1984 by George Orwell Analysis English Assignment 2

WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. The irony (or the doublethink quotient, I should say) of this statement is one of the major undertones of 1984 - a pessimistic, dystopian novel set in a futuristic authoritarian regime. 1984 is narrated through the day to day life of Winston Smith - a low-ranking worker for the ruling political party, mentioned to as the Party, that finds its origins in the Revolution which laid the foundations of the pseudo-egalitarian political setup in the fictitious state of Oceania and his desire to break free from the prevailing socio-legal system and the control of the Party. The Partys despotic regime is characterised by complete and total authoritarianism, constant surveillance, vehement brainwashing and what Id like to call thought genocide. On the face of it, the regime represents the overthrow and permanent removal of capitalism and the establishment of a socialistic, egalitarian society controlled completely by the state and its machinery, which it assumes, is suited perfectly to the whims and fancies of all its subjects and all times. Winston Smith is disoriented most of the time, for the plain reason that he is dissatisfied with what he is forced to believe is the best for him and the rest of the citizens of Oceania, and cant express any of it in any way or hed be guilty of thoughtcrime, Newspeak (forced official language of Oceania) for tyranny by thinking what the Party doesnt want you to think, which would in turn prevent even the remotest of challenges to the legitimacy of the regime. Monitored by telescreens and the Thought Police at all times, Winston feels suffocated by the Partys excessive control on peoples thoughts and consciousness. The double standards of what the Party preaches and what reality reflects are shown from time to time. A clear social division and differential regard to the proles (the working class, the proletariat) counter the Partys promise of equality. There is absolutely no question of freedom, considering the Partys high levels of surveillance, brainwashing and thought control through constant propaganda and narrowing the scope of peoples thoughts and consciousness by controlling language. Even sexual activity is deemed as a mere duty to the Party to reproduce and raise devoted workers for the Party. The irony of the personification of the Partys propaganda through the day to day operation of the state leads Winston to believe that he lives in a monstrous world, lacking humanity, consciousness, and ability to think; but the fact that he can only

see himself feeling this way and the minds of everyone around him being taken over and satisfied by the Partys ideology makes him wonder whether he is the monster in this monstrous world. Subsequently, a constant fear of being labelled a thought criminal, someone who betrays the state by being dissatisfied and spreading the same, overcomes Winston, which suffocates him all the more. The thought genocide, as I like to refer to it, reminds me of three very distinct things, and each of them, in their own way, rather idiosyncratic. Although 1984 is a futuristic dystopian satire of the erstwhile Soviet Union during the Stalin era, the first characteristic of the thought genocide reminds me of the present situation of its then biggest political and ideological rival, the United States. The state has been shown to have complete and total thought control over its citizens, especially the party workers, forcing them to believe (and for the most part, very successfully) that the prevailing situation and measures being implemented were ideal, and for everyones good, when clearly, they were not. This, in my opinion, is very similar to the United States control over their citizens thought processes about democracy, legitimising, in the average American citizens view, their right to wage wars on countries in the name of democracy, while the war and the diplomacy to support them clearly reflect the most undemocratic measures on the part of the American government. The irony of this, as in the case of Ingsocs (the ruling party in Oceania) thought control, cannot be stressed upon. The second aspect of this thought genocide makes me think about a very typical Indian scenario the anglicising of our culture and languages. The average Indians obsession to be fluent in the English language has led to a slow yet perceivable erosion of our native languages. The fact that even my thought process, like most others of my generation, works faster in English than in Hindi (something that Im not proud of) is a clear testimony to that. Our education system has made it necessary for the modern urban youth to realise the importance of keeping up with what is required, rendering our native languages less useful that the English language. The belief that everything is congenial and better than ever that the Party forces its subjects to adopt takes me to the third and the most absurd example of thought control of this kind. Apple Inc. As bizarre as it sounds, the thing I hate the most about Apple is their desire to incorporate peoples technological needs into their ecosystem by making them believe that there is no better alternative, that living in and with what exists is more than sufficient, and that the desire to think about wanting something that they cant provide is fundamentally redundant. This is becomes extremely clear with Apples incessant self-congratulating on achieving the best (and better than the rest) that technology is capable of when almost all of their products apart from the iPod have a flaw that other devices overcome. The fact that Apple does this successfully frustrates me just the way the Partys successful thought control frustrates Winston Smith.

The Party seems to feel a constant need to establish its authority and legitimacy, as if the State feels a permanent insecurity about their rule, and is scared, most of all, of the ability of the human mind, which it seeks to limit. The education system and the media make children as young as seven years of age believe that every responsible citizen owes a duty to the party. The regime is successful in this regard to the extent that young children are excited to see public executions and denounce their parents to the Party for thought crime. The same insecurity takes the Partys psychological manipulation to a level where they succeed in erasing all possible emotions and feelings even sexuality. Also, the partys complete control over the present gives them the ability to shape its subjects interpretation of the past, breaking down psychological independence to the lowest level possible. The existence of Big Brother, the face of the Party, and the supposed leader of the same, is questionable, showing a constant fear of the unknown to the extent that the questionable existence is questioned no longer. Similar to religious righteousness preached in the name of an unknown entity, Big Brother is considered omnipotent and omnipresent through the various media of the Party such as the telescreens and controlled consciousness. The slogan of the party holds extremely true to Winstons very existence, yet in a slightly tweaked version. Peace is war; and the forced prevalence of peace is what causes him to be at war with the system, and his own thoughts. Slavery, or his submission, paradoxically, is the only way to freedom of any kind, and strength lies in his inability to comprehend the contradictory foundations of the authority.