Examples Of Power In 1984 By George Orwell

Language has an enormous amount of power and its impact simply depends on how it is used and manipulated. For as long as humans have roamed the earth, there has been a constant struggle for control. As Karl Marx (a German philosopher and economist) would explain it; there is a bourgeoisie and a proletariat. The bourgeoisie is the powerful upper class, while the proletariat can be described as the lower class. These aspects of power can also be be clearly seen throughout George Orwell’s novel, 1984. An example of the bourgeoisie in the novel is O’Brien, one of the Inner Party members. The Party is the governing body of Oceania, a totalitarian country in modern day London. Everyone who is not associated with the Party can be described as the

They have words put into use in the home that train children to always be loyal to Big Brother. The children have been given the name of Spies, for the sole reason of spying on their parents and turning them in if they notice that they have done something wrong. The main character of the novel, Winston, describes it as “the children are systematically turned against their parents and taught to spy on them and report their deviations” (Orwell 133). If they successfully turn in their parents to the bourgeoisie, they are named Heroes. With that being said, from a young age the Party is teaching children to be more loyal to the superstructure than their own families, and they have no idea of anything different. In another area of language in the home, sex is something that the Party has taught people to think of as a job, and not something to do out of pleasure. Winston explains that his wife Katherine thinks of sex as “our duty to the Party” (Orwell 132). The proletariat has been manipulated by the bourgeoisie into engaging in sexual activity for the superstructure’s benefit instead of for their own. The Party is not fond of love making because it makes people happy within themselves without the influence of the Party. This could mean they would no longer be excited about things such as Big Brother, which is their biggest tool in manipulation. The language used within the family is just as effective as language used in the public. This is a prime example of how much power the bourgeoisie truly has over the