Controlling the past

The party controls the past to work in their favor because they believe that whoever controls the past, can control the present. The party re writes the past to make it look like life is constantly improving when it really isn’t. They make it appear like they have done all these great deeds to improve the life style of the outer party, when really it is the outer party that is getting used to do all the boring, hard work that nobody wants to do. When the party says that a certain number of goods is produced, they will usually end up falling way behind on that promise, then they will go back and change the promise they made to make it look like they exceeded their goals, when really they didn’t even come close. This method is effective because even if someone can remember that what they said was wrong and tries to tell people, they have no proof to back it up. All the proof points to the party being write in every instance. The past becomes blured so people just forget what life used to be like and become content with the way life is now. The past is completely erased also. So people never learn what life used to be like, or could be like. They never question the party because that is all they have ever known. They have no idea that other civilizations used to exist that had a lot more freedom and happiness, but they just put up with the control because they can’t remember the past, and even if they could they are too afraid of the thought police to speak out against the party.

Chapters 4-5. Language controlling individuality.

The reason that Winston writing in his diary is a crime is because it promotes thinking. The party is doing everything it can to make the citizens less like human beings and more like zombies. Syme’s job of destroying words is very similar to what not letting Winston write is accomplishing. If people aren’t allowed to think then they pose no threat to the party. When we think, we think in words. If we have no words to think with, then it is nearly impossible to communicate how we feel. Say somebody realizes that the party is awful, and they are making their lives miserable but all they know now is newspeak so they have no way to say or think about what they are feeling inside. When you control someone’s language and not allow them to put their thoughts onto paper you are destroying their individuality. Everybody becomes exactly like everybody else, not because they have similar interests, but because they aren’t allowed to have the words to construct their thoughts into something other people can understand. So the party is making it impossible for people to rebel by restricting their language.

Chapters 1-3

George Orwell has already painted a terrifying image in my mind of what the world could possibly turn into, if power got into the wrong hands. These first three chapters don't start off lightly either. We are placed into a third person limited standpoint and all we really get to know is what Winston is thinking and what it is that he does. This perspective does allow a closer feeling with what it is to actually live in the society because it allows side comments of the surroundings. The first page starts off making the world seem very derelict. There is dust everywhere; the hallways smell like boiled cabbage, but then through all this, there is the picture of Big Brother. His enormous face, more than a meter wide. He has the face of a man in his forties with a heavy black mustache and ruggedly handsome features, that when reading can by synonymous with Adolf Hitler. So already we have an image of a miserable world that has pictures of a leader that resembles a man we all know to have had no sense of human compassion and this is just from the first page. The government is all-powerful, all controlling, but most of all the government is secretive and hidden. The government is not known about, people know there is a 'party' but what they do, nobody that doesn't need to know, knows. The party's figurehead is Big Brother. Whether he exists or not is up to debate, but he is the man that is said to have lead Oceania and make life as 'great' as it is today. They keep the sense of always being around their inhabitants by having telescreens, which are monitors in every room of every house that work as two-way communicators and allow (or so they say) for the party to be always watching you. Their are Big Brother posters everywhere and to keep up with the theme of 'the party is always watching you', his eyes are like the Mona Lisa's, in that they always appear to be watching you. The government has the regular police that regulate laws like every society has, but they also have the thought police. The thought police monitor people to make sure that they aren't committing thought crime which is not punishable by death it IS death. The thought police scare people into not doing anything that could get them taken away and vaporized, as people have called it. Theres a massive uncertainty about everything and nothing is explained but there is enough fear created to have the entire population controlled by fear and hate. Everyone’s life is miserable because they are kept under control and are always scared of the government while being locked out of being informed. Winston can’t remember what life used to be life before the party took over, but he knows that it hasn’t always been this way. He can’t really remember what happened either. The characteristics of a dystopian society are that a lot of people question the motives of the party and have to be exterminated. There are a ton of loose ends that should lead to a lot more questioning but all the questions that arise are quelled by the thought police going around and vaporizing all of those that have thought crimes.