1984 Religion Essay
Religious Aspects of 1984
Religion is often used in order to instill hope and euphoria in its followers and worshipers. This is in great contrast to the motivation of George Orwell’s use of it in 1984. The Party uses religion in the novel in order to oppress the people and extract happiness in order to instill fear on the citizens, which is how they gain the abundant amount of control over them. The novel frequently features characters that allude to many famous biblical characters as well. The control methods used by the Party also prove to have similar religious intentions. Orwell uses religious allusions to portray the manipulation by the Party. There is a great similarity between the characters in 1984 of those in The Garden of Eden. …show more content…
This is similar to how Boy Scouts, who have a known religious affiliation, regularly take a mocked oath to be “clean in thought, word, and deed,” which is precisely the aspect of Christian teachings that Orwell highly detested (Crick 41). A parallel can be drawn between the oath the Boy Scouts continue to take and the aims of the Party in 1984. While Syme is attempting to explain the purpose of Newspeak he also goes into how thoughtcrime will soon be eliminated within this creation, “‘Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end, we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.’” (Orwell 52). The Party is attempting to “cleanse” the thoughts and language of the people by creating Newspeak. Lastly the Party attempts to keep the people loyal, or clean in deed, by ruling all out all opposing love interests and sexual desires. “The only recognized purpose of marriage was to beget children for the purpose of the party,” (Orwell 65). The citizen’s duty was to produce offspring and not seek pleasure from the heinous, treasonous
Religion is often used in order to instill hope and euphoria in its followers and worshipers. This is in great contrast to the motivation of George Orwell’s use of it in 1984. The Party uses religion in the novel in order to oppress the people and extract happiness in order to instill fear on the citizens, which is how they gain the abundant amount of control over them. The novel frequently features characters that allude to many famous biblical characters as well. The control methods used by the Party also prove to have similar religious intentions. Orwell uses religious allusions to portray the manipulation by the Party. There is a great similarity between the characters in 1984 of those in The Garden of Eden. …show more content…
This is similar to how Boy Scouts, who have a known religious affiliation, regularly take a mocked oath to be “clean in thought, word, and deed,” which is precisely the aspect of Christian teachings that Orwell highly detested (Crick 41). A parallel can be drawn between the oath the Boy Scouts continue to take and the aims of the Party in 1984. While Syme is attempting to explain the purpose of Newspeak he also goes into how thoughtcrime will soon be eliminated within this creation, “‘Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end, we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.’” (Orwell 52). The Party is attempting to “cleanse” the thoughts and language of the people by creating Newspeak. Lastly the Party attempts to keep the people loyal, or clean in deed, by ruling all out all opposing love interests and sexual desires. “The only recognized purpose of marriage was to beget children for the purpose of the party,” (Orwell 65). The citizen’s duty was to produce offspring and not seek pleasure from the heinous, treasonous