Bhattarai 1

Ashish Bhattarai
Mr. Andrews
English IV
10 April 2015
Torture in Oceania
You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will
never imprison my mind. The book, 1984 by George Orwell is about a totalitarian government
that controls its citizens and restricts the way they live and allows its citizens to do only it feels
is right. This book is also about the constant struggle a man named Winston Smith had with the
government through his rebellious actions against Big Brother. Orwell warns us through his
novel that torture would become entertainment for the government or be used for extermination
of citizens since the government controls the people and anyone not on their side will
disappear. Soviet Union controlled by Stalin , America during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq , and
Big Brother in the book 1984 are good examples of government using torture against citizens
and Orwell proves that the government uses torture to destroy a person rather than achieve the
desired information and help the government.
Although the book's main issue wasn't just torture , Orwells fear of government using
torture shows the main idea of government wanting to take control of their citizens and to
brainwash them into believing that they are nothing special but just a piece of the puzzle for the
government's perfect society. The government severely messed up the people since in oceania to
disassemble your feelings, to control your face, to do what everyone else was doing, was an
instinctive reaction.(Orwell 20) This shows that Orwell feared that by controlling their citizens
the government can turn the citizens into the people they want and have them so scared that there
will be no way they will rebel . The government wanted to torture the citizens emotions by

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controlling them, and never again will you be capable of ordinary human feeling.(Orwell 163)
Orwell was really paranoid that when the government wants to change a person, they torture the
man so violent that they become a completely different person and in no one can oppose the
government again. The torture was gruesome and although the government just wanted to prove
a point, they would go as far as making a man lie on a stream of blood and saliva and made two
halves of his dental plate fall out of his mouth.(Orwell 218) Big Brother not focusing on the
main objective of achieving desired information but instead torturing a man for their pleasure
and to mess up the life of their citizens done in physical form was what Orwell feared Although
this took place in a fictional setting , the actions of the government during the 1940s makes us
wonder if Orwell had the right thought about the government the whole time.
The world isnt as cruel as it used to be in the early 1900s but there are many
governmental actions that could cause Orwell to fear for the life of future generations. There
were many things happening in this time period that would cause Orwell to fear the government
such as one single ruler that would control their countries and anyone rebelling against them
would end up being tortured, slaughtered and thrown away from society. There are many events
at that time that would cause Orwell to fear about the amount of torture the government would
inflict on a person. In the past , the government was very cruel and would inflict a lot of pain
through torture on a person as seen by the torture done by Joseph Stalin during the World War
Two. Stalin would eliminate anyone and everyone who was a threat to his power including
former allies. He had absolutely no regard for the sanctity of human life.(Ghosh). This shows
that stalin does not care and all he wnats is power and instead of trying to fix the problem by
being gnetle , he would go to straight extermination whihc mightve included tortung at first.
This shows Orwells fear men in the government not wanting anything come between them

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when it comes to power. Not only did Stalin use torture but the fancy British Government had
blood on their hand by creating a torture centre that the British military had operated throughout
the 1940s, in complete secrecy, in a row of Victorian villas in one of the most exclusive
neighborhoods in London.(Cobain) This is the perfect example of exactly what Orwell feared ,
a high respected government treating their citizens like nothing and torture them secretly and
making as if they never existed. This shows that the government doesnt care about its citizens
and messing up the lives of the man being tortured or his loved ones but only finding a way to
not get a mad name for themselves.
Not only was the torture being used by the government in the past, the amount of torture
inflicted on citizens is increasing like never before. There are many positives and negatives that
come out of the torture inflicted on citizens by the government. The advantage of using torture is
that in rare cases there will be times when one man can affect the lives of millions and if the man
is caught and tortured and the government received the required information they can save
people and have torture be useful. There are many times torture isnt helpful since the
government will torture people and when the government doesnt receive the answer they desired
, they continue to torture until the person is so broken that there is no way for the person to get
back and be normal again. So while torture might work in some cases, but most of the time
torture only ruins a person and makes it so that there is no way that they can ever get involved
with the normal life again. The torture done during war time is many and by torture and the
psychological impact of war trauma, torture and organized violence is wide- ranging and
complex (Goldenberg). This shows that the government during war time only cared about what
would happen to them and needing to find a way to maintain their reputation and not caring
about the citizens and how much valuable damage they could do to the citizens by torturing them

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and this shows Orwell fear of giving too much power to the government that they control all the
actions of the country that can help and ruin a countrys reputation. While this may have
happened in a different, this still shows the power of government on a country. The USA known
as the fairest government in the world by many authorized the use of so-called enhanced
interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects in US custody (USA and Torture). This shows
that no government in the world is good and that in every way the government is bad and this is
exactly what Orwell predicted by saying that they cannot be trusted and dont care about their
citizens but merely trying to control their citizens even when there is no reason to use torture.
Most people might believe that Orwell was way off, but in some ways he was correct.
The government does most things today that Big Brother did in Oceania but less extreme. The
government has many places with advanced weapons which we dont know, the government also
spies on the citizens with security cameras and also uses torture to get information and make sure
no one goes against them, so while Orwell wasnt all correct he wasnt far off either. The only
way that the people can protect themselves from the government messing them up by torturing is
to never go against the government since there is no way to beat them.

Works Cited

Cobain, Ian. "Torture UK: Why Britain Has Blood on Its Hands." TheGuardian. Guardian News and
Media, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.
Ghosh, Palash. "How Many People Did Joseph Stalin Kill?" International Business Times. N.p., 05 Mar.
2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.
Goldenberg. "Psychological Sequelae of Torture and Organised Violence Suffered by Refugees from
Iraq." Psychological Sequelae of Torture and Organised Violence Suffered by Refugees from Iraq
(n.d.): n. pag.Freedomfromtorture.org. Psychological Sequelae of Torture. Web.

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"USA and Torture:." USA and Torture: A History of Hypocrisy. Human Rights Watch, n.d.
Web. 15 Apr. 2015.