Examples Of Dystopia In 1984 By George Orwell

Reading the classical dystopian literature of ‘1984’ by George Orwell has led me to the conclusion that it functions as a warning of the dangers of totalitarianism. Orwell projects a negative utopia, or dystopia, of a future totalitarian society through ‘1984’ which uses psychological manipulation, surveillance, and a repressive bureaucracy to exert total power over the individual. After reviewing several critics, it is proven that all of them agree with this statement. Among these critics are Nicole Smith, Dr. Edmond van den Bossche, and Jem Berkes.

“Orwell’s novel paints a nightmarish picture of a totalitarian system gone to the absolute extreme, but it is a novel that is fundamentally about psychological control of the public,” states Jem Berkes. He writes about language as
being the ultimate weapon in ‘1984’ and states how “language becomes a mind-control tool”. Of course, Berkes is pertaining to one of the most well known aspect of ‘1984’, Newspeak - the conversion of the English language into so limited and abbreviated an instrument that the very vocabulary of dissent vanishes, Berkes claims that Orwell makes much of 'Newspeak' as an organ of repression. He goes on and states that, “it facilitates deception and manipulation, and its purpose is to restrict understanding of the real world,” and we see this unfold as Syme, a Newspeak engineer, said, “By 2050, earlier, probably - all real knowledge of Oldspeak will have disappeared. The whole literature of the past will have been destroyed. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Byron…” Berkes states that ‘1984’ “shows how language can be used politically to deceive and manipulate people, leading to a society in which the people unquestioningly obey their government and mindlessly accept all propaganda as reality.”
As well as altering the past by manipulating written language, the Party has an ingenious plan to break the link with the real past by introducing a language barrier.
Newspeak was designed not to extend but to diminish the range of thought. An absolute systematic society is achieved but at the expense of the citizen’s individuality. In Orwell's ‘1984’, the state so regulated language that it became nearly impossible for people to even think a thought that would meet with the government's disapproval. So much internal control was in place that little external control was needed and if we are not careful, such control could make a totalitarian regime become a reality. Winston Smith, the novel’s protagonist, reflects that “the world-view of the Party imposed itself most successfully on people incapable of understanding it. They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they...were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening.” Citizen's passivity can lead to a situation where the state has stripped individuals of all rights, including the most basic right of freedom of thought. Berkes further suggests that through the
manipulation of language, “the government wishes to alter the public’s way of thinking.” He goes on to reference the theory of linguist, Benjamin Lee Whorf, of how “different languages impose different conceptions of reality”. Therefore, Berkes concludes that due to the eradication of the majority of words in ‘1984’’s Newspeak, the Party makes it impossible for the citizen to think of it and furthermore communicate it. Evident from what Syme said of the the Party’s plan for Newspeak: “We’re getting the language into its final shape… You think that our chief job is inventing new words. But not a bit of it! We’re destroying words - scores of them, hundreds of them, everyday… In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible,” explains the Newspeak engineer, “because there will be no words in which to express it” (55). Dr. Edmond van den Bossche agrees with Berkes and states, “George Orwell gave a tragic illustration of what the world would be without the freedom to think” through the use of Newspeak. The Party’s greatest weapon is not violence nor torture, they focus on casting their psychological control over the citizens, whom don’t even have the chance to rebel because right from the start this was eradicated from their thoughts, exactly how Berkes stated. Through Berkes’ critical review of Orwell’s dystopian novel the conclusion can be made of how 1984 functions as a warning of the dangers of totalitarianism when the repression of the Party is shown through the use of language. Through this manipulation, Orwell manifests the warning of the lost individuality under the totalitarian regime of Oceania. ‘1984’ was a warning about the dangers of a totalitarian state. It was warning the ‘real world’ to be on guard against unjustifiable encroachments of the state.