Psychological Manipulation In 1984 By George Orwell

Throughout George Orwell’s 1984, the phrases “ War is peace.” “Freedom is slavery.” and Ignorance is strength.” are often repeated and have become the Mantra of Oceania, the country formerly known as England. These statements seem contradictory and ridiculous to readers, so how can they make so much sense to the people of Oceania? How can a country push such backwards ideas on millions of people, making them dependent droids? It appears ludacris yet, humans have used psychological manipulation throughout history to gain control. James McTeigue’s V for Vendetta has the same manipulative aspects throughout its own story as well, creating parallels in not only these two fictional worlds, but also our own.

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

They take historical records and try to rewrite and modify the content in an attempt to manipulate and control every possible source of information. The members of the party are forbidden to keep written records of their lives. They require all photographs and documents to be destroyed. It eventually gets hard for the people to remember their past

There is a psychological purpose behind this concept but one to know will have to look into the world of Winston and what he believed in and stood beside at all times. In 1984 there was a so called doublespeak which basically meant saying one thing and meaning another. This feature shows what their society made all these people fear of getting caught by Big Brother which was their ideal the one they lived by. As it says in (page 34) “if the party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event, it never happened.” words can speak by themselves and here you could tell Winston was trying to say that the party can basically control one's mind to what

The government desensitizes its population to violence in order to control people’s minds and thoughts. The Party is a violent and cruel entity that does whatever it takes

Furthermore, through stripping people of all meaningful relationships in their life, the inner party further dehumanizes society. When there is less joy in people’s lives, when they have less to live for, they will be more inclined to live for big brother to fill the void. Even those who remain freethinking will live meaningless lives, and this lack of passion will make them easy to control. However, the scope of the inner party’s plan is not limited to the current generation. The process of brainwashing starts at a very young age as the party ensures that they are the ones educating children.

In “1984,” by George Orwell, psychological control creates conflict for the protagonist and influences the meaning of the novel as a whole. For example, the official slogan of the Party “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength,” serves as an introduction to the Party’s ideology of “doublethink.” The strength and independence of Winston’s and other individuals’ mind’s is weakened and forces them to live in constant fear, this allows the Party to force its citizens to accept anything it orders, even when it is quite illogical. Similarly in part one, chapter VII, “In the end the Party would announce that two and two made give and you would have to believe it….Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external

The Party establishes what is right or wrong and what is considedred acceptable or not. By telling the proles how and what to feel or expect, the Party changes the proles into mindless followers who’s personalities resemble that of a robot rather han an actual human being. This is best illustrated by the following passage: “[W]ar is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength” (Orwell 4). These short phrases encapsulate what the term doublethink represents in the novel. Doublethink can best be defined as the ability to hold two contradictory opinions at the same time without appreciating the inherent contradiction. Throughout the book, the Party toggles with almost all facts in the world and all of the proles just have to accept it. For example, when the party just decides that Oceania is at war with Eastasia and never at war with Eurasia, the proles just accept it because in their minds the party is always right. If the party is always right, the proles do not need to believe or think about anything else because they think the party is there to support them. Through all of the lies and made-up stories the party creates, the idea of independent thought is not needed anymore. Manipulation is a key killer of individualism in this dystopian

We may think that government wants the best for its citizens, but in the novel 1984, by George Orwell it proves us wrong. This novel shows the extreme side of psychological manipulation done to the society by the government. Getting into people's heads and forcing them to believe The Party's ideologies, and how Big brothers government controls their citizens. Using the thought police, and surveillance devices, such as the telescreens, are techniques to watch over the citizens, more specifically the outer party members. The Two Minutes hate and Room 101 are ways to brainwash the citizens, although room 101 is saved for "unique" rebels.

In 1984 by George Orwell, language is an important function of control. If control was taken seriously within a state than outbursts of war and defiance would be omitted. The Party controls everything, for example, historical records, language, and what people think. The Party manipulates information and forbids the members to keep and records of their lives. By doing so, they manipulate the past experiences of the members in order to control the present.

