A Rhetorical Analysis on Nineteen Eighty-Four

Big Brother is the controlling dictator of Oceania, which is the totalitarian state that the Party bows total power to. Every citizen, is under persistent surveillance by the authorities, the Thought Police. The citizens are mainly being monitored by tele-screens. These screens operate both as televisions and security cameras. Tele-screens are located in every room that belongs to a Party member as well as public locations. People in Oceania are constantly reminded that “Big Brother is watching you.” Big Brother is described as a figure that will never die because he is the representation of the Party and is said to live as long as the Party lives.

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.

“BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”(Orwell 2), is a saying that surrounds society in the classic novel 1984. The author, George Orwell provides his audience with an abundant amount of themes throughout his writing. One very prominent one is Orwell’s psychological manipulation of his characters. As characters within this society are constantly surrounded by sayings such as, “WAR IS PEACE”, “FREEDOM IS SLAVERY”, and “IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”(Orwell 4), Orwell shows the ultimate type of control within his characters. Orwell is able to achieve such psychological manipulation in his characters through physical control and the abundance of technology. Without Orwell’s use of telescreens, his characters would be able to have their

Our society has two main similarities to Orwell’s novel 1984: biased media and almost constant surveillance. The media in Oceania is spread by posters depicting the face of Big Brother and reading “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”

The Party seeks to control everything- the past, present, and future. By manipulating every source of information, and modifying content of all historical records, the Party accurately displays propaganda to the citizens. Like our society, Orwell warns us of government becoming too powerful and taking civilians privacy away. Overall, Orwell is heeding a warning of a society in which government controls peoples acts and

Famous philanthropist Stephen Hawking once stated, “We are all different. There is no such thing as a standard or run-of-the-mill human being, but we share the same human spirit.” In the world of George Orwell’s 1984, this shared human spirit is abused, neglected, and utterly destroyed. This is most apparent when O’Brien deconstructs the argument of Winston and, in turn, tears down his human spirit. While Winston clings to a persistent hope of the failure of The Party, O’Brien uses logos and pathos strategies to methodically tear apart this belief. This maniacal argument for The Party, the strong imagery involved in the interrogation, and the mental collapse of Winston produce one of the most thought-provoking, saddening, and terrifying scenes in 1984.

n this excerpt of 1984 written by George Orwell (1948), Orwell describes about the forced indifferent emotions of Winston Smith after he was mentally tortured by the betrayal of Julia. Orwell builds his argument by initially using euphemism, and then describes how Winston festers, in a chronological pattern. He uses superfluous diction to support his main claim- how the argument between Julia and Winston contributed to Winston’s current emotional state. From his choice of diction, he seems to target people who are interested in History and old Literature.

A society in which independent thinking is a crime punishable by death, the government does not think of the common good by which all of the society will benefit, and the leaders are self-serving. Big Brother doesn't need to justify its ways because it holds all of the power in society through its ministries. In the novel, 1984 by George Orwell, there is one theme that stands out the most from the point of view from Winston, the main theme of the book is that government’s intentions are not benevolent, but self-serving this is show through government control, population control, and

O’Brien, part of the Party, told Winston, “‘You knew this, Winston,’ said O’Brien. ‘Don’t deceive yourself. You did know it--you always known it.’ Yes, he saw now, he had always known it” that he will get caught and knew the consequences of getting caught for thoughtcrime by agreeing to ‘rebel’ against Big Brother; which leads to Winston brainwash (Orwell 239). In 1984, it takes place in Oceania (a small country) during the 1980s, and in the Ministry of Love where O’Brien and Winston were placed inside to help Winston. Involved with Winston’s brainwash is Big Brother, the Party, O’Brien, and guards helping O’Brien. Throughout Winston’s process of being brainwashed, O’Brien used logos, ethos, and pathos to convince Winston to love Big Brother

In the novel 1984 written by George Orwell, the author uses contradiction as a rhetorical strategy to develop his critique of a totalitarian regime by slowly changing the thoughts of people to only correspond with the thoughts of the inner party and Big Brother himself. Throughout the novel, many things seem to be the complete opposite of what their names actually mean. Perhaps the first mention of this is in the beginning of the book where Winston is describing his flat. With a name such as “Victory Mansions,” you’d think the building is nice and of high quality however this is truly not the case. The elevator hardly ever works, defeating the entire purpose, and... “The hallway [smells] of boiled cabbage and old rag mats,” (Orwell 1). Plastered all over the building and streets of London are colorful signs meant to enlighten your heart toward Big Brother.

As depicted by Winston Smith in the novel 1984, by George Orwell, it can be beneficial to society to have a ruling class, such as the government, to help keep order, but when that class becomes too powerful, it becomes corrupt, does everything that it can to remain in power, even if that involves eradicating the privacy of the people or destroying the credibility of the past.

I think it would be difficult to find someone of an acceptable age who had not heard of George Orwell. At least one of his books used to be required reading at some point during high school, and I remember reading excerpts of at least two more. I am not sure if that is still the case, but I have always thought, since the release of the three ring television circus “Big Brother,” that he (and his writing) must have had a huge impact on the premise of the show. In the novel, 1984, the premise is that the police are always watching, and have a hand in everything, just as the public/viewers do in the television show. Full disclaimer: I have never actually watched the show, nor do I think

In 1984 George Orwell depicts a society in which the state exercises pervasive control over the lives of its citizens. This is done in three major ways this is done with supply control, the use of televisions for monitoring and the changing of facts in books and papers. First supply control controls the people because it forces them to have rather primitive goals of supply. The reason for this is controlling is because they do have enough to feed all but decide not to preserve the inner party’s dominance. This is shown in the book of the Brotherhood to be the reason for supply control.

Because in Oceania Big Brother knows all. He can see us see us through that box, the telebox, no the telescreen, I mean the all-seeing box sitting in the corner of the room, my room, no our room-

supposed to be broken, A figurehead is worshipped by the citizens of the society just like BIG BROTHER in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) in this society the only thing one could love and trust is Big Brother; citizens will never dared to gather the audacity to question his authority, citizens of such society lives under constant