Why does Orwell focus on language as the key to freedom?

What does freedom mean,

and what should it entail? (use excerpts from the book other than those referenced
above) Considering the power of language and the signicance Orwell placed on the
right to free speech, how can one see 1984 as a re!ection of the period in which it was
written? What about the "#$%s inspired Orwell&s classic dystopia?
'lmost four weeks ago, (witter was banned in (urkey) ' week later, *ou(ube
followed suit) +gypt and ,ibya tried something similar in -%"". /ran in -%%#. (unisia in
-%%0. and, of course, China and 1orth 2orea since the "#$%s) (hese governments (and
many more) saw in the /nternet a subversive power that needed to be restrained, lest it
topple the standing hierarchy) Obviously, there is something to be said for the power of
communication when it comes to military strategy and revolutionary planning) Cutting
supply lines, rooting out spies, and using various propaganda tools have been used
since the dawn of human politics) *et, there is possibly a deeper and arguably more
sinister motivation to restricting language and communication) (hought as a
biological3neural process relies on concepts and abstract ideas which are all but
meaningless unless they can be conveyed in some form of mutually understandable
communication) +xpressing the idea of the color 4blue& without using the word 4blue& is
near impossible, because the same word can potentially have vastly di5erent meanings,
or no meaning at all, to two di5erent individuals) (he more abstract the idea is, the
more grounded it must be in actual words for it to become meaningful 6 after all, colors
can still be pointed out through physical communication, but there is no explanation for
ideas such as evil, happiness, or freedom) ,iterary relativism is the idea that language
fundamentally controls the way human beings are able to rationali7e and perceive) 's a
result, controlling language can be an e5ective way to sub8ugate or manipulate a
population 6 after all, one only need examine the psychological e5ects of e5ective
advertising or propaganda to observe primitive thought control) 9eorge Orwell was one
of the few who understood the horrifying and staggering implications of literary
relativism. 1984, Orwell&s masterpiece, portrays language as the key to individualism,
as a tool that can be used to either inspire freedom or promote mindlessness) /n the
novel, the standing government :arty, /ng;oc, uses their censored language 1ewspeak
to minimi7e and control all thought) 1984 suggests that language is the origin of human
intellect. regulation of language allows the current government to maintain and
accumulate power by attacking any form of rebellion at its source) <uch of the
exposition of Orwell&s philosophy comes from the pages of the ctional novel, The
Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism. it feels tting that an analysis of how
Orwell uses and understands language should follow the chapters of (he =ook)
Ignorance is Strength
Orwell bases his study of language on an extreme form of literary relativism 6
language not only forms the basis of human thought, but is human thought) Of course,
Orwell does not deny the possibility of thinking with images, smells, or concepts.
instead, he believes that if >thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt
thought? (:olitics and the +nglish ,anguage, "#$@)) <anipulating language can
inherently change how a human thinks, and, most importantly, it can do so unknowingly)
(he choice of language is therefore linked to choice of action, with the more literate
individuals able to act with more ability) (his is why the proles are not monitored, and
propaganda is not directed towards them 6 they have no understanding of complex
thoughts, and their long term goals are limited to survival)
/n order to directly, subtly, and permanently in!uence the thought process of its more
intelligent sub8ects, =ig =rother implements 1ewspeak, a language stripped of nuance
(the proles, of course, use Original +nglish)) 1ewspeak is uniAue in that >its vocabulary
grew smaller instead of larger every year) +ach reduction was a gain, since the smaller
the area of choice, the smaller the temptation to take thought)? 1ewspeak is an
implementation of literary relativism. it prevents the communication of abstract ideals
and thoughts 6 and, eventually, of thought itself 6 by slowly removing all synonyms,
antonyms, and alternate denitions) (he goal to disconnect >articulate speechBCfromD
the higher brain centers)? ;yme, Winston&s coworker, expands on this ideaE >the whole
aim of 1ewspeak is to narrow the range of thought) /n the end we shall make
thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express
it)? (o Orwell, limiting the range of words is enough to remove concepts from thought
itself) (hus, the government&s manipulation of language is highly e5ective) =y changing
the language, the vast ma8ority of middle class :arty members become >somehow
curiously savageBCsuggestingD the stamp of naked feet and the throbbing of tomtoms)?
