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The Destruction Of Language In George Orwell's '1984'

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Imagine waking up one day and suddenly forgetting everything about the past and not knowing very many words. What would it be like? In Orwell’s book 1984 this is what he depicts. A government in total control over everything. The destruction of language and the past could be used as a tool to manipulate people through propaganda, making people believe that it’s a crime to think and lowering the range of vocabulary are all ways the government could use to manipulate people. Could it happen? Or does it already exist? First of all propaganda in the book 1984 was a huge way to get the society of people manipulated This was O 'brien using propaganda against Winston because he is showing him all the things that the party has done and shows actual evidence of The party and …show more content…

Lowering the range of vocabulary mean not giving people books and things to read. It meant that the party was changing things so people would read and believe it. “Don 't you see that the whole aim of the Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end, we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed by exactly one word with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meaning rubbed out and forgotten”(Orwell,Syme ch5). What Syme means by this is that the Newspeak will eventually make a thoughtcrime impossible or even thinking impossible by lowering the range if vocabulary. Also, when winston says “a nation of warriors and fanatics,marching forward in perfect unity, all thinking the same thoughts and shouting the same slogans, perpetually working, fighting, triumphing, persecuting three hundred million people with the same face”(Orwell pg77). What Winston means by this is that once the people of Oceania have their vocabulary almost completely gone then they will all become the same

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In George Orwell’s 1984, Big Brother controls everything in Oceania from what individuals think to what individuals see. Big Brother along with the Party make a mutual effort to cut down the language the people of Oceania speak. This only results in greater control over the civilians in Oceania. Winston, a rebellion against Big Brother and the Party, comes across Syme who happens to love the cutting of words. In the discussion between Syme and Winston, Syme implements thought-invoking diction along with passionate tone while attempting to hinder Winston’s opinions on Oldspeak.

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Language is a major themes in both novels “1984” by George Orwell and “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwool. Language are heavily reshape in both novel in order to crave a goal to control individuals. “1984” creates authority over citizens through altering and reducing the English language to its most basic form. To “return” to the root of English, the Party have to eliminate the complexity of the language - synonyms and subtle meaning of words -from the existence of the people minds in the apparent belief that there is no justification from antonyms and ‘shades of meanings’, and only one concept should only subsist . However the true purpose of simplifying language and destroying words is to eliminate concepts that might led to the idealism of rebellion and disobedience; The Party does not want the thoughts of rebellion and disobedience to exist therefore they have to destroy and simplify to a huge extent.

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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.

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This is particularly evident in the story when the character Syme is tasked with creating a new version of the Newspeak dictionary and one day informs Winston of the fact that “Newspeak is the only language whose vocabulary gets smaller every year” (Orwell 52). This information exaggerates the slow process of language devolution and helps to enlighten unaware readers of the detrimental changes taking

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Each part of everyone’s day is planned out and strictly enforced, from the morning exercises, to meals, to work, to sleep. Any form of expression is forbidden, and Winston’s decisions to both write his thoughts down in a diary and to have a relationship with Julia is both punishable by death. The government is attempting to control people through words. They edit out words in the dictionary, leaving people no ways of even expressing or describing certain things because those words no longer exist. The newly implemented language, Newspeak, is a form of English that the book’s totalitarian government utilizes to discourage freethinking.

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