Critical Reflection
In "1984", Orwell portrays a totalitarian dystopian world, where there is no freedom and citizens are constantly brainwashed. Without thought, the citizens just work for the party. In order to insure the citizen will always listen to the government, they make sure the citizen have no recollection of the past. The party also does a very good job with creating fear with propaganda, taking away freedom, in forcing strict rules and having everyone under surveillance at all times.
In "1984", false information, myths and lies control the way of thinking. The
Party's deadliest weapon of control was Propaganda. Since the citizen's didn't know better they believed all the propaganda. The two main types of propaganda for the party were "doublethink" and the other was "doublespeak". The party's main slogan was "War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength". (Orwell,4) This slogan was the main idea of 1984. This slogan convinced the citizens they what they want, they already have. The only way to achieve peace and harmony was for war to happen, so therefore peace wasn't really peace, peace was more war; if you are slaved and you wanted freedom, you already have freedom; you could only strengthen yourself by being ignorant. The slogan dismissed the thought of rebellion because they believed the Party's way of doing things were the only and best way to do things.
"BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU" (Orwell, 3) was another main slogan.
Everywhere the citizens looked there was a tele screen or a poster of Big Brother.
Always seeing this things, imposed fear on the citizens because they were always watched. The Party uses Big Brother to make the citizens believe they are safe and
protected. But instead, all the citizens are in danger, all of the time.
The laws were another tool used against the citizens in "1984". No parities, no love, no citizens out after curfew. "And yet it was a fact that if Syme grasped, even for three seconds, the nature of his, Winston's, secret opinions, he would betray him instantly to the Thought Police" (Orwell, 30). There was no real law that defined what thoughtcrime was, but Winston could be arrested at only time for a facial twitch. Since the laws weren't written, the Party would adjust and change them freely. "Newspeak" was another law, the citizens would use the Party's language. "Newspeak" replaced and eliminated emotional words such as "wonderful", "fantastic", and "excellent" were now known as "good".
Surveillance covers most of Oceania, it is usually on the tele screens. These tele screens are in every apartment and street, so the citizens never forget that Big
Brother is watching. Only senior members of the "Inner Party" can turn the tele screens off for a short period of time. Parents are suppose to keep track of their children. "The children, on the other hand, were systematically turned against their parents and taught to spy on them and report their deviations". (Orwell,76).
By using language to control, huge amounts of people, Orwell creates a works where the language can determine whether someone lives or dies. In Oceania, the thoughts are always suppressed. The Party's biggest fear is rebellion and over throwing Big Brother.
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