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Examples Of Manipulation In 1984 By George Orwell

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Throughout history, power has grown to develop absolute control, leading superior individuals and groups to manipulate their people for selfish gain. After World War II, the disillusionment Orwell felt led him to write 1984, a novel that depicts a strict dystopian world. Citizens in 1984 were led by The Party, a government that manages to regulate its people. Winston Smith, the protagonist, is an ambitious man harboring resentment and dreams of rebellion against the protocols imposed upon the citizens. Throughout the novel, Orwell conveys how totalitarian governments use surveillance and the erasure of history to manipulate citizens, similar to the manipulation of social media today. The Telescreen is an instrument used by the Party to observe …show more content…

Orwell introduces a device called memory holes, which was used to delete documents and other significant information that went against the Party. He states that “when one knew that any document was due for destruction… it was an automatic action to lift the flap of the nearest memory hole and drop it” (Orwell 37). Any inconveniences noticed by the Party were permanently erased, impacting the things citizens were able to conceive. By doing this, citizens are never able to recognize the dystopian side of Oceania. They are obligated to accept the brutal, insignificant changes that the Party makes. In addition, O’Brien, who Winston imagined allying with, reveals himself as a member of the Thought Police. The Thought Police were people who punished those who had thoughts of overturning the Party. Winston gets caught while planning to overturn the government, forcing O’Brien to reveal that “‘We, the Party, control all records, and we consider all memories’” (Orwell 248). Winston is faced with the truth of how he and other citizens are monitored physically and mentally. This type of dominance prevents citizens from having their own opinions, demonstrating how effective deleting records and memories were. After manipulating records, it serves as fake news for the citizens, as they believe information that only benefits the higher class citizens. As a result, people in Oceania are compelled …show more content…

Through Telescreens, the Party leaders are able to spread information and watch their citizens. People are forced to believe what the Party expects them to, as historical information and memories are constantly deleted. Today, social media is one of the strategies used to maintain control over citizens. These services inspect the behavior of users to keep them on their platform. Through these methods, companies have millions of users under control which leads to success in their growth. Many are still seen desiring control as it symbolizes power, allowing a feeling of superiority. Orwell’s imagination of a dystopian world has already started to advance through the impact of technology, illustrating the reality of society

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We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them.” (253) Through this quote, Orwell reveals the true intention of the Party: total dominance of the body and mind. Even in the midst of torture, Winston realizes his love for Big Brother. Through the repression of the mind, the Party succeeded in creating an army of mindless

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Imagine living in a world where people are restricted to basic human rights like having their own thoughts. In the novel 1984 George Orwell creates a dystopian society that controls all the people of Oceania. Orwell uses media manipulation to control what people say and think. Some readers say it is similar to how Kim Jong-un and Yoon Suk Yeol rule North and South Korea. In 1984 George Orwell created a world where there is an abuse of power and technological advancements, similar to the governments North and South Korea, to illustrate the manipulation that people can become victims of.

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Omaira Melgoza English 103, Professor Stephanie Keefer 24 January 2023, Freedom to Choose, The manipulation and indoctrination of people to control their minds and hearts for the purpose of maintaining power and corruption is the main theme throughout George Orwell's novel 1984. The government in the novel uses tactics such as propaganda, surveillance, and censorship to control the thoughts and actions of its citizens and ensure compliance and obedience. This theme is not limited to the world of fiction, as it can also be observed in historical events such as the Cold War and current events like the COVID-19 pandemic. This essay will examine the use of manipulation and indoctrination as a means of maintaining power and corruption in 1984, the Cold War, and the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the ongoing relevance of these themes in our society today.

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2001 Words | 9 Pages

The control turns into manipulation when the government, over time, will convince citizens to believe that everything is being done the right way. George Orwell is an English author of the novel called 1984: a novel about a dystopian world where everyday citizens are unknowingly being psychologically

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While I agree with his assertion, many ideas in Orwell’s 1984 remain frighteningly pertinent as well. In 1984, the people are controlled by the all-seeing, all-powerful Big Brother. Threatening telescreens display a constant message that “Big Brother is watching” in every room, from which there is no escape. Petrified by the idea of what might happen to them if they break a rule, the citizens of Oceania live emotionless, cookie-cutter lives.

