We Have The Power Of History In George Orwell's 1984

All of the constant messages and propaganda causes citizens to have no time for independent thought. The constant stream of propaganda is designed to make everything the Party does, look like a glorious success. Everyone thinks the Party is doing well and is a necessity when in reality, the people would be better off without the Party. No matter where the people go, the Party provides a constant barrage of information, mostly untruthful, meant only to occupy their time. The Party also thinks down upon the family structure. The Party undermines families by letting their children into an organization called the Junior Spies. The Party then brainwashes and encourages them to spy on their parents. They are told to report any problems and signs of disloyalty to the Party. Mrs. Parson’s children are in the Junior Spies. Mrs. Parson is even afraid of her kids accusing her of a thoughtcrime or any disloyalty. The Party also forces the public to suppress and disband their sexual desires almost completely. They are forced to treat sex as merely a job where the only purpose is the creation of new, loyal, Party members. With such a lack of sexual freedom, it is obvious why Winston wishes to overthrow the Party and the face of Big Brother. When Winston is being tortured by O’Brien, Winston submits to O’Brien’s power. O’Brien is holding up four fingers and yet Winston says there are five. He is accepting anything

In 1984, the last and largest work of Orwell’s life, the oppression becomes even more sinister. Winston, a member of the “party,” decides to break away from the melancholy lifestyle in which “freedom is slavery” and rebel against the government that restrains him. The party even erases all of history and claims that reality is within the mind; “He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.” He becomes conscious of all the trickery and lies of the party and joins a secret organization to fight for freedom. The organization, however, is a lie and Winston is tortured until he learns to truly love Big Brother. 1984 makes prominent stabs at the

Granted the Party can warp laws and control knowledge, its greatest tool for taking away freedoms and controlling the public is its ability to revise history. This idea is displayed throughout the novel, and is fundamental to our understanding of how perfect the Party is. A prime example occurs when Winston is at his job at the Ministry of Truth, the manipulators of history and truth. He contemplates how he simply substitutes one lie for another in his daily work rewriting history, and explains, “And so it was with every class of recorded fact, great or small. Everything faded away into a shadow-world in which, finally, even the date of the year had become uncertain" (Orwell 36). This highlights the genius of the Party’s control; there is no history. As mentioned earlier, the Party controls all publications, and destroys all facts that are not helpful. Much of it is simply fake information that bolsters the Party. Thus, when Winston changes

Mr. Parsons is betrayed by his daughter. Even with this type of betrayal, Mr. Parsons did not hold any type of grudge towards his child, but had felt almost a sense of pride. When Winston asked Mr. Parsons who denounced him, he replied, “It was my little daughter…She listened at the keyhole. Heard what I was saying, [‘Down with Big Brother!’ while sleeping] and nipped off to the patrols the very next day” (Orwell 233). This highlights the success that the Party had at turning individuals away from forming meaningful relationships.

Throughout the novel, Winston is always hiding his thoughts about the Party and about Big Brother, although he is completely against it. However, in order to ensure that he does not get caught, he must act as though he loves them and agrees with their power over society. Surveillance is shaping these characters to be a perfect representation of what they are expected to be, instead of being who they are.

Additionally, the portrayal of this dystopian society controlled by a totalitarian government might have been understood well by contemporary audiences, mirroring the rules of totalitarian regimes such as Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy- the citizens have no influence on the government and have no freedom of choosing the rules that govern and control every part of their lives. Therefore, Winston blames the misery in his life totally and completely on the government and on Big Brother. In Winston’s case, we can see that the propaganda, deprivation, and strict rules fail to make him concur with the party and accept Big Brother- in this situation, the party has to use extreme force and torture to make Winston love the party as well as Big Brother, in order for the party to maintain complete power.

In Book I Section II, Winston helps his neighbors,the Parson family, with their plumbing. While he is in their apartment,Winston views the “scarlet banners of the Youth League and the Spies, and a full-sized poster of Big Brother” hung on the wall. A short while later, the son and daughter come in and accused Winston of being a “thought criminal” and “traitor”. Both of these are slanderous imprecations that, if true, could lead to death. After this interesting interaction, Winston reflects, “With those children, he thought, that wretched woman must lead a life of terror. Another year, two years, and they would be watching her night and day for symptoms of unorthodoxy” (Orwell, 24). This quotation shows that the Party has succeeded in indoctrinating children at a very young age to their philosophies and ideas. The government uses organizations such as the Youth League and the Spies to “systematically turn” children into mindless members of the Party. ______________’s essay from The Abuse of Power in 1984 reads, “Orwell describes a world in which familial loyalty is deliberately undermined so that the displaced emotions can be appropriated by the state. The solidarity of the family is treated as a threat to party loyalty and is therefore systematically weakened” (_____,___). This quotation reveals that the Party intentionally removes the love and devotion that normally

