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Theme Of Propaganda In 1984

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George Orwell’s famous novel, 1984, shows the consequences of totalitarian governments, and explores the ideas of a nation driven by propaganda. This novel takes place in Air Strip One, (also known as Great Britain). The Airstrip’s name is Oceania, which is a large country under constant government survelliance, never-ending war, and public manipulation. The characters in the novel display the spark of not only love, but partnership, in rebellion to their society. This novel presents a proposal of how totalitarian governments fail their people by brainwashing them with propaganda and public manipulation to gain control of their support. “Oceania was not what would but what could happen if intellectuals of all colors continued to be contaminated …show more content…

This was to prevent thought-crime, which would be punishable by death. “The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-veiw and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible.”(George Orwell). The only way to properly describe the narcissism of the party is to explain everything they had control over. Newspeak is just one out of the many ways the party brainwashed its members into loyalty. “Newspeak is designed to make it impossible to express any unorthodox thought. For example, one could attempt to attack the government by saying “the party is ungood”; because the language of Newspeak, there would be no words to explain or back this statement and it would be comprehended as illogical, similar to describing winter as hot.”(www.bookrags.com/notes/1984). The party wanted to change everything you knew to their standard of knowledge. It was illegal for Winston to even keep a journal, which he hid behind a loose brick in the wall of his …show more content…

He longed for freedom and humanity. Oceania had an inhumane society where the members of the party enjoyed watching public hangings and accepted their crucial living conditions. The party was able to successfully control all aspects of life. Sex was to be only for reproduction of children for the party, and members were not allowed to marry anyone they felt physically attracted to. “Sexual intercourse was to be looked on as a slightly disgusting minor operation, like having an enema.”(George Orwell, 1984). Julia rebelled against the party by having sex freely with members from the inner and outer circle. Though she wore a sash of the Junior Anti-Sex League, it was all just a fake so she wouldn’t be arrested. The Junior Anti-sex League was a gateway for the party to smash the roots of human nature, their physical and emotional connections with one another. Winston rebelled in more ways than one, but he most suspiciously took long walks in the neighborhoods of the Proles and deeply contemplated their role in society. The Proles were considered the dirty working class people of Oceania, but there was something they had that Winston found valuable. “If there is hope, it lies in the Proles.”(George Orwell, 1984). He watched them and wanted what they had, for they had love. They had freedom. They were looked at in society as unintelligent individuals, which meant the party paid them no attention, giving them the

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The whole aim of Newspeak [was] To narrow the range of thought”( Orwell 55) Big Brother or the party thought if the range of thought was slimmed down. Newspeak was the tactic to complete his goal. He slowly was erasing and replacing English. To distract the

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In today’s society, people have sex with strangers solely for pleasure and fun. In Oceania sex is only for making babies and not for the human connection or love of the other person. Similar to 1984, most people do not have sex in terms of making love or for the relationship it creates between them. With the absence of love between characters, a true human connection is ultimately destroyed and does not exist between anyone. Winston and Julia eventually come together to break the rules.

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Demonstrating how the party’s ideals have caused Winston to automatically make the assumption that all proles are subhuman. In the text, Winston never actively challenges this presumption; consequently, displaying his unconscious superiority complex caused by the government's orthodoxical ideals. Correspondingly, the use of the third-person in the second quotation serves to distance Winston from the proles; further empathizing the class division between Winston and the proles, which distinguishes the likelihood of insurgency to

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Government Manipulation in 1984 People generally rely on the government as a source of protection and stability. However, the government does not always have the citizens’ best interests in mind, as shown in 1984. The government has the power to distort realities and the ability to detect the truth. They can manipulate, or influence people’s minds without them even knowing. George Orwell’s 1984 uses a futuristic dystopia to show how the government is able to manipulate human values through the use of fear.

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The Party is working on their Newspeak dictionaries. Newspeak is a limited language, intending to include only words that the Party deems acceptable and which works for their prerogative. When speaking about the Newspeak dictionary to Winston,

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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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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.

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Winston also acknowledges the fact that the proles will remain ignorant to their power until they rebel but they will not rebel until they are aware of their power. This cyclic contradiction proves that the proles will never be able to overthrow the government. This ignorance of the people gives strength to the Party. The Ministry of Truth, where Winston works, has a big part in keeping the people ignorant. Winston’s job is to change the past.

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Throughout 1984, Winston is forced to confront a society which rejects the central tenets of humanity and independent thought, and which presides over society through the dissemination of propaganda. Orwell’s novel explores the dangers of totalitarian government and absolute control and is a prophetic tale of power and control that must be heeded in modern times. Totalitarianism is employed to grant absolute power to the Party and ensure the deference of the

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by dividing the populace into sections in hopes of ultimately keeping members powerless. The society of Oceania is divided into four sections with Proletarian (at the bottom), Outer Party, Inner Party, and Big Brother (at the top). The Proles and Outer Party reflect the lower classes in the U.S. meanwhile the Inner Party and Big Brother represent the upper classes whom possess the most power in society. “But the proles, if only they could somehow become conscious of their own strength, would have no need to conspire” (2). The Proles are comprised of the majority of the population of Oceania and if they wanted to have the potential of causing a change in their government.

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George Orwell’s 1984 has resonated with many who have experienced first-hand what life is like under a dictator. The novel describes how everything is controlled and monitored by the government and how even mere thoughts can be detected by ThoughtPolice. Readers get to experience Oceania’s system of ruling through the eyes of an Outer Party member, Winston Smith. At first, Winston is adamant to destroy The Party and its figurative leader Big Brother, but eventually is captured and converted into a lover of Oceania’s system of government. Children, although not playing a significant role in this book, are mentioned as devious little spies.

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The party believe that destroying words will inevitably prevent power from slipping through their fingers. Values such as ‘honour, integrity, morality, etc’ cease to exist. In chapter five, Syme explains to Winston, “We’re cutting the language down to the bone. Newspeak is the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year”. Through this quote, it is easy to interpret that ‘Newspeak’ is merely used to restrict the freedom of expression.

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Living through the first half of the twentieth century, George Orwell watched the rise of totalitarian regimes in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Soviet Union. Fighting in Spain, he witnessed the brutalities of the fascists and Stalinists first hand. His experiences awakened him to the evils of a totalitarian government. In his novel 1984, Orwell paints a dark and pessimistic vision of the future where society is completely controlled by a totalitarian government. He uses symbolism and the character’s developments to show the nature of total power in a government and the extremes it will go through to retain that power by repressing individual freedom and the truth.

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Orwell wrote the Juvenalian satire, 1984 in the year 1948, as during the time period the world was recovering from the effects of war. INGSOC was the political philosophy adopted when the socialist party began to rule, the use of language was a common pathway for a government to manipulatively control their people. Newspeak, aims to eliminate any thought opposed to the party, which was an allegory of the ways in which World War leaders attempted to manipulate their people. Newspeak establishes all the knowledge, meanings and values and ultimately uses it to manipulate the

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How Does 1984 Conform to, or Deviate From, the Conventions of Dystopia, and For What Purpose? 1984 was written by George Orwell in 1948 and it is a dystopian novel. The novel takes place in a futuristic time period in a section of the world called “Oceania”. Oceania is led by the Party, whose leader is Big Brother, and they control everything that happens in Oceania. The Party and Big Brother are constantly watching their citizens through telescreens, which are large screens that are placed throughout Oceania like modern day surveillance cameras.

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