Totalitarianism And Thoughtcrime In George Orwell's 1984

Under constant surveillance by a man known as Big Brother, the citizens living in the dystopian society in George Orwell’s 1984 are constantly monitored for betrayal of the government, also known as Thoughtcrime. Through people on the streets and devices known as telescreens, the government watches every movement, every word, every decision a person makes. Surrounding this concept of totalitarianism and Thoughtcrime is the idea that the government often manipulates and constructs the memories of a person, explaining some of the narrative improbabilities in the novel. This also strips the individuality of a person away, simply making them pawns that the government has complete control over in their society. Using this idea, the construction …show more content…
Towards the end of the novel, it is even stated clearly that manipulating memory is something the government does regularly through propaganda and other advanced methods. One such method it is to manipulate popular ideas, feelings, and memories by promoting it through the mass media (Fitzpatrick). This actually is very probable, as all Party members are constantly under the surveillance of the telescreens and the government always projects important announcements and propaganda through it. Another method used to manipulate memory that is mentioned during Winston’s imprisonment at the Ministry of Love is to crush a person down to nothing and then reinstitute the memories the government wishes them to have. “We shall squeeze you empty, and then we shall fill you with ourselves” (Orwell 332). This is an interesting concept, as it is an instance of manipulation of memory, but it could also be an instance of the construction of memory. While the government is emptying a person's memories and emotions, they create or alter different memories or knowledge within them to match what they believe. One of the most significant cases of the manipulation of memory within the novel is during Winston’s torture at the Ministry of Love. “... when each new suggestion of O’Brien’s had filled up a patch of …show more content…
Since the government has the ability to construct and manipulate its citizen’s memories and emotions, each individual person isn’t all that different beneath the surface. “Whatever it was, you could be certain that every word of it was pure orthodoxy, pure Ingsoc” (Orwell 137). Party members who were already incapable of free thought simply were broken records of the government ideals and beliefs, making them no different from the other. However, those who still had a grasp of free thought were set apart from the others in their minds, and would ultimately be vaporized or wiped out of existence because they could not be controlled. In a case such as Winston’s, the Party was able to permanently change the way he thought, so towards the end of the novel he loses his individuality and joins the mass amount of people who have fallen trap to Big Brother. “He pushed the picture out of his mind. It was a false memory” (Orwell 369). In this instance, Winston still has small bits of his memory in his possession, but the government has altered his mind so much that he thinks it is fake and never happened. Apart from appearance and culture, memory and way of thinking are the parts of a person that make them their own individual. When memories and free thought are stripped away from a person, they no longer have any individuality in their mind, rendering