NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER, the omnipresent leader of Ingsoc, or English socialism, and the force that has society in a vice of fear and ignorance. It is in George Orwell's grim dystopia Nineteen Eighty-Four that these circumstances exist. It was written in 1948 as a warning to where society could be headed. Orwell had experienced war, and had seen the world as it existed then, titling on the ledge of despair, ready to drop and shatter into a thousand pieces. This book is a warning to all, that if the world stayed on its current track, the world of Big Brother, would not be as unlikely as it seems. Orwell stresses the similarity of Oceania to our very own world.
Which not only offers reader association and verisimilitude, but it also makes Orwell's political point of how easy it would be for our world to slip into that of Oceania, a lot more prominent in the minds of the readers. This point is emphasised in the very first line of the book; the clocks were striking thirteen. This immediately startles the reader as it is easily recognisable as something belonging to our own world, but warped and distorted, and very militaristic. This clever use of language associates the reader with the book. Another example of this is the tele screen. Which we never receive a definition for, but through reading the book we understand what it is, more importantly, what it does.
Orwell's use of language here again associates us with something common to our world, the television, but then warps the idea and mixes it with a solution of irony. The tele screen, instead of being watched like a television, watches us. The idea is so sinister and intriguing, yet so similar. In our modern world, we have close circuit television cameras, which effectively do the same thing. The tele screen also produces streams of statistics, showing propaganda claiming how successful the world under the party us. This also is similar to Party Political Broadcasts.
Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, had a different view of how to keep society in bondage. In his book, he uses drugs and sex to keep the masses in submission as opposed to the repression of sex to keep people in a freezable rage found in 1984. Yet Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four appears more realistic because of its grimness. Winston is not particularly wealthy, he has to use coarse soap and blunt razor blades. He also has very ill health for a thirty-nine year old, Orwell depicts him as a person who could be much older; a smallish, frail, figure. Normally in any world, we would expect there to be people who suffer these conditions.
But Orwell cleverly writes the introduction to 1984 so that the reader knows that these conditions are endured by many. The vile wind and gritty dust all add to the depressing tone of the introduction, that heightens the degree of verisimilitude. The world is kept this way through party control. The party keeps control over the people through a number of methods.
Firstly there are the Spies. This children in the novel are immediately seen as eerie. Our first introduction to children are those of Mrs Parsons. They are immediately seen as frightening by the reader, because they frighten Winston; so vicious was the boys demeanour, that it was not altogether a game.
The children have been inundated with so much party propaganda that they worship Big Brother. This network is also similar to one seen before, but just as similar, The Hitler Youth. The children also appear sadistic because they want to see the hanging! . Although we soon find out that this lifestyle is common for many throughout the book, this scene is still shocking, as children are often associated with innocence, not murder. So vicious and effective is this network of infant spies that it was normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children. The party keeps its control over the peoples of Oceania through a clever system of fear.
Surveillance plays a key role; BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. Everything that the citizens of Oceania do will be seen by someone, although we know that it would be almost impossible for all the telescreen's to be examined by someone, the threat of a person watching you through your tele screen is too great, which enforces the party rule. Another key method of keeping party control are the thought police. A system where people can read your mind, and even to think of something that contradicts party rules and regulations would be a crime. If caught for having a thought crime, you would be erased; Thought crime does not entail death: thought crime IS death. Party control also extends to the key theme of individuality.
Winston Smith, the very name implies a common aspect, and a sense of uniformity. A lot of the party members also wear the same work clothes, which removes individuality. This ties in closely with Newspeak. Newspeak is a new language, which removes words we use currently, for more accurate words, in the aim that every notion will be expressible with one single word. Winston's meeting with Syme refers to Newspeak and the new dictionary.
Syme describes the aim of Newspeak as enforcing Ingsoc; Newspeak is Ingsoc and Ingsoc is Newspeak. Removing words from the dictionary means erasing them from peoples minds. Making it difficult for them to formulate thoughts and ideas in their own head, due to the lack of words available. Which in turn makes it almost impossible for them to extend their thoughts to others, and thereby instigate a rebellion; there will be no thought. Newspeak not only takes away individuality and free thought, but it also aids party control. However Newspeak doesnt stop there, the party is also re-writing every book, newspaper, magazine, every form of literature, to the extent that they are changed into something contradictory of what they used to be.
Literature is often re-written by the party in an attempt to change History; All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and re-inscribed exactly as often as was necessary. By changing history, the party hoped to stay in control. But before the reader can understand how someone will simply believe a change in history, the reader needs to understand doublethink. The process is so complicated that it is one of the few things that requires a definition. Yet the definition is so convoluted that it captures the essence of doublethink brilliantly. The process of doublethink is too complicated to explain, yet the effective result isnt, the result is believing everything the party does, including changing history.
The benefit of changing history is that all party predictions will appear correct, the party will always be seen in a good light. A historian from the future would have to look very hard to find anything to contradict what was written. Changing history keeps the party in power; he who controls the past controls the future. Throughout the book, the reader will find themselves asking for a rebellion, or to be more precise, reasons for the lack of a rebellion. The reasons lie in Winston. Winston cant rebel, and the reader sees in him why they themselves wouldnt rebel.
The party is simply too powerful. Here Orwell goes against one great belief that one man can make a difference.
Free research essays on topics related to: newspeak, thought crime, nineteen eighty four, tele screen, big brother
Research essay sample on Nineteen Eighty Four Tele Screen