In George Orwell’s 1984 Power is gained most effectively through control, fear and violence. Compared to a government like that of America’s, 1984 creates a more threatening structure of government where the public is limited from freedom and happiness. 1984 shows a world of a society where only the upper class has power and freedom from the harsh treatment that the general population receives. The idea of Big Bother makes the population of Oceania believe they are being watched over by a powerful force and oppresses them so they feel powerless and unable to do anything against a “great” force like Big Brother. The well-being of others depends on their willingness to agree with Big Brother and abide by their laws, if you think otherwise then you will be an accuser of thought-crime will be vaporized and removed from society or harshly punished through rigorous treatment and torture methods as was Winston and Julia. Power creates problems for others in which they do not deserve.

Throughout the story, many of the lack of fight is produced from the fed information of uncertainty. A major topic seen for Winston is this idea that if “the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event, it never happened” (Orwell 34). Uncertainty is a significant point gathered from the destruction and changing of the past, it limits what is seen and how information is carried on from generation to generation. By one rewriting and repurposing information, the result is evident as one learns from false information that is seen in textbooks or online sources today. Many information in textbooks is “political, inaccurate, and biased” (Washington Post).

He understands that he will eventually be caught by big brother as it is inevitable. In Winston’s dreamlike memories he remembers his mother and younger sister before they disappeared. Although never directly stated why, he believes that he indirectly murdered them. His mother gave him love that he could not reciprocate as a child in spite of that his love for Julia re-humanizes his emotions. This provides character development as he is able to realize that he did not kill his mother but ultimately the party breaks his and Julia’s trust to a point of no return.

For example, “And if all other accepted the lie which the Party imposed - if all records told the same tale - then the lie passed into history and became the truth. ‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past” (Orwell 20). This evidence proves manipulation because Winston thinks that if a person’s memory of the truth can be proven, then without a doubt, a lie can become true. For instance, another example of manipulation in 1984 is, “For how could you establish even the most obvious fact when there existed no record outside your own memory? He tried to remember in what year he had first heard mention of Big Brother… Winston could not even remember at what date the Party itself had come into existence” (Orwell 20).

shows that children learn to think a certain way, as they are educated. For instance, Parsons, a man who strongly supports Big Brother, is turned into the Thought Police when his own daughter convicts him of saying “Down with Big Brother” in his sleep (Orwell 233). This demonstrates that the education children receive manipulates their minds into thinking the way the government wants. Parsons’ daughter learned to turn in people who did not support Big Brother even if it was a family member. The Party also uses the Ministry of Truth to manipulate its population with skewed history. Winston’s job is to change records of history so people only know the history that the government wants them to know. Through these lies, the government is able to control people’s thoughts and how they think. Orwell shows that people have lost their thoughts without even noticing since they have been taught to always think like so. He uses this to demonstrate that “if man [does] not become aware of the assaults on his personal freedom,” he will lose his right of thought (Bossche). Therefore, Orwell establishes that the government can be too powerful when they manipulate people without anyone noticing.

For the Party, the past not fixed and permanent; its reality is evident only in records,” (Becnel 11). Throughout the novel, it was often mentioned that the Party hired workers such as the main protagonist, Winston, to alter history the way they wanted it. If the Party has control over what was written down in history, they can easily manipulate their citizens to believe anything that they claim is true. This ability of control over history has also opened up the opportunity to alter the memories of the citizens of Oceania. Being able to control the memories of the people and causing them to believe one thing and another is an example of doublethink. The Party used doublethink in order to increase and strengthen their power over the citizens.

Lastly, the character of Big Brother represents control and surveillance, as well as affects the development of other characters by inhibiting emotions, speech, and freedoms.  This hindrance in character development is seen as Mr. Parsons feels the need to deny to himself his rebellious thoughts in Part 3, Chapter 1: “Down with Big Brother!” Yes, I said that! Said it over and over again, it seems. Between you and me, old man, I’m glad they got me before it went any further.” His fake disbelief shows that the fear that the Party has instilled in him causes him to deny his true beliefs and take away his freedom of speech. This

     Tired of feeling the way he is, with the monotonous struggle of everyday life Winston decides to oppose the party in more real ways; and begins to deviate from certain set behaviors to free himself from this bondage of the party. “To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone-to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone”(25-26). He has realized what the government does to people; how everyone is made to be the same, where no one is allowed to think on their own. The party is omnipotent in all affairs and he will not go along with it anymore. Winston has made up his mind; he is going to do everything he can to bring down the party. He and Julia go to O’Brien’s apartment one afternoon, and Winston’s true hatred is revealed. “We believe that there is some kind of conspiracy, some kind of secret organization working against the Party,