In the novel, 1984 by Gorge Orwell, was published in 1949. The novel depicts a society that is being controlled and manipulated by a totalitarian government with absolute power over everyone and everything. The citizens of Oceania are under constant watch by Big Brother and the party. The government monitors and controls everyone’s life including the involuntary process of thinking. To think is to break the law. But how do they even know if someone is thinking? Well, they installed telescreens in every household which was meant to keep a watchful eye on everyone. If their facial expression is from the ordinary, then they were considered to be thinking which will then cause them to get a visit from the Thought Police. But why don’t they want …show more content…
anyone thinking? Thinking was a form of rebellion. The government felt that if someone thought carefully about everything, all the news articles, history reports, etc. then they will realize they have been deceived. Lied too by the very government, that is supposed to be superior. They don’t use the telescreen only to focus on people’s facial expression, they also use it to monitor everyone’s action. For instance, in chapter 3, Winston is doing his daily exercise and begins to think about his past, but while he is trying to remember the telescreen yells at him. “‘Smith!’ screamed the shrewish voice from the telescreen” (46). To think one single person can monitor everyone. This is a tad impossible to do with a large population, so there might be multiple people working for The Party, Big Brother and or Government. The Party has many techniques to use in order to remain control of its citizens, but one of them that caught my attention is manipulation and the distortion of history or facts.
As the Party slogan would say “‘who controls the past,’ … ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past’” (book 1. 3. 44). They change the past so that it corresponds with what they want the public to believe. So, to control the change of documents gives them a higher hand and power over everyone’s exposure to the media. Seems familiar? Our newly found President, Donald Trump, is trying to do the same thing. Anything on the internet, news, blogs, etc. that don’t fit to his liking, even though they consist of fact, are considered to be fake news. If that is not alarming, then hopefully this is. He also lies, he does his best to deceive others by posting pictures with “factual statistics” on crime rates and other things. He says things about what he would do to other races causing many far-right groups (racist groups) to be on his side. However, Oceania’s government activities of hate are different. They have a Two Minute Hate thing that is only 2 minutes long of the government showing Goldstein face. Goldstein was considered to be a traitor to the city and to Big Brother. When they captured him, he escaped which is why they do the Two minutes of hate. The Party wants to make sure everyone hates him as much as they do. They want to make sure that no one will follow his footsteps
and cause an uproar or revolution. They have many forms of manipulation throughout the book. One of them was seen right off the bat, in the first chapter. “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” (3). This slogan was seen on posters on every wall in the city. Crazy as it may seem, “he” actually was watching them. This was put there to scare everyone into doing the right thing. No matter where they went they were being watched which meant a simple act of disloyalty would be seen in a heartbeat. One of the main characters, named Winston, tries to test the Party’s power and control over everything. He does subtle and very noticeable crimes causing him to be tortured. Little does he know that he will become part of the past. A non-existent character/ citizen that disobey and rebelled. He will be labeled as a traitor and maybe, just maybe, they will put him as the new face of Two Minute Hate. It goes to show, the only way to control a city or state is to produce fear within everyone.
Diction: While George Orwell used fairly simple and uncomplicated diction to tell the story many of his words still have a very powerful diction. In the first chapter the protagonist Winston is attack by the smell of “boiled cabbage and old rag mats”. This is the first indication to the nature of the living conditions of our protagonist. However, Orwell also uses his diction to create the atmosphere of Oceania with lines like “the world looked cold. Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no colour in anything”. These lines contain powerful words like cold, torn, and harsh and these worlds help paint the picture of what kind of story we are reading.
Unlike our government in the United States, we actually have freedom of speech, press and petition unlike in 1984 where you could be killed for speaking and acting what is not in the regulations and could be sent to room 101 and sent to the labor camps where bad things happen to you. “We’re getting the language into its final shape- the shape it’s going to have when nobody speaks anything else. When we’ve finished with it, people like you will have to learn it all over again. You think, I dare say, that our chief job is inventing new words. But not a bit of it! We’re cutting the language down to the bone. The Eleventh Edition won’t contain the language down to the bone. The Eleventh Edition won’t contain a single word that will become obsolete before the year 2050” (51). The quote explains the kind of power that Big Brother can expose to the citizens of Oceania and goes to show that changing the language and not being able to speak in a certain way takes away the number one right people have and that is to free speech. Just like the United States does and I am pretty sure the rest of the world does, there should be a clear line between too much government control over to little government control. When the government starts having too much control is when they start going above and beyond the citizen’s health and safety. A quote from 1984 states that “war is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” Which basically explains that the only way to have peace is to start a war, freedom is slavery because in 1984 being your own person and being free was a crime so was having your own opinion because of all the propaganda they tried forcing down everyone’s threats the party expects you to act and think in a certain way. Ignorance is strength because in the world of 1984 rebelling was the worst thing you could do, being
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
In the book, the thought police are a secret group of people in the society, the people of the society are not sure who is apart of the group. It could be a co-worker or a neighbour, the goal of the thought police is to take out people in the society who hate Big Brother or the party. While, “Children are encouraged to turn their parent into the Thought Police.” (Mcclinton- Temple) and neighbours are also encouraged to also do the same. The party wants to eliminate anyone who is against them, even if it means children turning their parents into the thought police. Telescreens help the thought police, “These permit Thought police to observe all citizens to see that they are responding in a desirable manner—hating enemies and loving Big Brother. ("1984." Novels for Students.)”. The telescreens are key because the thought police are able to prosecute anyone who hates big brother or the party. The crimes committed are known as thought crimes, and “People have to be made to disappear too if they commit thought crimes, which the thought police are to control. (Davis)”. Speaking out against big brother or just doing anything that the thought police could are not fond of could be a thought crime and be prosecuted for it. “Dissension and rebellion are not permitted, and those who speak against the government and the Party are branded as traitors
