Examples Of Totalitarianism In 1984 By George Orwell

In George Orwell’s novel 1984, readers find themselves within the country of Oceania’s totalitarian society. There the government, which is also known as the Party, monitors all single features of the citizens’ lives. The novel reveals what George Orwell thought society would become if totalitarianism continue. In this dystopia, the Party wields complete control over the people and strips away the citizens’ freedom by the use of methods of psychological manipulation.
Firstly, the Party creates a new language called Newspeak, which all of citizens of Oceania are expected to learn. “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be

no words in which to express it.”, said by Syme, (52). From, this quote it is shown that Newspeak terminates all words that are related to independent thought or rebellion from the Oldspeak (old language). It also abridged most words to take away suggestions that Big Brother doesn’t want citizens to be influenced by. By adjusting the language, the Party is subjugating the thought process of every citizen. Without the means of language, people can’t organize or fabricate ideas and so the removal of such words would equal the purging of rebellion which is one way the government brainwashes their citizens. The Party indoctrinates the citizens to the extent when the people can no longer notice how the political agenda is contradicting itself. The failure of not seeing the mistakes is doublethink which is best expressed in the statement, “War Is Peace; Freedom Is Slavery; Ignorance Is Strength”, (16).
Secondly, the Party controls the citizens of Oceania by changing the past. The two successful methods it does this in is altering history and suppressing the memories of citizens. Since the citizens no longer carry out independent thoughts, their minds are molded to be feinted by Big Brother (the ostensibly leader of Oceania) or the Party and accept whatever they are told. The Ministry of Truth is responsible for the rewriting which means altering with the historical records. By altering history, the people no longer have memory how Big Brother usurped to power or what the world was before. The suppression of memories, as it removes the very core of what makes a person individual makes it a terrifying powerful method. This is supported when Winston the protagonist is struggling to remember his childhood: “He tried to squeeze out some childhood memory that should tell him whether London had always been quite like this….But it was no use, he could not remember….”, (4). This makes it easier for the Party to feint the citizens with its ideology.