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Examples Of Doublethink In 1984

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Dystopian novels generally take up an idea or event which, by general agreement at a particular time may lead towards a negative development. The novels, in their distinctive imaginary world, develop that idea or event in a way so as to foretell what these can lead up to. 1984, a dystopian novel by George Orwell, takes up the case of Communist Revolution in the Soviet Union, especially the development it reached in the Stalin era. Among many key concepts the novel introduces the concept of ‘doublethink’. Which, in simple words, means holding two contradictory opinions at the same time with equal emphasis. In the course of the novel the word attempts to unravel the complexity that involves the understanding of Marx’s interpretation of ‘ideology’ as false consciousness. The concept’s slightly non-Marxist representation in the novel raises it above Foucault’s criticism of Marx’s idea. Here I will attempt to explore how the concept of ‘doublethink’ is represented in the novel and how it evades Foucault’s criticism. 1984 by George Orwell is a seminal dystopian text which attempts to foretell how far the totalitarian extremities can lead a society up to. The novel takes the readers to a disconsolate future year of 1984 where the late dominant capitalist society has been overthrown by a revolutionary …show more content…

In order to achieve this end language is stripped of all its ambiguities and grammatical complexities and there is considerable inclusion and deletion of words and hence meanings. What then ensues is ‘Newspeak’, a language which has done away with most of the irrelevant synonyms, and such words like ‘science’ which is no longer relevant.This ‘Newspeak’ introduces some new words, like ‘doublethink’, ‘thoughtcrime’ etc., which marks the general intellectual and social atmosphere of the

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