In 1984, the manipulation of the body is an effective practice that oppresses a population. The Party maintains absolute control over Oceania’s citizens by manipulating their physical state to better repress them. This leads to them being more about their own pain and physical well being, thus distracting them from the suffering that is happening in the world around them, and distracting them from thought of rebellion. The Party uses physical manipulation via overworking them to exhaustion and torture methods.The Party keeps their citizens in a state of exhaustion as they are easier to control, as the narrator explains while Winston works in the Ministry of Truth:
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
Throughout history deception has been one key factor into killing democracies. For example, in 1984 a book written by George Orwell describes what the world would be like if people lived without democracy and what kills democracy. In 1984 deception has blinded the people of Oceania to the truth. As people live in fear and deception their minds start to believe it's true. The deception being the propaganda, hate rallies, and forced beliefs that Big Brother is right in what they are doing. Another example would be social media today. This is one of the greatest examples of the truth being lost in the purpose of views and likes. While all choices involve costs in a democracy, the main cause to the corruption of democracy is the truth is expendable
1984, a novel by George Orwell, represents a dystopian society in which the people of Oceania are surveilled by the government almost all the time and have no freedoms. Today, citizens of the United States and other countries are being watched in a similar way. Though different technological and personal ways of keeping watch on society than 1984, today’s government is also able to monitor most aspects of the people’s life. 1984 might be a dystopian society, but today’s conditions seem to be moving towards that controlling state, where the citizens are surveilled by the government at all times. The 1984 community provided many ways to surveill its citizens, one being The Thought Police.
It is not an easy feat to control an entire population such as Oceania. They must monitor their people through the use of telescreens, microphones, and cameras 24 hours, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year, to prevent the spread of “false” information, that is not part of the party’s strategy. Not only do they monitor their people, they control the media, control their emotions, control their feelings, and they instil fear into the people; who do not conform to the Party’s beliefs. The people of Oceania believe that they will be taken, tortured, and/or vaporized by
Every human being has natural rights that can never be taken away. In an attempt to create a world where every person if offered a fair opportunity to live life, the United Nations passed a bill called The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in 1948. The document outlines the all the rights provided to everyone in the world, despite age, gender, religion etc. Civil liberties including, right to life, liberty and security of person; the right not to be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family or home; and right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, are incorporated in the Declaration. Despite the positive moral of the implemented civil rights, there have been numerous instances when essential civil liberties have been taken away from innocent people. By taking away natural rights from other people, the offenders attain the desired power and control. In the book, 1984, George Orwell presents the idea of how the world would become if all natural rights seized to exist. The omnipresent ruler of Oceania, named Big Brother, seizes all the natural rights of the citizens, to gain unconstrained power over everything and everyone. Big Brother’s dominants the lives of the citizens by strongly executing the idea of ‘mind over matter’ or doublethink to control the minds of the people, by the creation of groundbreaking technology to control the actions of the citizens and by controlling and modifying the English spoken and written language to express authority over freedom of thought and speech. The combination of the three methods helps Big Brother to create a never-ending rein on the minds and hearts of the citizens of Oceania.
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.
Because of the freedoms enjoyed in the United States, a dominate totalitarian government where thinking freely is penalized by death is difficult to envision or comprehend. In George Orwell's novel 1984, the main character, Winston Smith experiences firsthand the limitations imposed by the Inner Party on language and several other aspects of daily life in order to subdue Oceania' citizens and hamper any freedom of expression. The inclusion of thought-provoking themes concerning the manipulation of language, history, and minds serves as an admonition for the future.
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.
In the novel 1984 by Orwell, an extremely controlling totalitarian government called The Party, rules the society. They have introduced Telescreens which monitor your every movement, conversations and any other action. The citizens of Oceania, located on Air Strip One, are psychologically manipulated to believe in the three main slogans of the party: ‘War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength’ (1948, Orwell). The citizens of Oceania are so brainwashed that they don’t question anything the party tells them or any new law they make. Thought crime occurs when someone does not fully agree and follow what the Party has said. People who commit crimes become unpersons; therefore, they stop existing, and any record of their existence is erased or they can be sent to the ministry of truth, where The Party will try to break them, and force them to love Big Brother. This is very relevant because in order to serve justice which according to them is having everyone love the Party and nothing else, everyone else must be eliminated or brainwashed. The use of technology in this novel is very important because it is the main way in which justice is carried out. Telescreens, microphones and cameras cover the whole nation. Every conversation is recorded and every action is taken note of. The government will make anything to keep their power.
The struggle for complete domination and power has been apparent in the past, most notably when Germany and Russia conflicted to maintain control in World War 2. In 1984, written by George Orwell, a totalitarian society seeks unlimited power by constantly monitoring it citizens. This monitoring was used to manipulate the minds and alter the thoughts of the people of Oceania. The population of Oceania is led to support ideas, which they do not truly believe. The lack of privacy and personal belief in citizens induces the idea of “doublethink”, where two contradictory ideas are both accepted. This is utilized by George Orwell to demonstrate political power and dominance. The Party forces the people to believe that “WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY,