Language In George Orwell's 1984, And Saul Alinsky

504 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Problems with limiting freedom of speech

Language is a vital key to humans all throughout the world and in constant change, never still. One cannot argue language does not influence daily decisions while it is also a powerful tool, capable of doing anything. In retrospect, whoever beholds the correct authority over language ultimately possesses power over the people. Multiple different tactics of language are put to use in order to achieve certain objectives, whether the manipulation comes from social media, propaganda, or even fear, it hides behind the deception. Within George Orwell’s book,1984, and Saul Alinsky's opinionated statement,“ he who controls the language controls the masses” demonstrates prodigious illustrations of how language morphs to one's advantage.
First, take

Show More
Related

  • Neil Postman Defending Against The Indefensible Summary

    531 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “Defending Against the Indefensible,” author and professor Neil Postman proposes that language has been abused in modern society by people manipulating it and brainwashing the others. Hence, he suggests seven elements for critical intelligence that can help with identifying and avoiding the manipulative use of language: definition, questions, simple words, metaphor, reification, style and tone, and media.

    Read More

  • From Ancient Greece To Iraq, The Power Of Words In Wartime By Robin Tolmach Lakoff

    1125 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the essay “From Ancient Greece to Iraq, the Power of Words in Wartime” by Robin Tolmach Lakoff, Lakoff discusses the fact that words are a tool as well when it comes to wars. She talks about the differences between our natural want and ability to kill things, and the mental training soldiers receive to make it easier for them. Lakoff talks about the practice of dehumanizing the “enemy” through nicknames that make us feel superior then our foes, and the repercussions of using this type of language. In the essay by George Orwell, “Politics and the English Language”, Orwell talks about the decay of the English language, especially in political writings. He discusses the fact that when it comes to writing, political being the main focus, it’s

    Read More

  • Examples Of Diction In 1984 By George Orwell

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    Diction: While George Orwell used fairly simple and uncomplicated diction to tell the story many of his words still have a very powerful diction. In the first chapter the protagonist Winston is attack by the smell of “boiled cabbage and old rag mats”. This is the first indication to the nature of the living conditions of our protagonist. However, Orwell also uses his diction to create the atmosphere of Oceania with lines like “the world looked cold. Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no colour in anything”. These lines contain powerful words like cold, torn, and harsh and these worlds help paint the picture of what kind of story we are reading.

    Read More

  • Futile Resistance and the Almighty Ingsoc Party

    1303 Words  | 3 Pages

    In a totalitarian government such as 1984, the use of language and diction is severely limited by the Oceania authorities as a tool used to crush any potential resistance from the public. As model examples of the linguistic limitations of Oceania common civilians, Winston Smith and most of his associates in the novel exercises the use of colloquial language in the form of Newspeak, the official language of Oceania. What the most of the Oceania civilians do not know is that Newspeak is ...

    Read More

  • 1984 Body Paragraph Essay

    759 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the most essential ways in which feelings are expressed by humans is through language. Without language people are merely robotic figures that can not express their thoughts because language is in fact thought. When this speech is taken away through complete governmental power, a portion of human nature is also taken away. In 1984, due to totalitarianism, language has begun to transform into a poor representation of humanity and natural human expression. Orwell states, “But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” In the novel, a new language, Newspeak, has emerged. Newspeak has drastically limited the vocabulary of the English language

    Read More

  • The Influence Of Language In Ayn Rand's Anthem

    515 Words  | 2 Pages

    Language has the power to influence and reshape our thoughts and actions. In Anthem, by Ayn Rand, there is a society which controls the language of everyone in it. Under the World Council, everyone is to follow the many rules put in place and no one even tries to break them. There is no “I” in their language, there is only “we”. With the power to influence and reshape people, language has a big impact on our thoughts and actions.

