1984 Critical Analysis

10/23/11 1984 critical analysis In the novel 1984 by George Orwell a man named Winston lives within a dis-utopian society. People within this society keep their emotions non-noticeable because if they go against what the inner circle is teaching than that person would work manually labor for the rest of their life. In the story a party known as the inner circle uses a few slogans and sayings to control everything. The inner circle uses all that they say to brainwash people into believing what they are saying is true. The inner party's slogans are â€Å"War is peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is strength† By using these phrases one can see that the inner circle can manipulate everyone into believing in what the inner circle tells them to believe in. The first slogan â€Å"War is peace† The inner circle has this slogan to convince people that there is no such thing as peace. The inner party seems to get people to believe they are in a constant state of war. When they are not fighting one country they are fighting the other. The inner party uses this constant state to their advantage; the inner party uses this state to keep the people always occupy with a war and to keep them from thinking about rising up against the government. Examples of the constant state of war, one is the proles are constantly being bombed. With this slogan it gives people a sense of anxiety keeping them scared and to make them think that Big Brother is taking care of them and will look out for them, and protect them. The second slogan â€Å"Freedom is Slavery†, the inner party is trying to control everyone and getting them to hate every other country. This slogan means that to have freedom is to be a slave, which in American eyes is a big lie. The inner party puts out the slogan for people to understand it is much better to be under Big Brother than it is to be your own individual and have freedom to decide what they would like to do; But to the people in this dis-utopia society believe that Big Brother is for them and not only that but they have been spoon fed their whole lives and they would not know what to do even if they had freedom. The people in this society that would have some sense of what freedom is, is the proles because the inner circle doesn't really care about them. The third slogan is â€Å"Ignorance is strength†. The Meaning of Ignorance is the lack of Knowledge, Not knowing and for not knowing to be strength it does not make very much sense. The phrase â€Å"Knowing is half the battle â€Å" would never come into play. In many cases to win a battle is to know what the army is up against. Not knowing is how the inner circle keeps any rebels from rebelling because they don't know what they are up against. Throughout the book the inner circle is kept a secret but it is known that it is there. In the book Winston believes that Big Brother is not real and does not exist. The inner circle also retells history the way they want it told and they teach it this way to keep the people from knowing what truly is happening in the world around them. After all the slogans one of the sayings the inner circle uses is â€Å"Big Brother is Watching You† This society uses this poster to add to the anxiety and fear of the people. The sign has this saying and above it is a face that looks similar to Hitler. This poster is posted everywhere within the society. This saying echoes throughout ones mind to give them a sense of being constantly watched and they have to pay attention to everything they do. This saying is not entirely false either in this society people are always looking out at people waiting and watching for them to slip up. The inner circle also uses telescreeens within each room to watch over what the person is doing and also the telescreen has no off switch. Winston has his telescreen in a location so he has a corner where he can write what ever he wants in his illegal journal. The inner circle uses it's own people to for it's eyes in the society because it uses the true followers to catch all the people who would go against. The inner circle also use kids as spies. They use the kids to spy on the parents within the home to make sure they do not go against the inner party. The inner circle turns their own people on each other so not only they look to catch each other but they also have no big groups to conspire with. In Comparison of the three slogans the number one thing they all have in common is they are all false and are all contradictions of each other; â€Å"War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is strength. † Each slogan has it's own purpose and reason to help the inner circle to control everybody to make sure they do not rise up against the inner party. If someone does go against the inner party the inner party sends their â€Å"task force† in to take that person and to have them do manually labor for the rest of their life. Which having the Thought Police a. k. â€Å"task force† in the mix of everything adds even more anxiety and fear into the people of this society. In truth the inner circle uses fear and repeats the slogans to get people brainwashed into believing everything the inner circle is telling them. The inner circle uses all of the sayings to manipulate and control everyone to be on their side. The inner party has these slogans to make sure every one can't go against them. The inner party rules with fear and is kept a secret, and repeats everything to make sure it is brainwashed into believing everything they are told. In many cases if someone repeats something over and over they would believe it to be true. If someone repeated that 2 + 2 = 5 eventually they would start to question if it is true and then soon the person would believe it is true and trick themselves that they are right in which 2 + 2 = 5. Which is the same way with Winston in which eventually he gave into the ways of the inner circle and he started to love Big Brother who he despised at the beginning of the book. This same process manipulated Winston into going into the ways and is brainwashed into believing everything he is told.