1984 by George Orwell: themes and analysis

¶ … 1984 of:

Double think: In the society of 1984, whatever the ruling party says is true. Even if what the party says completely and totally contradicts what it said before, a good citizen must believe both statements as true. Even if the party says two mutually contradictory statements at the same time, both statements are true. For example: "Actually, as Winston well knew, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge," because Winston is not supposed to remember this contradiction (I.3). Memory is not enough to preserve reality when there is total control over the dissemination of information.

War is peace: In 1984, "war had been literally continuous" ever since Winston could remember (I.3). War creates a totalitarian mentality in the minds of the populace. They have no ability to focus on anything else, everything in the country is directed to fighting the war and people are always fighting for their economic survival. The whole society is directed towards serving the state and hating the enemy so people have no energy to do anything else. Thus there is 'peace' in a nation devoted to war as real, sustained dissent is impossible.

Who controls the past, controls the future; who controls the present, controls the past:

The party can recreate the historical archives, make former state enemies friends and vice versa. By controlling the past, the party can recreate the national past historical memory and thus shape the people's attitudes to the present. "The Party said that Oceania had never been in alliance with Eurasia. He, Winston Smith, knew that Oceania had been in alliance with Eurasia as short a time as four years ago. But where did that knowledge exist? Only in his own consciousness, which in any case must soon be annihilated" (I.3). This also creates the future, because if people believe that Oceania is a hated enemy that has always betrayed their state, they will continue to hate Oceania in the future.

Do you find these concepts plausible? Why or why not?

In a world such as our own, where politicians never lie, merely 'misspeak,' where limiting liberty through controls on free expression is deemed necessary to 'preserve freedom,' the concepts of double think seem frighteningly true. Also, although not as skillfully manipulated by a totalitarian state, the media has a frightening amount of power in setting -- or not setting -- a national agenda in terms of 'what is important.' Until recently, genocide in Africa was hardly reported upon at all, for example, and the local media tends to focus on 'true crime' sensationalistic stories that make people fearful, even if the neighborhood crime rate has not actually escalated.

Images more than reality fuel people's imagination, and because images are so powerful, they create a new future and past, defined by what is recorded rather than what actually existed. And corrupt politicians, because of the public and the media's increasingly short attention span, are given a tremendous amount of leeway to rehabilitate themselves, and the public is often quick to excuse past mistakes and simply turn its attention to the next sensational story.