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George Orwell's 1984: the dangers of totalitarianism
Totalitarianism in 1984
Totalitarianism in orwell
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Recommended: George Orwell's 1984: the dangers of totalitarianism
On August 9th of 2001 America suffered from a great tragedy that will never be forgotten. Four commercial jets were hijacked and two were then crashed into the twin towers. The other two were steered off course but still one managed to hit the pentagon. These suicide attacks devastated the nation into grief from all of the innocent lives that were taken away, but can this truly be a terrorist attack? With recently reading the book 1984, I’ve wondered if this event was an accident or was it staged? In the book a totalitarian government runs and controls all of the people of Oceania. It demonstrates the capability of the human species to dominate one another and to some cases even brainwashing each other. Even though this book was written before the actual year of 1984 this demonstrates the fear that people from our past had, due to all of our misbehavior. The brain is capable of many things and as history has shown before with Hitler(a dictator) and so many other leaders, we will stop at nothing to get our hands on the power of full control and dominance whether it’s by destroying evidence and creating our lies to save ourselves from trouble or by making the world believe the lies of the media and concealing the truth. Can 9/11 be an example of this? In the book 1984 there was a slogan that caught my eye, “War Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery, Ignorance Is Strength.”(1) This slogan was introduced so early in the book that it set the idea of how contradicting and manipulating the party of Big Brother are. It changed the way we look at things because we aren’t used to the type of twisted utopia that Winston lives in. George Orwell did a good job at showing how cruel mankind can be by setting this wonderful example of his version of th... ... middle of paper ... ...the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 09 Mar. 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks. "Why The Media Lies - The Corporate Structure of The Mass Media (by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed) - Media Monitors Network." Home - Media Monitors Network (MMN). Web. 09 Mar. 2011. http://www.mediamonitors.net/mosaddeq32.html. "IT’S NOT WHAT THEY SAY..." TvNewsLies.org. Web. 9 Mar. 2011. http://tvnewslies.org/tvnl/. "Straight Dope Message Board." Web. 09 Mar. 2011. http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=279059. "SparkNotes: 1984: Book One: Chapters IIâIII." SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. Web. 09 Mar. 2011. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/1984/section2.rhtml. "1984 by George Orwell: Characters." The Literature Network: Online Classic Literature, Poems, and Quotes. Essays & Summaries. Web. 09 Mar. 2011. http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/1984/1/.
In the novel 1984, George Orwell describes a dystopian society called Oceania. It is one of the three super states in the world and is controlled by an imaginary leader, Big Brother. This society is lead by a totalitarian Party that controls the society by enforcing their slogan onto their people: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery and Ignorance is Strength. These slogans are encrypted into everyone’s brain as a way to manipulate them and make them believe they live in a fair, just society. In 1984’s Oceania, the slogan “ignorance is strength” plays a massive role in the Party’s manipulation of the society.
Works Cited for: Orwell, George. 1984. The 'Standard' of the ' London: Penguin Books, 2008. Print. The.
"1984." Novels for Students. Ed. Deborah A. Stanley. Vol. 7. Detroit: Gale, 1999. 233-255. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.
War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength. The party slogan of Ingsoc illustrates the sense of contradiction which characterizes the novel 1984. That the book was taken by many as a condemnation of socialism would have troubled Orwell greatly, had he lived to see the aftermath of his work. 1984 was a warning against totalitarianism and state sponsored brutality driven by excess technology. Socialist idealism in 1984 had turned to a total loss of individual freedom in exchange for false security and obedience to a totalitarian government, a dysutopia. 1984 was more than a simple warning to the socialists of Orwell's time. There are many complex philosophical issues buried deep within Orwell's satire and fiction. It was an essay on personal freedom, identity, language and thought, technology, religion, and the social class system. 1984 is more than a work of fiction. It is a prediction and a warning, clothed in the guise of science fiction, not so much about what could happen as it is about the implications of what has already happened. Rather than simply discoursing his views on the social and political issues of his day, Orwell chose to narrate them into a work of fiction which is timeless in interpretation. This is the reason that 1984 remains a relevant work of social and philosophical commentary more than fifty years after its completion.
Works Cited Orwell, George. 1984 a novel. New York, N.Y: Published by Signet Classic. Print. Runyan, William McKinley.
In the novel 1984, George Orwell predicts the world’s future, when human rights, such as freedom of speech, do not exist anymore. Everyone has to obey the government. The government controls its citizens’ lives. No one speaks up against the government yet because they do not even have a chance to make up a thought about it. The government dominates the citizens’ thoughts by using technologies and the thought polices to make sure no one will have any thoughts, that is against the government. George Orwell wrote:“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows,” (Orwell.2.7.69) the government tries to control Winston knowledge and change it to fit into the purpose of the Party. To Winston, O’Brien said: “Whatever the Party holds to be truth is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party.” (Orwell.3.2.205). As a citizen, no one get to look at or tal...
