Dehumanization Of Government In 1984, By George Orwell
When one thinks of oppressive governments, Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime, Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union, and Mao Zedong’s Communist China come to mind. These draconian regimes resulted in millions of deaths and the dehumanization of people. These governments took away the rights of its citizens, and made live unbearable. George Orwell, a satirist, comments on oppressive governments, such as Hitler’s, Stalin’s, and Zedong’s. Orwell comments on these governments through many of his works, namely his novel 1984. 1984 focuses on a man named Winston Smith, who is a propagandist inside the Party, or the ruling government. The Party is an oppressive government and as a result Winston disagrees with its beliefs and rebels. He finds others revolutionaries
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In 1984, the language is called Newspeak, and it is essentially a dialect of English. Big Brother sees language as a way to further his control and limit thought. Syme states, “Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten” (52). Language is an aspect of individuality, each person has different writing and speaking styles and tones. Also using different words maintains individuality, but when there are a small amount of words thought is limited. The Party does not want people to think, and as a result they eliminate autonomy, which is horrible. This is exactly what the Party wants, they do not want individuality. Individuality threatens the regime, but when people have conformed it is much easier to control them. The United States is similar to 1984 through the use of language, as in the U.S. it is also limited. Newspeak is essentially the same as how people text on their phones and talk to each other. In the U.S. people text, LOL, rather than texting laugh out loud, or that something was funny. Furthermore people use emoticons, called Emojis to express their feelings. People text these abbreviations, and Emojis mainly due to laziness. The harmful part, is that dictionaries, including Merriam-Webster have started to put these abbreviations in their dictionaries. This means that intellectuals are supporting this laziness and conformity. This gives the regime much more power. People are limited to Emojis for responses, which promotes laziness and therefore ignorance. Once people are ignorant they accept oppressive regimes and anything for the truth. The constant war that Oceania is in furthers Big
In 1984, the language is called Newspeak, and it is essentially a dialect of English. Big Brother sees language as a way to further his control and limit thought. Syme states, “Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten” (52). Language is an aspect of individuality, each person has different writing and speaking styles and tones. Also using different words maintains individuality, but when there are a small amount of words thought is limited. The Party does not want people to think, and as a result they eliminate autonomy, which is horrible. This is exactly what the Party wants, they do not want individuality. Individuality threatens the regime, but when people have conformed it is much easier to control them. The United States is similar to 1984 through the use of language, as in the U.S. it is also limited. Newspeak is essentially the same as how people text on their phones and talk to each other. In the U.S. people text, LOL, rather than texting laugh out loud, or that something was funny. Furthermore people use emoticons, called Emojis to express their feelings. People text these abbreviations, and Emojis mainly due to laziness. The harmful part, is that dictionaries, including Merriam-Webster have started to put these abbreviations in their dictionaries. This means that intellectuals are supporting this laziness and conformity. This gives the regime much more power. People are limited to Emojis for responses, which promotes laziness and therefore ignorance. Once people are ignorant they accept oppressive regimes and anything for the truth. The constant war that Oceania is in furthers Big