Abuse and Use of Power in 1984 1984 is a novel that is filled with abuse of power and how it affects the individual and the society around it. This paper is about how the power hungry Party abuses their power and how it affects everyone around them. Nineteen Eighty-Four is also about association in all its forms: the sexual union, marriage, the formation of the family, the choice of friends, and the consent of the community. In 1984, the Party or the government are always finding ways to make themselves seem as the more absolute power than any other being or country. They do this by making rules that they feel help them, but they also say that there are not any laws. One prime example of how they enforce the laws they want is when it states, Orwell’s Book is less an examination of any kind of Utopia than an argument, carried on at a very high level of intellect, about power and corruption (113). In 1984 there are very many instances that someone is forced to make a decision by being scared into making the choice this is implied by Julian Symons (“Nineteen Eighty-Four Is About the Misuse of Power”). One instance in the novel rats were brought into a room in a wire cage and feeling the risk of being attacked by them Winston surrendered his adoration for Julia( Orwell 114). This novel is filled with absolute tyranny of a government who wants everything to favor them and they want it to seem as if they are never in the wrong. Throughout the novel they are constantly referring back to their dialect of Newspeak and how their language will be the dominate and no other dialect will be spoken in just a few short years one way that the novel is supported by this is Ms. Symons implemented this by telling us it is a smothering, stifling world in which to live. It is a world in which each word and each contemplation is censored… Free speech is unthinkable (“Nineteen Eighty-Four is About the Misuse of This is supported in text in the article “Nineteen Eighty-Four 60 Years Later,” the will to power is easy to understand but the will to obey is the problem we have as humans and as a society. This can relate to today’s society in many ways and also to many people in this world. Some of today’s leaders want absolute power and the generation of today have a rebellious mindset to not listen to anyone who is in charge in the end having this kind of mindset could be helpful if another nation ever decides to attack but today’s society should be wise on who they should not and who they should listen
1984 was written as a warning to the western countries about having a totalitarianism government which is refers to a system of government in which lawfully electes representatives maintain the integrity of a nation state whose citizens, while granted the right to vote, have little to no participation in the decision-making process of the government. The author felt like these countries were not able to find tactics to withstand the communism that was being taken placed. When the book was written in 1949 the Cold War had not yet broke out, and most people supported the diplomacy with the democratic communism. The author found the cruelty that was committed in the communist countries very disturbing, and the technologies that were used to help these countries control the citizens intriguing. This book tells how a complete government controlled country could be. Warning those who lived during this time to that if they did not want this to happen then they better vote against totalitarianism.
In Conclusion, 1984 is a novel that represents a called government. The government is taken over by “The Party”. The Party seeks to gain complete obedience from the people of Oceania. The main goal of the Party is to eliminate independent thought. The book is surrounded by psychological manipulation. Everything that happens throughout the book is government related and tends to manipulate some people of Oceania. Since their government is totalitarian they seek absolute power towards their people. This shows warning of what might happen id our government becomes too powerful, the party is trying to avoid any sort of rebellion from the people.
...en into organizations that brainwashes and encourages them to spy on their parents and report any instance of disloyalty to the Party much like Orwell’s experience in the Civil war. The fact that a portion of the populations suffered poverty while others bathed in wealth reinforces the strong hierarchal system imposed. Orwell’s attitudes surrounding sociocultural context are prominent throughout 1984 and strengthens the invited reading that power is problematic.
In George Orwell’s dystopian novel, the government blocks almost all forms of self-expression in order to assert its authority over the people. Those within the society who show signs of defiance against the set rules, even those who act unwillingly, are seen as a threat to the success of the regime are wiped from existence. In Orwell’s 1984, the government uses different forms of propaganda and brainwashing to achieve complete control of society for their own personal benefit.
These examples display the inevitable fact that all over the world subtle but significant events are taking place that appear to signify a shifting toward a totalitarian government, much like the one present in 1984. This is extremely disturbing because most people will agree that the life lived by the characters in 1984, is not one of any value. Though they are “protected” from several of the problems that many of the free world citizens and officials face, they have no control over their thoughts or actions. This leads to unbearable uniformity. It is chilling to know that though George Orwell’s book was written as fiction, portions of it are becoming factual.
“WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.” Part 1,Chapter 1,pg. 6. These three principles were repeatedly emphasized throughout the book and helped lay the foundation of the dystopian society George Orwell imagined in his novel 1984. Fear, manipulation, and control were all encompassed throughout this dystopian society set in the distant future. The freedom to express ones thoughts was no longer acceptable and would not be tolerated under any circumstances. Humankind was rapidly transforming into a corrupt and evil state of mind.
