Causes Of Pain In 1984 By George Orwell
The word totalitarian is defined as “exercising control over the freedom, will, or thought of others” (Dictionary.com). The totalitarian society of Oceania does just that, as the state is controlled by the Party, which influences every aspect of people’s lives and manipulates people to enhance their own sense of power. It takes a great deal of work to be able to mold people like clay and use them for your own benefit, but the Party has mastered the art of keeping people under their command and eliminating any seed of rebellion. By controlling very natural urges and basic rights, they are able to drastically affect how people act and think in their society. In George Orwell's 1984, the oppressive Party is able to retain control over the citizens
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of Oceania by warping their minds through the use of pain, repressing and redirecting their sexual desires, and denying them any real family or sense of privacy.
Physical pain is the most powerful motivator used by the Party to influence how the citizens of Oceania think and act. Although many Party members have never experienced the torture that takes place in the ironically named Ministry of Love, the fear instilled in them as a result of others’ pain is enough to change how they view Big Brother. The function of Big Brother is to act as a point of emotion and fear for all citizens, as he is an individual instead of the whole organization (O'Neill 75). After he writes in his diary, Winston shows this fear by thinking to himself, “Whether he went on with the diary, or whether he did not go on with it, made no difference. The Thought Police would get him just the same” showing Winston’s hopelessness he feels at the thought of the Thought Police and the fear he perceives at the thought of being taken away for thoughtcrime (Orwell 19). Party members are aware of the consequences that await them if they do not abide by the laws, as missing people are very common occurrences. Winston says, “People simply disappeared, always during the night. Your name was removed from the registers, every record of everything you had ever done was wiped out, and your one-time existence was denied and then forgotten” (Orwell 20). This eludes to the fact that if a person in Oceania is caught committing thoughtcrime, they are not only taken away and punished, but their identity is erased and they cease to exist. This is simply another aspect that accompanies the physical pain, and that the citizens would be afraid of. Using pain such as this to strike fear in the hearts of ordinary people is a crime against humanity, and Wolf writes, “No writer has documented in imaginative terms this assault upon our humanity more significantly than George Orwell in 1984.” However, while fear is an effective motivator and a large reason why the Party tortures the noncompliant, the real reason that physical pain proves to be valuable to the Party is because of how it can affect those convicted of thoughtcrime.
The effect that physical pain has on a person’s mind is so great that it can change how they think and what they believe.
After being subject to torture in the Ministry of Love, Winston emphasizes the power of physical pain by claiming, “Nothing in the world was so bad as physical pain. In the face of pain there are no heroes” (Orwell 197). The entire purpose behind the Party’s psychological and physical torture is not to kill Party members, but to reform them. As O’Brien puts it, “We do not merely destroy our enemies, we change them” (Orwell 209). Through the use of this intense process, they are able to make prisoners, including Winston, grow to love their torturers and Big Brother, despite how much they may have previously hated them (Cardozo). Party members are also capable of the concept of doublethink, which allows them “to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them” (Orwell 32). This allows prisoners to continue to trust in and believe Big Brother even after they leave Room 101. In addition to this, before any person undergoes any torture or pain, they are subject to the language of Newspeak. Fowler writes, “Orwell does understand that there are vital relationships between language and thought, and he does believe that clear thought can be helped or hindered by language choices” (93). Newspeak limits the vocabulary, and hence, the range of thought that people are capable of. This acts as a sort of preliminary mind control that most citizens in Oceania are not even aware about. This in conjunction with the torture and concept of doublethink allows the Party to control what people believe and how they think. Although to control the emotions of the citizens, the Party must go beyond simply corrupting their
minds.
Sex is the most natural of all human urges, and by suppressing all sexual desires, the Party is able to control citizens’ sense of freedom and joy. While sex is used for reproductive purposes in the novel, the act of sex is not intended for pleasure. Sex represents freedom and rebellion, which is why the Party has repressed any desires for pleasurable sex. However, the desires cannot always be repressed, as Howe writes, “in a society so pervaded by boredom and grayness as Oceania is, there would be a pressing hunger for erotic adventure” (66). The sexual relationship between Winston and Julia is a large subject in the narrative because of what it represents in relation to the totalitarian society. Winston strongly desires sex in the novel not simply because he has the natural urge, but also because “The sexual act, successfully performed, was rebellion. Desire was thoughtcrime” (Orwell 59). Winston feels the need to rebel against the Party in some way, and sex is the only way he feels he can rebel safely. The physical act of sex is their rebellion, and shows their individual defiance of the state (Gleckner 103). However, the Party does not simply repress these sexual desires to contain all senses of rebellion or joy, but uses these emotions for their own benefit.
