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How does 1984 explain the dangers of totalitarianism
How does 1984 explain the dangers of totalitarianism
1984 novel totalitarian governments
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In George Orwell’s 1984, the people are told that freedom is slavery. By being completely free, you become a slave to your own mental state because you become more vulnerable to your emotions. You are aware and free of all your feelings and this can be destructing because of different opinions. The Party fears everyone being completely free because this will give them the ability to speak and act out against the government because this will risk their power being taken away which is why they use doublethink so people will believe their freedom makes them a slave.
In George Orwell’s 1984, the people are told that freedom is slavery which is using doublethink. The most commonly used form of doublethink the Party has liberated into the people's mind is their slogan: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength. “In the end, the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it.” (83)
In 1984, the people of Oceania are told that freedom is slavery because, by the society living by this, the Party will maintain their power over others. The party believes that by people truly being free, their power
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will diminish so to ensure this won’t happen they have to enforce things including the Thought Police, Room 101 and the Ministry of Love, as well as Telescreens. In the novel, Thought Police are secret police in the state of Oceania who is in charge of finding and punishing thought criminals. These are people who say things that the Party does not approve of. This police monitor all of your actions and find anyone who has committed crimes against the party including speaking out, not enjoying party activities, and simply even thinking bad about Big Brother and the Party. The Party is presenting that freedom is slavery by instating the thought police because it has brainwashed the society into thinking that speaking their thoughts and opinions is wrong because judgements could be threatening to the Party if they get exposed for their dictating leadership over Oceania. They have made your thoughts to be a crime. The party wants everyone in the society to stay loyal to big brother and not think or act against him. You don’t have the freedom to speech or thought because if you do something to show you’re against the party, you will face the consequences of thoughtcrime. The quote, “Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death.” (42) shows how serious one single thought could be. All of your actions are monitored by the thought police. This makes the people of Oceania alert at all times because if they know they are being watched, there are fewer chances of them doing something against the Party because they fear the consequences of thought crime. This fear of being fully free is represented by the quote, “No one who had once fallen into the hands of the Thought Police ever escaped in the end. They were corpses waiting to be sent back to their graves.” (79) The consequences of being free are so virulent that they believe their freedom makes them a slave. They are afraid of their own freedom because one wrong thought can send them to their grave. The Thought Police gives the Party more control over the people In Oceania because they are controlling to what extent someone can think and speak to. This gives them control of everyone’s freedom because they are limiting an individuals privilege. The people were given the example of Emanuel Goldstein who had his own opinion against Big Brother and believed in freedom of speech, press, assembly and thought. The Party has shown this man to the public as an enemy and traitor which evoked fear because it shows the people they shouldn’t end up like him if they act on their feelings, once again persuading them freedom is a bad thing. The novel introduces Emanuel, “As usual? The face of Emmanuel Goldstein, the enemy of the people, had flashed onto the screen” (25) Emanuel was the face of The Two Minute Hate which brought out a rage in people in a way to strengthen the public’s view of the Party. The Thought Police make people fear and view their freedom as a bad thing, convincing them it does, in fact, make them a slave as the Party is representing. The Ministry of Love uses fear, brainwashing, and manipulation to enforce love and loyalty for Big Brother to those in the society who have acted out against him. Once you’re caught by the Thought Police for thought crime, you are sent to the Ministry of Love. Inside this ministry, there is room 101 which has to be what is said to be that one of the worst things inside in the world. The people in Oceanian are convinced that their freedom is so bad that it might even be worse than being a slave; you have to face your worst fears and other terrible circumstances in Room 101 if you allow yourself to have freedom. In the novel, it is shown how brutal the Ministry of Love really is despite the ironic name it is given, “Ministry of Love was really frightening one. There were no windows in it at all. Winston has never been inside the Ministry of love, nor with a half a kilometre of it. It was a place possible to enter except an eye on official business, and then only buy pants reading through a maze of barbed wire entanglements, steel doors, and he did machine gun nest. Even the streets leading up to its outer barriers room by gorilla-faced guards and black uniforms, armed with jointed