Essay About Personal Beliefs And Inner Party

A Book Review of George Orwell’s 1984
A Book Review of George Orwell’s 1984
Living in a society
with limited freedom of expression is not, in any case, enjoyable. A Totalitarian
society is a good example of such a society, because although it provides control
for the people, it can deny them a great deal of freedom to express themselves.
The fictional society in George Orwell’s 1984 also stands as a metaphor for
a Totalitarian society. Communication, personal beliefs, and individual loyalty
to the government are all controlled by the inner party which governs the people
of Oceania in order to keep them from rebelling. Current society in America
is much more democratic. It contrasts with Orwell’s society of 1984 because
communication, personal beliefs and the people’s loyalty to the government
are all determined by the individual.
In order to keep the people of Oceania
in conformity with the desires of the governing Inner Party, the Inner Party
controls several aspects of the people’s lives. Communication, for one, is
controlled for the benefit of the nation. Newspeak is a modified version of
language that is enforced upon the people in order to limit their expression.
Syme and Winston, two middle-class workers in Oceania, discuss the concept
of Newspeak. Syme reveals that he supports the system, demonstrating how he
has been brainwashed by the Inner Party who enforces the system.
“It’s a
beautiful thing, the destruction of words You haven’t a real appreciation
for Newspeak, Winston… Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to
narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thougtcrime literally
impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. (p. 46)”
One can detect from this quotation that the people of Oceania, as a group,
have been brainwashed by the Inner Party to use only Newspeak. Syme, for one,
understands the purpose of it, and he still complies with the system because
he has been trained to do so. The concept of Newspeak is designed to control
personal beliefs of the citizens by limiting their form of expression as Syme
explains. But when the governing system is not followed, Thought Police are
used to prevent thoughts that oppose the nation. “How often, or on what system,
the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was
even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. (p. 6)” There
is no doubt that – through both Newspeak and Thought Police – the system of
government in 1984 has adequately prevented the people from thinking against
it. When all this surveillance is placed on the people, they learn to comply
with their country and eventually begin to value it automatically. At the
end of the story, aft
er Winston is accused by the Thought Police of thoughtcrime
and is tortured, he finally conforms to the general thoughts of Oceania. “He
had finally won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother. (p. 245)”
This quote indicates that the inner party has done everything that was necessary
to preserve Winston’s loyalty to the nation. Even Winston, who at one time
was against his government, has now been “fixed” to support it and love his
leader. The government of Oceania has gone to great lengths to change Winston’s
mind,