Final paper

Is said that George Orwell’s book 1984 is truly futurism, and this statement is highly true; the society that the author stablish in the book is the mix of a series of aspects and characteristics that nowadays societies have. The whole idea of the book includes a huge variety of concepts, but not as we know them commonly, actually they appear as a criticism, because the ideal part is too different to the experiential part of a concept. Directly, one of the universal concepts that can be criticized based on the Orwell’s book is the truth, and actually not only criticized but analyzed. Taking into account the quote above, are our beliefs manipulated by something else, omnipresent, something hidden behind some eyes?

Truth is something that has been always manipulated by a variety of different aspects, due to its lack of security, of certainty, of reality, etc. because after those millions of years that have already passed on our lifetime and life history, we aren’t -and actually no one- is able to stablish what is truth or not; maybe until now we have some ideas, which we have gave them the truth property, but we don’t know if such things are really true. Philosophically is too long, dense, and enigmatic this topic because of the same stuff already mentioned, until the point that we have ignore it and just keep our own way as we think the truth is. In Orwell’s book, there’s a theory about manipulation of truth: a lie pass through history, until it becomes true. This theory is based on the changing of the past by means of the state power, political power, Big Brother power… On the book, it is raised as a rewritten reality, taking into account the 1984 book: in the books we can find history and what is considered as truth by the time in which the book was written, then when in the history Winston Smith wanted to know about the past he could have searched on old books, but here comes the trick; the power of the Big Brother was that big, that he was able to change what was written in books in order to create another reality but in a lie, the had the opportunity of develop an alteration of past, and even the destruction of it. Is said that who controls the present, controls the past, and The Party had the absolute control of the present, which gave them the tool for changing the past, even if we use to say that past is unchangeable and future unknown, we just kind of control our present, not at all, but our present actions are more controllable than past ones, but INSGSOC has no limits, no future neither past, they had the biggest tool ever in order to control the past, and maybe the future: the ignorance. As in the party slogan: Ignorance is strength, their strength, because the ignorance and unconsciousness are directly proportional, and without both, we become a couple of toys from the government, that they can manipulate as they want; first it was necessary to change books, but then the ignorance was at the level in which it isn’t necessary. Maybe they had an extra tool, the miniluv in which they imposed people a brain wash, a changing of ideas connected with torture, a powerful weapon that made the Big Brother impact too difficult to erase, as Winston says. The union of that fictional weapon, with the real, old, and contemporaneous weapon (ignorance) is more dangerous than anything in life, because is alive, and right on ourselves.


Actually, truth is considered the eternal philosophical problem, and how can a minitrue be constructed if the main truth is unknown. On Airstrip One (1984), the minister of truth controlled almost the base of the party structure, because they were imposing a supposed reality that wasn’t real at all, and they also created an impossibility for people to understand and realize the fake world ideology they were constructing. The prole was the only `part´ from the society that didn’t follow those ideas, and the hypothesis of the brotherhood too that started to be followed by Winston, and according to O’Brien dream message, with him too. Such hypothesis of the Brotherhood existence haven’t been approved, and every single person on London (with the exception of Winston and O’Brien) wasn’t agree at all with that idea, as Winston said: he was a lonely ghost uttering a truth that nobody would ever hear. How to change a lie that controls everyone, with a truth that almost nobody knows?

We could be used to think that thought is actually something absolutely personal, I mean, something that every single person develops on its own way, with its own principles and ideas, but we’re kind of wrong, and the explication is really connected with 1984 novel; until now, 21st century, It’s supposed that we have free thinking, that our thoughts are just something based on our own way of thinking, but the reality is that such way or thinking is always passing through a process of influences: society, books, people, etc. Until that point is normal because every thought most have a base, but analyzing nowadays situation, there’s a darker influence than normal one: we’re not in a dictatorship neither a totalitarism government, then we’re not being controlled - manipulated directly, but on the hidden face of world there are media that daily manipulate our minds in order to produce certain thoughts, and is such an smart procedure that nowadays they control our thoughts with our own aprovement because we let media and all that stuff enter as they want on our minds. We don’t have a Thoughts Police as in London, Airstrip One (according to Orwell’s novel), but we have a bigger manipulation that controls everything without the necessity of some
absolute rules or something similar.

This dystopic idea developed on Orwell’s book is actually really near to our reality; we’re not in 1984, but not so far from it. Eric Arthur Blare wrote the book before 1949 (publication year), with a plot about what he used to think about 35 years later, and now that have past 68 years, we’re not exactly on such oppressive society, but we aren’t too far from it; it doesn’t means that in a few years we would be as Airstrip One, and with the same exactly characteristics from Orwell’s book, but maybe with something too similar or relates as what was said above. With the passing or time, development of technology, science, etc.


