1984 War Is Peace Essay

“War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength.” These letters are bolded and scattered around the nation of Oceania- a world ravaged by poverty, surveillance and oppression, all achieved by a means of global fear of war. This is the reality in the dystopian novel 1984 by George Orwell. The three superpower nations of the world, Oceania, Eastasia and Eurasia, have consumed the total population of the world. They exist in a permanent state of war with each other in order to exploit the fear in its citizens to nullify many human rights; privacy, freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom from arbitrary arrest, personal security- all of these fundamentals have ceased to exist in this world. In this way, the world of 1984 uses war as a method to induce fear in its people, keep a low standard of life, and maintain power within the ruling party.

In a conversation between Winston and Julia, Julia expresses her belief that “the rocket bombs which fell daily on London were probably fired by the government of Oceania ‘just to keep the people frightened’” (153). Orwell makes it blatantly obvious that the violence and danger are methods to keep the populace of Oceania in fear. While it is true that this is only Julia’s suspicion, the fact that she is aware the the Party’s intention is proof enough to confirm the parties intentions. The novel only provides slight insight to the citizens of Oceania; we really only know characters that have a sense of rebellion (Winston and Julia). However, the audience learns that the majority of thoughts they share are true, such as the idea that the Party continually changes its allies and enemies. Given this, it is reasonable to believe that Julia’s insight proves that the Party induces fear with