George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four

Shaped by Fear : How George Orwell Used Fear in Prophesizing the Future
“War is peace, Freedom is slavery, Ignorance is strength,” (Orwell 6). George Orwell the author of Nineteen Eighty-Four, heavily influenced by the events of World War Two used these slogans in his prediction of what the world could become. Nineteen Eighty-Four is a novel set in a dystopian society however, to be understood one needs to fully examine world history during the 1900’s. By examining this history one begins to understand Orwell’s prediction of the future. George Orwell’s 1984 portrays the effects generated by the fear of World War Two and prophesizes what the world could be like if that fear is perpetuated.
To understand Orwell’s prediction one needs to first
Orwell was able to successfully summarize what he noticed the early totalitarian-style governments were doing. He took these methods of fear and created three slogans for the party. “Ignorance is strength,” (Orwell 6) referring to the abolishment of speech. For example, “In Nazi Germany, it was strictly forbidden, under penalty of serious reprisals to spread “rumors” about the camps” (Roviello). Orwell takes this idea of oppression of speech and once again takes it to an extreme by gradually removing words from speech so people could not say anything wrong about the party or Big Brother (Orwell). “War is peace,” (Orwell 6) referring to the constant conquest and violence of the 1940’s governments. For example, “Adolf Hitler declared that the impending war with the Soviet Union would be a “war of extermination,”” (Weingartner). Hitler also went onto say that the solution to all of Germany’s problems was the extermination of all the Jews. This mentality of war and violence solving all problems is a common theme demonstrated throughout Nineteen Eighty-Four. This can be seen in the scene where Winston is being tortured by the ministry of Love (Orwell). This torture is designed to ultimately cause him to love the party reinforcing the theme that violence will eventually cause peace. Lastly, “Freedom is slavery” (Orwell 6). This slogan is the most complicated. By saying that freedom is slavery it implies that these Totalitarian government’s care about their people. However, when your citizens are “vaporized” such that in the Soviet Union (Historical Context: 1984) it can be argued that the population is not the leader’s concern. The leaders can however, manipulate the people to believe that the citizens need the protection of the government and make the people think that freedom is slavery just not those exact words.