While the Party suppresses sexual feelings, their primary use of these suppressed emotions is to redirect them into anger and hate for their political enemies. The nation of Oceania has always been at war, as “Winston could not definitely remember a time when his country had not been at war” (Orwell 30). The reason that they have always been at war is to keep from being invaded by the other countries (Eurasia and Eastasia), but also to keep the citizens from ever rebelling. As long as they stay at war, a rebellion remains a bad idea for all citizens. Because of this continuous war, the Party must direct citizens’ emotions toward their enemies to keep them invested and to use their built up sexual fervor. The Party organizes a Hate Week, and “On the sixth day of Hate Week, after the processions, the speeches, the shouting, the singing, the banners, the posters...the general hatred of Eurasia had boiled up into such delirium that if the crowd could have got their hands on the 2,000 Eurasian war-criminals...they would unquestionably have torn them to pieces” (Orwell 148). The people of Oceania have such passionate hate toward the Party’s enemies, and as Howe observes, “For the faithful, sexual energy is transformed into political hysteria” (65). While all sentiment is used for the Party’s own leverage, few feelings are left for people to have real relationships with others and have any form of true love.
Love and family life in Oceania is destroyed by the Party for the sole purpose of control and influence among of the lives of Party members. In Oceania, family life has completely broken down, as the family has become another form of surveillance and has essentially become part of the Thought Police (Ingle 123). The way the Party is able to obliterate trust and love in families is primarily through the organization of junior spies in which all children are members. Kids feel that their purpose is to watch for thoughtcrime and turn in anyone guilty, even if that means turning in their own parents. Because of this, “It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children” (Orwell 24). The Party has control over the children, and hence, has control over people from within their own households. Although, the Party does not need the junior spies to keep tabs on people for them, as they have other means to observe the behavior of the Party members.
All citizens in Oceania are denied the natural right of privacy, and the Party is able to do this primarily because of their use of telescreens. The telescreens used by the Party, “make privacy impossible and because Big Brother might be watching, people are obligated to walk about with an expression of quiet optimism” (Ingle 126-127). The reason that the telescreens are used by the party is for the Party to have constant surveillance of all people in Oceania, and to be able to detect thoughtcrime among them. Because this is the case, a telescreen “could be dimmed , but there was no way of shutting it off completely”, which ensures that no citizen is ever able to have any real privacy (Orwell 6). Between the telescreens and the junior spies, people in Oceania feel like they are always being watched, and they aren’t wrong. They act happy and comply to everything the Party wants as they don’t want to be convicted of thoughtcrime. Ultimately this invasion of privacy ensures not only that the Party will catch those who are uncooperative with the system, but that no person is truly themselves and results to being a puppet for the Party.
These ways that the Party is able to retain control over the people of Oceania are emphasized in the novel because they are precisely why Orwell wrote 1984. George Orwell wrote the novel to warn people of the dangers of a totalitarian government. The book was published in 1949, which was just four years after the fall of Nazi Germany and at the beginning of the Cold War. Both Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia were considered to be totalitarian states, and the type of oppression that existed in these countries were what Orwell hoped to warn people about. The rise of this type of powerful government was a real possibility back then, and Howe gives insight on this saying, “In 1938 or 1939 the idea of a world divided among a few totalitarian superpowers, which Orwell made into the premise of his book, had not seemed at all farfetched” (95). Orwell wanted to prevent a world like the one in his novel from ever existing. The book’s meaning holds true throughout time however, as Orwell’s message was meant to not only be received by those living in 1949, but to be acknowledged by those living today and in the future. In today’s world, people may seem to have more freedoms than they used to, but society is plagued with technology, is influenced heavily by the media, and “If the common American citizen were to begin to draw correlations...look toward contemporary pop-culture” (Straube 10). In addition to this, communism still very much exists in the world, and still has the capability to grow into a far more manipulative and oppressive political system than it currently is. With all things considered, Orwell’s warning should ring louder today than it ever did in the twentieth century.
By contorting people’s minds though the use of pain, repressing people’s emotions and sexual desires, and destroying any family life and sense of privacy, the Party in George Orwell’s 1984 is able to retain their control over the lives of their nation’s citizens. With fear in their hearts and paranoia on their minds, it is hard for anybody in Oceania to be themselves and to oppose Big Brother. For those strong enough in the society to question and contemplate rebellion, they are twisted through pain and torture to believe in the lies of the Party, and to become another pawn in the Party’s elaborate game of chess. The Party is smart enough to know that for them to maintain true power, they must control more than simply the minds of their citizens, but they must also control their emotions. They have made it impossible for any person to stand up against them, in which it would be even more preposterous for that person to ever win. As Roger Ebert once said, “Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you”.
of Oceania by warping their minds through the use of pain, repressing and redirecting their sexual desires, and denying them any real family or sense of privacy.
