George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four 1984

799 Words2 Pages

The End of History Those in power can easily distort history to fit their agenda. 1984 by George Orwell centers on a totalitarian government. The main character is Winston, who lives in a dystopian world after World War II 1984. Winston is a feral man who works for the Ministry of Truth. The goal of the Ministry of Truth is to obscure history. They filter out what the government wants and doesn't want. They only print out what Big Brother the government wants—making them a tyrannical group of people. Tyrannical people in power like Big Brother obscure history to keep themselves in a position of power, to keep history in line with their values, and to test the people's loyalty. Big Brother is an authoritative group of people who obscure history …show more content…

A third reason Big Brother obscures history is to keep their people ignorant, which Orwell shows here: “Until they become conscious, they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled, they cannot become conscious.” (70) Because history is so narrow and only what Big Brother wants them to know, they can't become curious and wonder what the world was like before Big Brother. Due to this, the government Big Brother presents to them is all they've ever known, which keeps them ignorant and keeps them from becoming curious, which leads them from rebelling. Not only does Big Brother obscure history to keep themselves in a position of power, but they also obscure history to keep their values in line with history so no one Rebels. Another reason Big Brother obscures history is to keep history in line with their values. Orwell shows that history is altered to align with Big Brother's thoughts on how the world should operate, which is why they alter history and destroy it.“The past he reflected has not merely been altered; it has been actually

Open Document