How does 1984 represent power? What danger does George Orwell' s novel 1984 warn us against?
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Power in 1984 is portrayed as flowing from Big Brother and the Party. It is they who, as the slogan emblazoned nearly everywhere in Winston 's world says, "are watching you." The Party controls information, language, the food rations a person receives, the clothing that they wear, their personal relationships, and virtually everything else. But the Party's power extends beyond these external factors. It even controls the way people think. Part of this is through the use of language, as referenced above, and the Thought Police tasked with enforcing conformity. But Winston even fears that his very...
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To understand how George Orwell’s 1984 represents power, let’s look at how the author portrays the government. The government in 1984 has four Ministries, each with a different area of control. The Ministry of Peace oversees war. The Ministry of Plenty determines how much (or how little) food and goods people can purchase. The Ministry of Truth decides what information reaches the public, but most of it is untrue. Finally, the Ministry of Love severely punishes individuals who do not conform with the rules. Doesn’t each Ministry’s name sound like the opposite of what it does?
Orwell helps us to understand the government’s power through the life of his protagonist, Winston. For example, the telescreen in Winston’s apartment is watching and listening to him all the time—he has no privacy at all. The government also controls communication with the invented language of Newspeak, which restricts free thought.
Overall, the government in 1984 does not use its power for good but instead exerts total control over all aspects of people’s lives. Now, what danger could Orwell be warning us against? If 1984 teaches us anything, allowing the government to have total power can be very dangerous to our freedom and our quality of life.
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