Examples Of Manipulation In 1984 By George Orwell

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In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, there is a dystopian society which is under dictatorial control. This region is called Oceania which is also constantly under the surveillance of the government. The important “face” of this society is Big Brother who is a figure that is meant to instill fear and control the citizens. The protagonist,Winston Smith has always hated this government, especially them being able to control his public actions all the time. Finally he gets fed up with it and decides to join a group that also supports his ideas. The author uses thought out and complex dialogue to show his purpose of how people can be manipulated. He also uses ironic situations and phrases to expand his intent of manipulation even further. George …show more content…

In 1984, George Orwell uses dialogue to show how some of the things someone says, could be caused by a person being manipulated. An example of this was when Winston and Julia had been talking about how inner party members had died and then were just erased from the world like they never existed. “Then what was there to worry about? People are being killed off all the time aren’t they?”(Orwell 154). This shows manipulation through dialogue because in this society, people are killed and erased but that’s just completely normal to these people now. Additionally Winston’s job is the one that changes the history and gets rid of things that happened so he feel a lot more strongly about it then Julia. A different situation where manipulation through dialogue occurred was during hate week. Hate week is an event where the people of Oceania come together to increase the …show more content…

In one situation, all the citizens are at hate week and a poster is down with the party’s slogan on it. “WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”(16). This phrase shows an ironic way of manipulation because this saying is told to the citizens, saying that if you lack intelligence and do not have privacy it is better for you. In actuality they are just using this phrase to their advantage of controlling these people. In addition, irony occurs when Winston had been thinking about how even though the government is constantly monitoring you, if you’re smart you can outwit them and keep to yourself. This though then leads him to think of the trotters inflicted by the Ministry of Love.”One did not know what happened inside the Ministry of Love, but it was possible to guess: tortures, drugs, delicate instruments that registered your nervous reactions, gradual wearing-down by sleeplessness and solitude and persistent questioning”(167). This is ironic because humans in our society think of love as a magical, fantastic thing that makes a person feel good. Where as in this society, citizens have been corrupted since now love represents hatred and tortures. These example show ironic manipulation because this government is take people old thoughts, especially happy ones and changing them to the complete