Examples Of Slogans In 1984 By George Orwell

In the year 1949, George Orwell wrote his dystopian novel 1984. He wrote this book in order to warn the general public that they needed to be critical of their governments. In this story, the government uses three slogans: freedom is slavery, war is peace, and ignorance is strength. Orwell chose these three phrases to show how the government wanted to repress their people. These slogans expose Oceania’s authoritarian government.
One of the worst slogans presented in the book is “freedom is slavery.” This phrase embodies the idea of a government that wants to manipulate their citizen’s minds. An example of how the government manipulates people’s minds is by using new speak. New speak is a language that simplifies the English language. New speak

has no negative terms or words. New speak is widely present at the Ministry of Truth (the place where Winston works). Winston’s job is to take pieces of the recent history and change it to where it says what the Oceania government wants it to say, even if it is not true.
Another thing, besides new speak, that is rather sad, is the fact that Oceania does not allow their people to have any memories of their childhood.

In part one of the story, Winston tries to remember things of his past such as his mother but he cannot recall any information (Orwell 1984 part one chapter one). The silliest example that one could give about the phrase freedom is slavery is in part one, chapter one, when the readers find out that they are denied the freedom to have common household items such as razor blades, paper, and shoe laces. They are not allowed to have these items because that would be deemed too much freedom and Oceania would not have enough power over their minds (Orwell 1984 part one chapter

one).
Furthermore, an additional, strong point that can be made against “freedom is slavery,” is in part two, chapter one, after Winston received the note from Julia that says, “I love you.” Winston does not know how to respond to this note and he also does not want to get in trouble.

At the same time, however, he wants to explore this new information. It proved to be a challenge just by trying to make plans to talk to each other, since they are not supposed to think or have personal thoughts. They try sitting at the same lunch table and manage to accomplish that, but they do not dare make eye contact. They speak after every spoonful and somehow contrive a time and date to meet at victory square (Orwell 1984 part 2 chapter 1). The fact that they must be so secretive just to talk to one another about their feelings is completely ridiculous. There has not been any kind of government that would or could do this to any person. On another note, what had to be the worst incident, that happened to Winston, is in part three, during the torturing. Winston is taken to room 101; this is where anyone’s worst nightmare is. In Winston’s case, it is rats. After Winston and O’Brian are done talking, they put a rat cage over his head. That is when he sees the rat. Winston cried and begged them to make it stop, but they don’t. Then Winston said something he thought he would never, ever say. Winston tells O’Brian to do it to Julia instead of him. Once, Winston said that the worst thing they could do

to him is to make him stop loving Julia. Because Winston tells O’Brian to torture Julia instead, O’Brian knows Winston is truly a broken man (Orwell 1984 part 3 chapter 5).
With all the information provided, there is no doubt that the Oceania government controls the way their people live, speak, and even think. No matter what slogan, whether it is freedom is slavery, war is peace, or ignorance is strength, they all repress these unfortunate people in the story and keeps them unaware of what is going on in the world around them. The purpose of this is just the power over the human mind. Mind over matter is what O’Brian said. If you can control the mind, you can control everything; this is actually something very scary to think