1984, The World we all want to live in After concluding this novel, is there any person who would want to live in the city of Oceania? Under a dystopian government, no one is safe; making citizens live in hazardous conditions while causing fear around a country is a way of exerting power. Throughout the whole novel of 1984, George Orwell has created a government Party that rules the city of Oceania; the Party has very distinct ways of making the population sedated and controlled. Brainwashing economic controls, and violence and torture are some examples of how the Party maintains authority over their people. Brainwashing is the biggest influence that Orwell works with in the novel. The INGSOC language is part of that act. Newspeak …show more content…
Pornographic magazines, unlimited beer, and a lottery that will never give out an honest prize compose the scenario they are accustomed to live in by the Party. Sedated by the Party’s gimmicks, Proles do not protest against the maltreatment of the government; making them believe they have everything they need, when they live in an unsafe country. In Part 1 of the book, Orwell talks about their way of life; he says “They were born, they grew up in gutters, they went to work at twelve, they passed through a brief blossoming period of beauty and sexual desire, they married at twenty, they were middle-aged at thirty, they died, for the most part, at sixty” (71). Born into Oceania’s government involuntarily, they are the forgotten species that will never emerge and grow; the Party has designed their life, even before Proles come to the …show more content…
Within its walls, they have complete authority to torture the prisoners and make them believe the Party’s dystopian way. Winston is undergoing this torment while facing his “friend” O’Brien whose task is to accomplish loyalty from Winston to the Party. Taking into consideration that Winston is the narrator of the story, his thoughts on the Party are not the ones expected. Winston is a tough case to crack for O’Brien because of his rebellious mentality against the Party. O’Brien is a Party fanatic, working as an inner Party member; his mission is to convert Winston to being sane. Enduring the torture, Winston listens to what O’Brien is saying “You are flaw in the patter, Winston. You are stain that must be wipe out. … When you finally surrender to us, it must be of your own free will” (255). Emotional affliction is the way that O’Brien attempts to discipline Winston; he accomplishes his objective by making Winston confront his fear of rats. He betrays his lover Julia by desiring his suffering to her. This indicates that Winston learns to live the life of the Party. In the end, the war with Eastasia is over, Winston sees Big Brother on the telescreen as the protector of Oceania. This settles Winston’s love towards Big Brother.
Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark mustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding!
Diction: While George Orwell used fairly simple and uncomplicated diction to tell the story many of his words still have a very powerful diction. In the first chapter the protagonist Winston is attack by the smell of “boiled cabbage and old rag mats”. This is the first indication to the nature of the living conditions of our protagonist. However, Orwell also uses his diction to create the atmosphere of Oceania with lines like “the world looked cold. Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no colour in anything”. These lines contain powerful words like cold, torn, and harsh and these worlds help paint the picture of what kind of story we are reading.
Winston Smith is a thirty-nine year old man who participates in a group of the “outer-party,” which is the lower part of the two classes. Smith works in one of the four main government buildings. This building is called the Ministry of Truth; his job is to rewrite history books so those that read them will not learn what the past used to be like. The occupation Winston is the major factor that allows him to realize that Big Brother is limiting people’s freedom. He keeps these thoughts to himself as secrets because the totalitarian party will not allow those of rebellious thoughts around. The tensions between the two grow throughout the book because the Big Brother becomes very suspicious of Winston. The Big Brother becomes so suspicious of Winston that he sends a person by the name O’Brien, to watch over him. Mr. O’Brien is a member of the “inner party,” which in this book is the upper-class. Winston doesn't know of the trap that Big Brother had set tells O’Brien of his own idea and plans. He tells Winston of a rebellious leader that has been rounding up those that want to go against the totalitarian government. But like the Big Brother had done, he set a trap and O’Brien betrayed Winston. During the story the conflict between Big Brother and Winston climaxes when Winston is caught. He is taken to some sort of bright underground prison type
Tired of his constricted life, Winston decides to take part in rebellious acts against the Party and attempts to overthrow the government that rules over him. As one could imagine, Winston’s personality does not conform to the rest of the population, because he possesses original characteristics that make him different. For example, within the first few pages of the novel, Winston wrote down the words “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” several times in his journal (Orwell 16). “Big Brother” stands for the leader of the Party who supposedly watches over everybody.