(he :arty doctors history and indoctrinates propaganda for the same reasonE the
literate and intellectual (at least, enough to pose a threat) :arty members are subdued
internally through thought manipulation)
*et, unlike the invasion of privacy or use of force so vividly described in the novel,
1ewspeak is a di5erent, subtler beast) /t&s a long term assurance against a shifting
hierarchyE
In 1984, when Oldspeak was still the normal means of
commnication, the danger theoretically e!isted that in sing
"ewspeak words one might remem#er their original meanings$ In
practice it was not di%iclt for any person well gronded in
&O'()*T+I", to avoid doing this, #t within a cople of
generations even the possi#ility of sch a lapse wold have
vaished$ - person growing p with "ewspeak as his sole langage
wold no more know that *.'-) had once had the secondary
meaning of /politically e0al1, or that 23** had once meant
/intellectally free1, than for instance, a person who had never
heard of chess wold #e aware of the secondary meanings
attaching to .'**" and 3OO,$
(he idea of having any form of alternate thought is thoroughly eradicated both in
literature and in public consciousness) (hus, the middle class is sub8ected to a two
pronged attack that indoctrinates them internally and externally, to the point of
becoming as primitive as the easily controlled proles) Fowever, in numerous ways, the
proles have far more power than members of the Outer :arty) (hey are not sub8ect to
monitoring, nor restrictions on thought and speech. they are allowed freer
communication and movement) On the whole, their ignorance and lack of literacy
provides a shield, marking them as nonGthreatening) (heir only true burden is the
crushing poverty that prevents them from examining anything beyond their own
Auotidian survival) 's a result, /gnorance is ;trength has a double meaningE it is not
only a propaganda term encouraging lack of thought, but is simultaneously a term
describing the current state of a5airs, in which the proles have hidden power in the
lack of indoctrination that they can never be allowed to reali7e) Winston understands
this, and puts his faith on the proles for the fate of Oceania and the world) Fowever, >so
long as Cthe prolesD are not permitted to have standards of comparison, they never even
become aware that they are oppressed)? On the whole, the illiterate proles are
functionally unable to think in a way that is a threat, while the 1ewspeakGspeaking
middle class is taught not to think at all) =ecause language is thought, rebellion is
functionally unable to enter their minds)
Freedom is Slavery
Hreedom is, at its core, the ability to think for oneself) <any mistake freedom as the
ability to act, but that action is presupposed as being one&s own) 'n individual coerced
into an action is not free in the same way an individual who has only a single option is
not free, even though, in both cases, the individual theoretically has free ability to act)
*et, removing an individual&s ability to think in a certain way eliminates the action
before it can even begin) Within the context of literary relativism, ob8ective reality is
thrown into doubt. in other words, >1othing was your own except the few cubic
centimeters inside your skull)? 'ctions cease to matter in the grand scheme of
manipulation, because it is impossible (or at least, highly unfeasible) to control actions
permanently. changing how an individual thinks is the only way to permanently prevent
further unwanted actions) (hus, thought is freedom, and is the only true freedom)
Hreedom is the direct antithesis of the control =ig =rother attempts to instill) With
freedom, it is possible to foment revolution against =ig =rother. without, the hierarchy
remains stable and the middle class remains subdued) (he :arty recogni7es that
freedom of thought is freedom overall. as such, the (hought :olice are >not interested
in the overt act Cof crimeDE the thought is all we are about)? =y manipulating the actual
thought and perception of the populace, the government can e5ectively eliminate not
only all potential actions of rebellion, but all thoughts of rebellion) (he removal of
subversive ideas, or thoughtcrimes, is only possible due to the presence of doublethink,
a uniAue cognitive tool implemented by =ig =rother that allows an individual to bend
the realm of ob8ectivity in order to believe two completely contradictory statements,
calling either statement up as true when needed) Ioublethink is the >ultimate subtletyE
consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of
the act of hypnosis you had 8ust performed)? (he ability to instantaneously switch
values and ideals allows any individual consciousness to be molded by the government)
Of course, with Orwell&s traditional style, doublethink is actually introduced to the
reader in the rst line of the novel 6 well before the concept is introduced or explained 6
with the phrase >/t was a bright cold day in 'pril)?
