The book 1984 is an explanation of Oceania’s official language, newspeak. There are many examples of this throughout the text such as doublethink. Newspeak consists of A vocabulary, B vocabulary, and C vocabulary. The A vocabulary has word that are needed for everyday life and words that already exist.
In the world of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, the totalitarian regime of one of the three superstates, Oceania, was known as “The Party” . In order for “The Party” to constantly maintain complete control of the minds of the party members, they instituted principles such as “doublethink” (as described in this quotation). The principle of “doublethink” is instilled in the minds of party members since birth. In essence “doublethink” allows for two opposing thoughts to reside in one’s mind while both are taken as the absolute truth. By instituting this principle “The Party” is able to control the minds of the masses simply by stating a fact because party members are taught that every word spoken by “The Party” is truth.
The novel, 1984, is an interesting book to read as it shows how the party manipulates the people of Oceania through the use of doublethink and newspeak, and how the party is controlling their minds. The novel also shows the journey of the main character, Winston, and his opposing opinions and struggles against the party. 1984 is an interesting novel to read because it shows how the party controls its citizens in the novel. For example, the Party uses this type of manipulation called doublethink. Doublethink is just when the Party changes any information he doesn’t like, so that it is in the form that he sees as correct.
It is obvious that the government is the biggest thing in the book “1984” and how much the government controls the population is astounding. Although there are many obvious ways that Big Brother controls the population, “Newspeak” is probably one of the worst, if not the worst and most intense control mechanism. With “Newspeak” not only is what people say controlled, but it is also restricted, it is made so that the language used is modified and people cannot say certain things even if they wanted to. “Newspeak” is a way in which the government in Oceania controls what the people say and believe. Big brother is the ruler of Oceania, and while it might not directly be said that he is a dictator, it is very much obvious that everything that
A second important point George Orwell makes in 1984 is if governments assume too much power, they will ultimately control how and what people think. In Airstrip One, the government uses the manipulative practices of “Doublethink” and “Newspeak” to control thought. Towards the end of the novel, Winston receives “The Book” which he believes is the book written by Goldstein, public enemy number one, containing Goldstein’s teachings. In the book, Goldstein explains how governments control the people and keep them in line through doublethink. The book claims: “Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them” (234).
Language, and usage of words are integral parts of rebellion. Big Brother works to create a language where it is impossible to convey a message of rebellion, and to make independent thought impossible. This language is called Newspeak. Newspeak not only eliminates unnecessary words, but also promotes the narrowing of thoughts and, therefore, awareness, and consciousness of life in Airstrip One, the setting of the novel. The ideology behind Newspeak is that, as language becomes less expressive, thoughts of change become impossible as there is no way to express them.
Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten. ”(page 52)”. The purpose of Newspeak is to control people's thoughts by making some words that go against impossible to think about. So the purpose is to make “thoughtcrime” or think rudely of the government impossible,Thus making revolt or even thinking about revolting placing constraint on people's thoughts. But, the real purpose of 1984 as a warning to the public of what would've happened if people just took their democracies for granted.
Language is one of our first instincts because we begin chatting and attempting to speak at birth. Since it permits us to speak with each other, it fills in as quite possibly life's most significant component. In George Orwell's 1984, manipulation and control are prevalent themes. We see how the Party has controlled language for its own motivations. This is accomplished by the Party through the creation of Newspeak, a language that produces words while removing others.
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.
In the quote, George Orwell employed double thinking and gives the ministries dramatically ironic names to euphemize what they actually are to the readers; while, the characters in the novel possess a completely opposite comprehension. Language is the most essential component of the formation of individual's thoughts, by changing one’s habit of using language will largely affect the ideas the person formulates. Once the government obtain the total control of the language, rebellious and disobedient minds can be easily eliminated from citizens’ brain merely by altering some of the structures of the language. Similarly, language twisting is a common skilled tackled by numerous industries today. For example, food companies suggest that their food
The novel, Brave New World, written by Aldous Huxley, published in 1932, examines a future where embryos are chemically engineered to ensure they conform to a certain class within a strict caste system. It invokes a future where babies and children are conditioned into certain lifestyles to establish “stability in society” and “make people like their unescapable social destiny.” A future where self-discovery, individualism, and the idea of family have become mysterious concepts. Knowing this novel was published in the 30’s, it is unsettling to realize society has already initiated a shift in this direction. Today genetic engineering is increasingly explored, and mass consumerism, capitalism and the ever prominent social class struggles have
A clear example of this is the government's use of Newspeak, a language designed to eliminate complex thoughts and ideas. With Newspeak, concepts, and ideas are stripped of meaning and nuance to limit the scope of thought and expression. Winston recognizes the danger of language and the role it plays in the government's attempts to control the populace. He wrote in his journal: "Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime impossible because there will be no words in which to express it" (Orwell, 55).
George Orwell’s 1984: How Doublethink is the Most Powerful Weapon for Control Being able to believe two paradoxical statements at one time sounds impossible but it is more common than believed. It is called doublethink, which is the ability to hold two contradictory beliefs on a topic and wholeheartedly believing them both at the same time. This term was coined by George Orwell and it becomes the main tool for control over the citizens of Oceania in his novel 1984. Orwell created a totalitarian future in hopes it would serve as a warning to preceding generations as to how the government can metamorphose into having complete power over a population to the point where they even control the thought process of the human mind.
By limiting the vocabulary, Newspeak is essentially “unintelligible” and hence controls the people’s understanding of the real world. Orwell emphasises that language is of utmost importance as it structures and limits the ideas individuals are capable of formulating and expressing. In 1984, language is used as a ‘mind control tool’. The party slogan, “war is peace, freedom is
Thesis: In the novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, “Newspeak” and various other principles, are implemented by the Party in order to manipulate and diminish the people’s thoughts, so as to fulfill its own political agendas. The Party is able to diminish the people’s thoughts, as the Newspeak language only comprises of words that are relevant to particular concepts and subject areas that the Part approves of. Additionally these have been given only “one rigid definition” [Pg 53, Part I, Section V].
