What Does Winston Smith Mean In The Book 1984 By George Orwell
In the novel “1984” by George Orwell, the government controls the citizens by exploiting their thoughts and actions with slogans.The government’s main slogan used to control the people was “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength,” (Orwell, 6). Winston Smith starts writing a diary against the strict government rules. He sits hidden from his telescreen, that records every move he makes. Winston knows that by writing in his diary it is considered a thoughtcrime and if he were to get caught it would be certain death. While writing in his diary Winston says, “Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death,” (Orwell,36). Winston not only recognizes that he is going against the Party but that he is dead. He must be very
careful with what he thinks, does, and says because at any moment the party could kill him for simply writing down his thoughts. If the party finds out he will be vaporized and deleted from all of Oceania past, future, and present. Another way the Government controlled the people was by making the Party workers change how history was written to make the Party look flawless and superior to the citizens. Winston works for the Ministry of Truth where they change newspaper articles from the past to reflect what actually happened. The Party would sometimes put multiple people in charge of one article and see who could provide the Party with the answer they would want. This happened with an article about an Inner Party man whose organization fell about three months after its leader had been rewarded. “So tricky a piece of work would never be entrusted to a single person: on the other hand, to turn it over to a committee would be to admit openly that an act of fabrication was taking place. And presently some master brain in the...Party would select this version or that...edit it and...then the chosen lie would pass into the permanent records and become truth,” (Orwell, 57-58). The Party was constantly brainwashing its citizens into believing lies that were not true proving that they knew the only way they could stay in control of their people was by lying to them and changing the truth. They were very successful at this as no one had caught on but Winston in the many years that the Party had existed. The Party will continue to control their citizen's thoughts and actions for as long as the people allow them too.
careful with what he thinks, does, and says because at any moment the party could kill him for simply writing down his thoughts. If the party finds out he will be vaporized and deleted from all of Oceania past, future, and present. Another way the Government controlled the people was by making the Party workers change how history was written to make the Party look flawless and superior to the citizens. Winston works for the Ministry of Truth where they change newspaper articles from the past to reflect what actually happened. The Party would sometimes put multiple people in charge of one article and see who could provide the Party with the answer they would want. This happened with an article about an Inner Party man whose organization fell about three months after its leader had been rewarded. “So tricky a piece of work would never be entrusted to a single person: on the other hand, to turn it over to a committee would be to admit openly that an act of fabrication was taking place. And presently some master brain in the...Party would select this version or that...edit it and...then the chosen lie would pass into the permanent records and become truth,” (Orwell, 57-58). The Party was constantly brainwashing its citizens into believing lies that were not true proving that they knew the only way they could stay in control of their people was by lying to them and changing the truth. They were very successful at this as no one had caught on but Winston in the many years that the Party had existed. The Party will continue to control their citizen's thoughts and actions for as long as the people allow them too.