Can someone truly believe something that they know to be untrue? In the book 1984 by George Orwell, a man named Winston Smith is a member of the ruling party in London. He lives in the nation known as Oceania where he is watched by telescreens by the figure known as Big Brother. The novel takes us through the struggles and risk of living under a Totalitarian government. Winston must find a way to express his rebellious nature, which he accomplishes through his sexual relations with Julia. Throughout 1984, Big Brother attempts to manipulate and brainwash Winston and the public through various methods such as torture and fear, however this could never truly work. One technique that is used in 1984 to brainwash the people is torture. People who …show more content…
worked for the party would ask a victim what two plus two equaled and would beat the victim until they answered “five.” In this situation, torture would push that particular person to conform to society and the leading party. This means that person would have 2 options, either keep his life and conform with society, or die. This person could be led to either truly believe that two plus two equals five, or to simply lie and say they believe it to save their skin. In the end of the book, Winston is tortured after he gets caught for his rebellious actions towards the party. O’Brien tortures him with the goal to get Winston to love Big Brother, which for a while he refuses to do. Finally, O’Brien tortures him so badly to the point where he betrays Julia, something he said he would never do. Not only this, but after the whole situation, Winston sits in a coffee shop thinking about his newfound love for Big Brother. In this scenario, Big Brother was able to brainwash Winston to the point where he actually believed that Big Brother was good. According to the events in the book, the government is able to use torture to brainwash the people of London. “Changing” history is also a technique that the government uses to try to brainwash and control its people.
No one can truly change what happened in the past but in 1984, Big Brother tried. All that can really be done, in an attempt to change history, is change what people are being told. Winston altered a record from a speech in 1983, which referred to comrade Withers, one of big brothers former officials who had since been vaporized. Since Withers was executed as an enemy of the Party, it was unacceptable to have a document praising him as a loyal Party member, so Winston created a person named comrade Ogilvy and replaced Withers’ name with Ogilvy’s. Ogilvy does not exist therefore history did not actually change however, other than those whom already knew the truth, everyone will now think that Ogilvy was the enemy to the party. Another controlling technique is changing the dictionary. Winston talked with a man named Syme, a Party member who worked on a revised dictionary of Newspeak, the official language of Oceania. Syme tells Winston that Newspeak to take out words from the dictionary to render thoughtcrime impossible. They figure if there are no words in a language that are capable of expressing independent, rebellious thoughts, no one will ever be able to rebel, or even to conceive of the idea of …show more content…
rebellion. Citizens are manipulated in 1984 through privacy. Or lack there of. This inflicts fear, which can be controlling. If we went through life knowing that we nothing we say or do is going to be kept private, society would be completely different. People would keep everything in and just like in 1984 the government would have complete control of everything. Just imagine not being able say what you feel about anything or not being able to do anything in private. You wouldn’t be able to do anything without watching your back. that would get to your head and some may think that it would make things safer and better but others would argue that they feel unsafe without privacy. Like in a ted talk we watched some people think they do not need privacy but in reality without it it would be anarchy. Just because you have nothing to hide doesn’t mean you don’t need privacy. In 1984 “Big Brother” takes all of the citizens privacy rights away and it ends up badly. Information can only be known if someone is told it.
Therefore, a government can lead its citizens to believe something that is not real as long as the people do not already know the truth. So although people can admit to believing that 2+2=5 they will truly know that it does not. As people are told information by the government they believe it because they are hearing it from a hierarchy. When people hear things from someone who is more successful or in theory have more power than them they will most likely believe it. In 1984 the government is telling these people what they should believe and they are listening because they never knew anything
else. Many techniques can be used to control people to do what you want. That is the whole point of blackmail, inflict fear or the possibility of fear to scare people into doing what you want them to do. In 1984 the party is essentially blackmailing all their citizens. They are telling them to believe certain things or else life will not be pleasant for them and they will be tortured. All the changing of history,torture, saying “2+2=5” and lack of privacy are just a few of the ways that the party tries to make control the minds of the citizens and what they believe. Even though they may appear to comply and believe all the things that the party is telling them, inside they know that they are being lied to. Fear can be controlling.
