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Imagine you live in a dull, dark city where everyone happens to be brainwashed to only worship and love a figurative leader that feeds you lies constantly. No one can think, say or do what the government deems inappropriate, most speech, thought, and actions, or you will face death. This is how the citizens in Oceania live. In 1984 by George Orwell, Winston, the main character, lives his life in the predominant society of Oceania, where no person obtains the ability to think, say, or commit any action that would be against Big Brother, their leader. Winston realizes that what the Party does is strictly counterfactual and he does not believe in it, which ends with him getting caught and tortured with his worst fear of rats until he is forced to admit his love to Big Brother. The Party gets so caught up in having all the power possible that no person can have free thought or show any sign of individualism, and the Party will send out lies to make the non believers believe again. The lack of individualism and feeding of lies can …show more content…
lead to a sense of dehumanization and brings the society down as a whole without the citizens knowing. In 1984, all citizens of Oceania are brainwashed down to almost nobody at all, only being able to worship and love Big Brother, and are not treated like actual humans. The people’s language slowly gets destructed down to nothing so they can not express him or herself. Syme, one of Winston's colleagues, speaks to Winston about how exhilarated he feels that Newspeak, the new Oceanic language, will soon take over. No citizen realizes that how “the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought”(p. 46) truly mutilates not only his or her life, but the society as a whole. People like Syme who work to destroy words and narrow all thought think that Newspeak improves all of society because “In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.” (p. 46), but in reality, fewer words results in less expression of the citizens, making it easier to brainwash them to love the Party. The process of destroying words down to only two or three gives the feel that all of the people are robots, and not worthy of proper treatment. The Party tries to get rid of all individual thought so the citizens will only know to love and worship Big Brother. The citizens in Oceania are programmed by the government to only believe what the Party says, while the Party acts as if the people in their society are robots, not capable of anything but being slaves of the Party. After being reprogrammed by the Party, Winston gets a slate to write “the truth”, or the Party’s truth, and began to contemplate that “anything could be true. The so-called laws of nature were nonsense. The law of gravity was nonsense” (p. 229). No citizen in Oceania knows if what they were being told and shown by the Party resembles truth or not. It almost seems that the true ideals are deemed false by the Party, and any ideal believed to be false in the real world holds surmised in Oceania. Every Oceanian citizen has no sense of falsehood, and since they only believe in what the Party tells them, true or not, every person must believe it or him or her will face torture that soon leads to death. The citizens are being fed lies by the Party to make the people only want that form of government and no other. If one person decides to question Big Brother or any of the Party’s views, that person will face the torture that relates to his or her worst fear, i.e. rats in Winston’s case. Oceania, a city of zombies who are forced follow the highest power, resulting in another sense of dehumanization and zombified feel. The Party will lie to all citizens just to benefit the government, and will do whatever it can to keep the citizens like robots to the Party.
Winston carefully writes in his journal and tries not to get caught by the telescreen. He cautiously thinks about the way the Party works and how it “told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears” (p. 69). The Party tells all people that if they see or hear an article against the government, it’s false. It also makes sure to reassure anybody who doesn’t fully believe in it. As if telling lies to Oceania is unfortunate enough, The Party will also feed lies to the ones who do not believe it. The citizens of Oceania cannot tell that what they are being told and shown are lies, causing them to think that the government is a great power. With the citizens having no sense of wrong from right, the society is brought down, as the people cannot fight or defend themselves for the lies the Party feeds
them. Throughout all of 1984, the Party fuels lies to all of the citizens and allows no freedom or individuality whatsoever. The Party not allowing any freedom and feeding lies brings the society down as a whole. Not only does the Party show lies to all citizens, but will also tell every non-believer to not worry, and all the Party states must be true and will not hurt anyone. The feeding of lies causes all citizens to be dehumanized, as they are not able to have free thought, act, or speech. The text has importance because it shows all of the problems that can happen with a extremely overly controlling government. Some countries today have unnaturally controlling governments and allow no individuality, such as Russia, and the people are suffering without knowing. A lot of citizens, in Oceania and real life, enjoy this type of government they have because that’s all they’ve ever known, but free countries are able to tell that it is not a healthy lifestyle. 1984 shows that many problems can occur within a government that is helicoptering, such as the citizens minds becoming weaker, and a feel that they are brainwashed down to where each person is valueless. And of course, that city from the beginning seems even worse now.
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
George Orwell creates a dark, depressing and pessimistic world where the government has full control over the masses in the novel 1984. The protagonist, Winston, is low-level Party member who has grown to resent the society that he lives in. Orwell portrays him as a individual that begins to lose his sanity due to the constrictions of society. There are only two possible outcomes, either he becomes more effectively assimilated or he brings about the change he desires. Winston starts a journey towards his own self-destruction. His first defiant act is the diary where he writes “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER.” But he goes further by having an affair with Julia, another party member, renting a room over Mr. Carrington’s antique shop where Winston conducts this affair with Julia, and by following O’Brien who claims to have connections with the Brotherhood, the anti-Party movement led my Emmanuel Goldstein. Winston and Julia are both eventually arrested by the Thought Police when Mr. Carrington turns out to be a undercover officer. They both eventually betray each other when O’Brien conducts torture upon them at the Ministry of Love. Orwell conveys the limitations of the individual when it comes to doing something monumental like overthrowing the established hierarchy which is seen through the futility of Winston Smith’s actions that end with his failure instead of the end of Big Brother. Winston’s goal of liberating himself turns out to be hopeless when the people he trusted end up betraying him and how he was arbitrarily manipulated. It can be perceived that Winston was in fact concerned more about his own sanity and physical well-being because he gives into Big Brother after he is tortured and becomes content to live in the society he hated so much. Winston witnesses the weakness within the prole community because of their inability to understand the Party’s workings but he himself embodies weakness by sabotaging himself by associating with all the wrong people and by simply falling into the arms of Big Brother. Orwell created a world where there is no use but to assimilate from Winston’s perspective making his struggle utterly hopeless.