Physical pain is the most powerful motivator used by the Party to influence how the citizens of Oceania think and act. Although many Party members have never experienced the torture that takes place in the ironically named Ministry of Love, the fear instilled in them as a result of others’ pain is enough to change how they view Big Brother. The function of Big Brother is to act as a point of emotion and fear for all citizens, as he is an individual instead of the whole organization (O'Neill 75). After he writes in his diary, Winston shows this fear by thinking to himself, “Whether he went on with the diary, or whether he did not go on with it, made no difference. The Thought Police would get him just the same” showing Winston’s hopelessness he feels at the thought of the Thought Police and the fear he perceives at the thought of being taken away for thoughtcrime (Orwell 19). Party members are aware of the consequences that await them if they do not abide by the laws, as missing people are very common occurrences. Winston says, “People simply disappeared, always during the night. Your name was removed from the registers, every record of everything you had ever done was wiped out, and your one-time existence was denied and then forgotten” (Orwell 20). This eludes to the fact that if a person in Oceania is caught committing thoughtcrime, they are not only taken away and punished, but their identity is erased and they cease to exist. This is simply another aspect that accompanies the physical pain, and that the citizens would be afraid of. Using pain such as this to strike fear in the hearts of ordinary people is a crime against humanity, and Wolf writes, “No writer has documented in imaginative terms this assault upon our humanity more significantly than George Orwell in 1984.” However, while fear is an effective motivator and a large reason why the Party tortures the noncompliant, the real reason that physical pain proves to be valuable to the Party is because of how it can affect those convicted of thoughtcrime.
The effect that physical pain has on a person’s mind is so great that it can change how they think and what they believe.
After being subject to torture in the Ministry of Love, Winston emphasizes the power of physical pain by claiming, “Nothing in the world was so bad as physical pain. In the face of pain there are no heroes” (Orwell 197). The entire purpose behind the Party’s psychological and physical torture is not to kill Party members, but to reform them. As O’Brien puts it, “We do not merely destroy our enemies, we change them” (Orwell 209). Through the use of this intense process, they are able to make prisoners, including Winston, grow to love their torturers and Big Brother, despite how much they may have previously hated them (Cardozo). Party members are also capable of the concept of doublethink, which allows them “to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them” (Orwell 32). This allows prisoners to continue to trust in and believe Big Brother even after they leave Room 101. In addition to this, before any person undergoes any torture or pain, they are subject to the language of Newspeak. Fowler writes, “Orwell does understand that there are vital relationships between language and thought, and he does believe that clear thought can be helped or hindered by language choices” (93). Newspeak limits the vocabulary, and hence, the range of thought that people are capable of. This acts as a sort of preliminary mind control that most citizens in Oceania are not even aware about. This in conjunction with the torture and concept of doublethink allows the Party to control what people believe and how they think. Although to control the emotions of the citizens, the Party must go beyond simply corrupting their
minds.
Sex is the most natural of all human urges, and by suppressing all sexual desires, the Party is able to control citizens’ sense of freedom and joy. While sex is used for reproductive purposes in the novel, the act of sex is not intended for pleasure. Sex represents freedom and rebellion, which is why the Party has repressed any desires for pleasurable sex. However, the desires cannot always be repressed, as Howe writes, “in a society so pervaded by boredom and grayness as Oceania is, there would be a pressing hunger for erotic adventure” (66). The sexual relationship between Winston and Julia is a large subject in the narrative because of what it represents in relation to the totalitarian society. Winston strongly desires sex in the novel not simply because he has the natural urge, but also because “The sexual act, successfully performed, was rebellion. Desire was thoughtcrime” (Orwell 59). Winston feels the need to rebel against the Party in some way, and sex is the only way he feels he can rebel safely. The physical act of sex is their rebellion, and shows their individual defiance of the state (Gleckner 103). However, the Party does not simply repress these sexual desires to contain all senses of rebellion or joy, but uses these emotions for their own benefit.
