Oppression In George Orwell's 1984 Literary Analysis Essay
Oppression. Most people don’t realize how common it is to feel oppressed or controlled without even realizing it. Although it is less common in today's society, it used to happen in the past and might even happen in the future. There is a similar situation in George Orwell’s novel “1984” when the government uses oppression to control the citizens and have absolute power. Orwell’s novel shows a dystopian society where they are constantly being watched. To show this, he uses details and diction to show that when people are oppressed, their ability to think individual thoughts is restricted.
Orwell’s use of details shows Winston’s emotion towards the telescreen and how his thoughts are restricted while he is being constantly watched by it. In Winston's apartment, there is a device hung on the wall all the time called the telescreen, which “received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard” (Orwell 5). Since the telescreen is watching him at all times, Winston is required against his will to think and speak only about what the government allows. He is very scared about this because if he gets caught, he would be locked up by the thought police and possibly even tortured. Therefore, no diaries are allowed, and no one is allowed to speak about the government's control over people. Another way this is shown is when Winston is at his apartment, he writes in his diary “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four” (Orwell 103). Winston says this because he knows that the truth exists independently of what the party claims. This shows that he knows how the party is manipulating people by saying something besides what the party wants him to know. The telescreen is a way the government keeps watch of people in 1984. A way this is shown in the real world is how some people think that the government is listening through the microphones on phones and smart home devices or watching us through a webcam.
Orwell also uses diction to show how his individual thoughts are restricted by having a new language called Newspeak. While Winston is on his lunch break, his friend, Syme, explains how he is working on the Eleventh Edition of the Newspeak dictionary, which is “destroying words, scores of them, hundreds of them. Every day. We’re cutting the language down to the bone. The Eleventh Edition won’t contain a single word that will become obsolete before the year 2050” (Orwell 65). As the number of words people are allowed to speak gets less and less, it limits the number of ways people can express themselves. The result is people becoming more and more equal, which reduces individuality. Another way Newspeak is limiting individuality is how they are limiting the amount of thought, which will “make thoughtcrime impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it… Even now, of course, there’s no reason or excuse for committing thoughtcrime” (Orwell 67). By limiting the number of words, this also limits what you can think. Instead of paragraphs or sentences in your head, the party is making you think of single words or short phrases. As a consequence, thoughtcrime will be reduced, and individual thought in society will be minimized. In the real world, this can be seen even some slang that is starting to be used, including LOL (laugh out loud), or TTYL (talk to you later). Even though this is very mild compared to what is happening in the novel, slowly there are more and more terms being used in reality.
In conclusion, Orwell uses details and diction in the novel “1984” which shows the lesson that when someone is oppressed, their individual thoughts are restricted. It is even becoming more common in today’s society. When someone’s thoughts are restricted, it can lead to many consequences, such as what happens in Orwell’s novel. What makes it even harder to fix is that once people start to lose individuality, no one even realizes it.
