Mechanism of Control
Even though Nineteen Eighty-four and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest differ in their dystopian society, the two novels carry out their rules in a similar fashion. In the novel Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell a dystopian society controlled by a totalitarian regime called the Big Brother monitors every aspect of the citizens which reside in Oceania. Below Big Brother are the inner party who limits the freedom of speech, communication, personal belief and individuality and controls thought, action and speech in various ways.
Newspeak is a language the inner party implement by means of controlling the citizens to prevent them from obtaining individual thought. Newspeak are words and sentences that are being shortened and some are excluded and so limits the scope of thinking. As Syme states
…show more content…
Similar to Nineteen Eighty-four, the psychiatric ward is controlled by Nurse Ratched and her staff members. Throughout the novel, the combine;” a machine culture which harvest and packages men…and Big Nurse, its powerful agent” (Sherwood 100) does everything in their power to construct “ a world of precision, efficiency, and tidiness”( Sherwood 39). The head administrative Nurse Ratched a former army veteran is portrayed as a sexually repressed woman who regulates people in the ward , such as the inmates, the black boys and the rest with an iron fist and an iron glove and is the human manifestation of the combine. From the society`s standpoint, Nurse Ratched or Big Nurse is doing her job in a properly, orginazing way through her actions;However inside the mental institution she`s different. Knowing fully of the power that she acquires over the patients and the nurses she has no hesitation of using it to maintain her powers and achieve her
McMurphy is at constant odds with Nurse Ratched, the antagonist of the story; she represents the anally fixated dictator. She has established system believed to find sanity by adjusting the patients to the outside world standards. Nurse Ratched tries to shape the patients not in their own image but an image that she sees all people should act. It is believed that what the Nurse is doing is helpful to the acute’s actually suppressing their individually. In the novel they are multiple power struggles between the Big Nurse and Randle Patrick McMurphy on Nurse Ratched side, she is trying to hold order among the ward to conform McMurphy. However, McMurphy acknowledges the way she runs the ward is not right and it is actually suppressing the acute’s masculinity and self-confidence. In one section Chief Bromden acknowledges why he believes McMurphy is so strong is because he is what he is. “I’d think he was strong enough being his own self that he would never back down the way she was hoping he would.” Nurse Ratched may have a hard time trying to make McMurphy conform but she has ease making the rest conform to her standards. These are the supposed standards that the patients believe they need in order to be accepted in society. However, they are the supposed beliefs that the majority of people believe in order to strive socially. It is not only the Combine’s Ward that there a sense of missing identity there is also. Compared to the society that humankind occupies, people
Setting is also important, as it refers to the period this book was set in, the 1950's. Ultimately, it is a reflection of what was happening in American society at the time, and what American society expected from each other. McCarthyism, as started by Senator Joseph McCarthy, was the most prevalent movement of the 1950's, where there was great momentum for anti-communism and the suppression of the Anti-communist party. Freedom of speech was suppressed, just like speech and actions were inside the hospital. Here, the Combine and Nurse Ratched act like the McCarthy "representatives", where the patients are seen as members of the public, having their every word and movement under close scrutiny.
The oppressor, or antagonist, of the story is Nurse Ratched, or the Big Nurse. Her methods of oppression, including attempts to emasculating the men in the medical ward, is the foundation of the work. The nurse uses her power to manipulate the patients as well as members of the staff in the hospital. Since she is in charge of the entire ward, she runs it with an iron fist while concealing her feminism and humanity behind a patronizing façade. As the story progresses, Nurse Ratched loses some power over the patients with the introduction of a new patient on the ward, Randle McMurphy. As McMurphy continues to fight her oppression, her façade breaks down and falls apart as she loses control.
Dystopian DevicesWhen writing a novel, authors use distinct literary devices to aid in making the genre of their story apparent to their reader. Specifically, many use these literary devices to draw attention to details that establish a dystopian genre. A dystopia is somewhere where people lead dehumanized and fearful lives (Merriam-Webster). Furthermore, in dystopian societies, propaganda, societal oppression, and totalitarian control often elicit fear and obedience. An example of this is the novel 1984 written by George Orwell. This novel contains ambiguous symbols such as Big Brother, the Godlike ruler of Oceania. Aspects such as this contribute to the nature of dystopian genres. After analyzing concepts such as the all knowing Big Brother and the telescreens that are required by the government, the reader notices dystopian aspects. Accordingly, the setting of the city and symbols in everyday life expand the readers view of dystopian aspects. Orwell uses literary devices such as setting, symbolism, and euphemisms in order to portray a dystopian genre through the use of Big Brother, the city Oceania and its citizens, and other concepts in the novel. The government in 1984 controls its population by creating a setting where no one has the freedom to act without a someone watching them. The government does this by requiring all citizens of the Party to own a telescreen. By monitoring the activities of members of the party, the government can keep citizens obedient 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.
