Noah Miller English Honors: D Ms. Hiller 13 December 2013 1984 Major Essay Assignment Individualism is the one side versus its opposite, collectivism, that is the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups. When put into a collective whole, one might do for the whole more than one does for oneself. This collective whole is easily controlled and manipulated. Society has always been troubled by the idea of overpowering control. In George Orwell's 1984, humanity is dominated by an extreme government whose intent is to abolish all aspects of freedom. Orwell indicates that when subjected to mass propaganda and intimidation, the ignorant majority’s memory and concept of truth are distorted, making them extremely malleable and subservient. The Party employs slogans to convince the ignorant that what they want is what they already have. “WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH, “ (Orwell 4). There is no desire for freedom, because they are told it is slavery. If freed, they would be unhappy and would not live the way in which they do. In doing so, society is to believe that war establishes peace and serenity. Just changing a few small items in history can alter human belief. By constantly feeding the people fraudulent information and hiding the truth, the Party can get the people to believe almost anything; eventually leading to complete dominance over the mind. Orwell argues that society is completely oblivious to the constraint that is involved in every day life. There is no individual in society and that everyone remains the same. “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?” (46) Not only does a limiting of words show society that by controlling methods of co... ... middle of paper ... ...time, reality becomes unclear, and when unclear, one might look upon the past for answers. When individuals in a society are isolated from one another through communication, it becomes extremely hard for an individual to not conform to insanity. This sort of insanity is sane because everyone else is insane; it is brought to the conclusion that such an individual is normal. It is very important for one to maintain a sense of uniqueness in order to have relations with one another. When oppressed by a Party that takes away basic inalienable rights, publicizes false information, and each individual has a common knowledge of consequences that they might receive from thinking, it is extremely difficult to maintain a sense of reality. Orwell proposes that when an individual faces all of these prohibitions, they are easily manipulated into psychological enslavement.
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.
Rather, it contends that when government is unrestrained in the form of totalitarianism, as exemplified by the Party of Oceania, it can by nature exist only to serve itself. This argument serves as Orwell’s warning against the dangers of totalitarianism; it is so corrupting a force that it can hide behind claims of good intentions, but ultimately exists only to accumulate its own power. Furthermore, since a totalitarian drive for power constitutes a total control of its citizenry and a political structure that necessitates its existence, as shown by the military strategy of the Party, Orwell warns that once a truly totalitarian state is in place, there is no possible way to overthrow it or turn back from it. Ultimately, Orwell sees a government that is so distorted it has become completely self-serving as the largest threat, defining his view of totalitarianism and the themes of his
The point Orwell is trying to get across is that this mistreatment of the working class is not tolerable and must be disbanded (121). His solution to the problem is Socialism. He wants to show that a Socialist society can be implemented globally and benefit especially the lower classes. The problem he faces is that Socialism is quickly being phased out of the conversation and being replaced by the likes of Fascism (171). He is convinced that a Socialist movement is inevitable and a “historic necessity” (172). One problem he addresses is the correlation in the minds of the people to Socialism and Communism (175). While Communism is about control over the people, states Socialism is about justice, liberty, and receiving better wages for fewer hours while having no one bossing you around (176). Orwell even goes to the extent of saying that Fascism is a product of Communism (187). The biggest point Orwell attempts to give in my opinion is that there is no way the ideals he seeks (mentioned before as justice, liberty, etc.) cannot be achieved without a Socialist movements he calls “progress” (214). The “progress” he speaks of includes the de-centralization of power in the class system and the progression of machines and other means
...n truly liberated presenting individualism as an observed, controlled experiment of the Party. The message portrayed by Orwell's treatment of individualism is that it doesn't exist because it can't exist in the politically stifling environment being created in the time and place he was living. As O'Brien tells Winston: ."..if you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - for ever."
