1984 Essay, Research Paper

1984 Essay

To control human thoughts, intuition, emotions and actions are to control humanity, and that is exactly what the Inner Party had done in George Orwell’s novel, Nineteen Eighty- Four. The Inner Party, most often refereed as the Party, had the power to control humanity or at least the civilians of Oceania. Most people that were born during the rein of the Party know no other way of life. They all grew up without emotions, freedom or an identity. Winston who vaguely remembers when times were different fantasizes about overthrowing the government. He realizes that the Party is not unbeatable but that it would take all the people of Oceania to recognize this before anything would change. The problem is that the people of Oceania live in complete oblivion. Every history book has been altered to make the people believe that the Party has been around since man first walked the earth. The citizens of Oceania do not realized that there have been greater generations before; therefore they believe they are living in the finest age in history. Winston describes Oceania as, “Decaying, dingy cities where underfed people shuffled to and fro in leaky shoes, in patched- up nineteenth- century houses that smelt always of cabbage and bad lavatories.” One wonders how could anyone feel that this could possibly be the finest era of all time, it also makes one wonder what the worst age in history was or would be like. In all essence, the people of Oceania are unaware of their plight and they know no better. Orwell explains what can happen when emotions, freedom, and identity are striped from human beings and allows a society like Oceania to govern and therefore; no one should allow this to happen.

Fundamental codes of moral are forced on the people to control their emotions. The people of Oceania are taught to disregard any emotions because having any emotions is a criminal offense. This leaves every person emotionally frustrated and without the capacity of having, expressing or understanding their feelings. The government’s objective is total authority, and sustaining the chaos of sedation preserves the Party’s authority. The belief is that emotional responses are often the basis of thought and the Party assumes by controlling all emotions they can therefore control all thoughts. The Party’s greatest fear is rebellion and when a person starts to think like an individual and has selfish thoughts he will soon rebel.

Newspeak, the colorless language of Oceania that becomes smaller each year, the Party eliminated all unnecessary words such as adjectives, adverbs and other sophisticated ways of saying a simple word; but most importantly the Party removed the meaning behind the words. Sentences are written in the least amount of words needed to get the point across. One character Syme, discovered the real purpose behind the use of Newspeak was to “narrow the range of thought,” to reduce the human race to an even more dense species who are incapable of intelligent thought, especially rebellious thoughts.

Oceania has no laws but it defiantly has crimes. The “laws” are implied but not defined and neither are the crimes. The Thought Police detect all crimes and offenders are punished in the Ministry of Love. The Thought Police are bound to no restrictions and anything could be a crime it is only implied that crimes might or might not be enforced at any time. The Thought Police monitor the Outer Party citizens through telescreens installed in every house, these telescreen are much like televisions in that pictures and sound appear on them but they are also cameras that cannot be turned off. The biggest concern is privacy; the Party does not want one person to seclude himself from others at any time except for sleep. It is assumed that if one is not working, eating or sleeping then one is participating in a public activity. Solitude is dangerous to the Party and therefore is dangerous to the citizens. Friendship or alliances are also not allowed and all contact with others must be scheduled through official business. The Thought Police are a larger than life threat and are feared by everyone, because there is no way to escape them.

Identities are lost at birth and never regained. Winston attempts to gain his own identity when he begins to rebel against the Party. He is familiar with the ideas of another group of rebels like himself called the Brotherhood. They are a so-called underground association of Outer Party members who are plotting of overthrowing the Inner Party. However, the rumor of the Brotherhood was Party’s was to catch rebels when they contacted a “Brotherhood member.” Thought Police capture Winston and take him to the Ministry of Love, where he suffers immense physical torment as well as physiological torture. Winston is brainwashed extensively by Party slogans. He confesses to false crimes hoping he will suffer less physical torture. He soon becomes the perfect citizen, capable of believing everything the Party says, such as 2 + 2= 5. Winston is finally taken to the dreaded room 101; “The thing that is in room 101 is the worst thing in the world.” In Winston’s case the worst thing in the world was rats and that is what he was tortured with to complete his breakdown of character. Winston was initially very strong in character but after falling into the Party’s trap the most basic human instinct, self-preservation, Winston’s strong individual qualities wilt away. Not only has his he been turned into a completely different person mentally his physical features are recognizable to even Winston. Through the excessive torment of rehabilitation the Party had been successful in altering his appearance from a mildly healthy adult to a weak and aged cripple. The Party had won in the battle for humanity for Winston not only obeyed Big Brother he loved Big Brother.

To keep control the Party had to go to extremes while keeping constant pressure on the populace of Oceania. The savageness of the Party induces undeniable affection or guaranteed defiance. To be successful the Party had to create a society of devoted followers a society without humanity. The people of Oceania were beings in human bodies but not human beings.

The significance of Nineteen Eighty- Four is the philosophy behind the novel, George Orwell warns of the terrifying danger that man creates for himself in his quest for a utopian society. It warns that when people have to become less than animals for the novelty of an orderly society the expense of humanity is too great of a sacrifice for the achievement of total equality.