Nurse Ratched, the ward supervisor, personifies the forces that seek to control the individual by subduing their right to think and act for themselves. She acts as a dictator who is constantly manipulating her patients to gain an advantage over them. Because Nurse Ratched supervises a mental hospital, she is expected to tell her patients what to do, but “the novel suggests that Nurse Ratched goes beyond mere supervision and instead seeks to rule all elements of the patients lives” (“Oppression in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest”). Nurse Ratched and her staff dehumanize the patients, and this eventually causes the patients to become broken inside.
Regarding Miss Ratched, she seems to show signs of passive-aggressive behavior throughout the book. This behavior adds to her manipulative ways and contributed to the decrease of the patients’ progress (mental/physical state). Passive-aggressive behavior is used to maintain control and power because it’s a way for her to not display any signs of weakness. Miss Ratched, also known as the Big Nurse to the patients, fights hard to remain as the top authority figure in the Ward due to her thirst for power. To maintain the control over the men, she emasculates them, stripping them of their masculinity, in various ways to prevent the chance of an uproar against her. For instance, after a group meeting regarding Harding’s problem with his wife’s breasts, the patients attack Harding. In response, McMurphy provides an analogy of a pecking party to the current
In a totalitarian country, any ordinary citizen’s powers are limited, if at all possible. Although any individual is treated like a part of the society, he has no chances to play a vital role in it. A person is to follow officially dispersed propaganda and obey the rules, which intend to control everything. The totalitarian system uses any means including manipulation, intimidation and even the worst forms of repression just to achieve the main goal - staying in power. George Orwell’s 1984 and Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest are very similar novels which describe two different societies being mainly focused on individuals opposing the existing systems. In Orwell’s novel, the
The books main themes include language as mind control and psychological and physical intimidation and manipulation. In the book, the people live in a city which is very out of the ordinary and also overseen by a charismatic leader, Big Brother. This society, portrayed by George Orwell has
This is another initiative used to keep the individual from there own truths to deprive them even more of an identity. "Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. It's merely a question of self-discipline, reality-control. (46)" Winston's coworker Syme believes that Newspeak will end the issue of thougtcrime, which it seems it is true. Newspeak is used by the Party to take away multiple meanings, expressions, individual thoughts to make the individuals more ignorant of individualism and other ideas that could ruin the ideas of the Party. With this language the people want be able to create thoughtcrime because they want have the knowledge to do so. Winston doesn't care for this aspect he only thinks of those who want be affected by the Party, the proles and at this point in time he thinks that no matter what kind of language they have now he will continue with his own ways.
novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. Society in the novel had to face surveillance and
All there is is the current reality and nothing beyond the present state of mind. Secondly, Newspeak is generally a way to narrow the ability to think by one’s self. “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible because there will be no words in which to express it” (Orwell 52). By steadily decreasing the amount of words after every new edition of the dictionary is published, Newspeak simplifies common language, often forgoing common grammar into miniature and often smashed-together, words. It completely shatters personal opinion and that is also its single purpose: limit thought. It overrides common personality and anything beyond Party doctrine. It forces them to know nothing else except what is supposed to matter. The
The roles of the high, middle, and lower class have had a huge place in society because each class plays its own unique role. The novels 1984 and Lord of the Flies each have a distinct class system that allows things such as food, language, and harm to dictate the means of survival by the power of their leaders. In 1984, the lower class makes war materials out of the fear of war, while in Lord of the Flies, the lower class relies on Jack for maintaining the only food source available on the island; thus, both novels have a hierarchy that leads the power to those who have the basic life necessities one needs to live.
1984 by George Orwell is a dystopian- an imagined place in which everything is unpleasant or bad- novel that tells of the alarming future. The novel tells of a totalitarian government (called the “Party”) that uses manipulation and intense surveillance to gain control over the minds of its citizens. Orwell writes,"war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength (6)". These three slogans are the core of the Party. Set in Airstip One, which is a province of the superstate Oceania, the protagonist Winston Smith, searches for independence from the social norms. In the beginning of the novel, Orwell describes posters that say “big brother is watching you (3)”. The “big brother” these posters are referring to is a man with a
In the novel 1984 written by George Orwell, each character holds an outlook to the world in which they live in. For characters such as Winston, the story revolves around the idea of escaping the reign of Big Brother in order to obtain freedom of speech and thought. The oppression which is felt by Winston motivates him to reach out and rebel against the government of Oceania. As seen throughout the story, every move, thought, and word is monitored heavily through many different outlets. The government of Oceania, or Big Brother, is able to survey its citizens through materials found in almost every home, such as, televisions, radios, and cameras. Winston feels as if this constant surveillance is a lifetime imprisonment, restricting his freedom to become an individual thinker. Thus motivating him to rebel against Big Brother in order to achieve his goal of free thought and action. Throughout the story, Winston attempts to achieve these freedoms, although, these actions face the possibility of major consequence, even death.