In 1984, George Orwell presents an overly controlled society that is run by Big Brother. The protagonist, Winston, attempts to “stay human” in the face of a dehumanizing, totalitarian regime. Big Brother possesses so much control over these people that even the most natural thoughts such as love and sex are considered taboo and are punishable. Big Brother has taken this society and turned each individual against one another. Parents distrust their own offspring, husband and wife turn on one another, and some people turn on their own selves entirely. The people of Oceania become brainwashed by Big Brother. Punishment for any uprising rebellions is punishable harshly.
Orwell uses repetition throughout his book to emphasize what his main point. In the beginning of the book, Orwell constantly has the phrase “ BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”. Orwell uses repetition in this phrase, for he is emphasizing how people are spying on the main character. Furthermore, he uses this quote to emphasize how suspicious Winston is. Orwell vocalizes, “ War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength” (18,29). "War is peace" and "freedom is slavery" are samples of double thinking. Though these phrases are contradictory by definition, the citizens of Oceania accept them both as correct, simultaneously. Orwell emphasizes that although Oceania is a constantly in a state of war, the people pretend as if there is peace. The repetition brings light to the
“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” This is the slogan of Ingsoc, the governing Party in George Orwell's 1984. The Party is obsessed with power, and they obtained their current status by means that are highly inhumane and ultimately terrifying. Firstly, the political power within this book enforces repression of natural instincts and emotions in its characters, limiting existential crises and not allowing people to live satisfactory, worthy lives. Language was also a very important part of this book, as the Party attempted to make people less conscious by limiting the words in the English language in order to narrow the people’s range of thought. History also played a major role, as, in this book, it was alterable, ultimately
Through impracticality, logic is discovered. This state of mind carries on throughout George Orwell's novel, 1984 in more ways than one. For example,“Ignorance is Strength” (16). This idea is just one aspect of Oceania’s Party Slogan. While this may seem contradictory these two utterly opposite concepts truly go hand in hand. This particular paradox stands as the most important in 1984 due to its distinct contrast, yet eye opening affiliation, and repetition throughout the novel.
Slogans are used often in 1984 as a way for the government to control the citizens and stop them from rebelling. A slogan that is widely used in this story is “War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength”. This shows up on the sides of important buildings in Oceania, such as: “From where Winston stood it was just possible to read, picked out on its white face in elegant lettering, the three slogans of the Party: WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (4) Imprinting these messages on the minds of the people will eventually make them feel that they don’t need to ever rebel, because they already have freedom, because freedom is slavery. It makes them believe that it is normal and perfectly fine to always be at war, because there is no need for peace, and that they should not strive to learn more about life, the world, or the government, because ignorance is strength. These phrases also appear during the two minutes of hate, after the face of Goldstein frightens the citizens, the phrase appears: “Then the face of Big Brother faded away again, and instead the three slogans of the Party stood out in bold capitals: WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (16) This slogan is meant to comfort the citizens after the stressful two-minute hate. They are being showed opposite sides of the spectrum, that Goldstein is bad, and then directly after they are shown these phrases, to give them
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.
There once was a warm caring leader. In fact, he possessed the traits of a guardian and a protector. This majestic figure was known as Big Brother, the leader of the Party in 1984. Big Brother had one motto in order for a successful society, war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength. (Orwell,26) This makes people think otherwise of his title. Instead
In the science fiction novel, 1984, George Orwell illustrates a dystopian society in which the Party inspects every human action with the prevailing figurehead Big Brother. In Oceania, the Party controls every aspect of life-- including thought-- primary through the concept of doublethink. Doublethink is “the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them” (Orwell 176). The slogan of the Ministry of Truth, “War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength” uses the concept of doublethink as propaganda against the citizens of Oceania. These paradoxical slogans are the mere essense of everything the party represents especially when their audience
Many people in today’s society believe that the United States of America is an “oppressive” country, but they have not lived in a world where their freedoms were taken away from them. In George Orwell’s 1984, we learn about a legitimate oppressive society that the main character, Winston Smith, lives and suffers in. The proletarians, and even the Party members are unwillingly and unknowingly oppressed. Orwell’s use of imagery descriptively shows how the world is deprived of basic freedoms. Nineteen Eighty-Four was written by Orwell to prevent this type of government and lifestyle from happening in the real world.