truncheons”, if the people fear the building for its exterior, they will make sure they do nothing to actually be put inside a place like such. O’Brien explains, “You asked me once, what was in Room 101. I told you that you knew the answer already. Everyone knows it. The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst in the world.” (3.5.7-or4) This invokes more fear into the society because you face terrible consequences for doing bad things so being free must be bad if it puts you in brutal circumstances; so the people believe, freedoms slavery. Everybody will continue to do with the Party says and be careful about what they think and express because they don’t want to face what Room 101 might hold for them. These consequences of being free to speech and thought are so brutal that Winston was willing to give up the women he loved to take his place, “ There was only one way to save himself. He must interpose another human being, the body of another human being, between himself and the rats.” (3.5.21). If you are willing to give up another person to go through pain because it is too intolerable for you, you will have no choice but accept what the better option is - in this case, Winston regains his love and belief in Big Brother because after being tortured, he was rebuilt like O’Brien said he’d be, “There are three stages in your reintegration. There is learning, there is understanding, and there is acceptance.” (0) Winston at this point learnt, understood, and accepted the freedom was slavery, that it was wrong. Winston had to believe that the Party was right when they said that you are a slave to your freedom because the Party has made your freedom seem like a crime; if you act on your freedom you will suffer tremendously. This leads you to continue to believe what the Party is telling you because you have experienced that being free to your feelings opens you to your senses and weaknesses and the Party has convinced you those emotions are wrong - like a crime. Like the Thought Police, telescreens are used to limit the people of Oceania’s freedom. By everybody knowing that they are constantly being watched and heard, they will feel like freedom is truly slavery because you wouldn’t be being watched closely at all times unless it was to ensure unapproved things wouldn’t happen. The Party has unforced these surveillance tactics that make everyone feel like they are in danger of their own thoughts, “It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a screen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tick, and unconscious look of anxiety, the habit of mattering to yourself – the only thing that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face to look incredulous what a victory was announced for example was itself a punishable offence. There was even a word for it and you speak called Facebook prime it was called” (1.5.65). People knew they had to be careful about every small reaction because all their feelings had to be what the Party approved of. This way, the Party has eyes on everyone at all times so they can keep a watch on everyone to make sure nobody is thinking something bad against the party; something the Party does not approve of. The way Winston put this, “ The party told you to reject the average of your eyes and ears.” (84) shows that the people are being deceived because even if they see something, they can’t believe it unless the Party has said it themselves. The society’s freedom lies in the hands of the Party and can only go to an extent the Party is okay with. Being a slave gives you restrictions and you are essentially controlled by something or someone. In this case, you're a slave to your freedom because you are controlled by your emotions that bring out vulnerability and weaknesses. Because being free made the people in Oceania a slave, they were always more alert when they were acting on their freedom and allowing themselves to do whatever they want despite the Party having forbidden it. They knew they were being watched all the time, “don’t go out into the open. There might be someone watching. We’re all right if we keep behind the boughs.” (129) so they were extra careful. This proves freedom is slavery in the 1984 Novel because if they were truly free without being a slave, they wouldn’t have to hide when they acting upon their own personal wishes. The telescreens are a very efficient way for the Party to keep track of what all their citizens are doing to ensure their power will remain over the society. With everyone living in fear of their every move thanks to the telescreens, the Party already gets more power because they know everyone will be on high alert of what they say, think, and even how they simply react. Freedom is Slavery is shown constantly throughout the dystopian novel by people not being able to follow their mind and will because it can lead to and decisions and outcomes.
The Party and Big Brother have settled that freedom really is slavery by using tactics like telescreens and thoughtcrime to stop people from acting out, having a group called proles who are free but the Party has shown them to be the weakest people, having consequences in The Ministry of Love, being sent to Room 101 for using your freedom that they are not allowed to have, as well as the brotherhood who are free but have to hide that they are expressing their thoughts. These things limit everyone’s freedom; by everyone following a certain line of order that the Party approves, the Party remains in power without people realizing the Party is
corrupt. Freedom is slavery because so long as everyone is restricted, the Party remains free.
