The author has used many different ways to show the power of the party throughout the book. From the ways the party used a new language that shortens their vocabulary every year. The party always finds a way to stop people who want freedom and liberty to the point of vaporization. Suppression created by the government has always existed and they will never give the public complete
Winston Smith , the protagonist , lives an empty life in his isolated existence, his occupation consists of a worker at the ministry of truth, rewriting history ( manipulating ) and preventing any essence of truth from reaching the surface of an ongoing war. It is during his working hours when the reader is first introduced to the quote above. It is also important to realize that once the inner party had altered history they are very much likely to influence the futuristic events. Therefore they have absolute control over the future unless there is an organized revolt prepared to overthrow the entire regime. The following quote is also an example of powerful and destructive ideology in modern history because the strategies that Party chooses to adapt eliminates the sense of reliance that individuals have on the historical records.
"(page 152). This object reveals that the party attempts to manipulate people's memories and hence, control the past: "Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past. "(page 37) Individuals are told what the past is, all memories are attempted to be erased by the party. The paperweight reveals, however, that the party cannot control every persons memories of their past as Winston begins to remember a world of the past. The world is in great contrast to what party's claim of what the past was.
Readers are often angered by the ending of 1984 because of Winston’s betrayal of his previous life for the acceptance of the party. This is a semi-appropriate ending because of the impossibility of going against the party because of their total control of all people’s lives through the use of fear, which had not been accomplished by any authoritarian regime before the rise of the party. The novel’s ending was semi-appropriate because it stresses a society where all people are equal, but on the contrary makes it so that people must give up all of their freedoms and have all of their aspects of life controlled to conform to the standards of the society. The party controls people’s lives off of three founding philosophies “war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength. (Orwell 26) War is peace refers to the fact that if the party always frames another enemy to direct all hate towards.
The government in 1984 uses fear against its people for control over the personal life of the people. “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”.This shows how much power Big Brother has generated to destroy and destruct the past over the people. Julia thought, ‘Organized opposition existed or could exist.’This shows how people hated the Party, but could not do anything to rebel as Big Brother played with their past.
The “Thought Police” are similar to how the government uses our private surveillances such as, phone records, emails, and wiretapping to know what we talk about and whom we talk to. Another example Orwell says, “The command of the old despotism was ‘Thou shalt not.’ The command of the totalitarians was ‘Thou shalt’. Our command is ‘Thou art.’ No one whom we bring to his place ever stands out against us”(255). He explains how in 1984, their depositions are less accurate than the original ones in our government. There are more similarities between our two societies, including lack of privacy, brainwashing, lack of concern for others that we do not associate with, and most importantly, the lack of creativity and thinking for one.
For example, at Ministry of Truth where Winston works, they strive to erase the past records that lead to the truth in order to enforce their made-up `truth.’ Through these ironic names that represent the four parts of the party, the manipulation of the party is further symbolized. Furthermore, the people`s ability to `doublethink` shows how susceptible the people are to the most apparent verbal irony, which then also plays a part as situational irony, because the people`s subservience symbolized by `doublethink `exceeds far beyond our expectation. The most dominant source of irony in 1984 is situational irony. Without situational irony, the plot would have not moved forward in this novel. For example, the ultimate irony of Winston ending up loving big brother is unexpected particularly as he is the main, heroic character, who more often than not perseveres through the harshest of challenges and triumph in most novels.
George Orwell’s book 1984 written in 1949 is not only a great piece of literature, but it also serves as a warning to us. Orwell is warning us about the drastic effects science and technology can have on us if they get into power hungry hands. He wrote the book as a warning but it has become somewhat true in our society. Orwell warns us about the three vital things totalitarian government and our world uses to control people. The three things Big Brother’s government and our own government use are controlling people physically by watching them, controlling their emotions by redefining relationships and controlling them psychology by making them fearful.
1984 Essay by In the book 1984, telescreens are like televisions that never turn off, always using propaganda to hammer in the Party’s ideas. The Thought Police are known to monitor the actions of citizens. Winston Smith keeps his back to the screen because he doesn’t want to conform. Winston lives in fear of the telescreen and eventually the Party has him “correcting” history to keep everyone ignorant. With the telescreens constantly shoving ideas into people heads and Wilsons “corrections” to history based on the Party’s records, people no longer can think for themselves.
Is it possible that totalitarianism - where all freedom is removed - could be a reality? This question posed to readers' when studying George Orwell's 1984. Sadly, the answer is “yes”. Orwell renders modern day London, now known as Airstrip One; the capital of Oceania, as a city divided into zones where the masses: also known as the Proles’ have no rights. The single party in power led, by Big Brother, controls mass media and uses the fear of death, to create obedience.