Uprisings that abolish corrupt a government system and improve society drive typical dystopian plots. However, George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 distinguishes itself because the novel’s protagonist, Winston Smith, ultimately fails to free himself from the Party’s authoritarian rule. Winston’s aversion to his lifestyle leads him to defy the government by engaging in a sexual affair and committing Thought Crimes. After the Party catches him rebelling, Winston endures abuse that transforms him into a loyal Party member. Unlike most governments in dystopian fiction, the Party is able to prevent insurgency by rewriting the past, limiting vocabulary, and utilizing torture to stifle rebellions that could threaten their power.
At the beginning of the novel, Winston works at the Ministry of Truth and alters history to comply with the the Party’s rendition of the past. At the Ministry of Truth, Winston is in charge of modifying “newspapers, ...books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, soundtracks, cartoons, [and] photographs” to fit the Party’s ideology (Orwell 40). Since the history is changed to reflect prosperity with victories in war, a consistent increase of rations, and loyal individuals like Comrade Ogilvy who “was a ... nonsmoker, had no recreations, and had taken a vow of celibacy” (Orwell …show more content…
The official language of Oceania, Newspeak, aims to reduce the amount of Thought Crimes. The Party “destroy[s] words--scores of them, hundreds of them everyday” (Orwell 51) in attempt “to narrow the range of thought” (Orwell 52). Because of Newspeak, the inhabitants of Oceania lack an advanced vocabulary that would allow them to create independent thoughts and ideas directed toward uniting against the Party. By limiting vocabulary, the Party has total control of its people’s thoughts and thus their
At the beginning of the novel, Winston works at the Ministry of Truth and alters history to comply with the the Party’s rendition of the past. At the Ministry of Truth, Winston is in charge of modifying “newspapers, ...books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, soundtracks, cartoons, [and] photographs” to fit the Party’s ideology (Orwell 40). Since the history is changed to reflect prosperity with victories in war, a consistent increase of rations, and loyal individuals like Comrade Ogilvy who “was a ... nonsmoker, had no recreations, and had taken a vow of celibacy” (Orwell …show more content…
The official language of Oceania, Newspeak, aims to reduce the amount of Thought Crimes. The Party “destroy[s] words--scores of them, hundreds of them everyday” (Orwell 51) in attempt “to narrow the range of thought” (Orwell 52). Because of Newspeak, the inhabitants of Oceania lack an advanced vocabulary that would allow them to create independent thoughts and ideas directed toward uniting against the Party. By limiting vocabulary, the Party has total control of its people’s thoughts and thus their