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Examples Of Humanism In George Orwell's '1984'

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Humans have many unique attributes that they are associated with, however, this can be generalized by their emotions, morals, and actions. To Orwell, these attributes may build character, but they do not make humans “perfect beings”. To be human is to be able to take risks for others and be ultimately prepared for defeat. This journey is what one takes to stay human and die as human. Unfortunately, the Party systematically dehumanizes the mass majority for power and success. Winston, throughout the novel, attempts to maintain his human qualities that were once stripped away from the party. To be human is to live a life of your own; this is the only true path to freedom. These characteristics are what the party attempts to diminish, the emotions …show more content…

In order to reduce human emotions and gain control of individual thought, multiple words are removed. For instance, the word “science” is removed as it opposed “the most fundamental principles of Ingsoc.” Not only does science pose a threat to a party, but it is manipulated to ensure that “technological progress only happens when its products can in some way be used for the diminution of human liberty.” (p.g. 244) Similar to the word “science”, words are used to voice each individual’s thoughts and desires. Hence, the party’s removal of certain words dehumanizes the Oceania citizens. The party also alters thought through propaganda taught in schools. To maintain power while taking away human instincts may seem difficult, however, by altering the minds of the young and impressionable, it becomes easy. The children are “systematically turned into ungovernable little savages, and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the Party.” (p.g. 31) As schools only have government approved material, children start to lose the ability to think and question. Their only resource is Big Brother propaganda, leaving them in a state where it is unlikely to rebel. Lastly, the ability to act on one’s own free will is taken away from the mass majority. As surveillance and technology advance against the party members and

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Yash Patel Mrs. Choi AP Literature October 2015 1984 Dialectal Journals for Part 2 Text Response 1. “In front of him was an enemy who was trying to kill him; in front of him, also was a human creature… He had indistinctively started forward to help her,” (Orwell 106) This quote shows that even in this time where they live in a life where they are being manipulated, Winston is still living in a time where he is experiencing hatred, but still maintains what keeps him normal or humane, which keeps him separated from everyone else. This hate is showing that people still have hate for each other and still want to kill each other but it also shows the true human he is by helping her when she was threatened.

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Another reminder that is always around is “Big Brother is Watching You.” O’Brien says, “Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing,” and this describes how much power can do to a person. The Party’s goal is to create a Utopian society, which means no one is allowed to be themselves, so people are required to do what the Party believes is right. The Party does not tolerate people who cannot follow their commands, so, “Your name was removed from the registers… You were abolished, annihilated: vaporized was the usual word.” The Party strives for a perfect society in which they believe is being the same as each other.

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(Orwell 193). They want to eliminate individual freedom and thoughts for good. This essay confirms Orwell’s warnings because they have fixed their own “truths” just to abide by the government and their lies. People’s love for the Party was very strong they took back their statements and described them as mistakes, justifying the government. In Nineteen Eighty – Four Julia says “It’s always one bloody war after another, and one knows the news is all lies anyways” (Orwell

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1006 Words | 5 Pages

The book "1984" is a dystopian fiction piece with battling between different Unions with the Government head the Party. In the book the Party is often thought as controlling over the society’s freedom and loyalty. Even though the Party can be though as control there are still some select characters that rebel off of the Party's wishes and face multiple consequences with it. The rebels are against the Party turning into a totalitarianism government. The control of the Party does affect the mentality of the society by the punishment, brainwashing into their appeals, and the control through technology.

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During Winston’s hours of torture and questioning, O’Brien described the future of Oceania and its citizens as being equivalent to a boot continuously stomping down on a face. He preceded this by explaining the steps already taken in order to destroy humanity and individualism including breaking the ties of friendship, disrupting the love between a man and woman, and perhaps most frightening of all, creating distrust between children and their parents. Ultimately the boot crashing down on the human face is a symbol for what the Party plans to do: continue crushing the individual human spirit into being a thoughtless body that is able to be manipulated into anything the party wants it to be. The strange thing though is that O’Brien seems to be preaching collectivity but in actuality he supports the individual. Note the word “the”.

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In Oceania the civilians are under a totalitarian government and the people are divided into two classes the proles and the party members. First, we’ll discuss the life of the party members and their goals. Firstly it is said that “The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power.” This was written on page 263.