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171 Words | 1 Pages

The totalitarian government creates a great concern for the freedom of thought and expression where there is assumed all right-wing individuals that will accept ideas without question. In George Orwell’s, 1984, the Party controls everyone to make them live in a dictatorial regime where nothing done is doubted. The Ministry of Truth is responsible for the propaganda and historical revisionism, used to rewrite history and change information to fit into the Party’s system. The leader of the Party, Big Brother, is the God in Oceania and is well admired as the protector of the people, controlling the population. The Party has put into place a set dictionary that continues to be revised of words to limit the thought of the people of Oceania.

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796 Words | 4 Pages

George Orwell’s 1984 is a precautionary tale of what happens when the government has too much control in our lives. The protagonist, Winston Smith, is at odds in a world in which he is not allowed to counter the government’s surveillance and control. Perhaps more striking is the noticeable relationship between the novel and modern society. In George Orwell’s novel 1984 the book predicts the surveillance of Big Brother in modern day societies.

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In the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, the idea of mechanisms of control plays a large part by which society functions. Seeing as how there is more than one way in which the methods of control restrict society in their ability to rebel. The reason being that so many methods of control are present is because I believe that certain ways in which the control is set out do not affect all people, hence the empowered party intends to introduce various ways such that all members of the current society are included. The reason being that it is believed that the novel is extremely dystopian is that it is a common belief that when Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four, his intent was to represent a future that he was afraid of.

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’YOU KNOW NOTHING JON SNOW! ’’ * In the Apology by Platon, the trial of Socrates is presented. Through the text, we learn how Socrates defenses himself against the accusations and more importantly we learn the principles of him.

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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.”

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1984, George Orwell’s dystopian novel provides subsantial evidence in order to infer the theme of pyschological manipulation. Orwell develops this theme in the book through the Party grasping the minds of the people of Oceania. He does so in various ways that demean them, and break them down to something less than human entirely. The Party and Big Brother manipulate the people of Oceania by changing the past, controlling people’s thoughts, and changing people’s motives; especially Winston’s. Big Brother and the Party were very manipulative, and controlling the past and deleting records was a main element of this.

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594 Words | 3 Pages

Governmental Gaslighting There is no country or state with a perfect government. There are always flaws or corruption in their system no matter how utopic they may seem. In the novel 1984, George Orwell demonstrates how in Oceania’s dystopian society the manipulation of history and the use of a higher being, Big Brother, to promote themselves made their propaganda extremely effective. Changing their nation's history and messing with society's sense of time made it easier for the government to deceive its citizens.

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1115 Words | 5 Pages

The book 1984 describes a totalitarian society where citizens are forced to renounce all liberties for the sake of social order. They are guided by the rule of a single figurehead called Big Brother, whom the they are manipulated to entrust their lives to. This figurehead exercises his powers of governing every aspect of the people 's lives by observing and manipulating the populace. Big Brother also divides his subjects into classes as a means to keep the populace oppressed. Throughout this literary narrative the main character, Winston Smith, struggles to survive in this society as he struggles to fit the conventional mold that is preached.

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451 Words | 2 Pages

The citizens cannot think openly, speak freely and portray their emotions. If caught “it was reasonably certain that [the individual] would be punished by death, or...years in a forced labor camp” (Orwell 6). George Orwell’s novel 1984 communicates dystopian elements to display the horrors of solipsism from totalitarian regime with complacency. Due to them “control[ing] all records, and … all memories” (Orwell 248).

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Living through the first half of the twentieth century, George Orwell watched the rise of totalitarian regimes in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Soviet Union. Fighting in Spain, he witnessed the brutalities of the fascists and Stalinists first hand. His experiences awakened him to the evils of a totalitarian government. In his novel 1984, Orwell paints a dark and pessimistic vision of the future where society is completely controlled by a totalitarian government. He uses symbolism and the character’s developments to show the nature of total power in a government and the extremes it will go through to retain that power by repressing individual freedom and the truth.

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