1984 compared to cults

2221 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The nature of george orwell 1984

In the book 1984, written by George Orwell, there is a group portrayed that is similar to what society would call a cult. A cult is defined as a religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader. Totalism is described as the principle of complete and unrestricted power in government.
The books main themes include language as mind control and psychological and physical intimidation and manipulation. In the book, the people live in a city which is very out of the ordinary and also overseen by a charismatic leader, Big Brother. This society, portrayed by George Orwell has all the elements of a cult-like and totalist society.
Oceania, which is the Americas, the Atlantic islands including the British Isles, Australasia, and the southern portion of Africa, is where Winston Smith lives in the book 1984. Ingsoc, newspeak for English Socialism, is the political ideology of Oceania. “War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength,” is the slogan of Oceania, which is displayed on the pyramid of the Ministry of Truth. The Ministry of Truth is where they change books to reflect the party’s ideology. “The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliché. The most far-reaching and complex of human problems are compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. These become the start and finish of any ideological analysis” (Lifton). Big Brother used this method to break down the party’s complex theories and put them into one phrase. “War is peace” is the part that keeps all the people of Oceania united. Big Brother makes the people of Oceania think that they are in a state of constant war. By making the people think this, the people stay united against the other countries that “threaten” them. “Freedom is slavery” is used to scare people into remaining loyal to Big Brother. The party is saying that anyone who strays from Big Brother will surely fail. “Ignorance is strength” means that the inability of the people to realize how the party is keeping power is how the party stays in power.
This type of language puts people on a leash and the more they repeat the party’s sl...

... middle of paper ...

.... These men called him Christ, which translates into “Chosen One”. Another example of religions starting out as a cult is Buddhism. Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, also known as Buddha, who rejected the principles of Hinduism and found acceptance for his new ideas among a group of disciples. Big Brother never claimed to be the chosen one because he wasn’t taking power for religious purposes.
They called him Big Brother because the name sounds like he would be one to protect his people, but he is just brainwashing them. Big Brother uses the same methods of control that are used by every cult and totalist leader. He uses lies to convince the people that he is protecting them, but he is just putting them on a leash that gets smaller and smaller with each day. He prevents the flow of information within Oceania just like cults makes their own newspaper and books. Not one person has left Oceania and came back to tell about it because if anyone left, they wouldn’t even be able to realize that all they’ve known is false. Now I understand Orwell when he wrote, “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

Show More
Related

  • Pow Camps In Unbroken

    564 Words  | 2 Pages

    During World War II American soldiers who were caught by the Japanese were sent to camps where they were kept under harsh conditions. These men were called the prisoners of war, also known as the POWs. The Japanese who were captured by the American lived a simple life. They were the Japanese internees of World War II. The POWs had more of a harsh time during World War II than the internees. While the internees did physically stay in the camps longer, the POWs had it worse mentally.

    Read More

  • World War II - Australian Prisoners of War in Japan

    977 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Burma-Thailand Railway was a place where prisoners were sent to work during their time in captivity. The Japanese treated the prisoners they held captive horribly. In doing this they ignored the rules of the Geneva Convention set up many years previously and they forced most prisoners to work on the Burma-Thailand Railway where they were starved, diseased or beaten to death. The Japanese officials did not supply the camps with enough food or medical equipment to help enough of the sick and injured prisoners survive and became responsible for the deaths of over 2,700 Australians during a period of only 12 months.

    Read More

  • 1984 Summer Assignment

    1093 Words  | 3 Pages

    Big Brother - Big Brother is the enigmatic dictator of Oceania. In the society that Orwell describes, everyone is under complete surveillance by the authorities. The people are constantly reminded of this by the phrase "Big Brother is watching you", which is the core "truth" of the propaganda system in this state. In the novel, it is unclear if Big Brother is a man or an image crafted by the Party. In a book supposedly written by the rebel Emmanuel Goldstein, it is stated that nobody has ever seen Big Brother. His function is to act as a focusing point for love, fear, and reverence.

    Read More

  • 1984 By George Orwell

    1084 Words  | 3 Pages

    Things to know: 1984 was a book written about life under a totalitarian regime from an average citizen’s point of view. This book envisions the theme of an all knowing government with strong control over its citizens. This book tells the story of Winston Smith, a worker of the Ministry of Truth, who is in charge of editing the truth to fit the government’s policies and claims. It shows the future of a government bleeding with brute force and propaganda. This story begins and ends in the continent of Oceania one of the three supercontinents of the world. Oceania has three classes the Inner Party, the Outer Party and the lowest of all, the Proles (proletarian). Oceania’s government is the Party or Ingsoc (English Socialism

    Read More

  • Jonathan Spence´s Mao Zedong

    1446 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mao Zedong will forever live on history as a revolutionary, not only in China but across the globe. There are very few communist nations today because of the many difficulties of having a homogenous population, which shares the same ideals. Mao was able to modernize and re-socialize his citizens in a short amount of time. He defined himself as the face of change in China. Mao’s vision of equality for all Chinese citizens has still not been achieved but it is well on its way. The only question lies in, does the end justify the means.

