George Orwell’s novel 1984 was written for the purpose of warning the world about the dangers of totalitarianism. A totalitarian government is one that attempts to totally control the lives of its citizens as a way to have full power over a community. Orwell used examples of totalitarian governments in his book, like Nazi Germany, to show the extent of control governments could want. The book was a close look into how a government used its power to control its people, while manipulating them into believing that everything was honest. The world of 1984 displays many examples of how a government uses manipulation to hold power over a body of people. George Orwell used monologues and symbolic language in his dystopian novel 1984 to convey a manipulative …show more content…
During Two Minutes Hate, Winston internally states that his emotions felt confusing when it came to Goldstein and the Party(Orwell 16). Goldstein is meant to be a person for the people of Oceania to hate. The Party uses him as a way to make people trust them more and to ensure loyalty from its citizens. While the Hate was going on, Winston’s feelings changed from hating Goldstein to hating the Party 2 instead(Orwell 19). His quick change of emotions is a great way to describe how difficult it is for Winston to know who he trusts. Winston’s conflicting thoughts show that the Party’s manipulation has caused strong confusion in individuals. Thoughtcrime in 1984 is described as a crime punishable by death. Orwell uses terms like thoughtcrime and doublethink to symbolize how the Party is in control of the minds of the people. When a person commits thoughtcrime, they are being disloyal to the Party and Big Brother. Winston ended up writing about his hatred towards Big Brother and felt extremely fearful after realizing what he had written(Orwell 23). Although Winston hates the Party, he is still afraid of death and what the Party could do to …show more content…
1984 also depicts knowledge and language control throughout the book. The Party created a new language to further manipulate and control the people of Oceania. This language is called Newspeak. Newspeak is used to decrease how much people think(Orwell 67). The language gets rid of certain words and replaces them with new words. This language control narrows how people think and makes sure everyone thinks in favor of the Party. Newspeak is being used as a way for the Party to make thoughtcrime impossible to commit(Orwell 67). The words in Newspeak are words that have been simplified. Most words that could be used to go against the Party have been erased completely instead of changed. The essay The Power of Manipulation and Fear in George Owell 1984 makes a great point about how the Party is aware that language is a means of communication and how limiting it depresses a person's ability to express 3 themselves. The Party is taking away individuality and replacing it with a collective identity. Once all individuality is gone there is no possible way for citizens to disobey their government. Because the Party wants full control and power over its people, it will do anything to make
Winston gets caught by the Thought Police and is taken to the Ministry of Love where he is tortured. O'Brien, the antagonist and a member of the Inner Party, completely ch anges Winston’s perception of reality. He tortures Winston with a device until Winston believes in the Party’s version of reality and does not merely agree with it to stop the pain. Winston is forced to relinquish his hatred of the Party, and in the end conforms to loving the Party and the leader, Big Brother. The Party needs to eradicate any thought that is against them to secure their power.
Thus he would intentionally turn his back on it and face the other way, still terrified that his back would give off any indication for the Thought Police to arrest him. A constsitant source of worry and fear that emanated from Winston was that his ideas and actions may be viewed as rebellious, resulting in his arrest. Due to his fear, he believed that anyone could be a spy for the Party; he found it difficult to build relationships and trust in people. Overall, Winston's dread similar to many others, of being arrested acts as a potent tool for the Party to isolate, corrupt, and control its people. The threat of totalitarianism, as well as the repression of individuality and freedom of thought, are all represented by the concept of the Thought Police.
In George Orwell's novel 1984, the Party is responsible for the implementation of a new language, Newspeak. Its intention is to control people's critical thinking and expressions of dissent. Words considered subversive, such as "freedom" and "revolution," are removed from the language entirely, making it difficult for people to articulate any ideas that might challenge the Party's authority. "Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end, we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it" (Orwell 55).
Winston despises the Party because it has persuaded people that their feelings and impulses are not valuable. He wishes he was one of the Proles, the lowest level of society. The Party did not bother with the Proles, and the Proles were not conscious of what was happening in society. Winston explains to Julia how “' [the] proles are human beings,' he said aloud. ' We are not human'” (165).
Achieving Totalitarianism in 1984 Before the concept of government existed mankind still attempted to gain dominance over one another. Once the concept was developed governments remained constant in their attempts to gain control of their people and other nations. Adolf Hitler and other dictators were prime examples of totalitarianism “attempt[ing] to control every aspect of its subjects, viewing any sign of independence as treasonous centralized party” ( Quinn 1). George Orwell noticed this tug of war for control and wrote about it in his novel. In George Orwell’s 1984, Oceania achieves a utopia through totalitarianism.
