Individualism In 1984

George Orwell’s novel, 1984, is set in an alternate Dystopian future of the world that sees the entirety of the planet dominated by three global powers, Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia. The governments of these Superpowers control the lives of the common citizen through ideologies such as Ingsoc, Neo-Bolshevism, and Death-worship. In the Real World, some critics of government have used the term Orwellian to describe any government that seeks to limit freedoms or control its population; however, This level of control over the population has never before been seen in any government, and using Orwellian to describe a modern government is far more harsh and extreme then is needed. A closer examination of the novel and Oceania's government show how
controlling and manipulative Big Brother was through the use of NewSpeak, the destruction of the individual, and DoubleThink to brainwash and control the entire population. In the fictional world of 1984, Newspeak is the product of the Ministry of Truth’s attempt to dismantle free and independent thought by removing words or text that promote thoughtcrime. Through this, the Party is essentially carving and shaving Oldspeak, or English, in order to limit the population’s ability to communicate ideas, and thus, to silence any whisper of rebellion or revolt against the party. While working at the Ministry of Truth, Winston began a conversation with Syme, a writer who worked on the board to develop Newspeak. Syme explains to Winston the overall goal of Newspeak “Don’t you see 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 67). Syme explains that the whole purpose of Newspeak is to limit the ability of the population of Oceania to communicate, and in effect to stop any dissension against Big Brother. It does seem quite unrealistic for a government to be able to achieve such a powerful control over communicate, but in Roger Fowler’s essay concerning the relationship between orthodoxy and language, Fowler writes that “The rapidity and fluency are made possible by the fact that the speaker is simply uttering strings of orthodox jargon and is in no sense choosing words in relation to intended meanings or to some state of affairs in the world. Thus language neither springs from consciousness (the speaker is not thinking), nor has any relation to truth” (Fowler). It is evident that the people of Oceania, according to Fowler, are simply speaking meaningless drivel that has no real context or meaning behind it. Because of the Inner Party’s control over language, they have been able to successfully limit any sort of relevant conversation, and by the end of the novel, Winston was on a committee to develop the next volume of Newspeak, potentially hinting at even more limitations and restrictions. It is possible that Oceania will eventually reach a stage in Newspeak where the language would ultimately be so simplified that all forms of thoughtcrime were literally impossible due to the limitations placed by the language. This level of control and manipulation, especially of an entire language, has never before been observed in a real world nation. The idea that a government could be able to do something as sinister as completely altering the language of its people is unheard of, and to this extent, shows how powerful and controlling the Inner Party was. It’s very difficult to call any country Orwellian, considering no nation has ever been this sinister in its control over language and communication. In Oceania, another tactic used by the government is the absolute destruction of the individual and individuality.
The government of Oceania has developed a society that revolves almost entirely around Big Brother. Big Brother is hailed as the God of their society, they worship him, rely on him for strength, he represents goodness, and stands against the evil of the world. The concerns of the individual do not matter, so long as the idea of Big Brother, and consequently, the Party, are upheld. While Winston is being tortured in the Ministry of Truth, O’Brien explains to Winston how his individualism has detached him from the Party and made him insane “But I tell you, Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes: only in the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal. Whatever the Party holds to be the truth, is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party. That is the fact that you have got to relearn, Winston” (Orwell 312). O’Brien believes that true sanity lies in the collective and immortal mind of the Party. This idea shatters human individualism, and the belief that a human can hold their own opinions and thoughts. In Oceania, the only real thought is whatever the collective mind of the Party deems to be real. In his essay on individualism in 1984, Drew Mclaughlin explains how individuality
is the ultimate enemy of the Party “Oceania is a nation of suppressed individuality and therefore subdued rebellion. The Party understands that the seed of rebellion is individuality. Individuals will think. Individuals will question. Individuals will challenge. Individuals will overthrow. Removing all traces of individuality elicits submission and dependency” (McLaughlin). As Drew describes, individualism produces independent thought and ideas, which in turn translate to revolution. The Party is able to destroy individualism by creating a dependence on Big Brother in the average Party member. So long as a citizen continues to be reliant on Big Brother, then that citizen will never revolt. And as stated earlier, because the population hails Big Brother as almost a God like figure that protects the nation from the Asian and European invaders, no citizen would ever wish to question the Party or the existence of Big Brother. This is why the Party members of Oceania support the collective mind of the Party, and willingly cast aside their own individualism. After analyzing the extent to which the common Party member relies on the collective mind of Big Brother, it becomes more difficult to compare any real world government to the Party of Oceania. The Party also uses Doublethink to control the population.
In the novel, Winston describes Doublethink as “To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them” (Orwell 43). Doublethink essentially allows for the absolute control over a person’s mind. The Party is able to present the people with any lie, and through Doublethink, the people will completely trust in it, even if they know it to be a lie. This provides another level of control, as it makes the population far more susceptible to propaganda and it also allows the Party to control and manipulate the past. In his essay, Quinn Edwards analyzes Doublethink in 1984 stating that “These two educational steps are essential to the process known as doublethink, crucially related to the party's sense of the past. For the party, the past is not fixed and permanent; its reality is evident only in records. Thus the past is always being recreated to serve the interests of the party. As for people's memories, one can learn to "control reality," that is, to hold two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously and accepting both, "which is the basic definition of doublethink." Doublethink is the foundation on which the party's power rests” (Edward). The Party can use Doublethink to manipulate the past, and by controlling the past the Party is able to
reform any event in history to support the Party. Because the Party is able to manipulate any event or twist any lie, and the people will believe it, this silences any sort of doubt or mistrust in the Party. As Edwards says, the Party’s power relies almost completely on Doublethink, and the ability to control what is truth. The ability to completely manipulate the past to suit a government and to grow a population that is able to take a lie as the truth gives the Party an immense control over the thoughts and beliefs of the population, the likes of which have never been seen before in the real world. After analyzing the power and control that the Power has over its people through Doublethink, Newspeak, and the ability to crush the individual, it is apparent that no country in the real world has ever come close to having the same level of control over its population. Any attempt to describe a real world government as Orwellian is simply an overstatement, as no government yet deserves the term Orwellian.