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“Nineteen Eighty - Four” – TEST RESPONSE: TOPIC THREE (3) In the appendix of
Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell warns against the enormous power a regime can
hold once it has control of the language. Winston, on the other hand, believes
he is free as long as he can hold on the mathematical axiom, 2+2=4.
Unfortunately, Winston grossly underestimates the sheer power held be Oceania’s
totalitarian regime. With the Inner Party at the helm, Oceanian society has been
deliberately drawn down to a deep, inescapable socioeconomic morass, with Party
exercising its conscious aim of nurturing a state of “unfreedom and inequality”.
Having learnt a great deal from totalitarian regimes that had failed in the
past, the Inner Party became a small ruling group that was determined to create
a societal structure that would ensure the Party maintained a permanent
stronghold over Oceania and its people. Unlike their predecessors, the Inner
Party was comprised of people who were “less avaricious, less tempted by luxury,
hungrier for pure power, and above all, more conscious of what they were doing
and more intent on crushing opposition. From this steely resolve of the Inner
Party to be the eternal guardians of power in Oceania stems the wide and varied
sources of truth and power held be the totalitarian regime. Collectively, these
sources present a frightening combination that, fundamentally, serves to destroy
the essence of the human spirit and to ensure the ruling group an endless reign
of power. As Orwell details in the appendix of the novel, control over language
is one of the major sources of truth and power held by Oceania’s totalitarian
regime. The introduction and steady implementation of Newspeak as the language
of choice for Party members, meant that the Party effectively assumed control of
the boundaries of human expression and thought.
The elimination of words and
phrases considered unfavourable to the Party and its ideals made it extremely
difficult to express conflicting or derogatory views towards the Party. And,
with this suppression of free thought through language, the Party is also able
to eliminate unwanted ideas, emotions, and ideals associated with those words.
The embodiment of the slogan “Ignorance is Strength” is another source of power
for the totalitarian regime in Oceania. The Party exploits the basic idea that
ignorant people are content people; simply because they have no standard of
comparison. Although life is far from rosy for members of the Outer Party, they
are, nevertheless, satisfied with their existence. Primary reasons for this are
that Party members are led to believe that standards of living are constantly
improving, and that their cooperation is imperative for the continual war effort
to succeed. Thus, the Party achieves an assurance to their stronghold over
members by eliminating feelings of dissent and dissatisfaction towards the Party
with imposition of obligation. Another unmistakable source of power for the
Inner Party is their thorough and seemingly infallible surveillance and
compliance network, comprised of the Thought Police, omnipresent telescreens,
Youth League Spies and the mutual fear of the consequences of unorthodoxy, which
virtually ensures widespread conformity.
And, since the party has comprehensive
control of the present, they also have an equally extensive control over the
past, and thus truth. All historical records and print media is endlessly
fabricated and tailored to conform with the Party’s current position, further
enhancing the Party’s power over the people. Another important source of power
for the ruling group is war. In becoming continuous, war has ceased to exist in Oceanian society. And, as it consumes the products of human labour that would
otherwise be used to increase the standard of living for Outer Party members,
war ensures the permanence of the current order in Oceania. The abolition of
interpersonal relationships, the destruction of family, and the removal of all
endearing emotion from the sexual act left widespread insecurity, which the
Party exploits to nurture a mutual emotional attachment to Big Brother. However,
none of the aforementioned ploys of Oceania’s totalitarian regime would be
possible without the indoctrination of Party members with the skills of
doublethink and crimestop. Particularly doublethink, which renders Party members
infinitely malleable to the will of the Party, thus ensuring that the Party’s
goal of permanent power seems infallible.
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