How Does Ingsoc Maintain Freedom In 1984 By George Orwell

People hear about political issues all over the news and form their own opinions on them, but are they really deciding beliefs for themselves or are they just believing whatever the media tells them? Because of the modern day media biased, many people do not think independently, even when they think they are. They merely believe the lies the media feeds them and do not research the matter themselves to get an accurate idea of what is truly going on and how the control of information will impact the world around them. Because of people’s tendency to accept any piece of information that gets shoved down their throats, the US is slowly digging itself into the same government-controlled, no-freedom world as in the book 1984 by George Orwell.

“Newspeak was designed to. . .diminish the range of thought. . .by cutting the choice of words down to a minimum” explains George Orwell, the author of a dystopian fiction novel, 1984 (Orwell 300). Orwell designs a society in which a totalitarian government rules, depriving people of their thoughts. The story gives us a look into the life of the main character, Winston, who seems to face issues with reality control. Today, we will delve into the depths of this novel and explore Orwell’s views on the nature of language. In simple terms, Orwell suggests that language, if used in a certain way, has the ability to influence people and compel them to alter their thoughts. With this statement and supporting evidence, it can be concluded that the effective use of language can give individuals power to modify or reshape opinions that will allow for change in society.

Orwell designed Newspeak to demonstrate the importance of language to ideas. Orwell thought literature was dying out, which he connected with dying language (Kazin 235). Language is not only the means by which an idea is expressed, but also the means by which an idea is thought. The purposes of Newspeak are to allow for the expression of thoughts Ingsoc deemed proper and make impossible the expression of thoughts Ingsoc deemed heretical (Kendrick 344). According to Orwell, control of thought follows control of language. The government in 1984 means to control the language, and

The motif, Newspeak, recurs throughout the novel, and illustrates how the government restricts knowledge through the limitation of language. Newspeak is a language that has a narrowed vocabulary in an attempt to exclude words that can raise awareness of any suppressive behavior that the Party exerts. “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thought crime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.” This quote best illustrates the Party’s intentions for Newspeak in regards to this slogan. The first sentence establishes how this motif is increasing ignorance, by narrowing the range of thought. In doing so, the second sentence holds true as the more ignorance that is spread through society, the more strength and power the Party gains control over the people of Oceania.

In the novel, 1984, by George Orwell, Newspeak is the official language of Oceania. It is not specifically a different language than English but a simplified version that eliminates the use of most synonyms and reduces the number of antonyms available. The point of Newspeak is to eliminate free speech and critical thinking. Without the ability to communicate ideas properly, many aspects of daily life are affected but most importantly, the documentation of history is lost.

The Party could “announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it [...] Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality was tacitly denied by their philosophy” (Orwell 69). The illogical statement conflicts with the individual’s basic knowledge that two and two would actually make four. When citizens accept the illogical statement, they accept the Party as the absolute authority. Thus, the Party is able to control the minds of the public and freely spread

Is not having enough freedom considered slavery? In George Orwell's novel 1894, consists of different themes and ideas on how privacy is invaded. 1984 is a story of a man´s world ruled over by a powerful party that not only controls information but also individual thought and memory. The party creates a false past with slavery and agony controlling people to work for them. The party used different methods in concealing people's memories from the past to convince their mind that life couldn't be better.

One of the most important concepts that many individuals in modern day society value the most is the idea that they have the freedom to do whatever they please. The term freedom means “being able to act, think, and speak in any way one wants to without any type of hindrance,”(Dictionary.com). In the book, 1984, by George Orwell, the totalitarian society ruled by Big Brother, in many ways, controls its citizens by hindering any types of freedom a member of the society might have. In a society that is decorated with telescreens, hidden microphones, and strict rules, Orwell illustrates the many ways Big Brother uses that to its advantage to stifle the freedom of its citizens. However, under all the scrutiny of Big Brother, there are

Have you ever been in a situation in which you have gone against what others have said? Perhaps you didn’t agree with what they said. What about breaking the rules for the greater good? Well in the novel, 1984 by George Orwell- Winston goes against the rules that the party has put up. He falls in love with a girl named Julia, and they are taken to trial at the Ministry of love. The theme to best fit the story would be- Freedom is Worth Fighting For.

