Essay

A society full of psychological, physical manipulation over its citizens; makes them conceive that 2+ 2=5, that WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY , IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH, an antithetical model of a proper government. It’s all found in the dystopian novel of George Orwell, where  he narrates a story about a thirty- nine year old man called Winston. He lives in the nation of Oceania governed by Big brother, and his telescreens that catches every thought, and demeanor done by the citizens. Winston meets a girl named Julia, who has a love relationship with Winston, their hatred towards the party invigorate their relationship. Until, they start meeting intermittently  in a room above Mr. Charrington’s second-hand shop. Their desire to overthrow the party has been presented by a colleague called O’Brien, this man had only atrocious intentions, he was only planning a setup to catch them in Mr. Charrington's room and report them for their crimes. Julia and Winston fell for his set up and were taken to ministry of love for punishment. Here they are both brainwashed, betray each other, and parted their own ways. Now they only wait for the bullet behind their head to announce their death.

The party gets control over its citizens by influencing their social class, culture, technology, and jobs. In the hierarchical pyramid of 1984 we can find big brother as the top of the pyramid, the inner party, the outer party and the proles. The inner party represent a 2% of the population. We can compare them to the high class, or the oligarchical political class. Like in any century, even today in the 21st century  the upper class have more privileges due to their wealth;  this pattern also is discern in 1984. The inner party are allowed to turn off their telescreens for about 30 minutes, they have a variety of products to choose from such as  wine, real coffee, tea, sugar and cigarettes with good tobacco. Their lifestyle is comfortable since they have a  clean neighborhood, convenient transportation, and spacious homes. The party allows them to have all those commodities and chattels because they are skilled in rhetoric, doublethink and therefore loyal to Big brother.

The second class is the outer party, or the middle class which  represent 13% of the population, they work in ministries, their homes are not elegant, their neighborhood are filthy, they are not allowed to turn off telescreen, the products they can buy are not the best quality so, they have no choice than to consume Victory Gin, Victory Coffee and Victory Cigarettes. Although they can buy in the  black market and get sugar instead of saccharine tablets. They life is completely monitored and controlled like puppets. We can see how their social class does affect their lifestyle, equality is not used in this society. The last class and the most forlorn are the proles. The proles are the low class and they represent 85% of the population. There are more proles than outer or inner party members altogether, that statistics tell us that the party does not care about the well being of their citizens. In the novel there is a slogan that says, "Proles and animals are free." , they are compare to animals as if their existence did not matter. The proles had little education, work at manual labour, lived in poverty, their entertainment was playing the lottery which no one actually wins and pornography in their magazines. A we can see the party wants the proles to be more ignorant of what's actually happening in their society, they have what other party members don't have and its freedom, they can sing their silly songs, and they can do what they want since they are not monitored. For the party the proles are to keep away as far as possible, they keep control of the proles not by monitoring them but by letting them live in poor conditions, and keeping them ignorant, doing all manual labour work so, that way they will never realize that the world is upside down.

In the society of 1984 there four ministries. The ministry of love, the ministry of plenty, the ministry of peace, and the ministry of truth. In the ministry of love is a depressing building with no windows, light is always on;  perfect for touring, and brainwashing. The purpose of this ministry is to punish the people that hate big brother, they want to control the will of the person  and make them loyal and love Big brother through fear. O’brien works at this ministry. O'brien is a wise man, who ends up betraying Winston by getting his friendship.

At the ministry of plenty, their job is to control Oceania's economy. They are in charge of giving the best goods to the inner party, and the proles to maintain in their poor state. Their goal is to always have scarcity and financial shortage. They are also in charge of organizing the lotteries, and the consumers are mostly the proles who are been fooled because the big prizes are not awarded since,  the ministry of truth is in charge of publishing every week the names of non- existent winner.

In the ministry of peace they are in charge of the armed forces, and navy army. They make sure that Oceania is at war with either  Eurasia or Eastasia . The ministry of peace also verifies that Oceania is using just the right force to not win the war , but to keep the balance of forces and interests. This ministry consumes all the resources that the population could use for their benefit, because is the only way to keep “oceania at peace”.

The ministry of truth is in charge of changing the historical records into the party’s advantage and ideologies. Julia and Winston works at this ministry. They also belong to the outer party class, or the middle class. They change history record therefore, no one can know the truth what happened a day ago or ten years ago.

