Examples Of Paradoxes In 1984 By George Orwell

Dreams, as vivid and realistic they might be, are not real. No matter how many times a person has the same dream, it does not become real. However, dreams do have meaning. If a person has nightmares consistently, it might mean the person is suffering from anxiety or depression. If a person dreams about a foreign vacation spot, it might mean they want to travel there. While dreams themselves are not real, they do have a role in determining what is real. The same thing could be said for paradoxes. A paradox might not seem real, but by closely comparing the way something is intended to be and the way it truly is, reality can be defined.
The United States might be one of the most paradoxical nations of all. John Steinbeck, in “Paradox and Dream”,

provides paradox after paradox of what America claims to be like, and what America is actually like. “We shout that we are a nation of laws, not men-and then proceed to break every law we can if we can get away with it” (Steinbeck 2). In 2013, according to DisasterCenter.com, there were 9,795,658 crimes committed in the United States, which had a population of 316,128,839 at the time. That means that 32% of the American population committed a crime, if each person only committed one crime. If America is a nation of laws, how is it that almost one-third of the population are criminals? This huge paradox shows us the reality of what America really is; a nation of criminals. No other developed country has as much crime as America does. Had it simply been said that nearly 1 in 3 Americans commit a crime, that does not determine the reality of America. The paradox shows the reality of America, as it refutes the claim that it is a nation of laws with evidence that we are a nation that likes to break laws.
The citizens of Oceania in George Orwell’s 1984 live a life in a world of paradoxes.

They celebrate having a chocolate ration ‘increased’, as the government says, to 20 grams a week, even though they were permitted 30 grams the week before. Children spy on their parents, who created and cared for that same child, and will turn them in to the police if they commit a crime against the government, The overlying paradox in this novel is that the citizens of Oceania devote their lives to the Party and love Big Brother, who in turn oppress and take advantage of the citizens. Of course, the citizens have no idea that they are being oppressed, as the Party can basically control their minds. Oceania is constantly at war, for one reason. “War is a way of shattering to pieces… materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable,,,, the war effort is always so planned as to eat up any surplus that might exist” (Orwell 191). The Party could give each citizen three hearty meals a day, multiple pairs of clothing, and a sufficient amount of personal care items, but that would make life too easy and comfortable for the people who in return devote their life to obeying the Party and loving Big Brother. This paradox can pretty easily define the reality of Oceania; the government does not care for it’s citizens. It might claim they are raising the chocolate ration for it’s citizens, making more clothes for it’s citizens, winning wars for it’s citizens, but in reality, it is doing nothing more than oppressing it’s

citizens.
Living a life of privilege is not something most people are blessed with, even in a developed nation like America. Unlike a typical child born into a wealthy family, Holden Caulfield, however, chooses not to reap the benefits of wealth. His parents send him to some of the best private schools in the nation, which could be assumed to cost a lot of money, yet he repeatedly chooses to simply not give effort and ultimately get expelled. Holden does so because he feels he is surrounded by phonies, yet he is the biggest phony of all. He says, talking about Pencey, “It was one of the worst schools I ever went to. It was full of phonies” (Salinger 185). He fails out of every school, yet he is not a stupid kid. He starts fights with other people like he is a tough guy, but he can’t defend himself. Even if the fact that he wears a hunting hat is only a minor offense, it still proves him to be within his definition of a phony. The paradox here being that Holden makes big decisions revolving around the fact that he is surrounded by phonies, while Holden himself is a huge phony, shows us the reality of Holden’s world.
Defining reality is only possible by looking at the opposing ends of a paradox about the way something is supposed to be, and how it really is. People or places might claim to be one way, but by looking at the contradicting way that they actually are, it is easy to see reality. The citizens of Oceania in 1984 devote their entire lives to a government who they believe does it’s best to provide for them, but in reality, that government oppresses and mistreats their people. The United States claim to be a nation of laws, but in reality, we have more crime than any other nation in the world. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield claims that everyone around him is a phony, but in reality, he is the biggest phony in the entire book. Without searching for paradoxes, reality might not be what as it claims to be.