...Lakoff, George. "What Orwell Didn't Know About The Brain, The Mind, and Language." EScholarship. UC Berkeley, 2008. Web. 23 Oct. 2015. Lakoff tells of George Orwell’s 1984 and how he used to love the book, but now since he has more knowledge of the mind and how it works his opinion has changed. George Lakoff is Goldman Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, and Senior Fellow at the Rockridge Institute. This paper seems reliable from the credential he has and how he voices his opinion with facts to back it up. The uses of this article helps show by the authors facts and opinion how Orwell didn't know much about the brain. That how Orwell describes how the mind is working within the citizens is inaccurate, because the lack of knowledge in the time period the book was wrote. This sources is good to compare with the knowledge we have now about the brain and how realistic was Orwell's version of mind control compared to what mind...
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...Beale, Lewis. "Opinion: We're Living '1984' Today." CNN. Cable News Network, 3 Aug. 2013. Web. 01 Nov. 2015. Lewis Beale a CNN journalist wrote a news story on how George Orwell's 1984 is happening now in today's society. Beale goes on to tell on how the government is constantly monitoring citizens through social media and surveillance cameras in public areas. using fear to shape citizens into the civilians the government wants them to be. He compares today's society to the scary futuristic community Orwell imagined. Lewis tells on how today's society is willing to give up freedom and their right to privacy because of fear. That the government uses fear to spy on everyone, he gives the example of the government using terrorism as way to spy on citizens through social media. With this article being opinion based, Beale makes it clear and understandable for the reader to see his viewpoint. It has a easy to read layout with bold titles making it clear on what each paragraph is about. The Fact that the article was published on CNN, makes it...
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...little second of your life to the point you have absolutely no freedom? George Orwell gives you a terrifying glimpse at what he believed to be a fictional future. 1984 is about a time where the main character Winston battles against Oceania’s ideologies such as newspeak, doublethink, thought crime and most importantly Big Brother. I think that technology and doublethink were the main reasons that benefited the Inner Party’s ability to maintain power because it allowed them to control their citizens both mentally and physically. Oceania’s government is shaped in a way that people’s thoughts are manipulated and actions are limited. One way the Party members maintain control is through the concept of doublethink. According to the books definition, doublethink is the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously and accepting both of them. Winston described it as “to know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies.” (P. 31) Doublethink has many different ways of basically operating the minds living in Oceania. An example of doublethink that I believe helps Winston realize that the government is controlling their society is when the telescreens broadcast a message containing bad news concerning the chocolate rations. The Ministry of Plenty had made a promise a while back to never reduce chocolate rations, but because of doublethink, even though it was reduced it made everyone feel like it was a blessing...
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...In George Orwell’s, Nineteen Eighty Four, a totalitarian society seeks “limitless” power throughout England over a poor population in which society has an isolated nature by the use of dictatorship. As the isolated nature of the characters may be the genesis of the party’s power, this is only one factor. Telescreens, CCTV, and hidden microphones are situated in the ‘1984’ society, to manipulate the minds and alter the thoughts of the general population. The undeveloped, urban life and land of ‘1984’ portrays the dangers of totalitarianism. Furthermore, the novel is set in the future, which exposes the Party, a totalitarian government, and their control on the past and thriving strength. Truly then, the setting of the novel (isolated nature) affects the development of various themes such as psychological manipulation, dangers of totalitarianism, the party’s subversiveness, historical control leading to power. The party’s way of dealing with subversive people is to make them disappear, and eventually remove them from history, therefore giving the party absolute power to change the past and the future. In 1984, ‘people simply disappear’, their ‘name was removed from the register’ and their ‘one-time existence was denied and forgotten’. In a totalitarian society, Orwell illustrates that if citizens cast criticism or dissent, they are ‘abolished’ to conserve complete control and avoid a rebellion. Orwell’s view on this political concept was constructed through his experience of...
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...In George Orwell’s 1984 language has become a tool of mind control of the oppressive government and consequently a tool of rebellion against the Party. Winston Smith and Julia fight for the freedom of knowledge that has been manipulated by the Party’s control of everyday and historical language. The Party has created a language called, “Newspeak” which uses the destruction of words to make it impossible for future generations to think for themselves. The role of language in 1984 defines themes of control and the decision to rebel or surrender in a dystopian society where mind control has finally been enforced through language. The Party’s influence on language becomes crucial for its existence when those in power realized that control of language is the control of thoughts. By hindering...
