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Examples Of Doublethink In 1984

656 Words3 Pages

In George Orwell’s 1984, the Party floods Winston’s world with contradictions in order to control the thoughts and emotions of the people of Oceania. In doing so, the Party fulfills its urge to keep power over the people in order to get rid of all chance for a rebellion. The main thought process that the Party uses to get this goal is Doublethink. Orwell’s describes Doublethink as “the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them” (Orwell 214). In 1984, Doublethink is the normal way of thought, and as a result everyone gets it and uses it. Mainly the differences all serve to help the Party control people. Within the framework of Doublethink the Party uses two primary mechanisms for manipulating the people: slogans, and the rewriting of history. When all three are used together the Party achieves its goal of maintaining power. The main purpose of …show more content…

The government believes, “whoever controls the past, controls the future” (Orwell 34). The Ministry of Truth is challenged with always changing or getting rid of all records of the past which might be dishonorable towards Big Brother. For example, Oceania is sometimes allied with Eastasia and sometimes Eurasia. Whenever the ally changes, all books and newspapers are edited to make it appear what the current alliance was always Winston first explains how and why this system works in Chapter Three of Part One, saying, “If all records told the same tale--then the lie passed into history and became truth. ‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past’h” (Orwell 34), “ ‘Reality control’, they called it: in newspeak, ‘Doublethink’a” (Orwell 35). The government is always changing the past to keep it consistent with current times and the Party’s plan for later. By changing the past, the Party is never

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In the world of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, the totalitarian regime of one of the three superstates, Oceania, was known as “The Party” . In order for “The Party” to constantly maintain complete control of the minds of the party members, they instituted principles such as “doublethink” (as described in this quotation). The principle of “doublethink” is instilled in the minds of party members since birth. In essence “doublethink” allows for two opposing thoughts to reside in one’s mind while both are taken as the absolute truth. By instituting this principle “The Party” is able to control the minds of the masses simply by stating a fact because party members are taught that every word spoken by “The Party” is truth.

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Doublethink is simultaneously holding two contradicting opinions at one time. This is a real life situation in which Winston and the reader encounter doublethink without realizing it on the surface level. Winston knows deep down how he really feels and what life could be like in his dream state, while Winston is forced to act a certain way and believe certain things in the real world. Having two contradicting beliefs, while knowing one is the better belief and choosing not to believe it for the benefit of the Party is the exact definition of

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