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Political Correctness In George Orwell's 1984

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Aldous Huxley once said, “One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them.”(Brave) The protagonist of the novel, Winston sees conditioned belief happen in front of his eyes and even ends up becoming a victim of it throughout the story. In 1984, big brother keeps their population oppressed, brainwashed, and ignorant in many ways (Orwell 34). Newspeak is one of the main ways that big brother subjugates the citizens of Oceania. Most people fail to realize that newspeak is still in our society even in the 21st century. This modernized form of newspeak is what we call political correctness today.(In text citation) Political correctness can be used for good to censor unnecessary dialogue; yet it can cut down on our freedom of speech and thought. It is important to recognize both sides of the spectrum and where the line between the two lies. Newspeak, a form of mental slavery is used as the main language in 1984. Newspeak is a new alteration of the English language with shortened words and phrases. These …show more content…

Once again political correctness is not inherently wrong yet it is beginning to distance us from essential aspects of our humanity. (Curtler) Literature throughout time has lost credibility due to the offense it brings to people. Despite the valuable anecdotes and life lessons one learns throughout reading these stories, a large majority of individuals remain opposed to these texts. (Curtler) Joseph Conrad is the author of a novella by the name of Heart of Darkness. This story is about the experiences of a voyager while traveling from London to Congo. In the story, we see through the eyes of a shipman. “Obviously, during these times, while traveling through Africa, words of ill choice are used. In the text, the word "nigger" appears un-self-consciously, as it would if used by a merchant seaman at the turn of the last century.”

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