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...George Orwell’s 1984 Winston lives in the nation of Oceania, where he is a member of the ruling party in London. Oceania is a totalitarian society with an extremely comprehensive, nationwide surveillance system. In this society, even thinking rebellious thoughts is punishable by death. Winston is increasingly frustrated with rigid regime of the party and purchases an illegal diary in which he can write his prohibited thoughts. Entangled in such criminal affairs he starts fixating on an influential Party member called O’Brien, whom he believes is a member of a secret association that aims to overthrow the party. Meanwhile, he notices a female coworker looking at him and worries that she might be an informant for the thought police. On the contrary, he eventually realizes that she loves him and they commence a relationship. Together they plan to rebel against the oppressive party and seeks aid at O’Brien’s. Yet, it turns out that O’Brien is loyal to the Party and ends up torturing Winston into not only betraying Julia but also submitting himself to the Party and its sometimes-contradictory truths. In his famous novel, Nineteen Eighty-four from 1949, George Orwell succeeds in depicting a dark, dystopian society way ahead of his time. With an ingenious ability to predict future events and technology, not seen since the time of Jules Verne, Orwell warns the western world of the danger of totalitarian states by describing a nation of inhabitants living under absolute surveillance...
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...Superman, Terry Fox, and Mother Teresa are well-known people that are considered heroes in today’s society. A hero is typically someone in society who is strong, good looking, and stands out over the average person. From the beginning, in George Orwell’s novel 1984, Winston has been portrayed as a fat old man with a gross varicose ulcer above his ankle. This shows that right from the start he is not the average hero. Winston’s name is ironic because it stands for the greatness of Winston Churchill, but on the other hand his surname is very common. Winston maintains heroic qualities that lead one to believe he will defeat the party, but against their public demands, he is just another one of the many citizens who conform to society. The government controls Winston through doublethink, mutability of the past and love, even though he is a man who can maintain his private virtue, he never stood a chance. The government makes public demands on Winston through forcing him to doublethink, changing the past and love. Doublethink is the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. It is not lying because lying is saying something that is wrong and knowing that it is wrong but still saying it. The party forces Oceania too accept both beliefs for example one week when the chocolate ration was 30 grams and the very next week is was lowered to 20 grams. Even though the ration is lowered drastically the party holds such a...
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...The book 1984 opened my eyes to the harsh reality of the world we currently live in. It made me well aware of government control and the control within other groups of people. This control can affect not only me, but other people around the world as well. My purpose for writing this paper is to explain the things I have learned after reading 1984 by George Orwell. It was Orwell’s goal to write this book and state his ideas and theories about a strong totalitarian government. He provided clear examples in which we can recognize in our own modern day society. Before reading all of 1984, I only knew of a few situations in which the government or group can control its people. I am now familiar with multiple situations that affect people worldwide...
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...George Orwell’s 1984 was written to be a warning to future societies about the dangers of an overly powerful government. One of the ways the government used to keep the people in control was altering their perception of reality using the media. Could even a very powerful government control the minds of citizens so that they no longer believe scientific facts or even something as simple as 2+2=5? Reality is a concept that is mainly based on one person’s belief. Therefore, if they could infiltrate one’s mind enough to redefine their whole belief structure, they may be able to control their concept of reality on a small scale. Big Brother had many ways of altering the minds of the people of Oceania. Some of these were through media and propaganda,...
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...“No one is free, even the birds are chained to the sky.” Bob Dylan said this probably not knowing its profound connection with George Orwell’s novel “1984”, but the as well could be in “1984”. Orwell depicts a totalitarian dystopian world where there is no freedom and citizens are being brainwashed constantly. Without any sense of individual fairness, people work for the party just like the gear wheels in a machine. In order to achieve this, the politicians in “1984” suppress people’s thinking and eliminate their freedom by creating fear through propaganda, strict laws and incessant surveillances. In “1984”, lies, myths and false information controls the thinking of the citizens. The Party uses propaganda as the deadliest weapon of control. Propaganda increases the citizens’ morale and makes them think that what the party tells them to do is always right. There are mainly two types of propaganda, one changes truth, so-called doublethink, and another creates fear. “Doublespeak” can be seen frequently in the world of 1984. The party’s big slogan “WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.” (George Orwell, 4) is an good example. The idea of the slogan is to convince the citizens that what they want, is what they already have. Only war can make peace and harmony, so peace is no longer peace, it becomes war; anyone who is slaved and wants freedom, he already has freedom; you can only strengthen yourself by not knowing things and being ignorant. The slogan changes...
