Role Of Fear In 1984

Winston’s diary is a symbol of his suppressed desire for rebellion, his entries as well only speak of his furry and his pain; emotions he is not allowed to express or act upon.

Sam Robert in the article, A Decade of Fear, argues that Americans turned against each other because of McCarthyism. Robert supports his claim by explaining, contrasting, and demonstrating the effects that McCarthyism had on humanity. The author’s purpose is to persuade in order to convince the reader that McCarthyism sparked betrayal and fear among Americans. The author writes in a tone for his educated audience. I strongly agree with Robert’s claim. McCarthyism resulted in Americans turning against each other because of politicians greed for power, paranoia, and the fear of communist infiltration.

The main character in this story is Winston Smith who in constantly living in fear of what The Party will do to him if he is caught saying something negative about them or about Big Brother, who is the leader of The Party. An example of Winston being controlled by fear is when Julia, a woman who was following him, sent him a letter saying that she loved him. “drew the next batch of work toward him, with the scrap of paper on top of it. He flattened it out. On it was written, in a large unformed handwriting: I love you.” (Orwell 108). Winston thought for sure that the Party was monitoring him and that he would get caught and taken away. Winston was always worried about being punished for thought crime. Mr. Parsons, whose children were spies and informed on their father, was taken away because of what he had said about The Party, “Down with big brother!’ Yes, I said that”’ (Orwell 233). Then a little bit later Winston asked “Who denounced you?” then Parsons said “It was my little daughter” (Orwell 233). This shows how The Party is taking advantage over people so they can have power to do what they want. When Julia and Winston were captured by O’Brien,who was a spy for the Party, he put them in separate rooms, questioned and tortured Winston so he would give up Julia and confess. The Party and O’ Brien wanted to break Winston’s spirit. The only way he knew how to do this was to use fear by destroying whatever strength Winston had. Fear can also brainwash a person into thinking something is right or something is wrong. For example, when he was released by O’Brien he believed in The Party’s teachings and beliefs. “forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark mustache…He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.” (Orwell 298). The only reason that Winston changed his mind was

During a daily exercise known as the Two Minutes Hate, all Party members view a video usually featuring a speech denouncing the Party’s ideals and advocating for freedom and democracy. Even though Winston secretly supports these principles, he feels compelled to and even cannot avoid joining the frenzy of the Hate, entering a blind but abstract rage. He mentions that, “And yet that rage that one felt was an abstract, undirected emotion which could be switched from one object to another like the flame of a blowlamp. Thus, at one moment Winston’s hatred was not not turned against Goldstein at all, but, on the contrary, against Big Brother, the Party, and the Thought Police….(Orwell 14). This is how Winston’s fear differs from that of other people’s. They always conform by directing their contempt towards enemies of the Party and fear those conspiring against it. Through the threat of rebellion and sabotage, citizens are kept in fear and have their hate directed at the Party’s enemies and are manipulated to rely on it for protection. Winston, however, fears the Party and its total control on his life and on society. He secretly harbors dreams of a revolution and the destruction of the Party. His failure to be manipulated is later rectified through other tactics until he becomes a “perfect” member of society, relying on and loving the Party. Citizens of Oceania are constantly manipulated with fear to rely on the government for

Easily, the largest theme that comes through in 1984 from start to finish is psychological control is the way to a totalitarian government. By controlling the minds of the people who are in their country, they can keep everyone in check with no chance of revolution. The Party, or the main government has a motto. It goes, “Those who control the past, control the future: who controls the present controls the past.” (32). 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. The future that they are controlling is a future when no one can look back because there isn’t anything to look back to. There are small rumors of how life was before the start of the Party, but again they are just rumors. With nothing to compare their current life to, there is nothing to fight for. They have complete control of all aspects of life by controlling history. Another quote proving this is, “And when memory failed and written records were falsified—when that happened, the claim of the Party to have improved the conditions of human life had got to be accepted because there did not exist, and never again could exist,

Patriotism is the love that people feel for their country; in the novel 1984, George Orwell consistently utilizes a three sentence slogan to illustrate a world with patriotism taken to the extremes. These sentences are “War is peace” where individuals accept the constant warring, “Freedom is slavery” where the people ignore their own thoughts, “Ignorance is strength” where the individuals blindly follows the Party’s orders. Through this slogan, Orwell describes a future where the ignorant and loyal prevail and support an endless war.

Sam Roberts in the article A Decade of Fear argues that McCarthyism turned Americans against each other. Roberts supports his claim by illustrating fear, describing betrayal, and comparing it to other United States internal conflicts. The author’s purpose is to point out a vulnerable period of American history in order to demonstrate that Americans felt prey to McCarthy’s negative propaganda. The author writes in a cynical tone for an educated audience. I strongly agree with Robert’s claim. McCarthyism caused Americans to turn on each other due to fear, unawareness, and propaganda.