Miniluv, as minitrue is also an absolutely wrong conceptualization about what love, law, and order are; culturally we would connect directly the love word with feellings, maybe happiness, etc. But in 1984 case, is the contrary: miniluv is in charge of a process in people of inclusion of torture, horror, and other feelling, with a main goal calles” love” for the Big Brother, they used to say that such torture was in order to provide love for him, but how can we think love as an obligation? The whole generations with the development and evolution (changing) of ideas have alterates and modified a lot of concepts, I mean, we don’t see things as people from the last century saw them, and people from the next century probably is going to have different thoughts from us too, but how deep can be the change of a concept with such magnitude as love, taking into account that many people use to think love as the main motor of the world, and other theories making love a so important axiom. In 1984 is evident a hardly different meaning of love, and actually I think they didn’t really mean love with the miniluv, because what is developed on such minister and on the whole society isn’t love, until we know, love would never be opression, and that’s how they show it: an obligation of loving the Big Brother, produced on two minutes.

Avoiding the Party laws was almost impossible, same imposbility of winning uncounsiousness. The orthodoxy wasn’t voluntary, actually it was obligatory, because as soon as you weren’t agree with the party laws you will desapear, then the followment of a doctrine (BB) was the only path for surviving, even if everything was that wrong with the type of governation, there was still an opportunity with the Brotherhood just for the people that was still thinking (until now, just Winston). For the rest of the people, there was no thought, and that “rest” is arround the whole society, a whole popullation full or orthodoxy, which was the purpose of INSGSOC as a party: making people no thinking machines in order to develop everything as they wanted.


This unconsiousness was the main weapon, walking besides orthodoxy as a main tool, from the party: that unconsiousness is proportional to the ignorance, and if they had the power of most of the people, things will be easier. Their greatest resource was the childs, the spies, because the youngest popullation is the next generation, and having in control that is having in control the infinite next generations because everything will be steal passing from years to years, and childs controlled by ortodhoxy and uncounsiousness are childs that do not think, with the biggest rate of ignorance, and with the greates probability of a worst future, easier to the people right there in the “government”. The spies activity was turning into a habit, and George called them –in voice of Winston- ignorants, saying that people in London had to live with a habit that became instict, even harder if you’ll always have a pair of eyes looking every moment, and with overheard of every sound. Childhood is the powerful part of every society, fictional as in the book or in our real life, and actually our nowadays childs are becoming as ignorant as the spies from 1984; this is the consequence of many aspects: personal desicions and the infinite and strong influence of media, technology, etc. Every kid is mind-influenced every day by what is controlled by worldwide governors because they know how strong and powerful are the lowest generation in their characterization of the future of the popullation in every country’s society, and they also know how weak they are in their inoscense, then that mix is the greatest weapon, and we are being manipulated also in our real life but we don’t assume it.

On 1984, they are watched by the Big Brother eyes in every movement they do, and in the actua and real society that pair of eyes are multiplied and characterized not in a Big Brother, but in every single person. We live surrounded by a community that is always watching and jugding everyone outside, judging internal and external way. That’s also a manipulation, and George Orwell showed it on his book, kind of predicting it because we don’t have a party seeing and controlling our whole movements as hard as in his book, but we have the society that without a threat is also controlling us psychologically with the stereotypes, canons, etc.

There are 3 hard human weapons already said: childs, uncounsiousness, and ignorance. With Orwell’s book we can identify a fourth one: the mind. On his fictional society he created the crimental, which is a so crazy idea if we base on the freedom that we have on our mind; until we know, there’s no human power with the possibility of revealling mental ideas of someone, then what appears on our mind and isn’t said aloud is absolutely personal, but with this crimental, you are voulnerable until your mind because every bad thought entails the disappearing of the person that thought it, as if that person has never existed. Probably no one has imagine a world in which we can’t think whatever we want of anything, because we are acostumed to a freedom, even if it isn’t absolutely because of the external aspects that influence our ideas but is still freedom. Perosnal ideas created on minds are also part of our personality and of that aspect that differs us intellectually from other people, but if we will desappear because of a thought with which someone isn’t agree then authenticity will get lost.

Recalling everything, 1984 is the demostration of how we can be manipulated with our own weapons, basically because all the tools that in the book –and in real life too- are used for controlling the society, are just things that are part of us, but our own vulnerability put them against us. The future, the present, the past, everything has been and is on our hands, instead of evolving we are in involution, or in a decreasing of goods. Every mistake affecting the society obviously is controlled by hidden hands, but we have to know that our minds are the greates weapon and that we are stronger than anything, but we make ignorance stronger than us.

This essay has been well punctuated and has some redaction problems. Down to the argumental part, the thesis is somewhat clearly expressed and the arguments are contundent and well ennounced. Your grade is a 9.