Examples Of Ignorance In 1984 By George Orwell

Abigail Russel

Mrs. Stansbury

English 12 Honors

2 March, 2023

Ignorance is Power

In today’s world, people are very passionate about freedom and their rights. However, one aspect of freedom sometimes gets taken advantage of: personal thought and individuality. Society's thoughts are influenced everyday whether we realize it or not. Between the news and other media outlets, it can be hard to find other information that’s not being pushed out or supported by the government. This can lead to a rise in ignorance. In George Orwell’s 1984, Winston and other citizens live under a totalitarian government that constantly limits its people’s individuality and freedom which creates an ignorant society and a stronger government in Oceania. This ultimately

Newspeak was created in order to “narrow the range of thought” with the idea that if there were “no words to express” a certain feeling then that feeling wouldn’t be expressed or felt(Orwell 52). This leads to a group of people developing weaker complex thinking skills overtime and a smaller range of vocabulary; therefore, individuality and freedom are restricted. Without the proper vocabulary, this society develops the mind of a small child that is molded and reshaped easily and can’t express or comprehend complex ideas. The end result desired by the government is a society full of unconscious minds. A malleable mind is the first step to achieving zero thought or complete ignorance in this nation. However, language is not the only thing Oceania restricts and

In today’s world, this could easily happen. Orwell wanted to warn us so we could prevent it from happening. Society needs to stay informed by their own actions rather than relying on the government. Many people are lazy in today’s world in the aspect of getting all their news from social media and not doing their own research. This leads to a decrease in the ability to think for themselves and form their own opinions. Therefore, many begin to believe everything they see or hear. Moreover, this results in ignorance and dependency. When a nation has high levels of dependency, that makes it easier for the government to mandate things. For example, the COVID-19 crisis. Society turned to the government and followed everything that was mandated without questioning the logic or superiority behind the mandates. When a government knows that its people are ignorant and dependent on them, it will do whatever it wants which most likely takes advantage of its people. That exactly happened in 1984. Therefore, we need to take Orwell’s warning seriously by receiving our news and information from more than one source. Most importantly, we can never become dependent on the ones that govern