First of all, Orwell’s concept seems to somewhat true for many people with Trump as a President of the United States; however, if the concept is fleshed out, Orwell’s concept is nowhere to be
In doing this, the Political Party is in complete control over the citizens’ minds, blasting what they want each individual to think (Orwell, 6). They psychologically stimulate each individuals mind, limiting their ability to think and have a mind of their own. In a similar way, Stalin’s created “The Poster” and The Pravda (the Russian newspaper controlled by the government during Joseph Stalin’s regime) to twist and manipulate the minds of people into believing that what they were saying was absolutely right and true. Using this power, Stalin and his regime would get people to do anything for them. (Basgen, 2010).
Psychological manipulation the Party uses on the citizens is one of the first themes Orwell exposes in this dystopian society. The Party maintains this manipulation by constantly overwhelming citizens with useless information and propaganda.
This is accomplished in three ways. The first is revisionism, or the act of changing facts such as history so that the Party is always made to look good and mobilize popular opinion against its enemies. The second way the party creates an artificial reality is through artificial scarcity. There is no need for the constant warfare, but if the need no longer existed for the construction of the tools of war, that productivity would instead be put towards the manufacture of goods which could actually raise the standard of living. Finally the Inner Party controls the masses by creating an all powerful omnipotent being whom they control and can say or order whatever it is they need.
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...
“Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past.” This is the slogan that the Party conforms to in George Orwell’s novel, 1984. In this story, the citizens of Oceania are controlled and manipulated by a form of totalitarian government known as the Party. The Party withholds and alters the past to further their own goals and keep their citizens ignorant and under their control. Under totalitarian rule, all power is taken from the people and all knowledge is withheld or altered. The citizens are manipulated into thinking only one way, in order to impede rebellion. The concept of freedom is entirely abolished.
Keeping the public uneducated essential to their credulousness. Orwell explains, “The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible . . . literally unthinkable,” (246). If the public is unable to think of rebellion, then rebellion is unfeasible. The Party has invaded every citizen 's right to choose, including their right to think. As the ability to think decreases, so does the ability to create. Without the invention of new ideas, society will never be able to advance; they will forever be stuck in the oppression
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.
In George Orwell’s novel, “1984”, the setting is in a place called Oceania, a dystopia. A dystopia is a usually imagined place that is far worse from reality, and its opposite being a utopia, an ideal place.Orwell imagined a world with new advanced technology, such as a telescreen, a TV that observes the ones watching and a world that consists of three megastates rather than hundreds of countries.In 1984, Orwell comes up with a new form of English called Newspeak, which the totalitarian government uses to discourage free thinking, without words to express an idea, the idea itself would be impossible to achieve, the government can control people through their words.
“"Propaganda is as powerful as heroin, it surreptitiously dissolves all capacity to think” by Gil Courtemanche connects to the sad fact of using propaganda as a deadly weapon to feed people with false information and stop them from thinking. George Orwell’s novel, 1984, describes a totalitarian dystopian society where the Party is constantly brainwashing its citizens with information that is beneficial to its own rights. On the opposite side, people are working for the party just like dominated slaves for their masters without knowing what’s going on. But, in order for the party to achieve this goal, they have to use different techniques of propaganda in Oceania to create fear for people so that they can obey the rules. The use of propaganda in the society of 1984 takes away freedom from individuals because of the absence of privacy, thinking and making decisions.
Leaders are often feared when they abuse their leadership and status which causes their citizens to become silent. For example, in the novel 1984, by George Orwell, the author criticizes totalitarian governments through diction and repetition which conveys a harsh tone that demonstrates that totalitarian governments manipulate citizens by forcing false facts into their minds and conditioning them to always question their own thoughts which leads citizen to become blind to the truth. For example, “...twisting everything he said” (Orwell). The strong diction of “twisting” connotes a distorted shape and denotes pain and change of ideas which reveals that leaders sometimes destroy the distinction between memory and facts which eliminates the citizens ability to see the truth. When citizens are unsure of their own knowledge, they do not speak up against corrupt leaders. Leaders can change society by positively or negatively with their decisions and