1984 Literary Critisism
George Orwell creates a society in his novel 1984 in which decency, individuality, and consciousness have all been abolished to obtain a utopia. Utopia in this sense means "an imaginary political and social system in which relationships between individuals and the state are perfectly adjusted." Orwell believed that in order to achieve this perfect society, the state must use a "completely unlimited use of torture and brainwashing." (Fromm, 261) However, Orwell's intention of writing the novel was not to show the reader what the society of his time might become, but rather to give a warning that humans should resist and become conscious of the totalitarian states that governed his world. George Orwell's aim was to provide society with an answer to the question as stated by Erich Fromm, "Can human nature be changed in such a way that man will forget his longing for freedom, for dignity, for integrity, for love--that is to say, can man forget he is human?" (260) The world of 1984 can be compared to a world run by machines. Orwell purveys to the reader that through oppression, cruelty and torture, brainwashing, and elimination of man's inmost desires man can be made "unhuman."
Another technique the Party uses to make a person "unhuman" is through propaganda and brainwashing. One aim of the Party is to replace all of man's inmost desires of love, decency, and consciousness with its own ideas. This is like re-programming a robot to do a different job that better suites the person's needs. George P. Elliot said, "George Orwell thought cruelty, when divorced from love, can become the strongest human impulse." (345) Organized riots by the Party, such as those during Hate Week, replaced love for one another with hate your enemy. Children who were spies for the Thought Police betrayed their parents who they suspected of criminal thoughts against the Party. This took over all forms of decency. The Party obliterated consciousness by providing humans with an imposed reality. Slogans that plastered the walls such as, "War is Peace", "Freedom is Slavery" and "Ignorance is Strength," brainwashed society. The Party used its robots to ratify all past documents so they were always coherent with what the Party said to be true. In this way, humans were made to be robots because the Party could "program" truth and reality into humans' minds and make them believe whatever they wanted them to. Along with brainwashing comes the Party's last technique of obliterating the human mind with cruelty and torture. The best example of this takes place when Winston is caught by the Thought Police. The tormentor's speech re-programs Winston's mi
Some common words found in the essay are:
Party Party, George Orwell, Erich Fromm, Police Winston, Fromm Testament, Ignorance Strength, Hate Week, Signs WATCHING, George Orwell's, george orwell, , man's inmost desires, forget human, inmost desires, man's inmost, cruelty torture, human existence, torture brainwashing, erich fromm, stated erich fromm, attempt control society, control society, attempt control,
Approximate Word count = 992
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
