Examples Of Newspeak In The Book 1984

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Abdulrahman Alshehri
February 16, 2018
Orwellian Newspeak In his book 1984, George Orwell talks about Newspeak as the official language of Oceania, the setting of the story. Newspeak aims to replace Oldspeak, or the Standard English, in a way that would favor the Party members or the elite. It was designed to limit the range of thought of people which would make them easier to manipulate. Although there were some words that could still be used in Newspeak, the way they should be used have changed to make sure they do not stir up the people’s mind into greater thinking. A Newspeak dictionary contained all the vocabulary used for that purpose. There were three kinds of vocabulary which include A Vocabulary, B Vocabulary, and C Vocabulary. Each set of vocabulary was designed for specific purpose. A Vocabulary consisted of words for ordinary life, B Vocabulary was constructed for political purposes, while C Vocabulary consisted of scientific and technical terms. Orwellian Newspeak reveals how certain changes to language can be used to control or oppress people to serve the interest of the elite or the government. People would have no choice but the obey since “Big Brother” is watching them and could hear and see them anytime and anywhere they are. Since language is used to express people’s thoughts and feelings, controlling language and limiting them to certain uses also limits the mind from thinking freely which is a form of oppression. This practice of Newspeak is not only