Nineteen Eighty-Four is simultaneously exceptionally brilliant while also morbidly controversial. This notion can be sympathetically perceived by the temperamental tug of war between moral ethics and immoral vindication. The choice between right and wrong, good and bad, just and unjust, cannot be overlooked while reading the book. George Orwell writes about the dawn of a dystopian totalitarian world in which reality can be convoluted, distorted and manipulated; furthermore, it is a disturbing visualization of a world that does not allow for free thought and speech. Digging deeper into the philosophical and psychological patterns that are portrayed throughout the story can be a truly eye opening and thought-provoking journey. The various aspects of individualism, language, unconsciousness, freedom, happiness, and power are what encapsulate the principle topics of the book. The fundamental aspect of 1984 is the dissection of human thought processes for the sole purpose of having full power and authority over every aspect of a person’s consciousness; ergo, this can be seen as the pinnacle of dehumanization but moreover it is a means to no end.

The manipulation of the mind often is seen as an invasion of privacy, going against one’s natural rights as a human being. From another mindset, psychological control can be seen as the greatest weapon known to man today, allowing complete domination over a nation or mass of people. Despite laws and regulations meant to prevent an extreme abuse of power, the invasion of one’s mind is a common strategy used by governments throughout history and literature to create a sense of supremacy in their respective societies. In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the Party bases their leadership around controlling the minds of the people, allowing the alteration of thoughts. When given access to these thoughts and memories, the government can change the past and attempt to influence unfailing love and support for Big Brother. Like the leaders in 1984, Adolf Hitler used similar tactics to gain followers, persuading the people to believe every word he spoke in Nazi Germany. Domination over what the public hear and see also were main factors in his rise to power. In both 1984 and Nazi Germany, psychological manipulation is a powerful force used to aid in the government's control over the people, using propaganda, pressure, and fear to alter the thoughts of individuals.

The manipulation of the mind is often seen as an invasion of privacy, therefore going against one’s natural rights as a human being. From another mindset, psychological control can be seen as the greatest weapon known to man today, allowing complete domination over a nation or mass of people. Despite laws and regulations meant to prevent an extreme abuse of power, the invasion of one’s mind is a common strategy used by governments throughout history and literature to create a sense of supremacy in their respective societies. In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the Party bases their leadership around controlling the minds of the people and altering their thoughts. Like the leaders in 1984, Adolf Hitler used similar tactics to gain followers, persuading the people to believe every word he spoke in Nazi Germany. Domination over what the public hears and sees were the main factors in his rise to power. In both 1984 and Nazi Germany, psychological manipulation is a powerful force used to aid in the government's control over the people, using propaganda, pressure, and fear to alter the thoughts of individuals.

One of George Orwell’s themes in 1984 is that language is important to thought - therefore capable of mind control. It is language that helps people communicate with each other. Once language can be centralized in a political agency, then the thoughts of citizens can be controlled. It will be impossible in this society to think any disobedient or rebellious thoughts. Why? Mainly because there are no words with which to think them. Mr. Orwell lived during the time that totalitarian societies were springing up in the world. Mr. Orwell thought these countries wanted to turn their citizens into machines. Happiness becoming a synthetic creation from without rather than from within. Happiness would be void of natural passions and personal inclinations. The reality of life in a totalitarian society.

George Orwell was a brilliant author. As we will see through his writing he had the capability to alter our perceptions of reality. He made the unreal seem real, and the real seem unreal as if we were seeing it for the first time. This was shown in Orwell’s famous book Nineteen Eighty-four with how convincingly he displays the methods of control used by The Party. Dictators rule over the masses with near absolute power, using control methods mostly unknown to the general population to sculpt and manipulate their people into whatever they desire. The totalitarian government of Oceania was the same, except that they had complete control over their citizens. Using a variety of techniques that Orwell described and that this paper will examine, the Party had almost completely forced the population into total submission and obedience. Nineteen Eighty-four was a critical piece of literature as it depicted a dystopian vision of what can happen to us today, if we do not stay vigilant and continue to hold our governments accountable.