The Power of Language 1984 Comparison Essay

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

George Orwell uses his novel 1984 to convey that human beings, as a species, are extremely susceptible to dehumanization and oppression in society. Orwell demonstrates how a government’s manipulation of technology, language, media, and history can oppress and degrade its citizens.

The purpose of Orwell’s essay is to educate the reader to the decline of written English. He also means to expose politicians for manipulating the English language. Orwell writes during the time of the Communist Soviet Union, when dictators like Stalin had full political control over the government. In this time, Stalin and other corrupt leaders manipulated the people in order to gain more power. Orwell argues that politicians use worn-out metaphors with no meaning in order to confuse their audience. Orwell is trying to enlighten people about how politicians abuse people to get what they want, which is a crucial thing to understand in a

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.

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 was first demonstrated in the allegory of the cave through the idea of locking prisoners in a cave since birth. Thus, withholding all the realness of the world to manipulate them to believe that shadows were the truth. Once released to life beyond shadows the prisoner saw understood that the shadows were reflections of real things. Similarly, the Party used language to manipulate the citizens of Oceania in this way. Newspeak was perhaps the most important message that Orwell put forth in the novel. The control of language is the control of how individuals express themselves. Thus, in 1984 individuals were not even permitted to have thoughts that went against the government. Fear kept those thoughts away, but eventually the Party planned to use Newspeak instead of English. This is because Newspeak was to eliminate the idea (the language) of overthrowing the

1984 is an eye-opening novel written by George Orwell. Orwell wrote the novel in 1949 to outline how he projected society would be in 1984 if progress continued upon its current track. Orwell published the book as a warning that society must be careful about progress for progress’s sake, or conditions could end up similar to the way society is in his work 1984. The novel is divided into three chapters, or books, each with multiple subunits, and these sections tell the story in chronological order. The book ends with an appendix on the principles of newspeak, the new language of Oceania.

“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, Orwell’s last and perhaps greatest work, deals with drastically heavy themes that still terrify his audience after 65 years. George Orwell’s story exemplifies excessive power, repression, surveillance, and manipulation in his strange, troubling dystopia full of alarming secrets that point the finger at totalitarian governments and mankind as a whole. What is even more disquieting is that 1984, previously considered science fiction, has in so many ways become a recognizable reality.

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.

Most dystopian novels contain themes of corruption and oppression, therefore in both ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ language is obviously used as a form of the states control, enabling dystopian leaders to remain in power by manipulating language to restrict free thought. Orwell and Atwood have utilized language as a key tool of oppression throughout their novels. The use of language is mostly repressive, language can also be seen as liberating, and used as an act of rebellion, which the state wishes to eliminate.

In this essay, I will use three sources to develop an answer to the question: “What relevance does Orwell’s text, 1984, written in 1948, have on today’s society?”. I will discuss today’s society’s use of words used in, 1984. The sources given are all relatable, but i have chosen these three, because I can give a better reasoning to how they are relatable. I must include Citations for all information I have provided from each article, and put all information together in a eloquent essay.

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