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Power Of Language In George Orwell's 1984

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Orwell’s 1984 is a classic dystopian novel revolved around a terrifying new world order where society’s every breath and step is tracked by the ominous “Big Brother”. Originally written by Orwell as a warning to, what seemed, an improbable future, has become a disturbing but imaginable reality in our current post 9/11 era. A north western society where technology has become a neccesity rather than a luxary is eerily close in flavor to the novel’s setting. Technology, however, is not the main building block for the rise of the “Party”. The totalitarian government, as shown in the novel, has successfully risen through the very pyschological ability that has made human evolution possible, language. Though their manipulation and abuse of “language” …show more content…

A new language meant to replace Old English by the year 2050 and eventually eradicate diverse expression through thought. The sole purpose of newspeak is to “[cut] the language down to the bone” (49) and eliminate “nonessential” words. By shortening vocabulary, as said by Blakemore, “the Party’s linguistic thought is paradoxically anti-linguistic” (349). It believes by cutting down on vocabulary, the human thought process will be reduced as well. Orwell explains the basic concept of Newspeak as “narrow[ing] the range of thought…[to] make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it” …show more content…

In Orwell’s novel, “every concievable kind of information, instruction, [and] enetertainment” (42) is supplied by exactly one organization, the Ministry of Truth. The group’s actual physical propagation is done mainly by telescreens; television devices/security cameras kept in every Oceania individual’s home. These screens constantly spew out “victories” won by the Oceania and are the sole media outlets to gather news and information from. Many of the supposed victories Oceania has won in the war are outright lies. They are falsifications and exaggerations made to decieve the public from knowing the truth about the worlds actual state of

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