    Read More

  • George Orwell's Insights on Language Misusage

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    An Analysis of George Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” (1946). Orwell’s article on the English language is on point because it defines how people have become lazy in how they communicate with each other. This type of “slovenliness” is part of the problem in terms of why the English language is often misused by the speaker: “The slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts” (Orwell para.2). Due to the speaker’s laziness, the language becomes confused, and the person begins having “foolish thoughts” that do not have very good accuracy. This mental process is one way that Orwell defines the importance of language as a tool for clarity of thought, which is important when conveying a message to another person or group of people.

    Read More

  • Ignorance In 1984

    2276 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • George Orwell’s 1984 and Stalin’s Russia

    2134 Words  | 5 Pages

    In George Orwell’s 1984, the strategies used by Oceania’s Political Party to achieve total control over the population are similar to the ones employed by Joseph Stalin during his reign. Indeed, the tactics used by Oceania’s Party truly depicts the brutal totalitarian society of Stalin’s Russia. In making a connection between Stalin’s Russia and Big Brothers’ Oceania, each Political Party implements a psychological and physical manipulation over society by controlling the information and the language with the help of technology.

    Read More

  • Example Of Individualism In 1984

    759 Words  | 2 Pages

    Orwell argues that society is completely oblivious to the constraint that is involved in every day life. There is no individual in society and that everyone remains the same. “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?” (46) Not only does a limiting of words show society that by controlling methods of co...

    Read More

  • George Orwell Rhetorical Analysis

    1566 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the essay, George Orwell –the author –makes a well-thought out argument about the deterioration of the English language and the careless manner in which it is used in politics. Among the many mistakes and offenses made within English language Orwell lists, the writer argues against the use of pretentious diction, which is the use of excessive or unnecessary (and incorrect) words used in place of more simple words. Orwell contends that pretentious diction is especially harmful to English politics (and the English language, in general), because the political terminology and jargon that is used makes writing difficult to interpret, vague, and slovenly. Orwell also explains how different words may mean different things to different people and how important it is to use simple, concrete words so as to communicate the correct message to other

    Read More

  • The Use Of Propaganda In 1984, By George Orwell

    1040 Words  | 3 Pages

    “"Propaganda is as powerful as heroin, it surreptitiously dissolves all capacity to think” by Gil Courtemanche connects to the sad fact of using propaganda as a deadly weapon to feed people with false information and stop them from thinking. George Orwell’s novel, 1984, describes a totalitarian dystopian society where the Party is constantly brainwashing its citizens with information that is beneficial to its own rights. On the opposite side, people are working for the party just like dominated slaves for their masters without knowing what’s going on. But, in order for the party to achieve this goal, they have to use different techniques of propaganda in Oceania to create fear for people so that they can obey the rules. The use of propaganda in the society of 1984 takes away freedom from individuals because of the absence of privacy, thinking and making decisions.

    Read More

  • George Orwell's Politics And The English Language

    677 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the essay “Politics and the English Language” by George Orwell, the author states his opinion of the decline of the English language. Orwell discusses both its causes and what he foresees as its consequences. He states there is less innovation and coherency, which dilutes the power of the language. Orwell felt that people were using the English language inaccurately, relying on metaphors which are meaningless and used so the writer does not have to bother with creating their phrases. Orwell asserted “It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.”

    Read More

  • Politics and the English Language

    1208 Words  | 3 Pages

    George Orwell’s essay, Politics and the English Language, first published in 1946, talks about some “bad habits”, which have driven the English language in the wrong direction, that is, away from communicating ideas. In his essay he quotes five passages, each from a different author, which embody the faults he is talking about. He lists dying metaphors, operators, pretentious diction, and meaningless words as things to look out for in your own writing and the writing of others (593-595). He talks about political uses of the English language. Our language has become ugly and the ugliness impedes upon communication. Ugly uses of language have been reinforced and passed down in the population “even among people who should and do know better,” (598). Ugly language has been gaining ground in our population by a positive feedback mechanism.

    Read More

  • Exploration Of The Main Themes In "Animal Farm"

    595 Words  | 2 Pages

    Orwell highlights how powerful the use of language and propaganda can be when used to control society. One of the first times ...

    Read More

More about Language In George Orwell's 1984, And Saul Alinsky

Open Document