In 1984, George Orwell explores the many facets of a negative utopia. Orwell seems to focus on the measures that the government takes to maintain a public of plebeians who have no personality or identity and believe that they are not unique individuals, but instead are part of a greater senseless mob of people who constantly work for a hostile and oppressive government which is involved in incessant wars. These people are taught to love. They then learn to fear their government because they believe all of the propaganda that is constantly instilled into their minds. They willing follow their government without contest for the duration of their meaningless lives. The government controls all forms of the media (thus denying the people the basic right of free speech) and use it to personify the government (known as “big brother”) .The government therefore seems omnipotent, or all knowing and always correct. Forecasts are changed from one week to the next always proving the government was correct. As was mentioned before, many of the rights that present day Westerners take for gran...
1984 is a novel written by George Orwell, the main theme of the novel is about how totalitarian society can control every aspect of a person thought, sexuality and action. Totalitarianism can be define as a repressive one-party that has total control over people thoughts and actions. In 1984, people are being control totally by the Party through device such as the telescreen. People are stripped away from their freedom to do things that they want. The Party wants people to only focus on improving the Party and set everything else aside. Love is nonexistent in this government and the Party’s policy strictly forbids sex. The Party restrains people from falling in love with one another. Consequently, people cannot display their love for each other out in public. Furthermore, sex for pleasure can be considered a crime in 1984’s totalitarian government unless it is “celibacy”. Goodsex is any kind of sex that is allowable by the Party with the intention to reproduce. Goodsex will increase the total population. The more people the Party has the stronger the Party will be. Repression helps the party and hurts the people who have to tolerate the Party’s policy. The Party’s repression of sexuality helps them eliminate people who are trying to corrupt the Party, ensuring the Party that they have control over what people can and cannot do. By repressing people thoughts and actions the Party is psychologically manipulating people and physically restraining them.
The year 1984 has long passed, but the novel still illustrates a possibility for the future of society. It still remains a powerful influence in all sorts of literature, music, and social theory. George Orwell envisioned a nightmarish utopia that could have very easily become a possibility in 1949 ? the year the novel was written. He managed to create such a realistic view of humanity?s future, that this story has been deemed timeless. There will always be the threat of totalitarianism, and at some moments civilization is only a step away from it. Orwell hated the thought of it, and 1984 shows that. From his work, readers who live in prevailing democratic society have a chance to consider about these very different political systems, democracy and totalitarianism.
It was clearly evident in the storyline of 1984, and was an outlining theme of Milgram’s experiment. Authority has always been with us; its laws are instilled within us. Most times, we know what is right and what is wrong. It is wrong to steal, and authority punishes us for doing so. It is wrong to disobey the government, and authority again punishes us for doing so. These truths are imposed upon us. Authority not only dictates the way we act, but it also changes our outlook on life. Ordering someone to apply shocks to another person is one thing. Making someone change the way they have viewed the world their whole life is something that authority has the power to make you do.
In the novel 1984, George Orwell predicts the world’s future, when human rights, such as freedom of speech, do not exist anymore. Everyone has to obey the government. The government controls its citizens’ lives. No one speaks up against the government yet because they do not even have a chance to make up a thought about it. The government dominates the citizens’ thoughts by using technologies and the thought polices to make sure no one will have any thoughts, that is against the government. George Orwell wrote:“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows,” (Orwell.2.7.69) the government tries to control Winston knowledge and change it to fit into the purpose of the Party. To Winston, O’Brien said: “Whatever the Party holds to be truth is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party.” (Orwell.3.2.205). As a citizen, no one get to look at or tal...
The Party redirects society’s desire for sex to obsessive dedication to Big Brother. Two Minutes Hate, marches, constant propaganda and public executions pave a manipulative path for the government. In 1984, sex is not a pleasurable act but merely a means to reproduce more party members. Chastity and pent up desire also serve a purpose in that, “the Party attempts to sustain in its members a state that permanently anticipates pleasure and then channels that energy for its own purposes"(Trihol). In this society, passion is converted into love for Big Brother. Constant supervision and sex crimes help to maintain sexual activity as a political act. The natural human instinct is influenced by the government, for the government. Because sex produces private allegiances, the Party must regulate these public norms and use them as fuel for...
Orwell shows how those who do not conform will end up being taken down by those with the power, and there is not much anyone can do about that. Those who believed in change and tried to change the society only ended up meeting failure as majority rules, those with more power will overpower the weak and succeed. Works Cited Wilcox, Cody, and Cody Bahler. The "Internet Censorship" North Korea and the Kim Dynasty. N.p., n.d. Web.
Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell, is a superb novel with outstanding themes. One of the most prominent themes found in this novel is psychological manipulation. Citizens in this society are subject to ever present signs declaring “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” (Orwell 1). Along with psychological manipulation, physical control takes place. The Party not only controls what people in Oceania think, but what they do as well.
...sely points out to the reader’s attention that “The state doesn’t seem to have much power either to limit unemployment or put down violence, what we have to fear is our own ignorance.” (Bloom) The real literary merit of “1984” is that although one might feel it to be exaggerated today; the idea that anything can happen, like the extermination of an entire race or the adoption of radical ideology is always a possibility and to prevent this one must always be vigilant so that history does not repeat itself.