Examples Of Power In 1984 By George Orwell

Throughout history, there are those who seek to control mass groups of people; their beliefs are that people are meant to be influenced and are subject to anything. Tyranny only leaves room for that one, central individual who thrives on this power. In 1984¸ Orwell demonstrates how the Party uses power and manipulation over people to obstruct loyalty and relationships in what it means to stay human.
The three slogans of the Party, “War is Peace, Freedom is slavery, and Ignorance is strength”, divide people in Oceania (4). The only thing that may distract them and bring them together is the Brotherhood and its leader, Goldstein. Goldstein is supposedly the root of all evil. By being the “[advocate of] freedom…he [often cries] hysterically that

the Revolution ha[s] been betrayed—in [a] rapid polysyllabic speech… a sort of parody of the habitual style of the orators of the Party [containing] Newspeak words: more than any Party member would normally use in real life”, which brings the question of Goldstein’s true identity and purpose for the Party’s control (12-13). The Brotherhood’s leader could be a fabrication of the Party to direct the people’s hatred towards their cause. Newspeak, an invention of the Party with the goal of limiting communication and eventually thought, is not something that the leader of the Brotherhood should be saying; meaning if he is against the very existence of the party, Goldstein goes out of his way to say words created by the organization he is against in the first place. The Party uses hatred for Goldstein and the Brotherhood to have a greater influence, faithful followers, and flawless beliefs in their system.
Love, happiness, and family is pretty much a nonexistent concept in the eyes of the Party. Its subdivisions, such as the Anti-Junior Sex League and Thought Police, maintain order in the robotic-like world of Oceania. However, one branch of the Party in particular, Youth Spies, is a way to end the meaning of familial bonds and create loyalty towards the Party. For example, the children of “that wretched woman, [Mrs. Parsons], must lead a life of terror… [with her children] watching her night and day for symptoms of unorthodoxy” all the while having “no tendency [whatsoever] to rebel against the discipline of the Party. On the contrary, they adored the Party and everything connected with it” (24). Organizations like Youth Spies is a source of disconnection between the parents and their children; children are not created for the purpose of carrying on the idea of the family; they are made to continue the Party. The party uses the rift between parents and children to destroy any familial relationships and give them more power by being a ‘family’s’ primary focus.
Another weakness that the Party thrives off of is fear; whether its drowning, being afraid of the dark, or in Winston’s case, rats.

Throughout the novel, Winston’s sole belief was to be apart from the rest of the Party’s ideals. However, his humanity fails him as he exclaims to O’Brien, “Do it to Julia!... Not me! Julia! I don’t care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Not me! Not me!” (286). This is the moment where O’Brien breaks Winston. Winston becomes a prisoner in his own mind by not having the freedom that he expressed earlier in the novel by knowing “that two plus two make four” (81). His freedom is so far from his mind, that he does not know the meaning of the word anymore. Winston also has a tendency to “[push a] picture out of his mind…a false memory” as he calls it which “did not matter so long as one knew them for what they were” (296). He, in fact, no longer knows what a real memory is. The Party’s manipulation of Winston finally succeeds manipulating Winston by limiting the way he perceives memories. Although, Winston thinks “everything [is] all right, the struggle [is] finished, and he wins the victory over himself” only knowing that “he [loves] Big Brother” (298). The simplicity in this ending makes it seem that Winston is at peace; the man versus self-struggle is over. He does not have to constantly think or move in secret. In a way, this gives him a sort of ‘freedom’ that he could not have with his own

freewill.
Orwell shows the irony in the ability of freewill and the overall authority and villainous acts of the Party. Winston’s attempt to create discord between the Party’s beliefs and his own ultimately failed. The false pretenses of such organizations such as the Brotherhood, Youth Spies, and finally the Party demonstrates a limitless boundary that each organization will go to in order to complete their goal. There is no knowledge of loyalty and bonds in a world in which the Party controls every aspect of humanity.