    Read More

  • Ignorance In 1984

    2276 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the novel 1984, George Orwell describes a dystopian society called Oceania. It is one of the three super states in the world and is controlled by an imaginary leader, Big Brother. This society is lead by a totalitarian Party that controls the society by enforcing their slogan onto their people: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery and Ignorance is Strength. These slogans are encrypted into everyone’s brain as a way to manipulate them and make them believe they live in a fair, just society. In 1984’s Oceania, the slogan “ignorance is strength” plays a massive role in the Party’s manipulation of the society.

    Read More

  • Internal and External Conflict in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)

    907 Words  | 2 Pages

    The book, 1984 by George Orwell, is about the external conflict between Winston Smith and Big Brother; and the internal conflict between the two ideas, democracy and totalitarianism. Orwell wrote the novel to show society what it could become if things kept getting worse: he sensed of the expansion of communism when he wrote the novel. The conflict between democracy and totalitarianism at the year of 1945 created two characters, Winston Smith and Big Brother, in orwell's mind. Big Brother is the embodiment of all the ideals of the totalitarian party. In contrast to Big Brother, Winston Smith keeps the idea of democracy emphasizes freedom, he has to hide his own thought because the Big Brother's party will punish him by death if the party finds it out. George orwell criticizes of Big Brother's society by describing it as a dark and a gloomy place. It warns that people might believe that everyone must become slaves to the government in order to have an orderly society, but at the expense of the freedom of the people.

    Read More

  • George Orwell’s 1984 and Stalin’s Russia

    2134 Words  | 5 Pages

    ... Therefore, Big Brother’s regime and Stalin’s regime are similar. In each scenario, each party implements a psychological and physical manipulation of society through the control of information and language with the help of technology. George Orwell’s 1984 psychologically and physically manipulate society through the control of language and information. The Party controls all the activities and all the information reaching the people.

    Read More

  • Concentration Camp Research Paper

    1651 Words  | 4 Pages

    Living conditions in these camps were absolutely horrible. The amount of people being kept in one space, amongst being unsanitary, was harsh on the body.

    Read More

  • Psychological Manipulation in 1984

    1923 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Jonestown

    2195 Words  | 5 Pages

    Cults have existed throughout history since the beginning of time. A cult is defined in Webster’s dictionary as a “system of religious worship with a devoted attachment to a person, principle, etc.” Over the past thirty years numerous religious cults have caused “ tens of thousands to abandon their families, friends, education’s, and careers to follow the teaching of a leader they will never meet”(Beck 78).

    Read More

  • 1984 Dehumanization Analysis

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1984, George Orwell presents an overly controlled society that is run by Big Brother. The protagonist, Winston, attempts to “stay human” in the face of a dehumanizing, totalitarian regime. Big Brother possesses so much control over these people that even the most natural thoughts such as love and sex are considered taboo and are punishable. Big Brother has taken this society and turned each individual against one another. Parents distrust their own offspring, husband and wife turn on one another, and some people turn on their own selves entirely. The people of Oceania become brainwashed by Big Brother. Punishment for any uprising rebellions is punishable harshly.

    Read More

  • Government Control In 1984 By George Orwell's 1984

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    The novel 1984 by George Orwell presents the readers an image of a totalitarian society that explores a world of control, power, and corruption. The main idea of government control presents itself in the novel by protecting and listening to the people of Oceania. However, Orwell suggests giving too much power to the government is a mistake because eventually the decisions they make will not be about the people anymore but rather themselves. In 1984, the power and corruption the party has is overwhelming for the people. There are no ways around the beliefs of the Party, the party attempts to control and eventually destroy any mental or physical resistance against their beliefs. The agenda for the party is to obtain mind control over its people and force them to adore their leader. The methods the Party uses to achieve its goal are: the use of constant propaganda and surveillance, the rewriting of history, and Room 101.

    Read More

  • Mao Zedong

    1137 Words  | 3 Pages

    More murderous than Hitler, more powerful than Stalin, in the battle of the Communist leaders Mao Zedong trumps all. Born into a comfortable peasant family, Mao would rise up to become China’s great leader. After leading the communists away from Kuomintang rule, he set out to modernize China, but the results of this audacious move were horrific. He rebounded from his failures time and again, and used his influence to eliminate his enemies and to purge China of its old ways. Mao saw a brighter future for China, but it was not within his grasp; his Cultural Revolution was not as successful as he had wanted it to be. Liberator, oppressor, revolutionary, Mao Zedong was the greatest emancipator in China’s history, as his reforms and actions changed the history of China and of the wider world.

    Read More

  • Identity in 1984

    2487 Words  | 5 Pages

    By enforcing these simple laws and regulations, the government is able to keep a tight grip on its people, with few ever releasing themselves from its grasp. Winston Smith, on the other hand, seeks to know the truth behind the government, he is constantly questioning everything and repressing all the ideas forced upon him. Winston “seeks truth and sanity, his only resources being the long denied and repressed processes of selfhood” (Feder 398). All identity is gone in this place called Oceania, and for the sake of Big Brother and its continuous control of the people, it will never exist again. In 1984, the absence of identity strips the people of all creativity and diversity, as well as takes away any chance the society has to advance as a people or in the area of technology.

    Read More

More about 1984 compared to cults

Open Document