While there is both support and fear driven obedience for Big Brother and the Party, mutually assured destruction and complete control over the individual are key to the parties success. However, in order to control the individual the party must be able to control the masses, and they are able to do so through a continuous war and destruction of records. The ongoing war between Eastasia, Eurasia, and Oceania is not intended to gain or prevent conquest of territory but rather to insure the destruction of everything. “The rocket bombs which fell daily on London were probably fired by the Government of Oceania itself, ‘just to keep people frightened’” (Orwell 153). While discussing the effects of propaganda and their views on war, Julia brings …show more content…
While records may be falsified to contain revolts, the standard of living and distribution of rations is also controlled. In doing so the Inner Party is able to maintain a social structure where the higher classes live lavishly and the lower classes are subject to oppression. The Outer Party is forced to live in dilapidated homes, consume poor-quality foods and clothing, and often times lack basic necessities needed for hygiene. However, members of the Inner Party live in beautiful homes with opulent decorations and servants at their disposal along with access to all basic necessities. Stemming from the party slogan “Ignorance is Strength”, the entire population is oblivious to the inequality they are subject to which ensures the stability and support of Big Brother and the party. During his time in the cantine, Winston reflects, “It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grams a week. And only yesterday, he reflected, it had been announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grams a week” (Orwell 58). The lack of knowledge leaves individuals confused and in search of resources, this is when they turn to the Party. Without any knowledge of what life should be like or accurate records of the previous day, Outer Party …show more content…
As written in All the World's a Stage “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players, they have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts” (As You Like It, II, VII, 1-4). Every individual is set upon this earth for a purpose. Within one’s life there are opportunities given and it is the objective of the player to accept or decline. Either way, every decision made plays a role in the outcome of one’s life. However in a totalitarian society the higher power, in this case the Inner Party, wishes to control all outcomes. The Inner Party understands that when humans have access to past records they are able to recall memories. These memories along with opinions are then able to form a bias of how society views certain aspects. However when the past can be controlled along with memories, the outcome of society may be altered. “In memory. Very well, then. We, the party, control all records, and we control all memories. Then we control the past, do we not” (Orwell 248). In a world where the party controls all records, Winston refuses to give up his belief in the immutability of human memory. Winston is a rarity, he isn't afraid to think for himself and question the world around him, and this frightens the party. As humans progress through the stages of life, it is rare for one to stop and look at the world around them.The dead in
Returning to his diary, Winston then expresses his emotions against the Party, the Thought Police and Big Brother himself; he questions the unnecessary acts by the Party and continuously asserts rebellion. Winston soon realized he had committed the crime of having an individual thought, “thoughtcrime.” The chapter ends with a knock on Winston’s door. Significant Quotes “From where Winston stood it was just possible to read, picked out on its white face in elegant lettering, the three slogans of the Party: WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (Orwell 7). “But there was a fraction of a second when their eyes met, and for as long as it took to happen Winston knew— yes, he knew!
Topic #1: The party controls the citizen’s actions and thoughts with false information, in order to manipulate them into believing that society is normal.
He purchased a small journal from a shop and began to write in it out of view of the telescreen in his house, which allows anything in front of it to potentially be seen or heard. At first he had some difficulties as he could only manage to write jumbles of some of his memories, but then he began to write things like “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER (Orwell, page 18).” He later had an encounter with one of his fellow coworkers, O’Brien, which got him thinking that there might be others out in the world who see things the way he does, including O’Brien himself. Winston eventually decides that his diary will become a sort of letter to O’Brien, and to a future or past where things might have been different. In these diary entries he wrote things such as, “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…(Orwell, page 28).” This refers to how citizens think and act the same and previous events are not written as they happened, but altered to Big Brother’s benefit. He also wrote, “Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death (Orwell, page 28).” This can be further explained by Winston’s previous thought, “The consequences of every act are included in the act itself (Orwell, page 28).” Winston
Deception and a blatant contradiction of facts in the spirit of impunity form the foundation of the construct of modern dictatorship and draconian governance. Leaders with this attitude treat the public office and nation as personal property and deploy the state resources at their disposal for selfish use. Their behavior takes the form of frivolous “surveillances, monitoring, and other control structures founded on lies and ambiguities” (Dean and Orwell 23). The same scenario is exactly what happens at Oceania. The nation is governed by the party headed by the big brother (“Gordon State College” n.p.).
The Party and its leader Big Brother play the role of authority in 1984. The Party is always watching the citizens of the Republic of Oceania. This is exemplified in the fact that the government has telescreens through which they can watch you wherever you are set up almost everywhere. Even in the countryside where there are no telescreens, the Party can monitor its citizens through hidden microphones disguised as flowers. The Thought Police are capable of spying on your thoughts at anytime, and can arrest or even kill you on a whim. Not only does the Thought Police find and hunt down felons, but it also scares others into being good citizens. The Party strives to eliminate more and more words from people’s vocabularies. Thus, the Party can destroy any possibilities of revolutions and conspiracies against itself. Its ultimate goal is to reduce the language to only one word, eliminating thought of any kind. The Party makes people believe that it is good and right in its actions through the Ministry of Truth and through the slogans printed on the Ministry of Truth:...
