“Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else.” George Orwell penned these powerful words in his radical novel 1984. In this dystopian novel, Orwell explores the idea that if the human mind can be controlled, then so can reality. By using various elements in the story, Orwell creates a message: the mind is the most powerful weapon someone can possess. Orwell uses the conflict of man vs. society in order to show the power of one mind versus the power of a collective mind. Winston is an average man. He is no threat to the Party, except when he starts to act on his independent thinking. The Party only stays in power by making everyone fear independent thought, so when Winston starts to think for himself, the Party has to stop him from
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At the beginning of the book Winston describes the telescreens that are present in every building. These telescreens see and hear everything that happens, all while broadcasting propaganda. People know that they have to be careful as to what they say and do, or they could be arrested or vaporized. Another fear tactic used by the Party is the use of people’s children. The Party recruits children and encourages them to spy on their parents, neighbors, and anyone else who they are around. Winston even remarks that, “It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children.” There are often helicopters that circle around buildings in order to spy on people to see if they might be breaking any laws. Slogans are posted all over town with phrases like, “Big Brother is watching you.” All of these things are both to catch offenders, but also to instill fear into citizens so that they won’t be tempted to rebel against the …show more content…
They have several means in which they go about this. The first being newspeak. Newspeak is the official language of Oceania and was used to “provide a medium expression of the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingosc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible.” With Newspeak came new phrases. One of these phrases, often used by the Party, is doublethink. Doublethink is the ability to hold two contradictory ideas and believe both of them. "Doublethink lies at the very heart of Ingsoc, since the essential act of the Party is to use conscious deception while retaining the firmness of purpose that goes with complete honesty." This concept must exist because history is often rewritten, and, although it is the citizens of Oceania that are rewriting the history, the people need to be able to believe what they know isn’t true. While this may seem like a ridiculous concept, it shows the power of the mind to create false reality. The Party relies on this ability for people to willfully forget things in order to keep control of
At the beginning of the book Winston describes the telescreens that are present in every building. These telescreens see and hear everything that happens, all while broadcasting propaganda. People know that they have to be careful as to what they say and do, or they could be arrested or vaporized. Another fear tactic used by the Party is the use of people’s children. The Party recruits children and encourages them to spy on their parents, neighbors, and anyone else who they are around. Winston even remarks that, “It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children.” There are often helicopters that circle around buildings in order to spy on people to see if they might be breaking any laws. Slogans are posted all over town with phrases like, “Big Brother is watching you.” All of these things are both to catch offenders, but also to instill fear into citizens so that they won’t be tempted to rebel against the …show more content…
They have several means in which they go about this. The first being newspeak. Newspeak is the official language of Oceania and was used to “provide a medium expression of the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingosc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible.” With Newspeak came new phrases. One of these phrases, often used by the Party, is doublethink. Doublethink is the ability to hold two contradictory ideas and believe both of them. "Doublethink lies at the very heart of Ingsoc, since the essential act of the Party is to use conscious deception while retaining the firmness of purpose that goes with complete honesty." This concept must exist because history is often rewritten, and, although it is the citizens of Oceania that are rewriting the history, the people need to be able to believe what they know isn’t true. While this may seem like a ridiculous concept, it shows the power of the mind to create false reality. The Party relies on this ability for people to willfully forget things in order to keep control of