayal and loyalty through the characters of Winston and Julia. Orwell expresses these themes through the Party, who controls and brainwashes the citizens of Oceania. The party is able to control its citizens through “Big Brother,” a fictional character who is the leader of Oceania. Big Brother is used to brainwash the citizens into whatever he says. Orwell uses truth and reality in this book to reflect on what has happened in the real world such as the Holocaust and slavery.

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796 Words | 4 Pages

George Orwell’s 1984 is a precautionary tale of what happens when the government has too much control in our lives. The protagonist, Winston Smith, is at odds in a world in which he is not allowed to counter the government’s surveillance and control. Perhaps more striking is the noticeable relationship between the novel and modern society. In George Orwell’s novel 1984 the book predicts the surveillance of Big Brother in modern day societies.

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453 Words | 2 Pages

Winston is defiant and rebels against Big Brother and the Party through various illegal actions. After purchasing an empty diary, he continuously wrote “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” when the telescreens were out of view (Orwell 21). This simple thought is considered to be a severe crime where Winston lives because it is direct disapproval towards the Party. Winston feels as if Big Brother is controlling every aspect of his life, so this rebellious action allows for him to vent his frustration.

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790 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel 1984, written by George Orwell, the government of Oceania controlled the citizens through a variety of ways, one of the most important being psychological manipulation. 1984, written in the perspective of a man named Winston, told a story of a dystopian society where the nonexistence of privacy lived primal and the society lived in a state of everything, almost everything, being controlled. The man, named Winston, did not agree with the way the government psychologically manipulated people into doing what they wanted. For example, the slogan “WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (page 4) manipulated the society’s citizens into believing things that were not true. Many other examples of psychological manipulation

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George Orwell’s 1984: How Doublethink is the Most Powerful Weapon for Control Being able to believe two paradoxical statements at one time sounds impossible but it is more common than believed. It is called doublethink, which is the ability to hold two contradictory beliefs on a topic and wholeheartedly believing them both at the same time. This term was coined by George Orwell and it becomes the main tool for control over the citizens of Oceania in his novel 1984. Orwell created a totalitarian future in hopes it would serve as a warning to preceding generations as to how the government can metamorphose into having complete power over a population to the point where they even control the thought process of the human mind.

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884 Words | 4 Pages

In 1984, George Orwell depicts a dystopian society pervaded by government control and the obsolescence of human emotion and society. Winston is forced to confront the reality of a totalitarian rule where the residents of Oceania are manipulated to ensure absolute government control and servitude of the people. The theme of totalitarianism and dystopia is employed in 1984 to grant absolute power to the government and ensure the deference of the people through the proliferation of propaganda, the repudiation of privacy and freedom, and the eradication of human thought and values. The repudiation of privacy and independent thought and the ubiquity of government surveillance is employed to secure absolute power to the government over the populace

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