Reality Control In George Orwell's 1984

In the world of Oceania, the government controls every aspect of their citizens lives. In this totalitarian state, the ‘party’ wants ultimate power over every one of it’s citizens. They control the past, present and future. To maintain this status, through very extreme means they make sure to remove any possibility of citizens rebelling against the government. With methods of manipulation and reality control, the people of Oceania have weak perceptions of reality and can not have the ability to decipher what is reality and what is not. In 1984, the government is not just controlling the media and commodities, it controls your thoughts, it practically owns you. That is why totalitarianism is so dangerous, it more of ‘group think’ rather allowing

"History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right."(1.3.18). These methods of reality control are the principles of ‘Ingsoc’, which is Doublespeak, through Thoughtcrimes, and Newspeak. Not only does Big Brother limit what you are allowed to do but with ‘Ingsoc’ this controls what you think or say. Doublespeak, which by far the most effective and threatening which is defined as “The power to hold two completely contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accept both of them.” (George Orwell, 1984) Doublethink is seen in the novel when it comes to war. The enemy for years has been the nation of Eurasia but when the announcement comes that they are now in a war with Eastasia and were never in a war with Eurasia, that instantaneously must become the truth. Even though, yesterday’s news might have stated that Oceania has been at war with Eurasia for years, it must all be vaporized in history. As a member of society, if you know that two plus two equals four but big brother says it five, at a drop of a dime you must believe it. Two contradictory things that at once are accepted. Syme, a loyal worker to Big Brother helped create the language of Oceania called Newspeak. Syme says to Winston, "Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?"(1.7.13) ) Newspeak is only a way to control the words that people are allowed to say. No more hateful words. No more words that could be threatening. No more words that could give the thoughts of about breaking any law. They limit the words that people know and say and want to reduce the thoughts they are able to have. Lastly, thoughtcrimes is thinking something that would be deemed as a socially illegal thought. For instance, during the Two Minute Hate