While the Party suppresses sexual feelings, their primary use of these suppressed emotions is to redirect them into anger and hate for their political enemies. The nation of Oceania has always been at war, as “Winston could not definitely remember a time when his country had not been at war” (Orwell 30). The reason that they have always been at war is to keep from being invaded by the other countries (Eurasia and Eastasia), but also to keep the citizens from ever rebelling. As long as they stay at war, a rebellion remains a bad idea for all citizens. Because of this continuous war, the Party must direct citizens’ emotions toward their enemies to keep them invested and to use their built up sexual fervor. The Party organizes a Hate Week, and “On the sixth day of Hate Week, after the processions, the speeches, the shouting, the singing, the banners, the posters...the general hatred of Eurasia had boiled up into such delirium that if the crowd could have got their hands on the 2,000 Eurasian war-criminals...they would unquestionably have torn them to pieces” (Orwell 148). The people of Oceania have such passionate hate toward the Party’s enemies, and as Howe observes, “For the faithful, sexual energy is transformed into political hysteria” (65). While all sentiment is used for the Party’s own leverage, few feelings are left for people to have real relationships with others and have any form of true love.
Love and family life in Oceania is destroyed by the Party for the sole purpose of control and influence among of the lives of Party members. In Oceania, family life has completely broken down, as the family has become another form of surveillance and has essentially become part of the Thought Police (Ingle 123). The way the Party is able to obliterate trust and love in families is primarily through the organization of junior spies in which all children are members. Kids feel that their purpose is to watch for thoughtcrime and turn in anyone guilty, even if that means turning in their own parents. Because of this, “It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children” (Orwell 24). The Party has control over the children, and hence, has control over people from within their own households. Although, the Party does not need the junior spies to keep tabs on people for them, as they have other means to observe the behavior of the Party members.
All citizens in Oceania are denied the natural right of privacy, and the Party is able to do this primarily because of their use of telescreens. The telescreens used by the Party, “make privacy impossible and because Big Brother might be watching, people are obligated to walk about with an expression of quiet optimism” (Ingle 126-127). The reason that the telescreens are used by the party is for the Party to have constant surveillance of all people in Oceania, and to be able to detect thoughtcrime among them. Because this is the case, a telescreen “could be dimmed , but there was no way of shutting it off completely”, which ensures that no citizen is ever able to have any real privacy (Orwell 6). Between the telescreens and the junior spies, people in Oceania feel like they are always being watched, and they aren’t wrong. They act happy and comply to everything the Party wants as they don’t want to be convicted of thoughtcrime. Ultimately this invasion of privacy ensures not only that the Party will catch those who are uncooperative with the system, but that no person is truly themselves and results to being a puppet for the Party.
These ways that the Party is able to retain control over the people of Oceania are emphasized in the novel because they are precisely why Orwell wrote 1984. George Orwell wrote the novel to warn people of the dangers of a totalitarian government. The book was published in 1949, which was just four years after the fall of Nazi Germany and at the beginning of the Cold War. Both Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia were considered to be totalitarian states, and the type of oppression that existed in these countries were what Orwell hoped to warn people about. The rise of this type of powerful government was a real possibility back then, and Howe gives insight on this saying, “In 1938 or 1939 the idea of a world divided among a few totalitarian superpowers, which Orwell made into the premise of his book, had not seemed at all farfetched” (95). Orwell wanted to prevent a world like the one in his novel from ever existing. The book’s meaning holds true throughout time however, as Orwell’s message was meant to not only be received by those living in 1949, but to be acknowledged by those living today and in the future. In today’s world, people may seem to have more freedoms than they used to, but society is plagued with technology, is influenced heavily by the media, and “If the common American citizen were to begin to draw correlations...look toward contemporary pop-culture” (Straube 10). In addition to this, communism still very much exists in the world, and still has the capability to grow into a far more manipulative and oppressive political system than it currently is. With all things considered, Orwell’s warning should ring louder today than it ever did in the twentieth century.
By contorting people’s minds though the use of pain, repressing people’s emotions and sexual desires, and destroying any family life and sense of privacy, the Party in George Orwell’s 1984 is able to retain their control over the lives of their nation’s citizens. With fear in their hearts and paranoia on their minds, it is hard for anybody in Oceania to be themselves and to oppose Big Brother. For those strong enough in the society to question and contemplate rebellion, they are twisted through pain and torture to believe in the lies of the Party, and to become another pawn in the Party’s elaborate game of chess. The Party is smart enough to know that for them to maintain true power, they must control more than simply the minds of their citizens, but they must also control their emotions. They have made it impossible for any person to stand up against them, in which it would be even more preposterous for that person to ever win. As Roger Ebert once said, “Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you”.