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 …show more content…
Most of the citizens that lived in Oceania seemed hypnotized and under the control of the government through psychological manipulation. Some, however, like Emmanuel Goldstein, didn’t agree with the way the government did its bidding. Emmanuel Goldstein had risen to power as a member of the Inner Party of Oceania’s government. The Inner Party of the government of Oceania made Goldstein a powerful figure in the government, instead he had other plans. “Goldstein had been one of the leading figures of the Party, almost on a level with Big Brother himself, and then engaged in counterrevolutionary activities, had been condemned to death, and had mysteriously escaped and disappeared.” (Page 12) As seen by this quote, Goldstein rebelled against the government while in a high government position. The citizens of Oceania began to realize that something was not right with the way the government worked. Goldstein seemed to have realized the government psychologically manipulating the …show more content…
Thought Police, Thought Crime, and Face Crime gave great examples of the topic of psychological manipulation that occurred in the novel. The illusion that nowhere remained safe to live a private life and one’s self being watched was given by these topics. This made the citizens of Oceania scared to show what they truly felt about the government or the society itself or even local things that happen. The citizens then did not want to question anything in fear of