Can someone please give me an indication of how this essay is flawed...
I need to know what is wrong so BRUTAL honesty is necessary...
BTW its only my intro and 2 bodies
‘In Nineteen Eighty Four the worst terror is psychological rather than physical’. How does Orwell suggest this?
In the political satire that is Nineteen Eighty Four, George Orwell presents the reader with a world under the totalitarian regime of Big Brother. Orwell exploits the apartheid of his time in order to deliver a novel that questions the political apathy of the world with an essence of reality recognisable to even today’s modern readers. It is through this sense of reality that Orwell provokes thought within the readers mind as to the true methods in which a totalitarian government establishes control. Orwell suggests that the psychological terror present in the world of Airstrip One, the new London, is far more manipulative than the physical threat proposed by the tyrannous Party leader, Big Brother. Orwell controls the people of Nineteen Eighty Four through methods of mind control similar to those exhibited by the totalitarian regimes of the 1940’s. These methods including perpetual war and the deprivation of human necessities are witnessed through the eyes of an omniscient body that allows the reader to observe all aspects of the weakness of humanity conveyed by Orwell.
Orwell’s exploitation of psychological manipulation witnessed within the confines of Nazi Germany results in a novel that exhibits truths about the psychological apathy of a complacent society. The reader is presented with a novel in which the people of Oceania and in fact the world have circum to the pressures of a totalitarian government. Through the explorations of Winston Smith, the protagonist, Orwell demonstrates the underlying flaw in society’s reactions to adverse events; that mental weakness is the strength of dictatorial bodies, thus commenting on the attitude of individuals as a contributing factor to the loss of civilisation through the establishment of totalitarian reigns. Similarly, to the tyranny of Hitler, Big Brother maintains control of the people through a state of prolonged fear. Orwell establishes this fear through the implementation of perpetual war. The war has been used as a device by Orwell to place the citizens of Oceania in a situation of dependence. Big Brother is then able to prey on the dependence of the people and thus constructs a fascist society that offers false protection to a continuous but fictitious, war. Through the paradoxical nature of the Party’s slogan ‘War is peace’ Orwell further criticises society’s lack of aptitude to remain aware to the occurrence of terror. The citizens of Airstrip One are portrayed in a state of peace despite their automaton lifestyle riddled with fear. The fear present in the world of Nineteen Eighty Four is present in every facet of one’s life, ‘But what most struck Winston was the look of helpless fright on the [mother’s] greyish face,’ even between families. Possible deviance ‘is solved by the device of continuous warfare... which is also useful in keying in public morale.’ The distortion of the mind is used to subdue the people of Oceania and thus without the presence of any real physical harm Orwell suggests that psychological control is implicitly more effective than a threat to one’s safety.
Throughout the novel Nineteen Eighty Four, Orwell demonstrates the true nature of a terror through the discontinuation of human progress. This state of progressive halt is established through the prohibition of true history and the tainting of accessible information. Orwell has constructed a world in which every historical document has been altered in order to suit the Party. Winston himself works at the Ministry of Truth, the very place responsible for the demolishment of history. Orwell portrays a society so out of touch with history that one ‘tried to squeeze out some childhood memory’ just so as that a past event can be reminisced. Equivalently, Orwell highlights the importance of history in present life through confessions such as ‘People of my age don’t really know anything about those times. We can only read about them in books, and what it says in the book may not be true.’ Through the actions of Julia, Orwell shows the reader the implications of ignorance towards history. Julia, a woman corrupted with hatred towards the Party and its ideologies, losses all moral constraints, consequently initiating sexual interaction with several disloyal Party members. Such actions depict a society so void of social and moral values that the reader is shocked into questioning the ramifications of psychological weakness. Through Orwell’s writings of a time where nothing is true and one’s interpretation of the past is manipulated the reader is conveyed the relevance of history in today’s modern era; therein critiquing society’s deficiency of musing over past events in order to develop as humanity. With the use of the restriction of history as a theme throughout the novel Orwell has developed a society in which the terror is produced from an intellectual aspect rather than a physical danger.
Edit: I forgot to say thankyou
Thankyou
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