Winston recognizes the oppressiveness of The Party. Within the first pages of the novel, Winston describes the Thought Police spying on all of the people of Oceania through telescreens: “Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it” (3). Big Brother is always watching him, among all the other people in Oceania. Big Brother is the wall in the way of Winston’s freedom. Winston later acquires a diary and knows that it is a crime punishable “by death, or at least twenty-five years in a forced-labor camp” (6).
The party maintains ultimate power through the limitation of words, which is the language that they have created for the people of Oceania. Newspeak, the official language of Oceania, was created to meet the ideological needs of Ingsoc, also known as English socialism. The purpose of Newspeak is to provide a minimum amount of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, making all other modes of thought impossible (Orwell 299-300). Winston has a brief conversation with a man named Syme, Syme works in
The meaning of freedom is the power to speak and think without restraints. To be able to act however you want which is not the case in 1984. The term thoughtcrime is an illegal thought that doubts or question the ruling of the party. Winston had written in his diary “thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death” (pg. 28). This quote goes on a deeper level of understanding the control the party has over the population.
George Orwell’s 1984 depicts a dystopian society in which every minute detail is controlled by Oceania’s dictator, Big Brother. Big Brother focuses on gaining power and control, slowly destroying citizens’ free will, and destroying their human rights in the process. In 1984, George Orwell explores the vileness of absolute control, revealing that the consequences will inevitably result in revolts and rebellion against higher authority. In book one, Orwell demonstrates the beginning of this theme by communicating the dangers of propaganda. He shows a dystopian land where everything is controlled by the government, illuminating the subtle ways that misinformation leads to control over one’s thoughts and actions.
In 1984, the party is known to use Newspeak and with each new edition that is out, it removes words it deems unorthodox and therefore limiting the citizens ability to think critically about their society. By limiting the range of thought and eliminating words that express rebellious behavior, there are fewer words to and ideas that can be accurately conveyed. Through Winston, he purposely uses old and unapproved words to resist against the government’s attempts to control language, “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it” (Orwell 35). By controlling language, it eliminates crimethink (thought crime), allows doublethink (accepting contradictory beliefs), and tries to instill Ingsoc (Socialism beliefs) in all forms of communication.
The Purpose of 1984 As Dystopian Literature Dystopian literature has become increasingly popular in recent years, though while many books center on the topic of a collapsing and corrupt world, few are as popular and renowned as 1984 by George Orwell. The purpose of 1984 is to warn against the dangers of totalitarian governments, which Orwell achieves by showing the extreme consequences of such a society. Orwell’s essay “Why I Write” is direct evidence of what motivated him to write the book as a warning against totalitarianism. He discusses the “great motives” of writing, including political purpose.
His heart sank…”(Orwell 81). Throughout 1984, Orwell explains through Winston how the Party/Big Brother is manipulative and controlling. He does not believe in the amount of power the party obtains. The world he wants involves people living with individuality and thinking by their own agenda. Needless to say that Winston when caught by the Party views in life change.
“Asleep or awake, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or bed—no escape. Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters in your skull” (Orwell 34). A Totalitarian government is a system in which the government has complete control over its people. The dystopian novel 1984 by George Orwell follows the story of Winston who defies the Totalitarian government he is trapped in. The book highlights many breaches of human rights and discusses how people will try to stay in power by any means possible.
Newspeak is a language that was designed to limit the ways people are allowed to express themselves through speech and writing. Orwell believes there are flaws in the English language, highlighted by the use of Newspeak in 1984 (Fowler). One flaw that Orwell sees is the use of “ready-made phrases, which is of immediate relevance to Nineteen Eighty-Four” (Fowler). Ready-made phrases are expressions that take the place of logical and well-constructed thought. The Party’s aim is to keep people from forming a logical reasoning to resist their reign and Newspeak takes advantage of ready-made phrases to make sure people use a diction that has no relevance to the subject at hand.
Winston becomes disenchanted by the Party’s ways of maintaining control over the people of Oceania by feeding the citizens propaganda so that they will mindlessly follow whatever the Party says is true. Therefore, Winston begins to doubt the party because of their destruction of the past and its events, ruining people's ability to think and be independent.