1984 Final Writing Assignment

The doctrine that O’Brien proclaims to Winston in 1984 plays a major role in maintaining the system of oligarchic collectivism and in Winston’s ultimate fate

We understand that Winston was a confused fatalistic character who basically struggled with optimism and hope, and desperately tried to relate what was happening during the present time to vague memories and events of the past. Throughout the book us readers did not have a clear image of O’Brien until he actually became apart of the larger plot in which we gained more knowledge and understanding about the role that he played in manipulating Winston and spelling out the system of oligarchical collectivism for the reader. I believe that in the speech posted where O’Brien lets Winston know where he went wrong is clever, yet maniacal.

We have come to realize that if anything, Winston at least tries to think on his own as an individual without rendering himself subject to though police. O’Brien realized this about Winston when he manipulated him, setting himself in a position where he appeared to be just about everything that Winston idealized. It’s sad and ironic that O’Brien opened up by expressing how Winston was flawed in trying to think as an individual and not conforming to the ideals and principle set forth by the Party. Its hard not to feel bad for Winston, especially when he’s in a situation where its seems as though during a time as such where the population was bound and crippled by mental oppression and where people were forced to believe anything other than truth with no opposition, the only way out would be to realize, that there is no way out but to conform.

Throughout the speech that O’Brien gives he uses that same tactics that the Party uses to manipulate the minds of its residents, especially when O’Brien begins to talk about reality. Honestly I believe that most of the people living under the rule of the Party are confused which is when its so easy for them to believe what the Party tells them. In regards to Winston’s confusing and his ultimate fate, I believe the case is different. When O’Brien goes on to say “When you delude yourself into thinking that you see something, you assume that everyone else sees the same things as you…It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party.” He not only makes Winston feel as though he was alone in his “rebellion” but he also in a way shows how Winston inversely chose to ignore reality. You see, through Winston’s dreams and visions, he knew that he would eventually be perused and captured. Whether or not he knew if it would be O’Brien who would be his captor was unknown, but this just goes to show that Winston’s inability to accept or distinguish between a false reality, and the hard truth resulted in his torture and his overall conformity and complete trust in the Big Brother and the Party.

Orwell response 2/23

The effects that Orwell’s society has on citizens are monstrous and somewhat unimaginable. Thought crimes alone places great limitation on personal behavior opinions and beliefs, almost forcefully making people into conformists. I’m sure the people living in these conditions where streets and buildings are run down and ravished realize but must ignore the fact that they are neglected and not taken seriously. Having a (probably plasma screen) television a building with a run down building to live in with a broken “lift” and circuits that are cut off just goes to show that the Party is much more concerned with strict enforcement of the rules rather than the less than creditable living conditions of its citizens.

The social structure of the book is twisted with many abnormalities such as children in the book playing the role of Junior Spies in which they monitor adults for unlawful “thought crimes”. It is indeed baffling how the children in a society as this have the power to accuse and apprehend adults for hate crimes, yet they must still ask permission to view someone being hanged, something in which they are mostly responsible for occurring. This greatly contrasts but also reflects on today’s modern society in which you have appointed officers and people of higher power (usually of older age) who reprimand and correct younger citizens for crimes and inappropriate behavior. My guess is that “The Party” warped the structure of this society to keep the adults in the society in a mental state where they feel under minded.

The people who abide in the Ministry of Truth must often feel contradicted by the concept of double thinking. This is another example of the psychological effects of the Party on society. Controlling the past is an interesting concept on its own, but altering the past (documents, events and recordings) and actually believing in these alterations shows that the minds of those who work in the Records are basically crippled and limited due to the depletion of mental stamina that comes with such as task of changing the past, since Big Brother is “never wrong”. It seems to me that if anyone at all poses a threat to “Big Brother” it’s the workers of the Records. Covering up the truth requires knowing what the truth is in the first place, and they know about all the lies and deception before they cover them up and alter the past. But I guess after performing a task as such, one actually begins to believe in and accept lies and deception created by them.

We all know that a major part in keeping together a society is language and communication. Modification of language throughout this book must have a devastating effect on citizens. Without a broad vocabulary people become ignorant and it becomes much harder to express ideas to one another. This is a clever yet sinister means of limiting communication between people in the Party. The development of newspeak defiantly lowers the intelligence of the society, keeping them ignorant, and also making it much harder to create thought crimes.