Thinking Activity on Nineteen Eighteen Four

This Blog-post is a response of thinking activity on Nineteen Eighteen Four(1984) by George Orwell. To know more about this task, CLICK HERE

Eric Arthur Blair, famous in literature as his pen name, George Orwell.(1903-1950)was an English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic. He famous works shows politics in particular era. His fluent or blunt speaking of telling truth is quite appreciated in literature. 

Dystopian Fiction: 

According to Merriam Webster dictionary, Dystopia is,"an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives" This genre, the story is about imaginary future, particular fictional place or state in which the condition of human life is extreme bad from terror or political authority and such a power who controls the simply living lives. According to M. H. Abrams,"The term dystopia (“bad place”) has come to be applied to works of fiction, including science fiction, that represent a very unpleasant imaginary world in which ominous tendencies of our present social, political, and technological order are projected into a disastrous future culmination."

Nineteen Eighteen Four as a dystopian literature:

As John Tammy said that,"In the dystopia described by George Orwell, government was watching us with an eye on limiting our freedom" We can see that in this novel characters are living in fear. Through the character Big Brother, we can see the lust of power which terribly described through citizens. The way while authorities continues announced that 'Big Brother is watching you' it seems like people lives in the country in which the power is spread unpleasant imaginary. 

Center theme of the novel:

According to me, the center theme of the novel is 'The Dangers Of Totalitarianism'. The people are with power. Dictators or authorities in novel, like Big Brother they controlled people through the language and political strategies. The power of language is also included. For this Fascist Government, the nation is first. They announced that they do whatever thing is for nation, they used to speak 'Nation' rather than 'Public'. They not used the word 'Public'. So the language played main role to lead totalitarianism theory in politics.  

The Term 'Orwellian' :

According to Merriam Webster dictionary,Orwellian is the term which "of, relating to, or suggestive of George Orwell or his writings especially : relating to or suggestive of the dystopian reality depicted in the novel 1984." George Orwell established the term named 'Orwellian' in his dystopian fictions. Along with this novel he used this term in 'Animal Farm' also which I studied in my graduation. In this term, micro-level language plays in shaping our thoughts. The language here Orwell used which pointing the political power and the way they misuses their position through the power.  

Doublespeak	deliberately obscures, disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words.
The Ministry of Truth (Newspeak: Minitrue)	"truth" is understood to mean statements like 2 + 2 = 5 when the situation warrants. In keeping with the concept of doublethink, the ministry is thus aptly named in that it creates/manufactures "truth" in the Newspeak sense of the word.
The Ministry of Peace (Newspeak: Minipax)	The meaning of peace has been equated with the meaning of war in the slogan of the party, "War is Peace". It also has a literal application: Perpetual war is what keeps the "peace" (the status quo) in Oceania and the balance of power in the world, and since the other major powers also use warfare as a means of maintaining the status quo, the two concepts are functionally identical.
The Ministry of Love (Newspeak: Miniluv)	It enforces loyalty to Big Brother through fear, buttressed through a massive apparatus of security and repression, as well as systematic brainwashing. It is misnamed, since it is responsible for the practice and infliction of misery, fear, suffering and torture. In a sense, however, the name is apt, since its ultimate purpose is to instill love of Big Brother—the only form of love permitted in Oceania.
The Ministry of Plenty (Newspeak: Miniplenty)	It is in control of Oceania's command economy. It oversees rationing of food, supplies, and goods. As told in Goldstein's book, the economy of Oceania is very important, and it is necessary to have the public continually create useless and synthetic supplies or weapons for use in the war, while they have no access to the means of production.
Room 101	It is the basement torture chamber in the Ministry of Love, in which the Party attempts to subject a prisoner to their own worst nightmare, fear or phobia, with the objective of breaking down their resistance.
Big Brother	Additional speculation from Douglas Kellner of the University of California, Los Angeles argued that Big Brother represents Joseph Stalin, representing Communism, including Stalinism, and Adolf Hitler, representing Nazism.
Thoughtcrime	the word crimethink describes the intellectual actions of a person who entertains and holds politically unacceptable thoughts; thus the government of the Party controls the speech, the actions, and the thoughts of the citizens of Oceania. In contemporary English usage, the word thoughtcrime describes beliefs that are contrary to accepted norms of society, and is used to describe theological concepts, such as disbelief and idolatry and the rejection of an ideology.

(From Wikipedia)

About 'Newspeak': 

Orwell writes in his essay,'Politics and the English Language.' that"If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought,"  In 1984 novel, Orwell created the language to warn the readers from government and their politics.He explained that how syntactical arrangement in words which creates somewhere a kind of sympathy in peoples mind. Like, for something they use word 'good' but if the thing is going in wrong way or like it is in worst thing happened then, we normally in life we used to say that this thing is going in bad was, but they add syntax and create word like,'Ungood' which means particular thing is will re-create by the authority.Likewise in word 'Plusegood' it seems they increasing and their role is in top level which they do.