The job of the ministries is about supervising information the citizens get, control the economy in order to keep the proles poor and the rich richer, dominate people’s thought and change them to a proper thought about the party, and lastly always keeping oceania at war, so the citizens don't have the opportunity to haggle. Through out the book other type of jobs are not mentioned, and the people are obliged to do the job the party chooses for them.

The technology is another source that that the party uses for manipulating the citizens, the use of telescreens and hidden microphones. Especially, if there are restrictions such as writing in a diary, having relationships were peoples privacy does not exist. This situation psychologically affects them because they will be the person the party want them to be and not themselves. The culture is another factor that big brother’s teachings are influential, in other words, due to its influence big brother gets the mind of the citizens to live a lifestyle that people won't have spare time to analyze the society in which they are living in. The culture of 1984 is a busy society where people are constantly working, and if they go to a community center as to relax their mind is futile since even for playing chess there is a lesson how the party ideologies can be used. Therefore, culture is a key factor to make the citizens into a robots. For example, hate week is an event held by big brother with the purpose of increase hatred for the current enemy of the Party, which is either Eastasia or Eurasia. Since they accumulate so much love towards big brother, there is no respect between parents and children. The children will betray their parents by denouncing them to the thought police if he or she has done an unorthodox behaviour. For example, Mrs. Parson’s children denounce Mr. Parson for saying in his sleep that he hated big brother. Big brother is cultivating hatred and violence, the kids of this novel like to watch people been hung. History is also part of culture, the citizens of Oceania will never know about the past because big brother’s idea was to keep 1984 forever no matter how many years have passed, this way the only reality that exists is the the present, therefore there is no future or past. That is the extreme manipulation big brother does for people to lose the sense of time, and believe to only be true whatever the party says because they don't know where they are standing anymore. In the novel of 1984 we see that Syme , a  friend of Winston is working on the Eleventh Edition of the Newspeak Dictionary were Newspeak is the new language. Here big brother tries to minimize and eliminate vocabulary for less communication between party members and to prevent vocabulary to be in the wrong use such as for going against the party. The importance of manipulating language is because language helps shape the human thought. The less words we know the less we can think, write, and communicate. This way the party only teaches words that are needed in work and to speak about how great the party and big brother is that way there are no contradictory thoughts against their ideologies.

This fictional novel has shown us a glimpse of reality of past governments that have existed in history, such as the Soviet Union. Controlling the citizens like puppets is their goal to stay in power through  culture, technology, jobs, and social class. The influence of each of those factors lead to a powerful government, almost invincible like the one seen in 1984.

chapter 6 part 3

In Chapter 6 part 3 is the last chapter of 1984. In this chapter we get to see Winston free from all the oppressions of O’Brien and the tortures. Winston is in the Chestnut tree cafe, where all  the embarrassed party members meet up. He drinks victory gin and listens to the telescreen. Unconsciously he writes in his table 2 + 2 = 5. This information is significant to the reader because it allows to know that Winston is not the same Winstons anymore. The fact that he wrote it unconscious means that he accepts and believes that 2+ 2 = 5. This made me despondent because I thought there would some kind of revolution against the party, but it shows that the party is almost invincible.

Later on, Winston meets up with Julia. Julia was thicker and not attractive to winston eyes. Julia didn't have any feels for Winston either. The counter was mostly silent and tacit, the only words they said was that they betrayed each other because they were threaten with something terrible and they had no other choice than to betray each other in order to survive. They also explain how when they are in that situation they don't think about loving that person, they only think of not going through the torture. Once they finished talking they parted ways. Winston went back towards the chestnut tree cafe when he heard a song playing, “underneath the spreading chestnut tree I sold you and you sold me. We can now understand why the three guys from the picture have cried after hearing this song. Its the same emotions Winston is feeling, is a song of betrayal, a memory it will never be forgotten. He also has a flashback about his childhood memories but throws them away since he believes they are false memories. I believe they are not spurious memories, this is another evidence that Winston is not the same, he does not recognize his mother anymore, or the life he used to have. This is telling  us that he is still playing the rules of big brother even though there is no one around telling him how he is suppose to think.  Now he is transformed just as O'Brien has tell him to do so.