"For every text a context" and only through referral to the non-literary world can we understand the motivation behind the literary. In a time of Nazism, Stalin and Civil War in Europe, Orwell's disillusionment towards politics and society rapidly increased and his ideas and criticisms were published in various essays regarding politics and literary traditions. When he became unwell towards the end of his life, he wrote 1984 as an expression of both his own views and as a parallel to Zamyatin's We, a novel concerned with Russian communism and portraying a very similar storyline. He "characterised the ordinary man as a victim." ; he viewed humanity as whole to be inside Jonah's whale, to "feel no impulse to alter or control the process that [they are] undergoing." This passivity of existence was the chief example from which he was able to draw the lack of individualism and the virtual extinction of it in his literary land of Oceania.
Human beings are renowned for both their benevolent and malevolent qualities. However, when it comes to a human being and their self, it is a different story. It varies among individuals, some of them are exceptionally confident with themselves whereas others suffer from low-esteem. The way a person perceives themselves determines how they apply their personal beliefs. However, in many cases, when a person is presented with a dilemma, they will often try not to adapt to a situation and attempt to keep their character. Even when going through intense pressure, individuals will attempt keep their personalities in order stay true to themselves. George Orwell, a prominent English literary
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.
Society Dies When Individuality Dies. Conformity plagues one’s existence and stature in today’s society. Due to government intervention in citizens’ daily lives, many writers have questioned the morality of conformity in a society by the means of control. When control becomes rampant, fascist and totalitarian governments are formed, and because of the rise in fascism and totalitarianism, many people are led to conform to social ideals. Therefore, George Orwell critiques conformity within society through the use of Big Brother, Proles, and Winston.
In the novel 1984, written by George Orwell, there is a place called Oceania where the government is Big Brother. The government, the Party, and the Thought Police are constantly oppressing the citizens of Oceania. Most of the people don't know that they are being oppressed, but the two main characters, Julia and Winston, realize the oppression and don't stand for it. Winston and Julia absolutely hate the Party, and are constant breaking its “rules”. Julia is self-centered and resists the Party by doing rebellious acts that only affect her in a positive way. Similarly, Winston also does small acts of rebellion in the beginning of the book in ways that only relate to him. Later, Winston rebels for a greater cause, joining the Brotherhood to
The word emotion is recognized in today’s society as a natural, instinctive state of mind deriving from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others. With this perception in mind, one can hypothesize that living in unsustainable, corrupted conditions can be the result of man feeling desensitized and unattached from society. Likewise, if a man were to live in a utopia, his emotions would reflect that of happiness, contention, and a sense of belonging. Winston, the main character in Orwell’s 1984 is a prime example of what control and isolation can do to the human mind. Him, as well as the masses of Oceania share monotony in not feeling raw emotion; their mental states of being are controlled and altered by a totalitarian, power driven
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...
George Orwell uses Winston to represent truth in a deceptive world in his novel 1984. In Oceania, Big Brother is the omnipotent and all powerful leader. Everything the government dictates is unquestionably true, regardless of prior knowledge. Even thinking of ideas that go against Big Brother’s regime, or thoughtcrime, is punishable by death. Winston serves as the dystopian hero, longing for freedom and change. Orwell uses Winston to emphasize the importance of individual freedoms, as they give us the ability to fulfillingly lead our respective lives.
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.
The Machiavellian Theorem becomes the sole tactic to survival in Oceania. In order to become a member of the Brotherhood, Winston agrees to commit all the carnage that Big Brother has raged on his people. (Orwell, p.180) With angst to be rid of his oppression, Winston has lost his sense of humanity. He now believes that his end justifies his means. Although he believes he resists internally to the Party, his mentality has inevitably been brainwashed by acts of sabotage, and all that O’Brien had to do to corrupt him was to direct his hate elsewhere. The Inner Party develops intricate ways of attacking a person at their personal weakest, and using their various instruments, can break down body, mind, and soul. Although this novel is merely Orwell’s political speculation, it opens the doors to the many possibilities and outcomes of uncontrolled power in vulnerable societies.
The perspective of one’s reality is limited to one’s mind; if one controls their mind, then one can control that person’s world. This is the ideology by which the Party survives. The citizens of Oceania live with the knowledge that every aspect of their lives is being observed and controlled constantly. This is seen visually with the use of the telescreens and the thought police. Winston explains life under the control of Big Brother as so, “You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in
George Orwell’s novel 1984 is based on a society ruled by a totalitarian government that prohibits independent thought in order to conform the society. Emotional manipulation and torture is utilized in the book to control all of Oceania into believing what the government wishes its people to believe. Although propaganda is apparent all throughout Oceania instilling specific ideas, some individuals, like Winston, oppose the party’s thoughts questioning the information that is presented to them. After Winston is caught for committing his acts of rebellion towards the Party, he is continually tortured in hopes that he will be “cured.” In George Orwell’s book 1984, the Party effectively tortures Winston through both physical and psychologically
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.