Money And Corruption In George Orwell's '1984'

Hayes 1

Bryce Hayes

Mrs. Langford

English Honors

30 December 2014

“Money and corruption are ruining the land, crooked politicians betray the working, pocketing the profits and treating us like sheep, and we’re tired of hearing promises that we know they’ll never keep”(Davies). Nothing in this world is safe from corruption, the government controls every step people take. Then when people take one step out of line they are banished to life in prison. People live in bare conditions with nothing but their heart keeping them alive while politicians brainwash dumbfounded people with their bogus. George Orwell founded the idea of 1984 while working as an officer in the civil war for the Spanish. Most of his stories were formed from

For example, “The terrible things that the party had done was to persuade you that mere impulses, mere feelings, were of no account while at the same time robbing you of all the power over the natural world”(165). The people in the story were robbed from their rights to talk or think creatively. They were forced to risk their life to be have these rights. In addition, “The essential act of the party is to use conscious deception while retaining the firmness of purpose that goes with complete honesty”(215). The party secretly changed little by little until the big change occurred right under their noses. The people didn’t know what was going on but were promised many things that never happened while the party changed their rights a little at a time. Furthermore, “You will work for a while, you will get caught, you will confess, and then you will die. There is no possibility that any perceptible change will happen in your lifetime. We are the dead”(177). This was the lifecycle of a person in Oceania and there was no possibility of breaking the streak. Many people tried to survive, but the party had enough power to control anything they did. Oceania was the safest place to live, but the more power the party had, the more corrupt the system

For example, “Winston looked round the shabby little room above Mr. Charrington’s shop. Beside the window the enormous bed was made up, with ragged blankets and a coverless bolster”(132). This measly room would be the only sanctuary Winston and Julia had to their own. The room would become the death trap but for the few weeks they had it to themselves was enough. In addition, “He was lying on something that felt like a camp bed, except that it was higher off the ground and that he was fixed down in some way so that he could not move. Light that seemed stronger than usual was falling on his face”(228). Winston lay inside the ministry of love where he was being questioned and tortured. Winston’s death would soon become clear in the ministry after he gave in to Big Brother. Furthermore, “The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats. At one end of it a coloured poster, too large for indoor display, had been tacked to the wall”(1). Winston’s home is in Victory Mansion where we uncover Big Brother spying on everyone. Big Brother spies through the telescreen and through many small microphones placed throughout the home. Oceania’s overprotective setting adds suspense throughout the story because no one knows when Julia or Winston will be