Newspeak And The Media In 1984 By George Orwell

Orwell designed Newspeak to demonstrate the importance of language to ideas. Orwell thought literature was dying out, which he connected with dying language (Kazin 235). Language is not only the means by which an idea is expressed, but also the means by which an idea is thought. The purposes of Newspeak are to allow for the expression of thoughts Ingsoc deemed proper and make impossible the expression of thoughts Ingsoc deemed heretical (Kendrick 344). According to Orwell, control of thought follows control of language. The government in 1984 means to control the language, and

Absolute control over society is the central theme in the novel, 1984, by George Orwell. One method this power over society is exercised is use of language to manipulate and control people. The story features a society called Oceania, which is located in the European region. In Oceania, there is a form of totalitarian government called the Party which controls the entire society. The Party controls thoughts by making certain words or phrases illegal. In addition, any anti-party thoughts or motives are also deemed illegal. To control society, thoughts are monitored by telescreens which read reactions and record speech. A force, called the Thought Police, is also engaged to take power over and eliminate society’s individual beliefs. The

The motif, Newspeak, recurs throughout the novel, and illustrates how the government restricts knowledge through the limitation of language. Newspeak is a language that has a narrowed vocabulary in an attempt to exclude words that can raise awareness of any suppressive behavior that the Party exerts. “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thought crime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.” This quote best illustrates the Party’s intentions for Newspeak in regards to this slogan. The first sentence establishes how this motif is increasing ignorance, by narrowing the range of thought. In doing so, the second sentence holds true as the more ignorance that is spread through society, the more strength and power the Party gains control over the people of Oceania.

George Orwell’s essay, Politics and the English Language, first published in 1946, talks about some “bad habits”, which have driven the English language in the wrong direction, that is, away from communicating ideas. In his essay he quotes five passages, each from a different author, which embody the faults he is talking about. He lists dying metaphors, operators, pretentious diction, and meaningless words as things to look out for in your own writing and the writing of others (593-595). He talks about political uses of the English language. Our language has become ugly and the ugliness impedes upon communication. Ugly uses of language have been reinforced and passed down in the population “even among people who should and do know

Newspeak demolishes thought. Throughout the book, George Orwell tackles controversial ideas. He uses topics that create distraught in the readers to show how the future could exist. People kill for excitement and uses special forces to attack people. This happens because “Big Brother” wants it to. Big Brother runs the society and he uses his influence to control his subservients. He does this with the help of his new language “Newspeak,” which inhibits peoples thoughts and minds. The society in George Orwell’s 1984 does not have the capability to form personal opinions because of Newspeak.

VII). Almost everything about the past is forgotten, rewritten, and the fact that the citizens of Oceania live in fear, this allows society to accept every piece of false information that is given to them as the truth in the eyes of Big Brother. With this new concept of Newspeak, Big Brother is able to control society’s thoughts through a language. By creating Newspeak, the Party made it impossible to conceive rebellious or disobedient thoughts, because no words would exist that would allow them to express these thoughts. As the Party is constantly updating Newspeak, which is the new version of their English, Big Brother is getting closer to their ultimate goal. The ultimate goal for Big Brother is that no one will be capable of committing thought crime or even better will question the Party's supreme power. "All ambiguities and shades of meaning had been purged out of them. It was quite impossible to use the vocabulary for literary purposes or for political or philosophical discussion" (Book II Ch. III). By creating Newspeak, the Party is able to eliminate free thought, and is able to control the minds of the citizens by using language as mind control. "... the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of free thought" (Book I, Ch. V). Big Brother also has the Thought Police for monitoring all thought.

The government created a new form of English which was called, “Newspeak, in which vocabulary is strictly limited by government fiat. The goal is to make it increasingly difficult to express ideas that contradict the official line.”

1984 is a constant argument in today's society. There is a constant debate whether or not 1984 is similar in the 21st century, there are many reasons this topic is debated today. Although many people believe the book 1984 is not similar to the 21st century, a reading of Orwell’s novel demonstrates that in America today, the United States government is just as intrusive, the upper class citizens have more benefits, and newspeak is hastening the degradation of the English language just as the author foresaw.

