Examples Of Who Controls The Past In George Orwell's 1984

You look around only to see vibrant posters obscuring your vision of the truth. The constant beeping and flashing of lights surveying your every move, and never knowing if what you know is real. Having to decide between acceptance of losing your humanity and keeping your life or the fear of individuality resulting in death. This is the life that the citizens in 1984 faced daily. 1984 is a dystopian novel regarding the dangers of a world governed by propaganda, heavy surveillance, and fear. George Orwell wrote this novel after World War Ⅱ and showed the risks of a government with absolute control over its people. It was modeled after Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany. George Orwell explores this theme of the dangers of a totalitarian society

Who controls the present controls the past.” This is one of the Party’s slogans and it perfectly represents the idea behind the Party. Past decisions influence future ones, and the present is only the result of the past. A past full of agony and pain results in a future of change, and if the past was idyllic, then people want to recreate it. Winston also comes to this realization when he states, “Within twenty years at most, he reflected, the huge and simple question ‘Was life better before the Revolution than it is now?’ would have ceased once and for all to be answerable.” (Winston 103) As time goes on, there is no way to distinguish fact and fiction as more and more of the past becomes altered. The past would soon become a gigantic swirl of nonsense fed to you by the Party to put them in the best lighting. One of the best examples in the novel is when the Party completely changes who they are at war with. “Actually, as Winston well knew, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control. Officially the change of partners had never happened. Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia.” (Winston 134) Even if someone swears they knew Oceania was at war with

Here he is tortured and forced to confess his actions. The main reason he is tortured is not to punish him, but because the Party wants him to “fix” himself. The Party wants Winston to refine his ways, and once he accepts Big Brother, they will kill him. The final lines of the book show the true power of the Party, “He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself, He Loved Big Brother.” (Winston 245)This is how much power the Party and Big Brother have. To take someone like Winston who is totally against the way of the Party and wants to take it down to someone who loves Big Brother--that is the power the Party has. “He Loved Big Brother,” is an extremely despairing line as throughout the story you are rooting for The Party to get taken down, so when you see someone as strong-willed as Winston completely fall to them, you may think there is no way to take them