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They did not have the right to think on their own, caused by Big Brother’s control over their thoughts. The purpose of the party is for people to be eternally loyal to B.B. by blinding them with lies. Orwell claims, “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four if that is granted, all else follows.” (Orwells, page 81). Consequently, they become ignorant enough to believe two plus two equal five because the party has taken their though production.

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The word humanity refers to the human race as a whole and the qualities that make us human, such as the ability to love and have compassion. In our modern world, we take human nature for granted, but in George Orwell’s 1984, he shows us a society in which there is no humanity, and those that fight for it die trying. The totalitarian government, known as the Party, uses isolation, fear, and lies to destroy the humanity in their citizens and maintain absolute power over Oceania.

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BANG! You wake up in alarm, the sound came from your basement and no one else is in the house. As make your way slowly to the basement door your heart starts to beat out of your chest “what could that have been?”. You peer into your pitch black basement to find something lurking in the dark. Monsters have been haunting our society for centuries.

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In 1984, the restriction of information makes the population ignorant and easy to manipulate, allowing the government to stay in control by making society conform to whatever they desire. Winston states that if there is any hope that the Party would get overthrown, “it lies in the proles” (Orwell 208). However, Proles are unable to revolt against their government because they are too ignorant to question the Party’s authority. The Party uses “prolefeed” (Orwell 201) to control the population with a constant supply of entertainment and spurious news, which fills their mental horizon. Along with a lack of knowledge that keeps them from organizing themselves or questioning the powers that oppress them, the Proles are unable to rise up and overthrow the authoritarian regime, demonstrating the party slogan, “Ignorance is Strength” (Orwell 3).

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Denigrated by a delirious state apparatus whose sole purpose is to purge them of the very essence of humanity, the human heritage is trampled under the soles of the totalitarian boot. Thus, the frightening future presented by Orwell constitutes a world devoid of hope and lucidity where purpose lies in the sole domination of the human will by the party as their willing subservience to the state is made complete and absolute. Building on this idea, Orwell continues to examine the consequences of failing to hold government institutions to account for their actions through Winston’s continued torture in Room 101. As a shattered Winston gasps for relief as he is confronted with his greatest fears, O’Brien cruelly taunts him that “never again” will the traitor to the party be “capable of love, friendship, or joy, or curiosity, or integrity” for he who resists the party shall be made “hollow”. Here Orwell presents a terrifying reality where innate human qualities are deprived as the empty shells are reforged into the willing subservient of the

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1063 Words | 5 Pages

(Orwell ). Essentially the Party is so powerful that the Party is able to change and manipulate anything they want; for example, “the Party history books, that the Party had invented aeroplanes. He remembered aeroplanes since his earliest childhood” (Orwell ). The Party is going to great lengths to establish their dominance over their people. The Party is also recreating reality itself to fit their agenda.

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The future that they are controlling is a future when no one can look back because there isn’t anything to look back to. There are small rumors of how life was before the start of the Party, but again they are just rumors. With nothing to compare their current life to, there is nothing to fight for. They have complete control of all aspects of life by controlling history. Another quote proving this is, “And when memory failed and written records were falsified—when that happened, the claim of the Party to have improved the conditions of human life had got to be accepted because there did not exist, and never again could exist,

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1636 Words | 7 Pages

Act 1 Scene 1: There is thunder and lightening at a Scottish moor. Three witches appear, wanting to confront MacBeth after the battle. Then they exit. Act 1 Scene 2: At a military camp, King Duncan of Scotland asks a captain who was wounded to tell him about the Scottish battle with the Irish, who are led by Macdonwald.

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The Party is able to shape millions of minds through propaganda techniques, which shows the control the Party has on society. When there are certain expectations held in society, it can cause fear among people, so they are more willing to follow those expectations. If the Party or a dystopian government can successfully manipulate its citizens, then they can receive absolute power and control in society. Orwell’s novel 1984 follows many common characteristics of dystopia by the persuasion of propaganda, the brainwashing of citizens, and a uniform lifestyle is integrated to please Big Brother and the Party which highlights their power. The Party controls propaganda and expectations in Oceania to make the citizens think and act a certain way, which dehumanizes them.

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