The government also controls its subjects by means of doublethink. ‘Doublethink’ is a
method of political indoctrination used by the Party to create in its citizens the mental capacity to
hold two or more contrary beliefs at the same time (Orwell, 35). Orwell considered this to be
especially evident in politics, since people’s wishes and fears usually determined their political
opinions, and, in particular, Orwell conceived nationalism to be the “identification of self with
some entity which places the individual’s actions aside for the totality” (Steinhoff, 165). The
only acknowledged duty is service in the common cause. To him, nationalism was characterized
by “obsession, instability, and indifference to reality, and it comprehended …show more content…
At the
end of 1984, Winston is subjected to weeks of “reeducation”, and he himself concludes that
nothing is more potent than physical pain (Orwell, 276). By controlling the minds of their
subjects, the Party is able to control reality itself.
Crimespeak, Crimethink, and especially Newspeak are the natural corollaries of government-
controlled thought. At the first level, thought-control is maintained by the two-way telescreens in
every citizen’s room, through which the “Thought Police” can monitor every citizen at any time.
At the next level the government is introducing a new language called “Newspeak”, the object of
which is to make it impossible to express thoughts that would be considered undesirable to the
authorities (Orwell, 52). John Strachey sums this up concisely in his essay on Orwell’s 1984, The
Strangled Cry: “A prime object of Newspeak is so drastically to cut down the vocabulary that the
expression of heretical ideas, and with a few simple exceptions, ideas at all, becomes
impossible.” (Strachey, 56) Newspeak, along with doublethink, is instrumental in the
manipulation of the …show more content…
Any
possible hint of the change is punishable by instant death. Every copy of every newspaper is
accordingly re-written and re-printed. Every record of every speech is amended. All other
records are obliterated by being dropped down great furnaces, dubbed “memory holes” (Orwell,
38).The same procedure is used to execute a leading member of the Inner Party: a new
incriminating past is created and documented for them, and all record of their real past is
eliminated (Orwell, 39). Additionally, the government in Oceania, and in any perfect totalitarian
society, not only destroys the past through the elimination of objective records, but also destroys
the memory of the past through a “disintegration of individual consciousness.” (Howe, 48) The
worker whom Smith spoke to remembers that the beer was better before the Party came about,
but he cannot actually understand Smith’s question: “Do you feel that you have more freedom
now than you had in those days?” (Orwell, 92) To ask, or even to understand, such a question
necessitates some social continuity, as well as some complex assumptions, which Oceania is
gradually
method of political indoctrination used by the Party to create in its citizens the mental capacity to
hold two or more contrary beliefs at the same time (Orwell, 35). Orwell considered this to be
especially evident in politics, since people’s wishes and fears usually determined their political
opinions, and, in particular, Orwell conceived nationalism to be the “identification of self with
some entity which places the individual’s actions aside for the totality” (Steinhoff, 165). The
only acknowledged duty is service in the common cause. To him, nationalism was characterized
by “obsession, instability, and indifference to reality, and it comprehended …show more content…
At the
end of 1984, Winston is subjected to weeks of “reeducation”, and he himself concludes that
nothing is more potent than physical pain (Orwell, 276). By controlling the minds of their
subjects, the Party is able to control reality itself.
Crimespeak, Crimethink, and especially Newspeak are the natural corollaries of government-
controlled thought. At the first level, thought-control is maintained by the two-way telescreens in
every citizen’s room, through which the “Thought Police” can monitor every citizen at any time.
At the next level the government is introducing a new language called “Newspeak”, the object of
which is to make it impossible to express thoughts that would be considered undesirable to the
authorities (Orwell, 52). John Strachey sums this up concisely in his essay on Orwell’s 1984, The
Strangled Cry: “A prime object of Newspeak is so drastically to cut down the vocabulary that the
expression of heretical ideas, and with a few simple exceptions, ideas at all, becomes
impossible.” (Strachey, 56) Newspeak, along with doublethink, is instrumental in the
manipulation of the …show more content…
Any
possible hint of the change is punishable by instant death. Every copy of every newspaper is
accordingly re-written and re-printed. Every record of every speech is amended. All other
records are obliterated by being dropped down great furnaces, dubbed “memory holes” (Orwell,
38).The same procedure is used to execute a leading member of the Inner Party: a new
incriminating past is created and documented for them, and all record of their real past is
eliminated (Orwell, 39). Additionally, the government in Oceania, and in any perfect totalitarian
society, not only destroys the past through the elimination of objective records, but also destroys
the memory of the past through a “disintegration of individual consciousness.” (Howe, 48) The
worker whom Smith spoke to remembers that the beer was better before the Party came about,
but he cannot actually understand Smith’s question: “Do you feel that you have more freedom
now than you had in those days?” (Orwell, 92) To ask, or even to understand, such a question
necessitates some social continuity, as well as some complex assumptions, which Oceania is
gradually