In 1984 by George Orwell, the theme of danger following totalitarianism appears through various literary devices, tone, and syntax. For instance, on page 267 Orwell writes, “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows”(Orwell 267). To elucidate, this citation emphasizes the importance of intellectual freedom and the ability to express thoughts and ideas freely. Specifically, the use of simple mathematical concepts highlights the basic nature of this right and how it forms the foundation of all other freedoms.
English 10 Honors-1 May 16, 2023 (End of period) “Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious” (70 Orwell) These words were written out of significant thought on Winston's part. Winston was beginning to learn why the proles and many others weren’t rebelling, it is simply because they were so brainwashed. That there was an imaginative brick wall in their cognitive thought.
The government has made it so that people cannot say words that would make them look bad, the people of Oceania cannot even say words like “bad”, but instead they have to say “ungood”. They have made it so that the people of Oceania are so brainwashed, that they will believe anything that the government tells them to believe. The language that is used in Oceania has been watered down so that the words that can be used are few and simple. It is so controlled that the people of Oceania only have enough words so that they can go on with everyday life, but not exceed the limit implemented by Big Brother. “There is no opportunity-- no space-- left by such words for thinking around or beyond objects they refer to..”
1984 George Orwell’s 1984 created a society that created men that work like machines, this allows for anyone to be submitted to do the unthinkable. George Orwell captured this concept by forming unusually long sentences to give the audience a true understanding of how machine like the people of Oceania are by explaining ideas so in depth. Also the use of connotation and specific diction, gives the reader a chance to really see how different the views and responses of the people of Oceania are, compared to the views and responses today. Along with diction, connotation, and unusually long sentences, George Orwell utilized periodic sentences to help the audience understand how a character was feeling or describe a situation in ‘layman's terms’
Language: “The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall.” (2) “Day and night the telescreens bruised your ears with statistics proving that people today had more food, more clothes, better houses, better recreations... Not a word of it could be proved or disproved... It was like a single equation with two unknowns” (74) L(1) George Orwell, the author of 1984, uses figurative language within this quote with a perfectly crafted simile.
Not only have we created new language but the government does have a say about what is shown and said on television and other stuff. They recreate things to make us believe what they do or say when in reality all there doing is hiding information. This is the same for this novel because the Party needed everyone to believe what there was saying was correct. Thought crime is also not allowed in Oceania and science isn’t either because it would just cause there society to think and if there people would think then they would begin to realize what really is going on between them. They would open there eyes and realize they are stronger group then the party and what the party is doing is doing to them is not right.
When they aren’t living up to Party standards, like the main character Winston, they are arrested and tortured in order to be controlled. People’s lives are controlled in as many ways as possible. The Party controls its people mainly through direct government interference, propaganda, and thought control. The most obvious way the government controls
In George Orwell's dystopian novel, 1984, the author uses cacophonous and anaphora diction with rhetorical and imperative syntax to convey the fragility and selfish state of human nature; the author further portrays the immense suffering guided by abused power at the hands of a totalitarian government. An analytical and commentary writing on society, 1984 discusses topics such as the exploitation of and total control in the absolutist manner of tyrannic leadership. Written through the perspective of Winston Smith and his conflict between reality and illusion in a deceptive society, Orwell intentionally warns the future society of these topics. While forcefully observing himself in a mirror, Winston notices that “a…skeleton-like thing was coming towards him… [with] a bald scalp, a crooked nose, and battered-looking cheekbones” and under the layer of dirt, “the red scars of wounds, and… the scraggy neck seemed to be bending double under the weight of the skull” (296-297).
In 1984, a dystopian novel written by George Orwell, proles are represented as being generally incompetent in the ability to think and rebel against their stolen rights. However, as the story progresses, Winston comes to a realization that proles are the only ones with the character of human beings and the strength to gain consciousness to overthrow the party. Through this characterization of the proles, Orwell satirizes the detrimental effects of Stalin’s totalitarian government in employing total control and perpetual surveillance of the people in USSR to maintain an established hierarchy. The nature of how the system views the proles is clearly visible through the treatment and description of the proles in the eyes of Winston.
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
In so doing, the Party is able to achieve its most important political agenda- to maintain its power and rule over Oceania. In this essay, we shall analyze the different ways in which the Party makes use of “Newspeak” as a mechanism of control.
Nineteen eighty-four is a highly constructed dramatic experience which effectively delineates totalitarianism and controlling governments within Oceania, revealed through its respectable language. The language used by Orwell critics how the dystopian land of Oceania was during the time of the cold war. Within the last paragraph of 1984, Orwell effectively depicts the dystopian world of Oceania and shows that through the extreme control of human nature by using INGSOC’s, the representation of big brother and the act of dehumanisation, portraying that the government is purely a one sided and controlling government. Through Orwell 's use of techniques, he prompts the reader to question the ideals totalitarianism and government control. Thus, the audience is informed that the totalitarian government has a vast amount of capabilities, that can be used ultimately to control the minds of individuals in 1984.
Winston Smith is the protagonist of Orwell’s dystopian novel and represents a non-activist oppressed citizen of Oceania who is unable to conform with the government’s inequitable principles. While in a dialogue with his coworker Syme, he expresses his disdain for the brainwashing Newspeak dictionary “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? […] In fact there will be no thought, as we understand it now.
Language and thought were always seen as two different processes, where thought was always taken as the main process. Language was just seen as means of communication, a process of expressing our thoughts to other people, and so, a thought came first, which means that language was developed as that thought was put to words. But then, we later realized that the way a person speaks affects the way they think, and that people of different languages think in different ways. That is why in George Orwell’s 1984, the INGSOC Party used language to manipulate and eradicate personal thought for political purposes; they developed a new language called Newspeak, with the intention and aim of obtaining total control and make any other thought impossible. The Party’s replacement of Oldspeak by Newspeask made many thought words impossible and was therefore used as a mechanism of control.
Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein is quoted as saying, “The limits of my language means the limits of my world,” a sentiment heroically displayed in the novel 1984, written by George Orwell. Within the confines of the story of Winston, a man living in Oceania under the complete and total control of the Party, Orwell accurately displays the limited language forced upon the citizens and explains the inexplicable way the party destroyed the past in order to completely control the future of its members. Furthermore, Orwell intricately examines the devolution of language and the subsequent effects on the intellect of citizens and their personal belief systems. Upon reviewing and examining Old English and Middle English prose, it has become blatantly
