“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” 1984 (Orwell 51). Words. An official slogan. Three sentences. Contradictory statements. Words that take control. Letters turn into words and these words turn into a language. Positive or negative, words can have a great impact on a person’s physical and mental state. As George Orwell depicts so vividly in his novel 1984, constant pressure from “Big Brother” can cause even the craziest contradictories to become policy and norm. In order to sustain a totalitarian reign in 1984, language control stops any attempts to conceptualize ideas that could hinder absolute control by the government.
One way Big Brother is able to insure total control is by enforcing …show more content…
Winston, 1984’s main protagonist, works daily in the Ministry of Truth. He’s a propaganda officer who alters records of past events so that they match party’s version of the event. Just like that, Big Brother can change all records of an event to promote his party even further. They contort their downfalls as a party into successes and blare them across telescreens. People of Oceania live in constant fear of Big Brother. Boisterous signs let them know “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.” In an attempt to harness anger as a force against other parties, they suppress member’s sexual desires and frustrations and manipulate them into another method of control. The language of past events, the language of love, the language of independence…all suppressed for the greater good of this party. Winston’s ongoing struggle with Julia ends up being the biggest demonstration of this shown. Inevitably their caught in their relationship and called upon by O’Brian. After being seized and almost fed to rats, Winston turns on love and succumbs to Big Brother. This psychological control of language is largely helped by technology. The mean of deliver in this book play a large role in