The novel, 1984, written by George Orwell, gives readers an insight to a possible frightening future where one government has complete and definite control of the people. But “control” might not be the term to describe such a rule. The Party dominates every aspect of life. There is not a single thing that is not under the Party’s rule. Feelings, history, language, statistics, and even human nature are submissive to the Party. They corrupt the mind so much that there is no longer a line that separates truth from a lie. Slogans are repeated through telescreens on a daily basis so the people are gradually forced to believe in illogical statements. Upon first glance, it may seem that a 1984 society is not even imaginable in the world we live in currently. But is it really logical to make such an assumption so quickly? Do we know that what we see on the news and read in our history textbooks is completely accurate? The Internet is one of the most powerful technologies our world has, consisting of an insurmountable amount of information, which is not always what it seems. Ultimately, there are so many things that we do not know, some of which is being held a secret from us. Modern day society shockingly has evidence of a transformation into a menacing 1984 society because of similar government actions and abuse of advanced technology.
George Orwell once wrote, “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” In Orwell’s 1984, he establishes a government centered on universal deceit to expose the impact of such controls on the citizens, specifically, the revolutionary, Winston. Winston Smith is introduced as a worker of the Ministry of Truth, where he, as well as many others, work to alter or destroy any pictures, pieces of written work, art work etc. that may cause citizens to question the power or truthfulness of their government. Although Smith performs proficiently at his job and complies with the rules of this society, he, unlike most others, sees the lies and manipulation imposed on the citizens of Oceania by Big Brother and attempts to deceive
The book 1984, by George Orwell is based on the theory of “Big Brother” and how he is always watching you. In the book, the Oceania government controls their citizens by saying and ordering them into not doing certain things. Which then forced their citizens to deceive their government by going in to hiding. When Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, Japanese-Americans were ordered to do certain things as well. Both of these two events prove that the government can force their citizens to do anything under their power. I think some parts of the government abuse the right of their power and manipulate their citizens into doing unlawful events.
Today’s modern world may not be exactly like 1984, but there are some issues that are very similar to it. Some of the biggest issues that is becoming compromised today is the issue of privacy, which in the book 1984 was something that the people did not have much of because of things like telescreens. Not only is our privacy compromised but the government is also being too controlling. Ways today’s privacy is being compromised are through things like game consoles, phones, social media, and drones and not only is our being compromised through these things but the government is also gaining too much control by compromising our privacy.
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.
But where did that knowledge exist? Only in his own consciousness, which in any case must soon be annihilated”(Orwell 36). Winston knows that the party is imposing lies onto its citizens, but he feels as if he is the only one who realizes it. Although it may not be true, Winston feels as if he is all alone in his belief that the past is composed of lies. If the government could erase the past, they could control the present, and possibly the future too. If they kept brainwashing their people, everyone would always just except that the party was right and that they were wrong. Without any clear proof of this incident, Winston is stuck with a theory, but not proof, so he cannot make anyone else believe it. This cause him to feel alienated and like no one else will ever understand him. Winston believes that if a person’s memory can be altered, than lies can trump the truth and the truth becomes just a distant memory. This is how the Party controls their people. Because of the constant feeling of desperation that the government bestowed in Winston, he became an outcast and was forced into
In 1984 however, the manipulation which takes place is much more prevalent in the modern world. 1984 features manipulation on a grand scale. Nearly everything that the citizens of Oceania know about The Party is quite possibly a lie fabricated by the government to keep the populous content and working hard. Production statistics, war reports, arrests, and all means of propaganda are all created to manipulate the people to keep them ingenuous to the injustice they face. This is much more present in modern society, as on a constant basis, some new corruption scandals are uncovered.
I strongly agree with Fromm’s viewpoints and interpretations of Orwell’s 1984 text. He warns that the future federal powers will dehumanize society and leave everyone alienated. Thus, I agree with Fromm to the extent that he acknowledges the fact that humanity can indeed cease to exist as a result of our own self-destruction as well as the effect of our actions. Many of his opinions and warnings expressed by Orwell to an extent appear in contemporary society.
