1984-George Orwell vs The mankind

“THE HUMAN IS A POLITICAL ANIMAL”
ARISTOTELES

Nineteen-eighty four was written by George Orwell in 1949, the book shows the world a new idea, the negative dystopia, which tries to predict the future and have a pessimist result.

The story is told from the point of view of a main character, through him the reader is able to know how things work and what makes the party to make the work.

The main character is called Winston, and he started remembering how things were before the polity party that is governing actually were governing, and realized that things are wrong.

The principal tool of the party are the children, they do not kill or punish kids, even though they do bad things and are savage, because there Is no danger that they remember something they have never met, because the party is aware that the only way to recognize that something is wrong is actually knowing that there were and may be something better. To manipulate adult’s memory the party also in some way hide the date so that their lies fit. They used say that the party has always been governing and that they created many things, but Winston, remembered a time without the party and many creations before it too, so hiding the date makes easier the manipulation of time, and avoid the questing about it. This is done so people cannot compared past to the future nor to the present, the party would be the owner of decisions and thoughts.

The fact of not being the owners of thoughts and memories means that there is a variety of ideas and thoughts so is harder to control all those things that make people different, another powerful tool of the party was that the transformed people into the same thing so the mechanisms, lifestyle and the opinions are the same and is easier to controlled everyone. This means that the human instincts are also manipulated, the sex and everything that surrounds it, the art and human expression, and the search for the truth, the philosophy. The sex is almost forbidden and there is an anti-sex and porn is only for the people of the party. The art in every way is altered in order that it does not attack the party in any possible way. The questing about the truth,the present, that future, the past, the human and the society is answered only in one way, the party; the party means and represent the answer to everything ever imagined. The party to avoid variety also avoid abilities so that anyone cannot be better and stand out.

Winston remembered that the party has been governing twenty years or so, which means the 60’s and that the two world wars had already happened. Both of them wars affect UK, because the British man used to have a revolutionary idea and a strong idea of goodness and badness, but the party completely changed that habit. The story of a man called Emmanuel Goldstein, the enemy of people, was used to create fear and hate among the people of Oceania. The own nickname the party gave him is a clue to understand that they are trying to make people enemy and convince that revolution is wrong and evil because it attacks their lifestyle which is the party. In case a person get a new idea against the party the person is a though criminal and those crimes are paid by death, killing the man means killing the ideas so it does not represent a problem to the party.


The manipulation of truth overcome something bigger, the manipulation of concepts, goodness and badness. The altered these concepts through the feelings, they created a program in which they show people what they are supposed to hate and transformed in bigger and worst the reason why they should hate that. When someone commit a crime the police take it at night and the erase any register that indicates that the person have ever existed, the fact of being taken at night represent the fact of being forgotten and that everything they have done for the is forgotten too. In the world of nineteen-eighty four there are no laws because they know that people won’t do something against the party because people are moved by fear.

The party also wants to create a new language and destroy the classical one, which means the breaking of any connection with the past and a control of people and psychology using the language, they are going to eliminate forever the crimes because there is not even a word for them or to describe them, this is clear example of saphyr-whorff theory of how they manipulate the culture by using language. They also play with concepts because mankind lives in a conceptual world, so controlling that means controlling the human mind so controlling the human.

Another way they control the human mind is controlling the truth so that the Big Brother has always the reason and always speaks the true, they controlled every single details in order to present a valid excuse to people and to a avoid the recognition of a mistake, not to convince people are used to believe whatever comes from the party and even more what comes from Big Brother.

The party also educate sadist children and transform adults into sadist too, and use it a weapon for war. They teach people that the only lives which matter are the ones who support and love Big Brother, so that the killing of they think are their enemies is such an spectacle from which either kids nor adults want to be apart. These are things such as hangings and shootings and in the world of nineteen-eighty four are normal and even well seen.

