Causes Of Pain In 1984 By George Orwell

The word totalitarian is defined as “exercising control over the freedom, will, or thought of others” (Dictionary.com). The totalitarian society of Oceania does just that, as the state is controlled by the Party, which influences every aspect of people’s lives and manipulates people to enhance their own sense of power. It takes a great deal of work to be able to mold people like clay and use them for your own benefit, but the Party has mastered the art of keeping people under their command and eliminating any seed of rebellion. By controlling very natural urges and basic rights, they are able to drastically affect how people act and think in their society. In George Orwell's 1984, the oppressive Party is able to retain control over the citizens
After being subject to torture in the Ministry of Love, Winston emphasizes the power of physical pain by claiming, “Nothing in the world was so bad as physical pain. In the face of pain there are no heroes” (Orwell 197). The entire purpose behind the Party’s psychological and physical torture is not to kill Party members, but to reform them. As O’Brien puts it, “We do not merely destroy our enemies, we change them” (Orwell 209). Through the use of this intense process, they are able to make prisoners, including Winston, grow to love their torturers and Big Brother, despite how much they may have previously hated them (Cardozo). Party members are also capable of the concept of doublethink, which allows them “to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them” (Orwell 32). This allows prisoners to continue to trust in and believe Big Brother even after they leave Room 101. In addition to this, before any person undergoes any torture or pain, they are subject to the language of Newspeak. Fowler writes, “Orwell does understand that there are vital relationships between language and thought, and he does believe that clear thought can be helped or hindered by language choices” (93). Newspeak limits the vocabulary, and hence, the range of thought that people are capable of. This acts as a sort of preliminary mind control that most citizens in Oceania are not even aware about. This in conjunction with the torture and concept of doublethink allows the Party to control what people believe and how they think. Although to control the emotions of the citizens, the Party must go beyond simply corrupting their