At the end of the chapter the telescreen announces victory at the front lines, and Winston is overjoyed to tears, and when he sees the picture of  big brother he realizes that he loves him. All he is waiting now was for the party to shoot him from the back of the head  in any moment .  It is disappointing how Winston has given up, I believed he was going to change the society or become a hero but the ending was unexpected. The ending could've been more dramatic and I wonder why the author allow that injustice party to win. This is telling us that the “good people” won't always win like we are accustomed to see or read in the endings of a book or movie.

chapter 5 part 3

In this chapter Winston gets to see what is in room 101, O'Brien explains to Winston that he has always known what was in room 101, and that the “thing” that they were tortured with was different from individual to individual. Some people are scared of cats, rats, or darkness. Therefore, in room 101 the party uses as a tool of torture what the person is frighten of.

Winston is strapped and can't move, and the sound of squeaking hungry rats make him panic. Winston can't see the rats but he can feel, smell and hear them. It is more frightening when you can't see and only hear, that technique is used in horror movies, the sounds are the ones that scares us the most. O’Brien knew that Winston was scare of rats because of the telescreen in Mr. Charrington’s shop. Therefore, they knew that they had to use hungry rats that attack in the face or any part they see flesh. Winston is terrified and all he wants is to be emancipated. He thinks that the only solution is by putting someone's face between the metal lid and his. That’s when he thinks of Julia and cries “ Do it to Julia but not me!” Suddenly the metallic lid was shut and not open. Winston had passed out in the darkness and that click of shutting the lid was the only thing he was conscious of. Now, Winston was cured since his emotions were now gone, and was apt to love big brother. I believe that all the party wants is for the citizens to be selfish, and to make them betray the most important people in their life.

chapter 4 part 3

This is a very short chapter where Winston is trying his best to train himself to think how the party wants him to think. He scribbles in the paper that freedom is slavery and that 2 plus 2 is 5 but that wasn't enough. He was grateful that now he was fed and they less beaten him but the exhilaration did not prolonged. All the sudden he cried out “ Julia, Julia, Julia!” and that’s when the telescreen  caught sign of his proscribed action. O'Brien came into the cell and took Winston to room 101. This can be a short chapter but the most intense chapter from the whole book because it leaves us wondering what will be next, since the reader nor Winston knows what is in  room 101. O'Brien says that Winston was improving in how his mind works but his emotions have not been cured yet since he still believed and cares about Julia. Then O'Brien asks Winston his truth feels towards big brother and Winston says that he hates him. Now Winston will be cured completely since loving big brother is the last step to be done.

chapter 3 part 3

In this chapter we read the continuation of the interrogation between O'Brien and Winston, and no interlude was made. O'Brien divulges that the Goldstein book was written by him, and that everything it said on the book was already known by Winston. While O'Brien was interrogating Winston, he said a wrong answer and the lever of the dial was turn on. Winston said that, “ You are ruling over us for our own good” hoe said feebly. “ you believe that human beings are not fit to govern themselves and therefore----. O'Brien found the answer very stupid and explained to Winston the right answer, he says that the party only cares about the power, and they are not interested in the in the goods of others.

Later on in the chapter Winston mentions that the party will never be able to control the stars no matter how much power they have. O'Brien says that they can control something better and that is they mind and how they perceive the stars. For example, if we are only taught at school, and read in books that the earth is the center of the universe and that the sun and stars go around it, we will believe it because that's all we know, we don't have knowledge of another option. And that's an example of how controlling the mind if so powerful. In addition, the party makes the people feel stupefied. O'Brien also explains that the prominent power is not over things but power over  man. They get control of the man by making them suffer through torture since obedience is not enough, they need to be 100% that those people are obeying the party and not themselves. The goal of the party is to tear down the human mind to pieces and put them again together with different shapes chosen by the party. This is like turning the citizens into robots.

Even though O'Brien explains to  Winston  why they are invincible, Winston still says to O'Brien  that some spirit of man will defeat them. O'Brien takes Winston to see himself in the mirror and asks him if he considered to be a man. When Winston sees his reflection, he realizes how feeble he looks, as if he was rotting and falling to pieces. Now, O'Brien asks if he still feels superior to the party.  Winston’s self esteem has descended  and feels half. Winston mentions that he has not betrayed Julia, he still loves her. The fact that he hasn't betrayed Julia reflects the Winston’s pride and has not been completely annihilated. O'Brien gives him credit for being tenacious but sooner or later Winston know that they will shoot him. Winston asks when he will be shoot, but O'Brien says he doesn't have to be so pessimistic since he can get fixed but either way he will be shoot sooner or later. If I were Winston I would be traumatized thinking that in anytime they would shoot me. I wonder why the party doesn't give the chance for the “cured” people to live longer.