Compared with the current world, the nineteen-eighty four world is not different at all, is only missing a little bit of “a brave new world” and it would be, in a quite bigger level, our reality. The mixture of these two masterpieces would be like this: a world classified into extreme social classes, in which each of them are controlled in a different way, the rich people who are able to buy electronic devices would be controlled by using the social media and the gossip; the other social class, the poor, would be controlled by using fear, and also by owing everything that could give them any type of help, so making them dependent of the government. Of course, not allowing them to know that there is another type of life, so to avoid humanity, envy and revolution.

Another way to compared it with the current world is by explaining the Brexit, the brexit happened with the excuse of freedom and independence, which is quite hypocrite because UK have always been a conqueror, and have always invade other “weak” countries which they know won’t have the support of other countries because the only ones who have voice are countries who do the exact same.

When Oceania talk about freedom and independence is similar because they fight people who used to be their allies and they do not respect the life of those people. Oceania teach their people that the outside is evil and that is not worth it, so they do not even have freedom and respect inside the country. The fact of asking for respect means that some responsibilities and some consequences too, because if they are given the respect they asked and they do not give it back, the promise would be dangerous for the other part, the fact of respect means you have to respect too and independence means respect itself and neither both of those things happen.

Now, the world of nineteen-eighty four not only the thinker would have problems but also the handicapped. The people in this world are used to be controlled via the sense and feelings, but not having sense means not being completely controlled. For instance, the deaf, they would not be able to wake up in the morning, to heard the voice or neither the Big Brother, the girl of the exercises, the voice of Goldstein and many other sound that do not allows the person to complete the manipulation plan the government have. The blind people, they would not be able to actually work without an special language for blind people, the would not be able to be part completely in the hate week or the hate programs because they would not recognize the face they have to hate nor the one they should love, if the government allows the language for those people then it would be dangerous for the safety of the party, the blind people do not need light so they can be in the dark with any problem, the telescreen video is gone, if they read and communicate with their hands, so the voice is not needed either, that means that in a dark room the blind people may communicate without leading the telescreen know, that means that revolution may happened but only with an external help, that means someone with all its capacities, who have seen and have a complete idea about what is going on in their reality.

If a person cannot walk then the party would have to construct house adapted for them, which means that they would know that there can be an improvement.

Winston said that the houses seemed to be built in the thirty´s (30´s), by that time the houses were not adapted and the adaptation was not even a reality so the making of a new house represents improvement, evolution and may represent evolution, now, if some people have the opportunity to have a better life quality then the others would ask why? And why do they have more and are different than others? And would give them new ideas and would promote and make people think that better things would be created.

If Winston would have been a girl, then he would probably be part of the anti-sex league and her mind would not recognize that the hate for people of the other genre may mean the lack of possibilities to have sex or any sexual or reproductive relation with them; if he would have been a girl then the 2 men, at the end of the chapter 5, would not have asked her for a blade, so the conversation about the destruction may not had happened because women are more quiet about their business stuff. If he had been a girl, then she would need a sleep clothes for the time she got on her period so she would have to use a part of the budget for clothes; if she had any certain amount of “money” for personal stuff, she would have to waste more in pads or tampons; now, the party is owner of the merchandize and is in charge of the distributions and selling of those products, but sometimes they do not sell any product, in the case in which Winston is a man, they did not sell blades, in the case in which Winston is a girl, they could not be selling pads or tampons, or soaps or any hygiene product which for a girl means worst.

Taking into account every word written, the party was an oppressor and this was a fascist society, in which they do militarized against others, they are nationalist and love their party and hate who ever does not, they are under a dictatorship; the party used as its planned was the manipulation of the mind of the people, in which they obliged people who want freedom to be slaves of the details and the fear, the people who want peace to make war for it, who knows is a danger and the ignorant is the best friend of the party, they turned the man into its own enemy.

“The human is a political animal” and to be controlled the politic, social and cultural instincts must be controlled too.



Sara Daniela Triana Merchan
2017

Really well done, 9