Manipulation In 1984

In 1984, George Orwell is quick to establish the totalitarian Big Brother as an omnipresent frontman to the oligarchy that is the Party. These figures are both constructed to be omnipotent; they demonstrate this power by distorting history, human nature, and the individual’s very singularity at a whim. This deception proves that manipulation is a powerful tool used in the assertion of dominance and for imposing conformity. "Everything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth” (75). The Party was constantly editing history in all forms. Any piece of information that did not line up with the demands of the present were destroyed or redone to match up correctly so that there could never be any question,
“For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable – what then?” (80). If, at any moment, Big Brother decided that two and two make five, then at that moment and forever before and after, two plus two made five. They created doublethink in order to sustain such manipulations of fact, wherein you could know two plus two made four, and you would also know in equal truth that two plus two made five. However, if you thought that two and two made four when Big Brother said two and two made five, that is “thoughtcrime” in equivalence of treason and you would inevitably be arrested by the Thought Police. This example of simple addition holding a very diverse range of results was mentioned consistently throughout the book in correlation with Winston’s loyalty to the Party, and plays a major role in the manipulation of his
There was a word for it in Newspeak: ownlife, it was called, meaning individualism and eccentricity,” (82). This was undesirable to the Party as they wished to strip each individual of everything but their love for Big Brother. They destroyed all bonds from person to person and between family. They turned children against their parents and limited any private interactions and feelings of affection towards another by making affection for anyone but Big Brother a crime in one form or another. Everyone was to be suspicious of everyone at all times because one could not know another’s thoughts and it was in their thoughts that crime may occur and should then be reported. All sexual desires were trampled and made punishable. Then if one were to commit any of these crimes, as Winston had, they were tortured until they lost all their spirit and will power and were left with nothing but the love for Big Brother and hate for everything else. This was how they evaded revolution, by ridding individuals of all things private and their