Clearly, they aren’t free, but that’s not the only aspects of Oceania that disturbs me. The lack of food, the lack of human-human interaction, and most importantly, the lack of humanity, are absolutely terrifying. The people living in Oceania aren’t even human - they were stripped down to their bones and meats. Void of all thought, they can’t think for themselves, and even if they somehow get the ability to, like Winston and Julia, they have to suppress their thoughts, lest they’d be vanished. The writer whom Winston meets in the thought police jail, Ampleforth, was vanished for something as simple as forgetting to remove the word “God” from his article. Others, such as Winton’s neighbor Parsons, had children so delusional and crazy that they turned their own father in for committing a thoughtcrime. To someone not living in a dictatorship like this one, it seems absolutely terrifying, and Orwell knows that. He uses this to strike fear, maybe even anger, into the reader - after all, this book is all about provoking readers into
Firstly, O’Brien, a member of the inner party, uses technology to accomplish complete control over the public through the means of telescreens, hidden microphones and torture machines, ‘Any sound that Winston made… could be picked up by [the telescreen]. [Winston] could be seen as well as heard’. This emphasises to the reader the extent of control that the party can exercise over the public, enabling them to eliminate any potential rebels. Furthermore, this loss of freedom and individuality exterminates any real friendship, family or love forcing the public to turn to Big Brother for companionship. This in turn minimises the chance of rebellion as everyone views Big Brother as a figure of comfort and security, ‘As he seemed to tower up, an invincible, fearless protector…’ O’Brien also uses a torture machine on Winston, ‘[He] had never loved [O’Brien] so deeply as at this moment’. This machine enables O’Brien to manipulate Winston’s views, personal opinions and even feelings. O’Brien is able to make Winston view the world as he wants him to, even to the extent of making Winston love him, his tormentor, the person inflicting the pain. ...
O’Brien tortures Winston due to his acts of thoughtcrime, Winston is told that the Party will be satisfied with nothing less than Winston completely giving in. O’Brien explains, “We are not content with negative obedience, nor even with the most abject submission. When finally you surrender to us, it must be of your own free will. We do not destroy the heretic because he resists us; so long as he resists us we never destroy him” (210). Winston is tortured for the goal of eradicating the cause of Winston’s fight, to consider himself happy and free. O’Brien wants to destroy any possibility of Winston becoming a martyr for his cause. The use of the telescreens, microphones, and all other sources of the government spying on its people ensures a lack of freedom: “Asleep or awake, working or eating, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or in bed- no escape. Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters inside your skull” (26). The members of this society are monitored at all times for the sole purpose of government control, with constant monitoring they are able to discover the most they can about individuals and later use it against them to gain an upper hand in controlling any possible uprising. Fear is used as another tactic to gain control. Winston is aware of the fact that “More
Eric Blair wrote the novel 1984 under the pseudonym George Orwell. The original title of 1984 was The Last Man in Europe, however, the title was changed for unknown purposes. It has been speculated that the change in title was done because it was a mere reversal of the last two digits of the year in which it was written. The novel was first received with conflicting acclamations and criticisms. Those who provided acclamation for the novel believed that it portrayed the impending possibility of the future and what it might bring. Some reviewers, however, disliked its dystopian satire of the class system, the power struggles of world leaders, nationalism, totalitarian regimes, and bureaucracy. Others panned it as nihilistic prophesy on the downfall of humankind and perceived the novel to be very anti-Catholic because Orwell replaced God and the church with Big Brother (Merriman.) In spite of these negative remarks, the power and magnitude of the content of 1984 is phenomenal. The influence of this book is so vast that some words from the novel, like facecrime and oldthink, are used in modern day language. Another of these words is “doublethink.” The word doublethink means “the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” This word is included in what is described as “Newspeak,” the language spoken in 1984.
The conflict between Winston and Big Brother starts from the beginning of the novel when Winston begins to keep his secret diary about Big Brother. Winston Smith is a third-nine years old man who is a member of the 'outer-party'--the lower of the two classes. Winston works for the government in one of the four main government buildings called the ministry of Truth where his job is to rewrite history books in order for people not to learn what the past used to be like. Winston's occupation is the major factor which lets him to realize that Big Brother is restricting people's freedom. However, Winston keeps his complains about Big Brother and the party for his own secret because the party will not allow anyone keeping a rebellious thought. The tension between them gets serious when Big Brother becomes suspicious of Winston. Winston is therefore watched by O'Brien, an intelligent execute at the 'Ministry of Truth', who is a member of the 'inner party'--the upper class. Without doubting Big Brother's trap, Winston shares his ideas with O'Brien. O'Brien mentions a gentleman named Emmanuel Goldstein whom he claims to know the leader of the rebels against the party. O'Brien also promises to help winston, and promises him a copy of Goldstein's book. But O'Brien betrays him as Big Brother has planned.
