Examples Of Power In 1984 By George Orwell

Language has an enormous amount of power and its impact simply depends on how it is used and manipulated. For as long as humans have roamed the earth, there has been a constant struggle for control. As Karl Marx (a German philosopher and economist) would explain it; there is a bourgeoisie and a proletariat. The bourgeoisie is the powerful upper class, while the proletariat can be described as the lower class. These aspects of power can also be be clearly seen throughout George Orwell’s novel, 1984. An example of the bourgeoisie in the novel is O’Brien, one of the Inner Party members. The Party is the governing body of Oceania, a totalitarian country in modern day London. Everyone who is not associated with the Party can be described as the

proletariat. Through the course of the book, Orwell gives strong examples of how the bourgeoisie oppresses the proletariat in the struggle for power. In 1984, the bourgeoisie uses the power of language to control and manipulate the proletariat.
Oceania is essentially a totalitarian country, meaning it is based around a system of government that is extremely dictatorial and requires the obedience of all citizens. The official language of Oceania is Newspeak, as opposed to Old Speak, the country's former language. Newspeak serves as “a medium of worldviews of Ingsoc (English Socialism)” (Orwell 300). This system of communication that the Party has invented aims to brainwash and “narrow the range of thought” (Orwell 52) of citizens to make them incapable of thinking for themselves. In Marxist Ideology, the Party represents the idea of a superstructure. A superstructure is ultimately a one way system that controls the means of everything that goes on. The Party’s main goal is to perfect Newspeak so that no one will be able to question the power of the superstructure. The Eleventh Edition of the Newspeak dictionary has gotten rid of words that have unorthodox meanings or are not wanted by Party members. The Party wants to “cut the choice of words down to a minimum” (Orwell 300) in order to decrease the range of thought. They estimate that by 2050, Oldspeak will be replaced in everyday vocabulary.
The Party, being the superstructure, creates political lingo in order to further confuse the proletariat. In doing this, they are able to brainwash them into believing everything that they say, even when it is not true. The Party has slogans that are plastered all over the walls to constantly remind citizens who has all of the power. These slogans say, “WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (Orwell 16). These sayings obviously contradict themselves, which the citizens have no idea of, because they do not know any better. The superstructure also puts political language into use in ways that seem more discrete, but have the same impact. Just like modern day government, Oceania has different branches in which they call ministries. There are four ministries that all have different functions for different areas. There is “the Ministry of truth, which concerned itself with news, entertainment, education, and the fine arts; the Ministry of Peace, which concerned itself with war; the Ministry of Love, which maintained law and order; and the Ministry of Plenty, which was responsible for economic affairs” (Orwell 4). The names of these ministries are meant to make the proletariat think everything they are doing is good, when in reality, that is not always the case.
The Party begins their brainwashing of the proletariat through the power of language from the time they are born.

They have words put into use in the home that train children to always be loyal to Big Brother. The children have been given the name of Spies, for the sole reason of spying on their parents and turning them in if they notice that they have done something wrong. The main character of the novel, Winston, describes it as “the children are systematically turned against their parents and taught to spy on them and report their deviations” (Orwell 133). If they successfully turn in their parents to the bourgeoisie, they are named Heroes. With that being said, from a young age the Party is teaching children to be more loyal to the superstructure than their own families, and they have no idea of anything different. In another area of language in the home, sex is something that the Party has taught people to think of as a job, and not something to do out of pleasure. Winston explains that his wife Katherine thinks of sex as “our duty to the Party” (Orwell 132). The proletariat has been manipulated by the bourgeoisie into engaging in sexual activity for the superstructure’s benefit instead of for their own. The Party is not fond of love making because it makes people happy within themselves without the influence of the Party. This could mean they would no longer be excited about things such as Big Brother, which is their biggest tool in manipulation. The language used within the family is just as effective as language used in the public. This is a prime example of how much power the bourgeoisie truly has over the

proletariat.
The proletariat is controlled and manipulated by the bourgeoisie through the power of language in many different ways throughout the novel. The language of Oceania, called Newspeak, is one key way that the Party uses language to gain an abundance of power over the citizens. This system of communication allows the Party to brainwash people and essentially make them incapable of thinking for themselves or having any sort of doubt in the power of the superstructure. The use of political language is another way that the Party aims to further confuse citizens and cause them to believe everything they say to be true. By gaining this trust, the bourgeoisie is able to gain full control over the proletariat. The actual root of manipulation begins at home, with the children and parents. The Party turns the children against their parents, and in doing that, causes them to be ever so more loyal to the government and Big Brother than their own family. These methods of domination give the Party the upper hand over the citizens and allows them to guarantee that they will remain in power. The use of the superstructure, bourgeoisie, and proletariat illustrated by Marxist Ideology help paint a better picture for how people can be controlled and manipulated through the power of language.