Chapter 2 part 3

In this chapter Winston is beaten, tortured and inquisited . O’ Brien intimidates Winston with the dial, used as torturing tool by releasing electric current any time Winston says something insane. O'brien tells Winston the reason why he was torture, the explanation  had nothing to do  with been part of an underground organization, instead it was because he was considered insane. For the party Winston is insane because he recalls events that has never occurred before.

There is a quote in this chapter said by O'brien ( Who controls the present controls the past) here O'brien knows that reality is how the world is while it is controlled by the party. This means that Winston has to mutate how  his mind works by considering facts as insignificant and what the party says as the absolute truth.  Winston in the ministry of love is been cured from all the inaccurate memories he has.  The party makes sure that Winston leaves believing in the party by  asking  him questions such as who is Oceania at war with, how much is 2 plus two. The right answer for two plus two is ( to not know) which was said by Winston for the dial to not go any higher. The reason why the answer is  to not know  is because one day it might be 4 or the next day might be 5 .

We also see how O'brien is an expert using doublethink, when he shows the photograph of Rutherford, Aaronson, and Jones to Winston he says that the photograph never existed even though he had held it in his hands a few seconds ago. Winston says he saw the photograph and it did existed since it was in his memory but that believe has to be annihilated forever.

The philosophy that the party uses is quite extraordinary.  The party does not desire to kill the people but to control their thoughts. In the ancient times, the martyrs were killed because they never changed their religious belief, a situation the martyrs seen as brave for  dying for their believe, something the party doesnt want with their prisoners.  Instead what the party wants is to change their believe and then release them, sending a message to the believer and the public that the party always wins, and never loses.

At the end of the chapter Winston gets to asks questions to O'Brien, Winston asks how Julia was, if big brother existed and if the brotherhood existed. In conclusion, this chapter was all about how physical pain affects the human mind and how the party uses that as a way of manipulating them.

Chapter 1 part 3

Julia and Winston are separated after they were caught by the thought police In Mr.Charrington's shop. Winston was thrown into a cell, but we don't know where Julia is taken yet in this chapter. Winston loses sense of time, he doesn't know if its morning, afternoon, or evening. He is surrounded by four telescreens which is constantly viewing the unexpected movements. Here food is not given to the prisoners and Winston was compelled to take bread crumbs out of his pocket, but was not able to do so since the telescreen announced him to take his hands out of his pockets. A  prole woman came into the cell and started throwing off, she had the last name of “smith” and Winston thought for a moment that she could be his mother. Julia is barely mentioned in this chapter, only that Winston will never betray her although, he doesn't think of her as much, as if he had never loved her.

Winston aims for a razor blade to be sent to him to commit suicide and end the terror that is about to begin. In the cell he meets with some acquaintances such as Parson, and Ampleforth. Parson was denounced by his children but he was not angry with them, he was actually proud of them. Parson believes that he is guilty because he doesn't think that the party would arrest an innocent men. I believe that Parson only believes this way because he admires Big Brother, but the truth is that innocent people do get arrested, and they can't go against big brother’s word because what he says is a fact. The other person that Winston meets is Ampleforth, whose crime was leaving the word “ God” in a Rudyard Kipling translation. Here we know that Big brother goes against religion, and doesn't want religion to be promoted. I believe that Big brother doesn't want religion in his party because he wants to get all the spotlight that religion gets, he wants to be seen as a divine, and adulated by the people and never to be doubt. A skull face man came into the cell and kept saying that he was going to do anything to not go to room 101. The officer didn't changed his mind, the skull man had to be taken to room 101. He even said that he will rather see his wife and his 3 children to get their throats cut off in front of him, but not to take him to room 101. That was the most unpredictable event I had read in this chapter because usually in movies we see that the person would sacrifice for his family but this time is different, he will sacrifice his family to save himself. This tells us that room 101 is the most horrid place a human being can be in; the reason why no one wants to ever go there.

When O'Brien came in into the cell, Winston knew that his hope to get the razor blade was gone. A the end, guard smashes Winston’s elbow, and Winston thinks that “ no one can become a hero in the face of physical pain because it is too much to endure”. I believe that usually heroes are seen as heroes because they endure pain, but we understand that Winston is not that type of person, and would rather not be seen as a hero just to save himself.