Phrases from the novel 1984 such as, ¨ War is peace,¨, ¨ Freedom is slavery,¨, and ¨ Ignorance is strength,¨ are all examples of doublethink. Evidently, these quotes are all completely contradictory to one another, this also occurs in the poem, ¨ No one died in Tiananmen Square¨. A phrase from the poem constantly stating, ¨ No one died in Tiananmen Square,¨ when in reality about several hundred protesters were gruesomely murdered. In the poem, it also claims, ¨ Despite all their attempts to subdue the rioters, the troops were forced to open
Paradoxes are an important part of George Orwell’s 1984 because the story revolves a lot around The Party and The Party uses three slogans which are paradoxes. Although the Party’s paradoxes are a main part of the story one can believe that Katherine’s paradox is more important than The Party and it shouldn’t be overlooked. Katherine’s paradox is with her husband because they’re basically forced to be married because of The Party. One can believe this is a more important paradox than The Party’s slogans because it shows an actual relationship that isn’t following The Party’s specific rules and The Party’s slogans are for the common people so it’s not as specific as Katherine and Winston’s relationship.
“The way of paradoxes is the way of truth.” Oscar Wilde, Irish novelist and poet, was a man of many paradoxes, a statement that may initially imply contradiction, yet can bear immense meaning and purposes when pondered. He, along with many others, believes that through their use much truth can be told. For example, George Orwell, the author of 1984, creates an intricate, well developed society living in alignment with an all-important slogan consisting purely of paradox. The novel, set in a 1980s dystopian society, focuses on Winston Smith, a member of the Outer Party who consistently disobeys the totalitarian government known as INGSOC ruled by Big Brother.
The novel, 1984, by George Orwell, depicts a dystopian society where no freedom exists; not even the freedom of thought. The scene takes place in Oceania, a society in which the ruling power called “the Party” strictly controls everything people do: from the way they speak, to how they move, to their very own thoughts. Winston Smith, the main character of 1984, struggles through the day to day life of having to blend into the brainwashed citizens of Oceania, where monitors called telescreens record and analyze every little movement. Anyone not showing signs of loyalty and homogeneity become vaporized, or in other words, cease to exist and become deleted from history. Tired of his constricted life, Winston decides
... middle of paper ... ... 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.
George Orwell once said, “Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship” (217). This quote talks about how dictatorships are created by a means of revolutions. The Party rises to power by surpassing a former governmental system with their own revolution of Ingsoc and ultimately establishing a “dictatorship.” In George Orwell’s 1984 the reign of the Party by means of intense surveillance, restricting human rights, and ingenious psychological manipulatory actions suggests that freedom cannot be attainable in such a dystopia.
When George Orwell’s epic novel 1984 was published in 1949 it opened the public’s imagination to a future world where privacy and freedom had no meaning. The year 1984 has come and gone and we generally believe ourselves to still live in “The Land of the Free;” however, as we now move into the 21st Century changes brought about by recent advances in technology have changed the way we live forever. Although these new developments have seamed to make everyday life more enjoyable, we must be cautious of the dangers that lie behind them for it is very possible that we are in fact living in a world more similar to that of 1984 than we would like to imagine.
