Ignorance In 1984

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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. In Oceania, there are three social classes: the Inner Party, the Outer Party and the proles. There is a strong difference in knowledge between …show more content…

They have no idea people are getting tortured to death, or that the Party is turning families against each other, or that the upper classes are watched at all times. If they did know all this, then maybe they would revolt. But because the Party is strong and knows exactly how to control the proles, this lower class will always be clueless and will never think of overthrowing the Party. The Party gives them what they want to satisfy their needs and desires. The proles are happy with their ignorance. All this shows that due to the proles’ ignorance, the Party gets to keep its strength and continue its …show more content…

The Party is controlling and manipulating the language to try to make it completely pure ¬– clear of any rebellious or disobedient words. This way, all the citizens will be ignorant because they will have no words to express themselves. They will not be capable of conceptualizing anything that could question the Party’s totalitarian power. The Party will therefore be able to keep absolute strength and power. In order to keep this power and help it keep growing, the Party has organized the Junior Spies League in which they train kids to become spies for the government. The Party’s goal with this organization is to turn in anyone who seems suspicious. Winston’s neighbors, the Parsons, have two kids who are part of the Spies and they are very loyal to it. Winston went to their apartment one day and the kids started attacking him and yelling “‘You’re a traitor!’” (Orwell

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