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1984 War Is Peace Essay

Decent Essays

Through the novel, 1984, George Orwell argues that a society can unite through nationalism and the opposition of a common enemy. The oligarchy of Oceania is represented by three ironic slogans in which one is “War is Peace”. The idea of believing that war is being waged regularly is one of the ways to keep the peace among the people. When a war is going on, a community tends to be prioritized. The prioritization of the community sometimes leads the people to sacrifice something of their own for the improvement of society. A government that has its people’s devotion allows for the community to be maintained easily, thus keeping the peace. In the War is Peace chapter from the Emmanuel Goldstein’s book, there is text describing some of the Party’s …show more content…

In the process of eliminating the thought of the people, the Party is able to not only monitor the human actions, but also restrict what can and can’t be thought of. In order to make sure that these “robots” stay stable, “It is deliberate policy to keep even the favored groups somewhere near the brink of hardship…”(Orwell 196). The “deliberate policy” shows that it was intended by the government of Oceania to keep the citizens, “favored groups”, near hardship. These hardships, times of deprivation, are a way for the Party to be the fallback for the people. When citizens don’t know what to do, they look up to Big Brother for encouragement. Hardships are also times of when people need comfort, and once again the Party is there with arms wide open to assure that those in need of help are secured. The difficulties of the people are used as a weapon by the Party. Being the one entity that is looked up to during times of despair and confusion allows for the loyalty of the people to strengthen even more so. The brainwashed citizens believe that the Party is the one true savior and are unified by not only a common enemy but by a common guardian. Through feeling this “affection” from the Party the people have a sense of safety and security which makes them believe even more in the words of Big Brother. As a child looks for their parent for assurance that

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