In George Orwell’s novel, “1984”, the Party implements a restrictive language known as “Newspeak”, in order to manipulate and diminish the personal thoughts of the people. In so doing, the Party is able to achieve its most important political agenda- to maintain its power and rule in Oceania. In this essay, we shall analyze the different ways in which the Party makes use of “Newspeak” as a mechanism of control. Additionally we will consider the concept of linguistic relativity and how it relates to Newspeak terms, such as “doublethink”, “thoughtcrime” and “duckspeak”. The essay will study the aforementioned aspects, by making reference particularly to the concepts, quotes and arguments found in the novel, as well as in Orwell’s literary essay, “Politics and the English Language”.

For instance, although the people of Oceania are ignorant to the wrongfulness of the government, the government is able to limit the thoughts, feelings, and entire lives of its citizens. Orwell describes that “there were fear, hatred, and pain, but no dignity of emotion, no deep or complex sorrows” (1984, 28). Through limiting emotions and individual expression, Orwell is able to illustrate how the people of Oceania are existing but not living, for the people of Oceania have been stripped of the true joys associated with life, like love, desire, and loss. Furthermore, the government is able to control the language of Oceania, by “destroying words, scores of them, hundreds of them, every day” (1984, 45). Language is powerful.

Newspeak is the fictional language in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, written by George Orwell. It is a controlled language created by the totalitarian state Oceania as a tool to limit freedom of thought, and concepts that pose a threat to the regime such as freedom, self-expression, individuality, and peace. Any form of thought alternative to the party’s construct is classified as "thoughtcrime". Newspeak is explained in chapters 4 and 5 of Nineteen Eighty-Four, and in an appendix to the book. The language follows, for the most part, the same grammatical rules as English, but has a much more limiting, and constantly shifting vocabulary.

They control practically everything and everyone. This is splendid for the Inner Party who doesn’t need to follow all of the rules and get special treatment, on the other hand, bad for the Outer Party, who is on the verge being a Prole and being part of the Inner Party. The Outer Party has more rules and expectations than the Inner Party, although they both still must follow the rules of Ingsoc. "The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible” (303). As said by Winston, it is so that the Inner and Outer Party have no way of speaking their thoughts to rebel against Big Brother. Another rigid rule that both Parties had to follow was anti – sex since, "Sexual intercourse was to be looked on as a slightly disgusting minor operation, like having an enema.” (69). This is an extremely immense rule in 1984 that many of the Inner Party members break and not get chastised for, however when the Outer Party members do it, they get in profound trouble. An expectation that the Parties had was to always think of Big Brother and no one else. When the Party had new information about the war, they must think only of it. When the Party had the Two Minutes of Hate, they must focus only on getting their hate out. Julia was incredibly affected by this after she was “cured” in the Ministry

As time goes on, freedom and security have become values that are discussed more and more often. In George Orwell’s 1984, the notions of freedom and security both come at the price of one another. With more freedom comes less security, and with more security there is less freedom. This is one of the most prevalent concepts that carries from this dystopian novel into our society today, and we are going to have to pick one value over the other. In order to be successful, freedom is going to have to come first, and we are going to have to figure out an answer to the security problem that presents us with.

Since without language thought is nearly impossible the party believes that by altering the language they can impose their untrue reality. They will be able to restrict it to the point that even a person’s thoughts are manipulated; things such as individualism and imagination will cease to exist. Which ultimately will give the Party total control over society. The newspeak engineer also goes on to state “ In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible because there will be no words in which to express it.” (55) This quote proves how vital control of language is to the party, it is the key to becoming a controlled state. By creating the element of Newspeak in 1984 Orwell is warning against the potential consequences of manipulating language to benefit people in power and how this can eventually lead to a totalitarian state.