In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the author suggests that a totalitarian government requires complete surrender of it's citizens' intellectual and social life.
In 1984, the party’s control over thought is essential in maintaining a powerful monarchy and an oppressed society. Winston Smith, the protagonist, has a strong dislike against the party, and demonstrates this by writing in a diary, breaking their rules. “The diary would be reduced to ashes and himself to vapour. Only the Thought Police would read what he had written, before they wiped it out of existence and out of memory. How could you make appeal to the future when not a trace of you, not even an anonymous word scribbled on a piece of paper, could physically survive?”(435). Winston clearly understands
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When Winston meets his friend Syme, who works on the Newspeak dictionary, both talk about the party and it’s future. Syme, who seems to be thrilled by the future exclaims, “But the process will still be continuing long after you and I are dead. Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller. Even now, of course, there’s no reason or excuse for committing Thought Crime. It’s merely a question of self-discipline, reality-control”(124). The key to controlling people’s minds is to control what they speak and how they speak. Having”fewer and fewer words” in the language allows the party to control what people can say. Also, the more limited the language becomes, the less chance there is for any rebellious thought because there will not be any words to express how to rebel. By regulating the language, the people of Oceania only speak what the Party wants them to speak. Through Newspeak, the Party arrests the mind’s ability to
A crime which Winston is fully aware of committing, he wrote, "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER." (1:1:36) Winston, knowing the consequences, he continued on, "It was not by making yourself heard but by staying sane that you carried on the human heritage." (1:2:37) He then wrote to an audience hoping his thoughts would be passed on someday, “To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free…from the age of Big Brother, from the age of doublethink-greetings!”
Winston continues to think and speak in the manner of Oldspeak. Therefore Syme wishes to force Winston to contemplate on his language usage. Syme attempts to reason with Winston on why no need for more words should exist. Syme sees no solid reason for the words “good” and “bad”. With Syme’s perspective, simply turning the word into its opposite helps with word reduction and support to the Party.
It is obvious that the government is the biggest thing in the book “1984” and how much the government controls the population is astounding. Although there are many obvious ways that Big Brother controls the population, “Newspeak” is probably one of the worst, if not the worst and most intense control mechanism. With “Newspeak” not only is what people say controlled, but it is also restricted, it is made so that the language used is modified and people cannot say certain things even if they wanted to. “Newspeak” is a way in which the government in Oceania controls what the people say and believe. Big brother is the ruler of Oceania, and while it might not directly be said that he is a dictator, it is very much obvious that everything that
Newspeak was created in order to “narrow the range of thought” with the idea that if there were “no words to express” a certain feeling then that feeling wouldn’t be expressed or felt(Orwell 52). This leads to a group of people developing weaker complex thinking skills overtime and a smaller range of vocabulary; therefore, individuality and freedom are restricted. Without the proper vocabulary, this society develops the mind of a small child that is molded and reshaped easily and can’t express or comprehend complex ideas. The end result desired by the government is a society full of unconscious minds. A malleable mind is the first step to achieving zero thought or complete ignorance in this nation.
Winston Smith is the protagonist of Orwell’s dystopian novel and represents a non-activist oppressed citizen of Oceania who is unable to conform with the government’s inequitable principles. While in a dialogue with his coworker Syme, he expresses his disdain for the brainwashing Newspeak dictionary “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? […] In fact there will be no thought, as we understand it now.
George Orwell’s 1984 is a precautionary tale of what happens when the government has too much control in our lives. The protagonist, Winston Smith, is at odds in a world in which he is not allowed to counter the government’s surveillance and control. Perhaps more striking is the noticeable relationship between the novel and modern society. In George Orwell’s novel 1984 the book predicts the surveillance of Big Brother in modern day societies.
What this is saying is in order to stay in power, they have to manipulate the records of the past. That is actually one of Winston’s jobs as a follower of the Party. There was an instance when a person turned on the Party and was soon erased from history. Winston and others went back into official documents such as speeches and literally deleted the officer. By controlling the past this way, they control the future.
George Orwell’s 1984 has resonated with many who have experienced first-hand what life is like under a dictator. The novel describes how everything is controlled and monitored by the government and how even mere thoughts can be detected by ThoughtPolice. Readers get to experience Oceania’s system of ruling through the eyes of an Outer Party member, Winston Smith. At first, Winston is adamant to destroy The Party and its figurative leader Big Brother, but eventually is captured and converted into a lover of Oceania’s system of government. Children, although not playing a significant role in this book, are mentioned as devious little spies.
The Party is working on their Newspeak dictionaries. Newspeak is a limited language, intending to include only words that the Party deems acceptable and which works for their prerogative. When speaking about the Newspeak dictionary to Winston,
After a day of work, he wrote “I do not understand WHY” when questioning the motive and purpose of his job of falsifying the past (Orwell 88). People are supposed to blindly conform to the norms of their society, but Winston thinks beyond what is told to him. This symbolizes rebellion because intelligence is a powerful tool when opposing a stronger force. Furthermore, Winston wondered, “how to get in touch with” and “arrange a meeting” with Julia, even though it would be a forbidden affair. Outside of arranged marriages, there are no allowed relationships in his society.
Winston in the coming future, consider this as a memorandum for yourself. Before anyone else finds it and reads it, I hope you do. We share a common name: Winston Smith. As I progress with this entry, I am getting more prone to danger second by second. This is because, according to “his” beliefs, I have committed several crimes likes Doublethink, ownership of illegal items, Thoughtcrime and the mere fact of having feelings.
By limiting the vocabulary, Newspeak is essentially “unintelligible” and hence controls the people’s understanding of the real world. Orwell emphasises that language is of utmost importance as it structures and limits the ideas individuals are capable of formulating and expressing. In 1984, language is used as a ‘mind control tool’. The party slogan, “war is peace, freedom is
Cleaned of All Creativity The hands of each individual are stained with the creative colors that come from within their minds, used to express each one’s own individuality. In the books 1984 and Brave New World these rights are stripped away, not leaving anyone with even their own thoughts to cling to. The characters in these books are engulfed in societies that encourage unity and alikeness amongst everyone. They do not want anyone to have unique qualities at the risk of rebellion against the government.
Totalitarianism in 1984 and the Real World The concept of a totalitarian society is a major theme throughout the novel 1984. This theme of totalitarianism can also be applied to the world today. The definition of totalitarianism, a concept used by some political scientists, is a state which holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life wherever possible. Totalitarianism can be related between the novel 1984 and current events in the real world. George Orwell incorporated the theme of totalitarianism into his novel 1984 to display the ever changing world around him during the time it was written.
This is particularly evident in the story when the character Syme is tasked with creating a new version of the Newspeak dictionary and one day informs Winston of the fact that “Newspeak is the only language whose vocabulary gets smaller every year” (Orwell 52). This information exaggerates the slow process of language devolution and helps to enlighten unaware readers of the detrimental changes taking