Examples Of Manipulation In 1984 By George Orwell

A common belief amongst humans is that seeing or perceiving something through our senses is believing it if we believe it is there then it exists, but can our beliefs be distorted to become what someone else says is real. Can hallucination and distortion become so severe that we see what we are told we see? Through torture and psychological manipulation this horror is possible.

The art of psychological manipulation, as demonstrated in George Orwell’s 1984, consists of several techniques including the concealing of aggressive intentions and behaviors, knowing the victim’s vulnerabilities, sufficient levels of ruthlessness, and no qualms about harming the victim in any way (George K. Simon). Much of Winston’s torture depicts these and other

behaviors, “ sometimes he was beaten till he could hardly stand, then flung like a sack of potatoes onto the stone floor of a cell, left to recuperate for a few hours, and then taken out and beaten again.” (Orwell 241). There are many ways to manipulate someone, both simple and complex, such as positive reinforcement which is presenting a desirable stimulus as a consequence of a behavior. In the case of manipulation it appears as praise, superficial charm, superficial sympathy, or approval. Approval is occasionally demonstrated by O’Brien, “I don’t know. I don’t know. You will kill me if you do that again. Four, five, six - in all honesty I don’t know.” “Better.” (Orwell 252). Forms of torture are also used in manipulation or brainwashing, an example would be traumatic one-trial learning which is using aversive behavior to demonstrate dominance apparent in verbal and physical abuse, conditioning, general displays of dominance, and explosive rage (Braiker). In 1984 the character O’Brien often uses this technique when attempting to “hollow out” Winston, “that was stupid, Winston, stupid! You should know better than to say a thing like that.” (Orwell 263).
In 1984 O’Brien claims that reality is what the party says it is and that reality itself is only in the mind and that through a vicious process it can be tarnished to that point.

This, in fact, is possible and is often a result of being a victim of torturous behavior. Victims of torture such as Winston often experience rather permanent hallucinations or an experience involving the apparent perception of something untrue or not present. Manipulation and torture survivors also often experience other behaviors such as the imagining of behaviors or motives that do not exist, selective amnesia which is recurrent “blanks” about one’s childhood, important events, or people as a form of unconscious avoidance of memories connected to any kind of pain, the justification of distorted concepts, having fantasies of unrealistic attitudes, and interpreting others as fantastical or prophetic. Winston experiences many of these behaviors both pre- and post- torture which can be seen in his inability to really remember his mother or much of his childhood or his fantastical ideas about the proles and the Brotherhood rising up, “if there is hope it lies in the proles…but the proles, if only they could somehow become conscious of their own strength, would have no need to conspire. They needed only rise up and shake themselves like a horse shaking off flies.” (Orwell

69).
Person to person interaction is not the only way someone could be manipulated, mass media often “sugar-coats” and only tells its viewers what they want to hear. In 1984 much of the propaganda is manipulative such as the Big Brother posters posted everywhere, the constantly shifting war, the subtle lies like the “increased” chocolate ration when it was actually decreased. Despite the constant and consistent lies people often believe what they are told when informed by an authority figure, usually because of a lack of assertiveness, and external locus of control which is the belief that events in one’s life are caused by uncontrollable factors such as the environment, other people, or a higher power, naïveté, or over intellectualization.
The idea of a change in our own perceived reality controlled by another person as described in George Orwell’s 1984 is entirely possible. An authoritative figure such as Big Brother could control an individual’s reality through rigorous torture or even subtle forms of manipulation; despite any efforts to avoid it this society full of mindless zombies controlled by a dictative overlord would be empty and devoid of anything real. What, to the human race, is truly real if it cannot be individually perceived as such.