George Orwell's Society : How Does Propaganda Affect A Society?

Winston’s ordinary life makes him a far cry from the bold heroes of more traditional works, However, the story is less driven by Winston’s actions than by the psychological forces acting on his perception and his internal monologue. His mind, like any other in the novel, is a weak and malleable thing. From cradle to grave citizens of Oceania like Winston are put into government programs, bombarded by continuous propaganda and even brainwashed when necessary. The Party’s power to manipulate thought is a smack in the face to the erudites of Orwell’s generation who found refuge in the enlightened mind and the power of reason. The Party does not usually need to assault individual minds fortified by reason because the human mind and body are always portrayed as weak and fallible things. Winston constantly complains of ulcers and aches. Elders among the proles cannot remember life before the Final revolution that swept the Party into power. “They were like the ant, which can see small objects but not large ones. And when memory failed and written records were falsified -- when that happened, the claim of the Party to have improved the conditions of human life had got to be accepted, because there did not exist, and never again could exist, any standard against which it could be tested” (Orwell 1-8). Men like Winston’s neighbor Parsons are so easily

Throughout the story, you see the way that the pig, Squealer, gives information to the “lowly” animals. He tells them what the leading pig, Napoleon, wants them to know, but he tells it in a way that it seems they are benefitting. Squealer had a way of persuading the other animals to listen to him, through his actions and manipulation. “The best known among them was a small, fat pig named Squealer, with very round cheeks, twinkling eyes, nimble movements and a shrill voice. He was a brilliant talker, and when he was arguing some difficult point he had a way of skipping from side to side and whisking his tail, which was somehow very persuasive. The others said of Squealer that he could turn black to white.”

Winston is of the age of thirty-nine. His childhood took place before the Party existed in 1960, as he reminds it. He often fantasizes about the “Golden Country”, also about his mom and sister. He’s always holding on to these thoughts because it’s the only aspect of a true memory before the Party. There’s this obsession he has with finding the real truth on whether life was better before or after Big Brother took over.

Although he faces dehumanization by the Party, Winston is able to retain his human rights through his relationship with Julia by utilizing his senses, recalling his past, and creating a private lifestyle away

In George Orwell’s 1984, Winston embarks on a journey to gain knowledge on the interworking and purpose of his oppressors, The Party. The journey follows Campbell’s Hero’s Journey model rather closely and elements of this journey are often key to the progression of 1984’s plot as a whole. Winston knows that he is different from the “mindless drones” he calls his fellow Oceania citizens. He knows that he feels bound by some external force and he has a confident feeling that he knows this is the party. What he does not quite understand is how and why this external force controls him and his way of thinking the way that it does. He becomes obsessed with this question of truth and he involuntarily begins to devote his entire thinking to his metal dilemma. This is the psychological journey that Winston thrusts

Winston failed in action, thought, and belief against the party. The first and foremost way in which Winston

The Party is constantly streaming propaganda into the lives of people living in Oceania and the things being said have been deemed to be the truth by the Party. The three slogans of the Party are, “War is Peace/Freedom is Slavery/Ignorance is Strength”. Big Brother is the symbolic figurehead of the Party who is equally significant as these slogans. Early in the morning, Winston reads these words above the entrance to the Ministry of Truth where he works and is now wondering if the Party will be in power forever. He pulls out a coin to look at what is inscribed, “There [on the coin], too, in tiny clear lettering, the same slogans were inscribed, and on the other face of the coin the head of Big Brother [...] On coins, on stamps, on the covers of books, on banners, on posters, and on the wrapping of a cigarette packet—everywhere” (Orwell 27).

Orwell uses this quote to convey the psychological lens because he is able to be inside the reader and characters minds. As for the characters, the author is able to go into a deeper thought as to how they are reacting as to knowing that there is no possible way to get around the Thought Police, and they mine as well be “...think[ing] of [themselves] as a corpse” since it is difficult to live a somewhat normal life in the future of 1984 (Orwell 135). This quote adds to the overall message of the novel because since the beginning of 1984, Orwell has mentioned the government many times and how life is different in future since Winston has been able to go there; from this quote readers are able to get an inside thought from the characters on how

George Orwell’s 1984 was written as a “political satire of a totalitarian state” (Fitzpatrick), but is now more relevant and truthful than ever before. Frightening parallels can be drawn between 1984 and places like North Korea, and even the United States. These include such things as the use of propaganda, places of imprisonment and torture, and around the clock surveillance. All of which are used to gain and hold onto power over people.

     In the novel 1984, Oceania is depicted as a totalitarian state. Oceania can be both similar and different compared to totalitarian states of the twentieth century, one imparticular, Germany’s National Socialism. Oceania and National Socialism are similar in several ways. A large part of the novel deals with the relationship between The Party and society. Many of the techniques used by The Party are similar to those used by Hitler. One of these ways, or techniques is propaganda. In Orwell’s novel propaganda was used through telescreens in everyone’s homes, which was a very easy way to broadcast the views and beliefs of The Party as well as control what the citizens of Oceania watched and listened to. Another form of propaganda in the novel is by the means of posters and slogans. In this society it as impossible to go anywhere without seeing a

Despite Winston's passionate hatred for the Party and his desire to test the limits of the Party's power, his capacity to carry out action against the Party is burdened (i.e. lacking positive freedom) by his intense paranoia and overriding belief that he will ultimately suffer scrutiny and brutal torture for the crimes he

What if every move made or action taken was watched on a screen? In the story 1984 written by George Orwell has a theme given by the over aching government. The conflict of this novel comes from the oppression and controlling ways of the government. The protagonist of this story named Winston had troubles wrapping his head around their conniving ways, and yet though illegal had a quite complicated yet interesting relationship with a lady named Julia. Not that everyone else disagreed with Winston, but most of the people who live in his society have been brainwashed through the use of propaganda. One symbol that deemed surprising was the fact that Winston did have his own opinion in life and used this as way to protrude it. If a woman would have

More than anything he wants to be able to have his own thoughts; not just be told what to think, do, and feel. He goes through the motions of outward orthodoxy, but inside he lives in a world of dreams, memories and endless speculation about the existence of the past in the face of the Party's continual alteration of documents. Winston is devoid of any creativity or “one-ness” as a human being, and feels he is being denied the right to live a real life.

1. Describe Winston’s character as it relates to his attitude toward the Party. In what ways might

The story “Animal Farm” written by George Orwell is inspired by the Russian Revolution of 1917. Just as propaganda was used in the revolution by Joseph Stalin, it was also used by the pigs in the animal farm. I find this to be really important because everything that had a positive or negative outcome was caused and reflected off the use of propaganda. Squealer was the one who would brainwash the animals into thinking wrongly of the commandments and lying to the animals that the milk and apples were an absolute necessity for the pigs.