This is another initiative used to keep the individual from there own truths to deprive them even more of an identity. "Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. It's merely a question of self-discipline, reality-control. (46)" Winston's coworker Syme believes that Newspeak will end the issue of thougtcrime, which it seems it is true. Newspeak is used by the Party to take away multiple meanings, expressions, individual thoughts to make the individuals more ignorant of individualism and other ideas that could ruin the ideas of the Party. With this language the people want be able to create thoughtcrime because they want have the knowledge to do so. Winston doesn't care for this aspect he only thinks of those who want be affected by the Party, the proles and at this point in time he thinks that no matter what kind of language they have now he will continue with his own ways.

“Don 't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it” In 1984 every thought is considered a threat towards the party.

“Newspeak was designed to. . .diminish the range of thought. . .by cutting the choice of words down to a minimum” explains George Orwell, the author of a dystopian fiction novel, 1984 (Orwell 300). Orwell designs a society in which a totalitarian government rules, depriving people of their thoughts. The story gives us a look into the life of the main character, Winston, who seems to face issues with reality control. Today, we will delve into the depths of this novel and explore Orwell’s views on the nature of language. In simple terms, Orwell suggests that language, if used in a certain way, has the ability to influence people and compel them to alter their thoughts. With this statement and supporting evidence, it can be concluded that the effective use of language can give individuals power to modify or reshape opinions that will allow for change in society.

1984 was written in an age of Nazism and Stalinism, where those totalitarian and fascist governments had their fists clenched around their citizens, controlling and terrorizing them at every move and within every aspect of their lives. The English author, Eric Arthur Blair, better known under his pseudonym George Orwell, wrote 1984 as a warning, to provoke a sense of fear from his audience, which, in turn, makes his purpose, to persuade and inform his readers to question the authority and integrity of their governments and news stations and make certain they do not infringe upon people’s inalienable rights, all the more impactful. Orwell propels his purpose through means of rhetorical devices, such as allusion, colloquialism, and paradoxes in order to build up fear in his audience, which in turn more adeptly and meaningfully develops his purpose.

The government “fixes” history information in order to make them look better. By controlling the present, the government is able to manipulate the past. And in controlling the past, the party can justify all of its actions in the present. The government uses technology as a way to control by using hidden telescreens and microphones around the city to monitor its subjects at all times. 1984 reveals that technology even though technology can be perceived as moral good, it can be manipulated and used as evil. One of orwell’s most important messages in 1984 us that language is of central importance to human thought because it structures and limits the ideas that that individuals are capable of formulating and expressing. Newspeak is used as an english replacement enforced by the party with the goal of eliminating the ability to question the parties absolute

Since without language thought is nearly impossible the party believes that by altering the language they can impose their untrue reality. They will be able to restrict it to the point that even a person’s thoughts are manipulated; things such as individualism and imagination will cease to exist. Which ultimately will give the Party total control over society. The newspeak engineer also goes on to state “ In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible because there will be no words in which to express it.” (55) This quote proves how vital control of language is to the party, it is the key to becoming a controlled state. By creating the element of Newspeak in 1984 Orwell is warning against the potential consequences of manipulating language to benefit people in power and how this can eventually lead to a totalitarian state.

In the totalitarian world, which Orwell describes, language is the most significant and effective approach to maintain the rule. From Orwell’s perspective, everything including language, which is particularly powerful, belongs to political measure. In fact, language is the fundamental motivation of creating a nation or a tribe. It is also the foundation of thought because Human’s thought must rely on the language expressing. Then it could be deduced by analogy that controlling human’s language equal controlling human’s thought. Except expressing, it has the ability to build facts. The Party controls citizens’ thinking through controlling the language so that the Party applies euphemistic words to mislead public and prettify its policy. It is unimaginable that language contributes to the rule. The totalitarian utilize every language method to hold the dominant position.