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Examples Of Doublethink In George Orwell's 1984

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Could a world where a God of power is worshiped-and men are malleable through fear, hatred, and cruelty ever exist? In order to comprehend the world of George Orwell’s 1984, one must be able to grasp the significance behind the idea of doublethink, in the structure of society in Oceania and our own. The Newspeak(a new “politically correct” language that focuses on limiting vocabulary and erasing independent thought.) word doublethink focuses on believing two contradicting ideas to both be true. As Orwell defines it, doublethink is “ to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them,”(Orwell p.176). Conclusively, doublethink is a cognitive technique that allows the user to bypass their conscience by conscious deception and allows them to continue with the justification of honesty. To …show more content…

However, the beauty of doublethink transcends just its psychological uses in mind control and economical uses in expressing falsified data to control people in 1984 and delves into the realm of metaphysics and philosophy. Orwell's references a great deal of other philosophies including Solipsism, Idealism, Eternalism, Presentism and The Brain in a Jar. While each has its own uses, Presentism and Eternalism are key to the existence 1984. Presentism argues that the past and the future are imagined concepts, while only the present is real. Whereas, Eternalism (the exact opposite of presentism)states that all time exists simultaneously(or is multilayered), but the measurement is determined by the observer. I cannot think of a better example than this, since each theory is completely true of 1984. For nothing exist except the present, yet the opposite is also true in that it can only be determined by the observer and in Oceania there is only one observer the

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By looking at the debate between Cassie and Rahim in “Factory Air,” we can see that Doublethink means saving oneself from bad circumstances, even when the common choice would be to help others, resulting in contradictory thoughts. Meanwhile, by examining Winston and O’Brien’s arguments in 1984, we see that Doublethink involves believing that everything can change as long as one’s mind accepts it, making any falsehood the truth. Comparing both stories, these definitions are similar because they show that even in the face of logical choices, one can ignore reality by convincing oneself otherwise. This similarity changes how we think about Good and Evil, revealing that these concepts can be manipulated by our minds, making them subjective rather than absolute.

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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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In the book 1984 the idea of doublethink is for a person to believe in two very different idea and to think that both of the the ideas are true. The Party has created the idea of doublethink so that they would be able to control Oceania. Doublethink is essential to the Party because it control the citizens of Oceania. The Party use doublethink to brainwash all the citizens and to make them believe in all the information that they what that citizen to believe instead of information in reality “doublethink the mutability of the past and denial of objective reality and to use Newspeak words”(page 196). The Party has also given the people of Oceania information that might have become useful for things the Party are trying to do, but when the Party

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498 Words | 2 Pages

In pages 166-167 in part 2, chapter 7 of George Orwell’s 1984, he uses diction and imagery in order to create an earnest tone to vividly illustrate Winston’s love for Julia. In this passage, Orwell creates an earnest tone by using diction in order to show Winston’s affection for Julia. In this section of the book, Winston and Julia are discussing what they would do if they were caught by the Thought Police. Winston says that they will try to break them and force a confession out of them, however, he says that the only thing that really matters is that they should not “betray one another” (Orwell 166).

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(Orwell 35). This shows how doublethink affects one's personal freedom amongst the city. If doublethink is successful, there is no need for indoctrination, laws, or even punishment to be put in place, people will simply believe whatever the Party tells them. They lose the ability to logically interrogate whether things are true lHumanity loses its way of decision making skills. Furthermore, Oceania reconstructed the English language into its own.

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In the book 1984, by George Orwell, Winston Smith is living in an oppressed, dystopian, society where every means of a citizen’s life is monitored and controlled by the government. As the story develops, Winston learns how the Party is able to keep everything just the way it wants. He also learns that the most important elements in the government’s system are communication and language. One such instance is the Party’s attempt to replace the language of Oceania with Newspeak. In 1984, Newspeak is being carefully altered and developed to perfectly fit the needs of Big Brother and the Party.

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Individuals suspected of committing thoughtcrimes were detained, subjected to torture, and often murdered by the Thought Police. The Thought Police monitored residents' thoughts and actions through surveillance and psychological manipulation. “There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment.” (5) The central protagonist of 1984, Winston Smith, was too afraid to look at the telescreen that would be watching him.

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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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This nightmare is becoming more like our own because of our need to act within the boundaries of society. People think that they need to agree with everyone else just so they will be liked. People want to be accepted and might change or be forced to fit the ideal image of what society wants them to be. This in turn creates a society which has one or two basic ideas. Some basic examples from 2016 consist of Democrats and Republicans, optimists and pessimists, lastly the followers and the leaders.

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Doublethink is holding two contradictory beliefs and accepting both of them at the same time. The government tells the people something, and the people believe everything even if they have a totally different idea in mind. In this society there are different ministries: The Ministry of Truth, Peace, Love, and Plenty. The ministries each have a different role to play in society and mean the complete opposite of what their name suggests. The Ministry of Love tortures the citizens, Ministry of Peace encourages citizens to think war is right, Ministry of Truth distorts the truth to the citizens, and the Ministry of Plenty controls the market and economics.

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281 Words | 2 Pages

Cheerleading is a sport Is cheerleading really a sport,I believe that cheerleading is a sport . http://www.debate.org/opinions/is-cheerleading-a-sport says”Not that school cheer stuff with pompoms. The definition of a sport is competing against other teams and having a goal, and when cheerleaders go to the All star cheerleading competition they are competing against other cheerleaders to win”. But when people say that that cheering is not a sport I say I would like to see all them do the flips that we do and how many times we do it in a row. Can’t you just respect our sport like we respect yours,when the cheerleaders at at a football game or or a basketball game they are cheering you on and trying to have better cheers than the other

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Doublethink has been placed into this society as part of Big Brother’s totalitarian society, because of this concept the people of Oceania second guess their views and opinions before explicitly expressing them to other people. As a consequence of expressing any thoughts threatening Big Brother’s totalitarian society individuals are at risk of becoming ‘vaporised’, this is to threaten the people of Oceania that through actions, or in this case becoming close to any actions going against Big Brother, that there are consequences. Throughout the novel, there are numerous examples of people being taken away by the Thought Police, a confronting example is when a child turns in their own parent to the Thought Police, this situation shows how much of an impact the conditioning of young minds can have where they are then even able to go to the extreme of turning in a family member. Evidently, it is much easier to condition children rather than it is to do so for adults as children are the future generations who will continue to live within this society, if they are introduced to these

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925 Words | 4 Pages

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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421 Words | 2 Pages

By limiting the vocabulary, Newspeak is essentially “unintelligible” and hence controls the people’s understanding of the real world. Orwell emphasises that language is of utmost importance as it structures and limits the ideas individuals are capable of formulating and expressing. In 1984, language is used as a ‘mind control tool’. The party slogan, “war is peace, freedom is

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878 Words | 4 Pages

In 1984, George Orwell writes about a dystopian society called Oceania with a totalitarian government. Winston, the main character, is an Outer Party member and works for the government who is under the rule of “Big Brother” and the Inner Party. The Party’s purpose is to rule Oceania with absolutism and have control over its citizens by using propaganda, censorship, and the brainwashing of children. Today, many modern-day countries use these techniques to maintain their power including: North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Nazi Germany. First, North Korea and Oceania use propaganda to encourage patriotism to make themselves look better to citizens in order to keep a totalitarian rule.

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