Doublethink in 1984

A society where the "natural rights" of life, liberty and property, as defined by the philosopher John Locke, are denied is a completely foreign concept to most people in western civilization. We have grown up in a world where we are entitled to certain privileges and no person, or governing group has the ability to take these rights away. The society in 1984 has deteriorated into a state where they don't have these inalienable rights. They are subjected to the will of the governing party, who is ruled by the dictator, Big Brother. Their lives are not lived for their own pleasure but for the good of the ruling body. The population has been indoctrinated with this ideology of everything being for the good of the party. They don't even question what the Party is disseminating.

Doublethink is defined as the use of two ideas together that contradict each other. The world that George Orwell depicts in the novel, 1984, is full of these contradictory statements and they are the basis of the Party slogans:

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

All of these statements combine ideas that are opposites, but no one questions them. Winston Smith, the protagonist of this story, does not spend much time dissecting their actual meaning. He as well as the rest of the population of Oceania accepts these statements as they are: the foundational ideas of the party. They mean what they mean. The idea that these slogans are nonsense has not crossed the minds of the majority of the population. As Winston wrote in his diary, "If there is hope, it lies with the Proles". These people could stand up to the domineering could rule of the Party as they are the majority, and the closest thing they have to a sect not controlled by the Party. Although the Party does not directly control the actions of the Proles, their lives are dictated by what the Party has done. They do not work for the party but their lives are ever influenced. The goods and services provided to the Proles are supplied by the Party. They indirectly control the actions of the Proles using this power. The Proletariat population has been denied education and thus they are suffering. They don't know the contradicting ideologies of the Party slogan so why would they care about it. The Party has starved them of what they would need to revolt. As long as the Proles do not know there is something better out there, they have no reason to want a better life. The Party has such a strong hold on the thoughts of the populace that no one has any original thoughts and those that do try very hard to hide it. The freedom of having personal thoughts is not encouraged. After all, freedom is slavery so why would you want to have an unusual thought. It is in this way that the Party gives bad connotations to the fundamental rights that we, in our society, take for granted. No one has the courage or the understanding to say that what the Party is doing is wrong. Therefore, Oceania is stuck in a cycle of one-party control. No one can oppose the Party if there are no opposing ideologies.

Orwell’s novel, 1984, is the story of a fictional society where people have lost all of their natural freedoms. Everything done by the population is aimed at the consolidation and improvement of the power of the Party and its head, Big Brother. Even when the ideology emitted from the Party is nonsensical, people accept it because it is the statement of the Party. Having lost their freedoms, the people of this society have lost interest in their lives. They are no longer living a thoughtful existence, but are mindless drones following the Party’s every command.