Is it possible that the nursery rhyme “Sticks and Stones” is a common misconception? The children’s rhyme states that “ 'Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me”. Although sticks and stones may break bones, the bones usually heal. However, words can have a lifetime impact on people. In 1984, slogans and manipulation of language scar citizens more than the Party’s physical control. The words of the Party’s doctrine cause a more painful effect than physical control because it has lasting outcome that destroys the citizens psychologically. By the Party falsifying history and making contradictions to reality, it makes its citizens suffer using mind control. In George Orwell’s 1984, the government uses both psychological manipulation and physical control to control its citizens, although psychological manipulation is more effective and can be a result of physical control.

Propaganda; information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. Propaganda is a very manipulative method of controlling the audience's attitudes. In the novel 1984, by George Orwell, Winston Smith is a member of the outer party in the nation of Oceania. Winston, along with all the other citizens of Oceania, are constantly being watched by the Party through telescreens. Oceania is ruled by an omniscient leader only known as Big Brother, a powerful faceless figure who is feared by all of Oceania. The Party controls everything and even erases and rewrites history to make the people of Oceania only know what they want them to know. The manipulative Party used many

Nearly all of Winston’s daydreams center themselves around an imaginary uprising, whether it be the desire to partake in it, or the fear of being caught. All of these visions start with his impulsive decision to buy the diary, and

The movie, The Village, and the novel 1984 provides new insight and connections on a “utopian” society. Both are very similar to each other in a way that their utopian society has many flaws. 1984 is about a rebellion against an iron-fisted totalitarian government while The Village is about an attempt to protect the innocence of people. In these societies, the leaders lie in order to try and achieve a utopian world. Both societies have different purposes to control the people through fear, but despite their attempts to create a utopian society, they were only successful to a certain extent.

Orwell’s novel 1984 follows many common characteristics of dystopia by the persuasion of propaganda, the brainwashing of citizens, and a uniform lifestyle is integrated to please Big Brother and the Party which highlights their power. The Party controls propaganda and expectations in Oceania to make the citizens think and act a certain way, which dehumanizes them. Because the Party and Big Brother are shown with a large amount of power, it signifies the dominance of their presence in Oceania. Stories like 1984 can reveal a pattern between it and other dystopian tales by their shared

In comparison to Brave New World, 1984 has a much more totalitarian government with many more rules to be followed. Winston Smith in 1984 has a run in with the Thought Police for committing something his society calls thoughtcrime. Thoughtcrime is the crime for thinking your own thoughts or having your own ideas (Orwell 19). The Thought Police monitor everything about each of the characters from their sleep behaviors, to the way they talk. Winston has a run in with the Thought Police on a couple different occasions, one of which is for writing in a diary and conspiring to join an underground force against Big Brother. This moment of weakness for Winston demonstrates his ego because he is satisfying his urge to rebel against the government in an efficient and appropriate way, as described by Marie Doorey in a reference about psychoanalysis (Doorey). Winston waited until he had acquired the diary to begin conspiring his thoughts against Big Brother. Winston mistakenly thought he was writing in secret, when in fact he was not. He was always being watched by Big Brother. Moreover, Winston attempts expressing his individuality by writing his thoughts and feelings in the diary. He hopes that someday someone will read the diary and attempt to defy the government like he wants to. In a similar fashion, the government of

by dividing the populace into sections in hopes of ultimately keeping members powerless. The society of Oceania is divided into four sections with Proletarian (at the bottom), Outer Party, Inner Party, and Big Brother (at the top). The Proles and Outer Party reflect the lower classes in the U.S. meanwhile the Inner Party and Big Brother represent the upper classes whom possess the most power in society. “But the proles, if only they could somehow become conscious of their own strength, would have no need to conspire” (2). The Proles are comprised of the majority of the population of Oceania and if they wanted to have the potential of causing a change in their government. They just lack the initiative. This reflects the poor and working class in the U.S. where they are the majority of the population yet there is something that holds them back. In 1984 the Inner Party or upper class possess privileges that the Proles and Outer Party could only dream of. “We can turn it off. We have that privilege” (144). In the book the Inner Party is able to momentarily turn off the telescreens Big Brother uses to spy on the population with demonstrating the differentiation in social classes. One way this significance of classes is shown in the U.S is how the country is a capitalist society which has always run on people advancing themselves as much as they can. Perhaps inadvertently the American Dream has become a “get rich

In Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell presents the protagonist, Winston Smith and his lover Julia in Oceania, under the rule of Big Brother. Under this totalitarian regime, both characters are Party members. Winston works in the Records department of the Ministry of Truth while Julia works in the Fiction department of the Ministry of Truth. After a cautiously planned meeting initiated by Julia, they started to see each other more often in secret. Over time, a romantic relationship started to develop, not solely based on physical and sexual attraction, but also as a result of their similar views centered around their hatred of the Party. Although both characters complement each other in terms of their views of Big Brother as Party members, their values and approaches to this issue fundamentally conflict in terms of morality and ethics, history, and politics.