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1984 Fear Is Power

Decent Essays

Through history, many civilizations tried to gain absolute control over their society. For example, the Nazis wore their prisoners down to destroy their honor by torturing them endlessly, starving them until they became easy to manipulate, acting as the Nazi’s puppets. However, the Nazi party was not successful in taking total control over all aspects of society. Soon enough, they were taken down, ending their power abruptly. Though History only continued to repeat itself as attempts at totalitarianism failed, Big Brother’s Oceania was able to accomplish the impossible, to successfully maintain absolute power through the use of fear, strong human instincts, and control over the human thought. The party was able to use fear to control the …show more content…

There are occasions when a human being will stand out against pain, even to the point of death. But for everyone there is something unendurable--something that cannot be contemplated.” (Orwell 234). Every human being is afraid of a situation that carries possible threat or harm. In such situations, it is natural instinct to go into a “fight or flight” mode, to stay and fight or to run away to escape the threat. This reaction is wired into all humans, for it is crucial for them to survive, to act accordingly to save themselves. However, fear has an emotional response which varies from individual. It is this response that creates their fear of fear, which can be identified as a phobia. A phobia is directed to an object or situation where one realizes that their fear is unreasonable, but they instinctively react. Especially when stressed or nervous, confronting one’s phobia is even more difficult and a bigger feat to accomplish. By knowing how fear and phobias work in humans, the Party was able to manipulate such fears to create advantages. As a result, the Ministry of Love was created, symbolizing people’s fears, intimidating them to conform to the Party’s regulations. “The thing that is in room 101 is the worst thing in the world”

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