Rather, it contends that when government is unrestrained in the form of totalitarianism, as exemplified by the Party of Oceania, it can by nature exist only to serve itself. This argument serves as Orwell’s warning against the dangers of totalitarianism; it is so corrupting a force that it can hide behind claims of good intentions, but ultimately exists only to accumulate its own power. Furthermore, since a totalitarian drive for power constitutes a total control of its citizenry and a political structure that necessitates its existence, as shown by the military strategy of the Party, Orwell warns that once a truly totalitarian state is in place, there is no possible way to overthrow it or turn back from it. Ultimately, Orwell sees a government that is so distorted it has become completely self-serving as the largest threat, defining his view of totalitarianism and the themes of his
George Orwell’s 1984 novel goes through the life of Winston, who is trying to resist the power of the totalitarian government of Oceania known as The Party. Although the proles do seem to be marginalized by the inner party, they aren’t aware of it. They are free and have the sense of individualism to live their lives. On the other hand, the outer party is aware of the Party’s manipulative powers, and they are capable of rebellion. Because of this, they are put under severe monitoring.
Winston even states when contemplating whether he should write in his diary that, “To mark the paper was the decisive act (Orwell, 5).” To Winston, his diary is the only recorded history that he remembers and believes as true and not altered by Big Brother. Winston works at the Ministry of Truth where his job is to rewrite historical documents to align with ever changing beliefs of the Party. Therefore, his diary would be the only accurate account of history of his time. Also, it would only contain the personal thoughts, descriptions, feelings, and narratives of Winston- not the Party's. Unfortunately, this a dangerous act in this totalitarian ruled regime wherein any form of individuality is outlawed. The Party wants its members to function as slaves abiding by the Party’s law. Any form of individuality or personal expression is a threat to the Party’s uniformity. Even, the mere thought of rebellion is enough to get someone killed by the thought police. The Party wants to control a person’s thoughts and mind, their most personal possessions. Hence why, the Party has a Thought Police because in the human brain ideas form, and those ideas can form into actions, and those actions can form into rebellion- this is the Party’s greatest fear. The Party wants the totality of an individual and wants to turn him into a “comrade.” Winston understands this; yet, he does not care,
The second thing for you to realize is that power is power over human beings. Over the body—but, above all, over the mind” (Orwell 273). O’Brien argues that the Party and “Big Brother” had control over reality externally due to the fact that nothing exists outside the mind, and in cases of freethinkers, they would be taken care of by the teachings of “doublethink”. Doublethink is the power to hold two completely contradictory beliefs, for example holding up four fingers and claiming that you have five, and simultaneously making one accept both of them.
Much of the success in creating the Parties artificial reality and thus controlling the people was due to the Parties ability to control history through a process called revisionism. This work is done by the Ministry of Truth, in the Records section, where Winston is engaged. Daily, people like Winston, destroy old documents and create new ones to cover policy changes. In addition, everything printed before 1960 has been destroyed by the Party. A good example of this is the work Winston has to do in the Minitru one day.
...Ministry of Love, once said, “The object of terrorism is terrorism. The object of oppression is oppression. The object of torture is torture. The object of murder is murder. The object of power is power” (Orwell____). All Big Brother wants is a continuous flow of power, and they will stop at nothing to get it; even if it means wiping out all the identity and diversity in the millions of people in Oceania.
Imagine being watched your whole life, every move and sound you make is seen and heard. The book 1984 by George Orwell is about a dystopian world where everybody is controlled by ‘Big Brother’. There is a very interesting quote “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” Big Brother has power, he controls the past present and future and can mentally and physically manipulate his people to believe everything he says ( or forces them to). If you control the present you can control the past and future. The quote doesn’t just relate to the book, it relates to times in real life too.
Big Brother and modern day government have been able to control its citizens through surveillance equipment, and fear all for a little more power. There is much to learn from such an undesirable form of society, much like the one of Oceania in 1984. Examining Big Brother government closely, alarming connections can be made to real-world government actions in the United States and the cruel world within Orwell's book.
The struggle for complete domination and power has been apparent in the past, most notably when Germany and Russia conflicted to maintain control in World War 2. In 1984, written by George Orwell, a totalitarian society seeks unlimited power by constantly monitoring it citizens. This monitoring was used to manipulate the minds and alter the thoughts of the people of Oceania. The population of Oceania is led to support ideas, which they do not truly believe. The lack of privacy and personal belief in citizens induces the idea of “doublethink”, where two contradictory ideas are both accepted. This is utilized by George Orwell to demonstrate political power and dominance. The Party forces the people to believe that “WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY,
Psychological manipulation the Party uses on the citizens is one of the first themes Orwell exposes in this dystopian society. The Party maintains this manipulation by constantly overwhelming citizens with useless information and propaganda. And when memory failed and written records were falsified—when that happened, the claim of the Party to have improved the conditions of human life had got to be accepted, because there did not exist, and never again could exist, any standard against which it could be tested. (Orwell 82) Winston Smith, the protagonist, is having a frustrating conversation with an old man about life before the Revolution.