Big Brother is Watching You.
The year is 1984, or perhaps better put analogously as a time in the not-too-distant future, where England, or what is now known as Airstrip One is in a state of perpetual war. Indeed the whole of Oceania, a super-state comprising all the European nations, North America as well as Australia, is continually at war with one of the other two super-states, Eurasia and Eastasia. Oceania is ruled by the Party, led by a figure called Big Brother. The social hierarchy of Oceania consists of three main groups: the Inner Party members, who hold high posts in the administration of the state, and who live lavishly with an abundance of most luxuries; the Outer Party members, including the protagonist, live in dull flats where only the bare essentials are available, and because of the war even those are regularly in shortage; and Proles, or the proletariat who are the lowest social group and treated by the Party as not much more than animals, using then only for cheap labour. These classes contribute approximately 1%, 14% and 85% respectively to the population of Oceania.Life in 1984 is no longer anything as we know it - the Party controls anything and everything, from what is shown on the telescreens (wall-mounted audio-video displays used
The imagery used in 1984 is very symbolic of what they represent, for example the image of Big Brother is physically akin to the portraits of Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler (and in recent times perhaps Saddam Hussein), staring upon his subjects with an invincible grandeur - all, whom at some stage practised dictatorship-like rule and oppression of the masses. The English we speak now is deemed inadequate in its use of language and ambiguity and as a result the Party is adopting a new language, Newspeak, which is intended to promote the orthodoxy of the Party and make unorthodoxy virtually impossible (since there will be no words left capable of conveying unorthodox connotations). At a press-conference a week after the book was first published, Orwell stresses, "Don't let it happen. They fall in love and over several months have an affair in which they meet in a secret, isolated location where they make love and share their feelings toward the Party. A text such as this would well be worth analysing in both literary and philosophical senses. Winston works in the Records Department in the Ministry of Truth (or Minitrue in Newspeak), where his daily job is the alteration (or more accurately, falsification) of historical documents such as newspaper articles and records. Incorrect forecasts, for example are changed to reflect the actual production numbers, so as to testify to the perpetual correctness of the Party. In its aim to obtain absolute power and control over everyone in Oceania, the Party has stripped the people of any sort of individuality, and replaced it with a frigid religious uniformity and obedience to the cause of the Party and to Big Brother. A serious piece of literature, the influential Nineteen Eighty-Four is recommended for the older students of secondary schools, containing concepts with profound historical and political significance (though written in a clear, easy-to-follow language). The real freedom, suggested by Winston is "the freedom to say that two plus two makes four. For example, words with similar meaning such as 'good', 'great', 'excellent' are now all covered by a single word and its cases, i. It is expected that by 2050 Newspeak will have completely replaced its inferior predecessor, Oldspeak. In this way, the Party is always right - as a Party slogan goes "Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.
Common topics in this essay:
Oceania Life,
Nineteen Eighty-Four,
Outer Party,
Party Party,
Oceania Soon,
Saddam Hussein,
Minitrue Newspeak,
Fiction Department,
Animal Farm,
Oceania Party,
nineteen eighty-four,
outer party,
party party,
controls past,
qualities world,
|
Acceptance Essays