Orwell shows the Party has taken strict measures in order to maintain the established status quo that suppresses the majority of Oceania. They have shaped and constructed history so that children grow up as servants to the party. Propaganda stating how rich and prosperous Oceania is the news of the day even though real conditions show buildings are dilapidated and resources are sparse.
The family unit of Oceania in George Orwell’s book, 1984, plays an important part to society. These families are broken rather than households of affection and comfort. Oceania’s government, called the Party, controls the families in every aspect. With these non-existent families, there is a cycle of breaking down of family and a stronger Party as times passes until a there is force strong enough to end it. These families that lead to corruption in society should be avoided in order to prevent a totalitarian government from rising.
In 1984, George Orwell presents an overly controlled society that is run by Big Brother. The protagonist, Winston, attempts to “stay human” in the face of a dehumanizing, totalitarian regime. Big Brother possesses so much control over these people that even the most natural thoughts such as love and sex are considered taboo and are punishable. Big Brother has taken this society and turned each individual against one another. Parents distrust their own offspring, husband and wife turn on one another, and some people turn on their own selves entirely. The people of Oceania become brainwashed by Big Brother. Punishment for any uprising rebellions is punishable harshly.
George Orwell’s haunting dystopian novel 1984 delves into the closely monitored lives of the citizens of Oceania as the Party tries to take control of society. In totalitarianism, propaganda and terrorism are ways of subjugation with a main goal: total obedience. He aimed to create a “what if” novel, what would happen if totalitarian regimes, such as the Nazis and Soviets, were to take over the world. If totalitarianism were to happen, the leader would be the brain of the whole system. Orwell emphasizes the theme of individualism versus collective identity through Winston, the protagonist, and his defiance to the Party and Big Brother, with a frightening tone, surreal imagery and a third person limited point of view.
In this case, the government has to use severe actions to ensure they will never act in this way again. Winston Smith, is a minor member of the ruling Party and is aware of some of these extreme tactics. Since Winston is not completely brainwashed by the propaganda like all the other citizens, he hates Big Brother passionately. Winston is one of the only who realize that Big Brother is wiping individual identity and is forcing collective identity. He is “conscious of [his] own identity”(40-41) . Winston continues to hold onto the concept of an independent external reality by constantly referring to his own existence. Aware of being watched, Winston still writes “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER, DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER”(21) in his diary. Winston believes whether he writes in his diary or not, it is all the same because the Thought Police will get him either way. Orwell uses this as a foreshadow for Winston's capture later on in the novel. Fed up with the Party, Winston seeks out a man named O’Brien, who he believes is a member of the ‘Brotherhood’, a group of anti-Party rebels. When Winston is arrested for thought crime by his landlord, Mr.Charrington, who is a member of the Thought Police. Big Brother takes Winston to a dark holding cell, to use their extreme torture strategy to erase any signs of personal identity. Winston's torturer is O’Brien, the man he thought to be apart of the brotherhood. Winston asks
Orwell utilizes mood in the text to show how the Party and Big Brother control the society of Oceania, making it dull and lifeless. The author discusses the Thought Police that is implemented to keep surveillance on citizens, stating “You had to live-did live, from habit that became instinct-in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and except in the darkness, every movement scrutinized.” ( Orwell, 3) The description that Orwell provides about the oppressed society of Oceania spreads a feeling of gloominess and distress. Due to the constant vigilance over the citizens
The idea of the future has been explored for as long as writers have been writing. The interesting concept about the future is that it will always remain a mystery. The future is always changing and never ending. In George Orwell’s 1984, Orwell ruminates on his thoughts and ideas of what the future will be like. Orwell wrote the book around 1950 during the writing era of postmodernism. Postmodernist books often expressed thoughts of the future, as well as other themes. 1984 describes the future as a place where the Party has taken over and controls everything and everyone. The residents of Oceania have no control over their bodies, their relationships, or even their thoughts. Oceania is a place of war and control. The protagonist in 1984 is a middle-aged man named Winston. Winston is one of the only living people who realize that the party is changing the facts, and he wants to do something about it (Orwell). Winston deals with the struggles of hiding from the law and who to trust. In 1984, George Orwell uses the themes of physical and mental control, forbidden love, and a “big brother” figure to exhibit characteristics of postmodernism.