War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength. The party slogan of Ingsoc illustrates the sense of contradiction which characterizes the novel 1984. That the book was taken by many as a condemnation of socialism would have troubled Orwell greatly, had he lived to see the aftermath of his work. 1984 was a warning against totalitarianism and state sponsored brutality driven by excess technology. Socialist idealism in 1984 had turned to a total loss of individual freedom in exchange for false security and obedience to a totalitarian government, a dysutopia. 1984 was more than a simple warning to the socialists of Orwell's time. There are many complex philosophical issues buried deep within Orwell's satire and fiction. It was an essay on personal freedom, identity, language and thought, technology, religion, and the social class system. 1984 is more than a work of fiction. It is a prediction and a warning, clothed in the guise of science fiction, not so much about what could happen as it is about the implications of what has already happened. Rather than simply discoursing his views on the social and political issues of his day, Orwell chose to narrate them into a work of fiction which is timeless in interpretation. This is the reason that 1984 remains a relevant work of social and philosophical commentary more than fifty years after its completion.
In the dystopian novel 1984 written by George Orwell, Winston Smith, a lower class male, encounters various psychological struggles in a nation known as Oceania. Big Brother, the leader and head of the totalitarianism government party, is the face of the nation. In 1984, the government uses a variety of mental mechanisms as an implement to influence and distort the minds of its citizens. This book was written in the 1940’s, the time of Orwell’s illness and the aftermath of World War II. In 1984, Orwell uses mental manipulation of emotional desires to modify and revise citizens’ personalities. This revision causes people, such as Winston, to lose their identities by refraining from feeling or acting as and for themselves due to constant interference.
Nineteen Eighty-Four was written in the past yet seems to show very interesting parallels to some of today’s societies. Orwell explains many issues prominent throughout the book in which his main characters attempt to overcome. He shows how surveillance can easily corrupt those in control and how those in control become corrupt by the amount of power. Those with power control the society and overpower all those below. The novel shows what could potentially happen to our current society if power ends up leading to corruption.
The totalitarian government in the novel “1984” is well-known for going to extreme measures to control its citizens. The party is capable of doing so by controlling how citizens communicate, employing technology and even dictating how their time is spent. One of the novel’s many themes is: the party believes a human being can be broken down psychologically until one is easily fooled or robot-like. However, regardless of how harsh a government treats its citizens the novel also suggests that it is significantly hard to brainwash someone. The government has to go to incredible lengths to get into one’s mind to that extent. This creates a difficult task because the Party’s methods are subtle and take time. Winston, throughout the entirety of 1984,
It is certainly amazing how a person can change in a short amount of time. Throughout the duration of the book 1984 by George Orwell, Winston, the main character of the story emerges from a rebel against the totalitarian government, to a man who sees hope, and lastly to a person who completely changes his opinion. These things are shown by how Winston starts out as a dreadful man, then, he begins a relationship with a girl named Julia and his view on things change, and lastly, his thoughts on Big Brother turn into something good. From these points, the warning or point Orwell is trying to make is very clear, the government can eventually become too powerful. This results in how Winston had changed throughout this novel.
Knowledge and Truth is a major factor in the plot behind 1984 by George Orwell. In this dystopian society that Orwell created no one knows what life was like before the Party rose to power. The Party takes total control over this aspect of the people. When Winston says “And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed – if all records told the same tale – then the lie passed into history and became truth.”(1.3.34-35). This means that the Party decides what is right and what is wrong. They choose what part of history to fabricate or erase and what lie that the Party wants the people to believe. Since there is no other evidence of life before the Revolution the people only believe what the Party informs the people on what happened before
The government uses propaganda throughout Oceania in order to convince the citizens that they are constantly being watched. Although constant surveillance is not plausible, the citizens are made to believe it is. “The most obvious manipulation of citizens through language is the placement of posters stating "Big Brother is Watching You" throughout the state, convincing people that they are indeed being constantly watched for any behavior the government considers subversive” ("George Orwell's "1984"). This is just a way for the government to strike fear into the citizens in order for them to more easily control them. Another way that the government manipulates the citizens is through the rewriting of history. The Ministry of Truth is in charge of rewriting history so that it is impossible for the citizens to understand the past and therefore do not see anything wrong with it. “The concept of historical truth is irrelevant: truth, and history, becomes what the Party wants it to be. Winston Smith himself takes part in this, rewriting the news: he therefore knows that the details of the past have been tampered with, and is unable to discern or discover what the truth might be” (Whiting). Since the citizens are unaware of the past, they are unable to draw concrete conclusions and can not identify any problems. Just like the