1984 Orwell Essay Research Paper George Orwell

1984 Orwell Essay, Research Paper

George Orwell’s book 1984 has 4 warnings that he states throughout the book. Orwell is afraid of a government getting too powerful and he expresses this fear through Winston. One major warning sign that is prevalent throughout the book is the totalitarian government. A group that runs the government called the Party. This group is all powerful because it is run by a group whose major purpose is to gain and keep power. The Party’s methods are efficient and very harsh. They inflict harsh punishment on anyone who commits an independent act, such as having an affair, and thinking against the normal ways. This government is so powerful that it not only controls the present and everything people do, but they also control the past. Anything that does not comply with what the government wants they just erase from the past. The Party keeps watch over everyone. Each house has at least one telescreen mounted on the wall so the government can keep watch over everyone’s actions. They do this to keep individuals in line. The Party members are not allowed to love or keep a family. The proles, because they are considered to be inferior and stupid, so it is ok for them to think and love and have a family. But they still do not have freedom; the government still keeps track of their actions. “Proles and animals are free.” Since the Proles make up 85% of the population in Oceania, the government had to give them some freedom or they would rebel. This is also why the government’s motto is ignorance is strength. As long as the people do not realize what is going on, then the government will continue to have complete control over them. The head figure of this all-powerful government is Big Brother, which Winston is unsure of his existence. When he asks O’Brian if Big Brother really exists, the response was “You don’t exist.” Orwell by describing this terrible all powerful government that controls, what you eat, where you live, what you do, who you marry, etc. is trying to warn the reader against letting any government get this powerful. He tells the reader this through Winston, “the last (thinking) man in Europe.” Another motto of the Party is War is Peace. To make the people believe this, the government must be in continuous warfare, and this is also to keep the economy strong. Finally the third party slogan is Freedom is Slavery. The government has brainwashed the people by telling them individually they are mortal, they will die and not be remembered. But collectively as a group, they are immortal, therefore much stronger then an individual.

People still die however, and all records of them ever existing are destroyed, in other words vaporized. This leads to another sign Orwell warns his readers about, and that is controlling the past. Consequently this is Winston’s job. The Ministry of Truth has complete control of the past. They erase any record of history that would be dangerous toward their complete control over the people. Revisionism is another term used meaning changing of the past. Winston after having a dream tries to remember his childhood. As he remembers, no one had heard of big brother before the 1960s. But his job is to change history, and new history has been dated back to the 1930s with stories of Big Brother. Orwell again uses Winston to warn the reader not to let a government get too powerful and control the past.

People living in Oceania in 1984 speak a different language then English, they speak newspeak. The government did this in order to have more power over the people. The Party invented this new language so that eventually English will not be used anymore, and then no one would be able to read anything written in English; such as, books, which are completely illegal, or old historical documents not changed. This was created to meat the needs of INGSOC, or English Socialism. When it eventually comes universal, in about 2050, nobody will be able to commit a thought crime because there will be no vocabulary to describe it. Words in newspeak had single meanings, free means without. So the word free did not mean freedom, politically or intellectually this meaning did not exist. Free would be used to describe that the floor is free from dirt. Also, things will never be bad, they will always be “ungood”