How Does Orwell Use Abuse Of Power In 1984

Imagine everything you know being a lie, if every belief you’ve ever had was suddenly changed. The Party is in a position of such power, that they can force anyone to follow their ideas in order to ensure your safety. They are capable of portraying any information in a such way that it will benefit them and their stigma. In George Orwell’s novel, 1984 , the Party uses fear and control not only for methods of torture but a way to manipulate the minds of people all across Oceania.

The Party uses their overarching power in their favor by changing the way people think about certain ideas. The Party has the belief that staying in a war will be the only way to maintain peace in Oceania. They put up the phrase “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength “ all over in order to instill

this into the minds of everyone (Orwell 26).

It is also a way to introduce doublethink to the people. Doublethink is a way for the Party to give the people two completely contradictory statements that they are supposed to believe as true. It gives them a sense of power in a way that they can control the beliefs of general population. According to the Party, there is no external reality and no one should be thinking. They’ll propose to you an absurd idea and force you to believe it. Like when Winston “picked up the children’s history book… as though some force was pressing down upon you- something that penetrated inside your skull… persuading you, almost, to deny the evidence of your senses. In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it”(Orwell 80). They have the ability to persuade you to follow any order they have. And when it boils down to it, they have absolute control of not only Oceania as a country, but the minds of every citizen as well. Human feelings in Oceania are forbidden and the act of

sex should not be about love but solely about reproduction. They try to reduce variation in all people in order to keep everyone in the same mindset. But, “when you make love you’re using up energy; and afterwards you feel happy and don’t give a damn for anything. They can’t bear you to feel like that. They want you to be bursting with energy all the time”(Orwell 132). The lives of everyone are constantly being monitored which ultimately leads to the collapse of Winston’s humanity.
In 1984 privacy can never be taken for granted. Their every movement and every thought is always being monitored by telescreens. The telescreens pose as the biggest threat to the population. There would be a big hole in the Party’s plan if it weren’t for the telescreens. They are “The basic instrument of control. It is not only watched, but also the watcher, simultaneously” and are implemented into every house in oceania (Lugenbeichl 290). There are a select few members of the inner party who have the ability to turn off the telescreens but, besides them there is no way for the average Joe to be undetected. The Party tries to eliminate feelings from everyone. The act of sex shows love and the Party’s goal is to rid of all so they consider it illegal and punishable. When the telescreens “weren’t” present, they felt like actual humans with real feelings but when they heard “You are the dead,” repeated the iron voice. “It was behind the picture,” breathed Julia. “It was behind the picture,” said the voice. “Remain exactly where you are. Make no movement until you are ordered” , it reality hit them (Orwell 221). After hearing these words, you could only imagine how they felt. The feeling of betrayal and sorrow knowing that you will just “disappeared” like the rest of them. The use of telescreens keep everyone on edge, watching their backs, and afraid of making the wrong move. It is a way that the Party instills fear and their dominant power in the minds of all citizens.
Fear is the end all result of someone who can’t seem to follow the “rules”, someone who has thought of rebellion of made actions towards it. Towards the latter half of the novel, we get a taste of what the Party is really made of, we get insight into the Ministry of Love and get to see what happens to all of the people who randomly seem to “vanish”. Room 101 is a place that contains the “worst thing in the world” specifically for every person that enters. “The purpose of this kind of torture is not to gain knowledge, but to “create conformity by terrorization, dehumanization and the destruction of the will through prolonged, incredible pain” which shows in Winston’s case, as he is beaten senseless, starved and kept prisoner by a former “ally”(Bloom). For the Party, anyone who isn’t with them is against them, anyone who doesn’t agree with their ideas is a threat and must be dealt with. “In the eyes of the torturer, the victim is not a moral agent, but simply a focus of evil, which is to be destroyed”(Paden 266). For Winston, he wasn’t a believer, was caught having sex and has been convicted of thought crime in the past. He was clearly one of the ones who was rightfully deemed a threat. Room 101 is a name known for infamy. It has been thrown around by guards just to scare all of the prisoners. But when one is actually taken there you will never see them again. For most who just committed a small crime such as robbery, Room 101 is used as more of a scare tactic than anything. It is those who are accused of thoughtcrime or talk of rebellion that should really be watching their backs. “Terror is the goal of torture, it is in no way restrained by the requirements of knowledge and proof ” (Quinn ).
Room 101 is the ultimate test of how much horror one can really handle. For each person individually it is their own worst thing in the world which is usually fatal. So as a person being sent to Room 101, you either comply with the Party or you are killed in the worst possible way in your mind.
Room 101 has instilled such fear in the minds of prisoners, that they are willing to give up their families or their possessions in order to steer clear of that horrid place. One of the men would rather have them
“Do anything to me … I’ve got a wife and children. You can take the whole lot of them and and cut their throats in front of my eyes, and I'll stand by and watch it. But not Room 101!”(Orwell 236). This just shows how well known this “room” is in the prison and how effective it’s methods are. It is the ultimate way to either add to the Party or rid of the weak.

The complete control that the Party has over the people gives them the ability to eliminate almost all variation in humans. By removing emotions, privacy and security they isolate each individual into making a decision whether they are to join or go against the Party. In George Orwell’s novel, 1984, the Party uses methods of fear and control not only as a method of torture but a way to manipulate the minds of people all across Oceania.