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1984 - In the face of pain there are no heroes

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“In the face of pain there are no heroes” George Orwell’s 1984 is a brilliant commentary on the dangers of totalitarianism, mind control, technology and both physical and psychological manipulation. The novel’s protagonist, Winston Smith, is a very pensive and curious man. He is desperate to uncover the roots behind the twisted caste system that has been set in place by an organization called the Party. The Party demonstrates absolute control over every aspect of life in Oceania (formerly London). They are a totalitarian organization using language as a mind control device as well as psychological and physical intimidation and manipulation in order to keep its citizens, or effectively its slaves, in line. One thing always holds true…show more content…
He goes to unbelievable lengths in order to rebel against the Party. He commits various crimes throughout the book ranging from simply writing, “Down with Big Brother” in is illegal diary to having a forbidden love affair with a woman named Julia and everything in between. He even gets himself accepted into the anti-Party brotherhood. However, it is only through the great efforts that Winston goes through carrying out his rebellion that the true effect of the power of the party can be seen. The beginning of the parties control stems from their ability to use language as a mind control device. In Oceania, “if you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.” The Party implements a new language called “Newspeak” which simply eliminates any potentially disloyal words from the vocabulary. Orwell uses this to illustrate the point that language is the most crucial part in the generation of unique and original human thought. Without language, the formation of thought is nearly impossible. Even the conceptualization of an idea questioning the Party’s absolute power is made impossible by Newspeak. Therein lies another issue; once the Party controls language they have the ability to exercise psychological and physical intimidation and manipulation over the society. Winston comes to a terrifying realization, nothing is worse than physical pain, “for after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or, that they force of gravity works? Or that they
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