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Themes in 1984 by George Orwell

Uploaded by punk_devil05 on May 11, 2005

Themes in Orwell’s 1984

Psychological control is a major theme occurring in 1984 and Orwell proves this theme is possible by giving examples of how a totalitarian government could gain psychological control using their power to control history and technology. George Orwell wrote 1984 as a warning to people of what might come in the future if people were not careful. At the time Orwell was writing the book, the Cold War had not yet escalated, and many American intellectuals supported communism. Orwell demonstrated his terror of communist actions by writing 1984 and inventing Big Brother, the governing party of Oceania, who succeed at conforming everyone and eliminating people’s rights.

The citizens are told that Big Brother is the leader of the nation and the head of the Party. The party’s motto is, “Those who control the past, control the future: who controls the present controls the past” (32). The party controlled the present, so the people did what they wished. Big Brother used a totalitarian government to manipulate history and technology and maintain psychological control.
On of the major themes in 1984 is manipulation of history as psychological control. The party rewrote every detail of history, from a person who died, to an enemy change in their ongoing war. The Party had pieces of literature rewritten and every photo reproduced to fit their fictional stories of war success and economic advance. Even personal photographs were eliminated. Without photographs for visual reference, a persons mind becomes fuzzy, and their memory suffers. The information that is given to the citizens is usually manipulated to fit the party’s wants. Since this is the only information, the people believe what the party says. “And when memory failed and written records were falsified—when that happened, the claim of the Party to have improved the conditions of human life had got to be accepted, because there did not exist, and never again could exist, any standard against which it could be tested” (79). By having the power to control the past, the party controls the future. With the power to control the future, they manipulate the human mind and enforce beliefs to fit the party’s needs.

Big Brother uses technology to monitor behavior. Telescrenes with hidden microphones are scattered throughout the city to watch the citizens every action. There were even telescrenes in every citizen’s room that ran Big Brothers picture. “It was one of those pictures...

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Uploaded by:   punk_devil05

Date:   05/11/2005

Category:   Literature

Length:   3 pages (592 words)

Views:   44024

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