“No one is free when others are oppressed” (www.civilfreedoms.org) said Aishah Shahidah Simmons who is a producer and a writer, probably not knowing the relationship between the quotation and George Orwell’s novel 1984. The quotation explains that when some people are being oppressed or denied of their right without any relevant reason, the remaining people are not free. Connecting the quotation to the novel it means that when Big Brother is oppressing someone from Oceania the other citizens of Oceania are not free. Big Brother misuse their power by denying the people of Oceania from their rights, they also use newspeak and non-written laws to suppress the people of Oceania and they use their power to change history and control information. Modern totalitarian leaders and Big Brother misuse their power to oppress people by denying them of their individual right. This is significant because every human is meant to be given their right without discrimination but when the leaders are denying
There is a powerful quote stated by Bob Dylan “No one is free, even the birds are chained to the sky.” This rings especially true in the fictional land of Oceania, one of the three super continents envisioned in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984. Orwell depicts a land where no one is free and everyone is part of a brainwashed biomass of people. This unknowing public is constantly bombarded with propaganda such as the two minutes of hate, which as Winston Smith describes “creates a hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness” that turns “one even against one’s will into a grimacing screaming lunatic” (14) it is not surprising that the members of the Party and even those who are not become passive followers. This
George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 follows the psychological journey of main character Winston. Winston lives in a utopian society called Oceania. There, the citizens are constantly monitored by their government coined “Big Brother” or “The Party”. In Oceania, there is no form of individuality or privacy. Citizens are also coerced to believe everything and anything the government tells them, even if it contradicts reality and memory. The goal of Big Brother is to destroy individual loyalties and make its citizenry only loyal to the government. In Orwell's novel 1984, he uses Winston's psychological journey to stress the dangers of individuality in a totalitarian regime because it can result in death. Winston’s overwhelming desire to rebel
“The first thing you must realize is that power is collective. The individual only has power in so far as he ceases to be an individual. You know the Party slogan: "Freedom is Slavery". Has it ever occurred to you that it is reversible? Slavery is freedom. Alone—free—the human being is always defeated. It must be so, because every human being is doomed to die, which is the greatest of all failures. But if he can make complete, utter submission, if he can escape from his identity, if he can merge himself in the Party so that he IS the Party, then he is all-powerful and immortal. The second thing for you to realize is that power is power over human beings. Over the body—but, above all, over the mind” (Orwell 273). O’Brien argues that the Party and “Big Brother” had control over reality externally due to the fact that nothing exists outside the mind, and in cases of freethinkers, they would be taken care of by the teachings of “doublethink”. Doublethink is the power to hold two completely contradictory beliefs, for example holding up four fingers and claiming that you have five up, and simultaneously making one accept both of them. So if a society was entirely based off of the idea of doublethink as it’s way of forcing lies and reasons of hate on people, then it could work. But the one counter-argument to that
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 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...
To illustrate, the ending of 1984 is supposed to be an example of what can happen if government gets too much control. Specifically, the book's conclusion portrays Winston Smith sitting in a café thinking about his time in the Ministry of Love where he was tortured for rebelling against the party. Winston revolted against the government for several reasons, but the main one lies with his hate for the party. No one else influenced him to do this, therefore Winston had total control over his actions. As an example of this, Winston stated that “We are enemies of the party” (Orwell, 170). This means that he openly hates the party and wishes to defy them. This statement proves that he wanted to and had the freedom to make the choice to defy them, although his decision did get him killed. Despite the possible repercussions, he still went through with it because he had free will to do it; it was not until the party discovered him did he lose his free will. To put this into perspective with today's society, if the United States removed all the rights that Americans have now, then it would not stop people from defying the government’s actions of removing free will. Individuals will still break the new laws to keep their liberties, no matter the consequences. Therefore, today’s society will never lose its free will as long as there are people willing to keep
Big Brother is able to dominate his citizens through serious manipulation and effort, all of which is used to reach the goal of attaining all of the power. In Winston’s work at the Ministry of Truth being one of the ways I which the government attains power. The goal of the Ministry of Truth is to change history. By controlling our views regarding the past, the government is able to control how the future develops. Power is persuasive, and by using power effectively, the citizens of Oceania are persuaded that their friend yesterday is now the enemy and so on and so forth. Big Brother also gains power through the implementation of Thought Police. These Thought Police are used to control the citizens and cut down anyone that is not in 100% conformity. Lastly, the Ministry of Love is the final piece in Big Brother’s power-retainment strategy. The Ministry of Love is the last straw of sorts for the government. At the Ministry of Love, you are either manipulated into becoming a mindless government follower, imprisoned for life, or killed. With this trifecta approach the government takes in retaining power, it is now wonder why there is no hope for rebellion or change. Big Brother has and will forever hold all of the cards. The power will be forever