English 12 Jacqueline Stevens

1984

1984: "A reality in our Society?"

I originally thought that George Orwell's 1984 was ridiculous, and extreme. I

thought that the novel was written to show us how good we had it. I couldn't understand

why Oceania's government needed to control it's people, and bring them down to a

mindless existence; but after taking in the story as a whole, and thinking about the natural

replacement of power, it no longer seems that outrageous of a concept. Orwell's novel has

been intended as a caveat for the modern day; but was his message taken to the conscious

realm in our society? The situations faced by Orwell's people of Oceania seem, when

unanalyzed, to be in many ways impossible- but there are overlooked similarities between

our modern American "democratic" society, and Orwell's world of warning.

Our government of today has managed to "smuggle" into daily living, undetected

by the majority of Americans, the principle of doublethink. 1984's doublethink consisted of

two contradictory ideas expressed in such a way as to negate any confusion; sort of an

oxymoron, with an idealistic meaning. For example; equal opportunity employers, along

with the topic of affirmative action, are two perfect examples of our governments use of

doublethink. The contradiction can be seen easily in that to deal with the problems of

discrimination during hiring, or college acceptance, there must be discrimination against

others. One may ask how the both of these concepts could be executed without realization

of the fact that they make no sense; it can only be made out that we as a population look

to the government to solve our problems with their acts, and plans, and we accept them

for a solution, without examining what they really entail.

Our society is also blessed with the depicted "thoughtless discipline". Our US

military is an excellent example of this malleable control. The people of Oceania were

brought to the state of complete, and absolute obedience; which was accomplished

through Oceania's "two-minutes hate", and the forced love of Oceania's figurehead "Big

Brother". Similarly, the US army demands complete obedience in the sense that the

soldiers are to have no thought for the consequences of the actions they are ordered to

perform on behalf of the government's means to an end. All of this is obtained by the

required rigorous "training" that is a part of the army life. The troops give their will, mind,

and morality to superiors; execute orders without thought, and if there is an ounce of

intelligence or doubt from the individual, they are broken down physically; and as a result,

mentally. In times of war, our army has an astounding resemblance, almost identical in

fact, to Oceania's militia. The US draft orders young men to enter battle, even though their

higher dreams never consisted of army life. They are forced to join, fight, kill, and die- in a

democracy? maybe the slogan "Be all that you can be, in the Army", should be changed to

be all you are forced to be, in the Army.

Our democratic government in theory, may have been the reply to Orwell's 1984,

but in reality, the problems of control and power have tainted the theory. So the real

question one should ask after reading this book is in reality, can the individual exist under

the rule of any form of government? Orwell succeeded in bringing awareness to the forces

of government, and the ways in which the general population has become at fault for the

lack of attention to daily injustices which we face. 1984 has served as proper warning, but

where are we to find our solution?