1984 Question
The events that take place in the book take place in what can be described as a totalitarian society. Throughout the book, how is the oppression of the people and the way the treatment of the people (akin to owning a piece of property) justified by the government?
(No Grade) The Party justifies the totalitarian society through the slogan of Oceania. "WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS BLISS" (Orwell 4). By using a group of juxtapositions, the Party is giving the message that bad and good are one in the same. This can be translated to their treatment of the people. The people who are under the complete influence of the Party are ignorant to their cruelty. And if ignorance is bliss, then they’d be blissful, too. The Party sends the message that no matter what is happening, life is good.
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting, as my answer to this question also had to do with the whole "WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS BLISS" thing that was repeated throughout the book. The way that I took this message was that through war, peace can be achieved, with freedom, humanity is a slave to itself (if that makes sense. or at least a slave to the ideas that can spread with said freedom), and that ignorance is the only way to be happy, as if you are unaware of the bad things going on you cannot feel bad or guilty.
Delete(No grade) I think this is a good question and it brings up a major plot point used throughout the whole book.
ReplyDeletethank you for you insight. as the plot presenter i did have to ask a question that asked about plot
Delete(No grade) They justify it by saying that the party and government is an omnipotent and immortal collective that can never be beaten and just wants power. They are never satitiated, of their need for power. To them, controlling humans is power, and so they make up any excuse that is needed to be able to treat the citizens of Oceania as slaves.
ReplyDeleteThe actions of the totalitarian government are justified in many different ways. To truly figure out how the actions are justified we must first note that this type of government has been dictating the people of Oceania like this for a long period of time, through many generations. This means that the current generation has been growing up in this type of government their whole lives. So if this type of government is all they have known, they may not know what true freedom is. And because this government has been telling the people that the type of government in place right now is a very beneficial and caring government, people have begun to believe it. They accepted that this is the way life is. Now in terms of how the government justifies it, they don’t. All they do is make the people believe that they are free, while they are truly not. They make the people believe that they are free through extreme propaganda. Examples of such propaganda are the 2 minute hate, and all the posters of the enemies that are hung up for people to hate on. Also, they grow such a fear in people that they will get killed if they do anything against the party views that nobody dares to do anything bad now. A major enforcer of that is the thought police. This combination of fear and ignorance is what makes the government able to run without retaliation from the people. Many do not know what freedom is.
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