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Destruction Of Language In 1984 By George Orwell

Decent Essays

Orwell creates the theme of destruction of language in 1984, and successfully portrays government abusing their power. It is easy to see when Syme and Winston are talking about the eleventh edition of the Newspeak dictionary in the lunchroom. Syme vocalizes that “we’re destroying words – scores of them, hundreds of them, each day” (Orwell 51). As previously stated, Big Brother wants Oldspeak to be superseded by Newspeak. Syme says this will happen by around the year 2050. Big Brother wants it to be impossible to even commit a thought crime, which is why they are destroying the language. More evidence for this is in the text George Orwell and the Living World. The text claims that Newspeak in 1984 is created “to banish from the minds of people any thoughts other than those approved by the ruling party of Oceania (Woodcock). This is a great example of abuse of power, because the ruling party wants “banish” all thoughts that could go against the government. If this isn’t abusing power it is hard to what is. To clarify, Big Brother wants everyone to stay ignorant as to what his party is doing. 1984 provides the reader with evidence that Big Brother is brainwashing his subjects. An example for this is when Winston is walking to the junk shop where he bought the diary. On the way he sees a church and “[He] wonders as to what century the church belonged” (Orwell 98). The government has hidden or destroyed so much of the past; to the point where Winston does not even have an idea

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