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Fear In George Orwell's 1984

1102 Words5 Pages

Fear is a psychological and physiological response to distressing or dangerous circumstances. Fears are often rational – the fear of death, for example, or of harm to oneself of those one cares about. Some fears are more irrational, such as phobias of certain animals or things not causing immediate danger. In any case, fear is a powerful response and causes someone to be weaker and more submissive. 1984 by George Orwell illustrates how fear, a natural human experience, can be used as a means for a person’s submission to authority, In the novel, Winston Smith, the protagonist, is a working-class citizen in a futuristic, dystopian London. He is constantly monitored by and expected to have total loyalty to a totalitarian government simply called …show more content…

During a daily exercise known as the Two Minutes Hate, all Party members view a video usually featuring a speech denouncing the Party’s ideals and advocating for freedom and democracy. Even though Winston secretly supports these principles, he feels compelled to and even cannot avoid joining the frenzy of the Hate, entering a blind but abstract rage. He mentions that, “And yet that rage that one felt was an abstract, undirected emotion which could be switched from one object to another like the flame of a blowlamp. Thus, at one moment Winston’s hatred was not not turned against Goldstein at all, but, on the contrary, against Big Brother, the Party, and the Thought Police….(Orwell 14). This is how Winston’s fear differs from that of other people’s. They always conform by directing their contempt towards enemies of the Party and fear those conspiring against it. Through the threat of rebellion and sabotage, citizens are kept in fear and have their hate directed at the Party’s enemies and are manipulated to rely on it for protection. Winston, however, fears the Party and its total control on his life and on society. He secretly harbors dreams of a revolution and the destruction of the Party. His failure to be manipulated is later rectified through other tactics until he becomes a “perfect” member of society, relying on and loving the Party. Citizens of Oceania are constantly manipulated with fear to rely on the government for

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