In George Orwell’s 1984, the Party floods Winston’s world with contradictions in order to control the thoughts and emotions of the people of Oceania. In doing so, the Party fulfills its urge to keep power over the people in order to get rid of all chance for a rebellion. The main thought process that the Party uses to get this goal is Doublethink. Orwell’s describes Doublethink as “the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them” (Orwell 214). In 1984, Doublethink is the normal way of thought, and as a result everyone gets it and uses it. Mainly the differences all serve to help the Party control people. Within the framework of Doublethink the Party uses two primary mechanisms for manipulating the people: slogans, and the rewriting of history. When all three are used together the Party achieves its goal of maintaining power. The main purpose of …show more content…
The government believes, “whoever controls the past, controls the future” (Orwell 34). The Ministry of Truth is challenged with always changing or getting rid of all records of the past which might be dishonorable towards Big Brother. For example, Oceania is sometimes allied with Eastasia and sometimes Eurasia. Whenever the ally changes, all books and newspapers are edited to make it appear what the current alliance was always Winston first explains how and why this system works in Chapter Three of Part One, saying, “If all records told the same tale--then the lie passed into history and became truth. ‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past’h” (Orwell 34), “ ‘Reality control’, they called it: in newspeak, ‘Doublethink’a” (Orwell 35). The government is always changing the past to keep it consistent with current times and the Party’s plan for later. By changing the past, the Party is never