Who Controls The Past In George Orwell's 1984

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George Orwell published 1984 in the year 1949, before the start of the Cold War and almost exactly predicts the circumstances of the future. This story shows how the world would be if three superstates came to power and they all had a completely infallible government. The ability to rewrite and edit history becomes the main source of the country’s infallibility, allowing the government to always be right. Winston Smith, the main character, works in a department of the Party which concerns itself with the reproduction of history, but he soon realizes this is exactly how they keeps its power. The Party claims “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” and Orwell makes this statement true when Winston …show more content…

Orwell also uses this to warn humanity against letting the government rewrite history for the sake of gaining power for itself. In the world of 1984, the Party erases any lies, photographs or anyone that poses a threat in order to gain power. Winston’s job is to rewrite speeches of Big Brother that are either not true anymore or contain someone who now does not exist. To maintain a totalitarian government, rewriting history is essential for the Party. Orwell writes,“The reporting of Big Brother’s Order for the Day in the Times of December 3rd 1983 is extremely unsatisfactory and makes reference to nonexistent persons. Rewrite it in full and submit your draft to higher authority before filing.” (44) The Party orders Outer Party members that work in Winston’s department of the Ministry of Truth to either change specific details or to completely edit a past article or photograph. To allow Big Brother’s words to remain false, the Party allows itself to have a flaw in an otherwise flawless government. For Big Brother to be wrong means that the Party is wrong and the people can use that against them. For the sake of power, the Party requires a complete rewrite of history to ensure nothing

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