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...love” (John Le Carre). In George Orwell’s 1984, the theme of betrayal is evident throughout the novel’s plot and is a main contribution to the overall mood of loneliness and alienation. The progression of betrayal in 1984 begins with Winston being incapable to fit in with the Party’s thoughtless nature and ends with Winston’s final act of self-betrayal. Winston and his equally rebellious partner, Julia, realize their inescapable capture, but hold onto the hope that the Party would never be able to change their feelings. Believing that they will never end up betraying each other, they conclude that the Party can only, “make you say anything-anything- but they can’t make you believe it. They can’t get inside you” (Orwell 166)....
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...Western hero and the Lewis and Clark Expedition written in the early nineteenth century gave readers some of their first visions of the landscape and native peoples of the West. Later explorers added to the colorful picture of the West. However, as the realities of the West changed, so did the focus of writers who used the West as subject and symbol. Land became less available and the uses of land came into question. The environmental movement led to a reevaluation of humanity’s relationship to nature. As the region was settled a mix of cultures came into play. Writers now have come to emphasize the complexity of Western life, rather than its simplicity. Contemporary Westerns sound with more diverse voices than ever before. In George Orwell’s novel, 1984, he writes about his dark vision of the future. It may not just be of the future of the West, but the way of thinking and system portrayed are particularly Western in nature. A lot of terms coined in this novel are also use widely already in the modern day English language. It is a chilling depiction of how the power of the state could come to dominate the lives of individuals through cultural conditioning. Perhaps the most powerful science fiction novel of the twentieth century, this apocalyptic satire shows with grim conviction how Winston Smith's individual personality is wiped out and how he is recreated in the Party's image...
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...Our language is fading away right under our noses. All because we are trying to avoid saying what we really mean. Doublespeak is “the use of euphemistic or ambiguous language in order to disguise what is actually being said” (Doublethink, Doublespeak or Double-Talk.). On the other hand, gobbledygook is defined as “wordy and generally unintelligible jargon” (Gobbledygook.). These two terms- however different they may seem -are rather closely related. They are both forms of language that are employed to render language more ambiguous and not come out and say exactly what it is you are meaning to say. Gobbledygook is a form of doublespeak; this being one way in which these two terms are related. They are both closely associated with political...
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...Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." Though integrity is subjective, most can agree that it is admirable to have a strong moral code. The abstract concept of integrity contributes a great sum to the underlying message in George Orwell's 1984. The book follows, Winston Smith, who attempts (and fails) to rebel against his totalianist country, Oceania. Because the novel was written under heavy influence of World War II, it served as a warning against totalitarianism. By exhibiting the disestablishment of integrity through the set up of Oceanic government, the social structure of Oceanic society and most importantly the experiences of his characters in his book, Orwell proves that integrity is vital for democratic socialism. The Oceanic government is set up to to suppress all that would promote integrity. The government wants all members to adhere to Oceanic principals not ethical or moral ones. To assure that members’ loyalty lies with them, the party...
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...‘Dystopian fiction is less about the powerful and more about the powerless’ To what extent is this true in The Handmaid’s Tale and 1984? Dystopian fiction usually revolves over a power struggle between an oppressor and the oppressed, alternatively this can be given the label of powerful and powerless. However, the exposure given to one of these groups is often inclined to be imbalanced. For example, The Giver by Lois Lowry has biased exposure towards the powerless due to the simple fact of the third person limited narrator perspective from Jonas, a member of the aforementioned sector of respective society. This is similar to the 1984 narrator where Winston is never truly aware of what goes on when he wasn’t physically present. But, it could be for this exact reason that in 1984 the dystopian genre inclines towards the powerful, highlighting the hold over the powerless. Contrary to this, The Handmaid's Tale (THT) has blurred lines as to whether the dystopian fiction prevalent in the novels are more or less about the powerful. This is majorly due to conflicting plotlines and enigmatic characters, significant in both of the books. For example, the character of Nick could be characterized for the powerful and powerless. Nick behaves with Offred in a manner which confuses the reader about his loyalties. Ultimately, this essay will aim to prove an option that is a fusion between the two rivals of dystopian fiction offering the complex concept of the powerful powerless. The powerful...
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