Manipulation in 1984

Because of the freedoms enjoyed in the United States, a dominate totalitarian government where thinking freely is penalized by death is difficult to envision or comprehend. In George Orwell's novel 1984, the main character, Winston Smith experiences firsthand the limitations imposed by the Inner Party on language and several other aspects of daily life in order to subdue Oceania' citizens and hamper any freedom of expression. The inclusion of thought-provoking themes concerning the manipulation of language, history, and minds serves as an admonition for the future.
Through the manipulation of language, deception and control are facilitated. A clear demonstration is uttered by Syme to Smith: “Do you know that Newspeak is the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year?...Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?” (Orwell 46). The attenuating language represents an additional barrier preventing contradictory thoughts from even existing. With a limited and insufficient language, the complexity of thought is considerably reduced along with a person's aptitude to formulate or express ideas thus preventing threats to the all-powerful government. As a result of the shrinking language, the future will be affected in such a way that “By 2050- earlier, probably- all real knowledge of Oldspeak will have disappeared. The whole literature of the past will have been destroyed” (Orwell 47). The changing of the language would have serious repercussions in any future, real or fictitious. Without knowledge of a different world, people will know no better than to blindly and obediently follow their strict, totalitarian government, never becoming aware of the power it holds over them. The...

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...our enemies; we change them” (Orwell 209). Once an arrest is made, the Party is not satisfied with punishment followed by repentance. A person must believe every confession coerced out of them and surrender of their own free will. The Party finds any erroneous thought intolerable, regardless of size or power. Although the Inner Party controls other aspects of society, none is as important or effective as the psychological control.
George Orwell's novel 1984 is not a prediction. Rather, it is a warning against a government drunk on power and the dangers it poses. Recurring themes found throughout the novel include the manipulation of language, the alteration of history, and the controlling of the mind. Is 1984 merely a well-written work of fiction, or is it a very real possibility in today's world?

Works Cited

Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1949.