A Brief Note On British Literature And Composition

In the novel 1984 ever since the beginning of the book propaganda has been used by The Party to have absolute control over its people. The Party used a varieties of techniques to maintain their power. The telescreens, child spies, and the thought police. It is made important that the first job of the Party is to break down self confidence in the people. They focus on destroying peoples confidence in their common sense, ability to make their own decision and intelligence. How they party does this is through what they call double think. This is propaganda suggesting that if the people are having other thoughts then what The Party says it is a crime because it isn’t what the “truth” is.

George Orwell’s 1984 is more than just a novel, it is a warning to a potential dystopian society of the future. Written in 1949, Orwell envisioned a totalitarian government under the figurehead Big Brother. In this totalitarian society, every thought and action is carefully examined for any sign of rebellion against the ruling party. Emotion has been abolished and love is nonexistent; an entire new language is being drafted to reduce human thought to the bare minimum. In a society such as the one portrayed in 1984, one is hardly human. In George Orwell’s 1984, the party uses fear, oppression, and propaganda to strip the people of their humanity.

Through this activity, Winston introduces us to Doublethink, the ability to hold two contradictory ideas in your head while guiding yourself to believe the one that best fits the principles of Ingsoc, the party doctrine. To even doubt or question Ingsoc is dubbed ‘thoughtcrime’, and pursued ruthlessly by the thought police.

This quote exemplifies the extent to which the Party hijacks the mental processes of people to gain power, and how that is more crucial to unopposed power than physical control already established. Thus, Orwell presents a perspective on power through exploring the restriction of free thought and movement, and how that benefits a totalitarian government.

In “1984”, lies, myths and false information controls the thinking of the citizens. The Party uses propaganda as the deadliest weapon of control. Propaganda increases the citizens’ morale and makes them think that what the party tells them to do is always right.

Personal freedom and consciousness may be altered by the artificiality of a nation’s ideology and may lead to lesser hope in a better reality. The totalitarian party uses all of their efforts to influence their citizens in believing their deceptive lies with many factors including propaganda “Big Brother is Always Watching.” Winston’s diary states, “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows” (Orwell 84). As the party accomplished physical control, the final goal was to obtain psychological control. To not be susceptible to mental manipulation is

People accept things all the time; in 1984 however, people accepted two contradictory things constantly. That is the basis of doublethink and how the party, a fictional political group in 1984, maintain control over its citizens. Without doublethink, the party would not have been able to control the people as they do and keep things in check. Since the party destroys or alters any and all history that goes against their views people are only left with the knowledge the party gives them. Also with that lack of knowledge, the party has installed either great zealous in the people or fear.

What is doublethink? Orwell describes doublethink as “the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.'; In 1984, doublethink is the normal way of thought, and as a result everyone understands it and practices it. Doublethink is different from changing ones mind, lying, and self-deception in many ways. Doublethink involves believing in the two contradictory ideas at the same time. This is different from lying because lying is saying something that is wrong and knowing that it is wrong but still saying it anyway. For example lets say you broke a vase. When your mother asks you who broke the vase and you say the dog did it that would be lying. The reason it is not

3. According to 1984, doublethink is, "To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it (Orwell, ). " Doublethink is the act of holding two opposite, individually exclusive ideas or opinions and believing in both simultaneously and absolutely. Doublethink is crucial to the Party’s control of Oceania because it enables the Party to alter historical records and pass off fake accounts as authentic.

In 1984, George Orwell shows a Capitalist society that was pressured by fear of turning into a Communist state to take a radical course of action, just barely clinging to the few fundamental views it once had. Doublethink is a major contributor to Big Brother’s success as a party. It coincides with the Thought Police, by making every member of every class consciously think about what the say and how they phrase it. This constantly keeps everyone at bay and allows the Thought Police to weed out those who seem to be forcing themselves into society and those who are just barely putting in enough effort to get by. Doublethink is speaking in terms of equality, so that everything is contradictory to itself to even everything out. The party slogans are perfect examples of how Doublethink is an active part of society, “WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (page 6). These slogans are not only contradictory, but they “equalize” one another and in a very simplified manner, explain to all members of society what they stand for. Big Brother looks to find peace through war, there is a constant talk of a war outside of their society and that Big Brother is the only force protecting their lives. This instills a fear within all citizens and causes them to let Big Brother do as he pleases, so long as they still have their lives.

In “1984,” by George Orwell, psychological control creates conflict for the protagonist and influences the meaning of the novel as a whole. For example, the official slogan of the Party “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength,” serves as an introduction to the Party’s ideology of “doublethink.” The strength and independence of Winston’s and other individuals’ mind’s is weakened and forces them to live in constant fear, this allows the Party to force its citizens to accept anything it orders, even when it is quite illogical. Similarly in part one, chapter VII, “In the end the Party would announce that two and two made give and you would have to believe it….Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external

In 1984, the Party creates a past that different with it’s origin to fool the citizen mind so that they could compel the citizens to work towards the Party’s goals. The history of historical negationism by Communist government has proven George Orwell’s claims to be true. Mind-controlling is also an art that the Party already

The governments in today’s society have brainwashed their citizens into believing everything their leader says and thinks is correct and everything else is wrong. This can sometimes be known as a totalitarian government. George Orwell’s novel 1984 revolves around totalitarianism. The members of the party in Oceania are taught and required to worship their leader Big Brother whether they believe in him or not. In the novel 1984, George Orwell shows the problems and the hatred with a totalitarian government through his use of symbolism, situational irony, and indirect characterization.

The thoughts inside of your head becoming the only amount of freedom the citizens’ have. The book 1984 written by George Orwell is a book about a party that in charge of everything that happens in the country. Big brother is the big leader in party and has thousands of tv monitors set up throughout the country watching the society and make sure they obey their very strict laws that are placed forward by the party. The literary elements that are being used throughout this essay are conflict, symbol, motifs, character and theme with the critical lens being the reader’s personal response.

The hope can be realized only by recognizing, so 1984 teaches us, the danger with which all men are confronted today, the danger of a society of automatons who will have lost every trace of individuality, of love, of critical thought, and yet will not be aware of it because of “doublethink.” Books like Orwell’s