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Satire In George Orwell's 1984

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In George Orwell’s 1984, a future totalitarian government is presented to the audience with the heavy use of satire. This government serves two purposes: mocking Communism and demonstrating the effects of government control on its citizens and society. Through his ominous tone, Orwell satirizes the relationship between citizens and members of government authority. He portrays O’Brien as Winston’s friend, rather than his enemy. During Winston’s interrogation and torture, O’Brien often reminds Winston that the power to end the suffering rests in Winston’s hands. O’Brien explicitly tells Winston “It will not last forever. You can escape from it whenever you choose. Everything depends on yourself” (Orwell 273). Clearly, O’Brien does not wish this suffering upon Winston, showing that O’Brien has apparent compassion and lacks malevolent thoughts towards Winston. …show more content…

O’Brien speaks in a kind and encouraging way; his words are encouraging in that he is pushing Winston to realize the how the Party has utter control over history and society itself. O’Brien explains that “[The Party controls] life, Winston, at all its levels. You are imagining that there is something called human nature which will be outraged by what we do and will turn against us” (Orwell 269). In reality, Winston is actually being unreasonable by not accepting that the Party has total control. O’Brien reveals his true identity as a friend by pushing Winston to accept this total control, justifying Winston’s torture to see five of O’Brien’s fingers instead of

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O’brien enters the cell. Winston thinks that O’brien has been captured too, but soon learns that O’brien is a member of the party. Winston is tortured in all kinds of ways. He is kicked, beaten, forced to tears, and a man in a white coat connects him to a dial that has levels of pain. Winston is tortured until he is humiliated and his power to argue or reason is destroyed.

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510 Words | 3 Pages

Winston reacts by, “[looking] up gratefully at O’Brien... his heart [seeming] to turn over” as Winston begins realizing that “he had never loved [O’Brien] so deeply as in this moment”(Orwell 252). What Orwell means when he writes that Winston looks up at O’Brien “gratefully” is that he was appreciative that O’Brien stopped making him feel the pain and torture that he was enduring and that he ended up making him feel better. Unfortunately for Winston, he is exhibiting signs that he is experiencing Stockholm Syndrome. It is clear that Winston is experiencing Stockholm Syndrome, because normally when someone is being tortured they don't feel this type of affection towards their abuser, they are scarred by them and mainly want nothing to do with them.

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435 Words | 2 Pages

At the start of the book O'Brien is seen as an ally to Winston because he believes O’Brien is also against the government however at the end of the book we find out that O’Brien is actually with the government himself. He believes in the work of Big Brother and helps control the people of Oceania. O'Brien is the man how changes how winston into believing doublethink. O’Brien influences him by torture and manipulation. “"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past," repeated Winston obediently.

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467 Words | 2 Pages

Eventually, Winston is caught and sent to the Ministry of Love, just like O’Brien said. After being there for a while, he shows up in his cell. Winston believes he’s been arrested, but O’Brien says “They got me a long time ago. Don’t deceive yourself, you did know it”, implying Winston should’ve known O’Brien had been tricking him. He then goes on to torture Winston into confessing everything he’s done so he can convert him back to a party member.

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750 Words | 3 Pages

O’Brien tells him, “Do not imagine saving yourself Winston, however completely you surrender to us”(256) to

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1034 Words | 5 Pages

O’Brien uses fear, scaring Winston into loving his government, Big Brother, and pushes him to break. In Orwell’s book, he states, “‘Room 101’ he said”... “‘Comrade! Officer!’ he cried.

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458 Words | 2 Pages

Winston was never a devoted follower, constantly questioning the world around him. Even when in custody, Winston continued questioning motives and denouncing the Party and Big Brother, despite the futility. He knew no societal changes would result from his actions, but desperately wanted to share his ideas with someone, and since he was already being tortured, he was capable of speaking freely in the jail area. The purpose was to rid him of his rebellious mindset, and to do so, O’Brien needed to know everything Winston honestly thought in order to ‘correct’ it fully. For example, O’Brien forced Winston to recognize that whatever the Party said was true by holding up four fingers and saying there were five, “But there had been a moment- of luminous certainty, where each new suggestion of O’Brien’s had filled up a patch of emptiness and had become absolute truth, and when two and two could have been three as easily five, if that were what was needed (Orwell 258).

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895 Words | 4 Pages

O'Brien had tortured him to the edge of lunacy, and in a little while, it was certain, he would send him to death. It made no difference”(255). He says here that he had confusion on if O’Brien was an enemy or a friend, and I think that perfectly summarizes how O’Brien betrayed Winston and manipulated him throughout the whole book. The last topic on which the government in 1984 displays manipulation is the mere factor of the Party’s control over everyone's everyday lives, including their history and

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573 Words | 3 Pages

During the time of his torture, Winston argues against O’Brien and says that the society O’Brian described would have no vitality, would disintegrate, and would commit suicide. (Orwell) The definition of vitality is “exuberant physical strength

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1265 Words | 6 Pages

The power that O’Brien has over Winston at this point is unfathomable, simply due to the fact that O’Brien has clearly betrayed Winston, yet still is acting in a way that shows he is doing what is in Winston’s best interest. He

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One of the most notable themes in 1984 is George Orwell’s depiction of conformity. Conformity means to behave in accordance with socially acceptable conventions. In 1984, the party sets laws and brings in technology that forces the population into conforming. This is done so that they can control the population easier, and manipulate them into believing the party’s ideals. To do this, they firstly make everyone wear the same clothes, eat the same food, and live in the same conditions.

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How does Orwell create a sense of isolation in 1984? Orwell depicts isolation as a fundamental factor in Winston's demise, as the Party's persistence in severing all his ties with other people, ultimately results in his one-minded nature that makes him give into their demands. O'Brien states that in the 'face of pain, their are no heroes' showing how Winston is isolated in his rebellion, and that as an individual he is powerless against the Party's omnipotence, because eventually he will isolate himself and save his own skin over others. This is seen near the end of the novel, where Winston states:' do it to Julia! Rip her face off, tear her skin off!'

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912 Words | 4 Pages

Award winning writer, George Orwell, in his dystopian novel, 1984, Winston and O’Brien debate the nature of reality. Winston and O’Brien’s purpose is to persuade each other to believe their own beliefs of truth and reality. They adopt an aggressive tone in order to convey their beliefs about what is real is true. In George Orwell’s 1984, Winston and O’Brien use a variety of different rhetorical strategies and appeals such as parallel structure, pathos, and logos in order to persuade each other about the validity of memories and doublethink; however, each character’s argument contains flaw in logic. Winston debates with O’Brien that truth and reality are individual and connected to our memories.

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1500 Words | 6 Pages

In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the main theme is of conformity to the wants of society and the government. Themes of dehumanization of our species, as well as the danger of a totalitaristic state are repeatedly expressed. Orwell demonstrates this theme by using setting and characters in the novel. The setting helps to convey the theme because of the world and kind of city that the main character lives in. Winston’s every move is watched and controlled by the governmental figurehead known as “big brother”.

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885 Words | 4 Pages

but o’brien thinks he’s out of luck. At the end of the conversation o’brien makes winston take of his clothes. After winston took of his clothes he immediately started crying he saw how bad he was abused and was so distraught of the fact he looked the way he did. He was even more upset that way he suckerd into those aligations that o’brien was accusing him of. Winston had a moment of weakness and allowed o’brien to treat him like trash.

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