Within doublethink, no single thought has value because it always simultaneously
means the opposite. at any given time, everything and nothing is occurring at once) (he
result is a system of consensual reality, in which the 4truth& is determined by the
masses) /n 1984, >reality existsBnot in the individual mind, which can make mistakes
and in any case soon perishes. only in the mind of the :arty, which is collective and
immortal)? (he :arty openly encourages consensual reality, because it prevents the
individual from attempting to observe the world in his own way) Once doublethink is
fully implemented, the /nner :arty can easily manipulate the !ow of thought of the
entire nation at once) (he greatest aspect of doublethink is that no one 6 not even
government members 6 are safe from it. for example, government ministries are named
through doublethinkE the <inistry of ,ove deals with torture, the <inistry of :lenty
deals with economic shortage, the <inistry of :eace deals with war, and the <inistry of
(ruth deals with historical revisionism and propaganda)
(he best example of consensual reality can be seen in the historical revisionism that the
:arty undergoes) /f the :arty tells a lie, >and if all others accepted the lie which the
:arty imposedJif all records told the same taleJthen the lie passed into history and
became truth)? =ecause the past lives only in memory, and memory is changeable, =ig
=rother uses historical doctoring and consensual reality to reach into and tinker with
the past) =ecause of doublethink, nobody Auestions any changes) /n many ways,
doublethink and 1ewspeak are two sides of the same coin, and both work to achieve
the same goal) :erhaps the best example of doublethink and 1ewspeak in action is the
word blackwhite) 'ccording to the 'ppendixE
-pplied to an opponent, it means the ha#it of impdently
claiming that #lack is white, in contradiction of the plain
facts$ -pplied to a Party mem#er, it means a loyal willingness
to say that #lack is white when Party discipline demands this$
(t it means also the a#ility to (*)I*4* that #lack is white,
and more, to ,"O5 that #lack is white, and to forget that
one has ever #elieved the contrary$ This demands a
continos alteration of the past, made possi#le #y the
system of thoght which really em#races all the rest$
=lackwhite, and other 1ewspeak words, promote a duality that eliminates logic and
rationality) (he individual is eliminated when the brain is e5ectively wired to
immediately change its entire belief system in a matter of seconds, because one&s
personality and memories cannot survive for very long) Ioublethink wipes
consciousness like reformatting a hard drive. at any given point, no one can be sure of
what was true in the past, and therefore what is true in the present)
With thought, however, doublethink falls apart) (he :arty cannot implement its system
of mass control if individuals can think) Hreedom >is the freedom to say that two plus
two makes four.? as soon as rationality is involved, an individual becomes insubordinate
because he can no longer be controlled by the populace) Fis own reality becomes
ob8ective, and he lives outside of the consensual reality that the government controls)
(hat freedom inspires rebellion) /n 1984, political orthodoxy >means not thinking 6 not
needing to think) Orthodoxy is unconsciousness,? and unconsciousness is pliable) /t is
only through this unconsciousness, however, that any individual can remain 4free&) ;o
long as an individual is unable to comprehend freedom and the fact that they are being
oppressed, that oppression never becomes real)
(he populace of Oceania is able to live with doublethink because, by lack >of
understanding, they remained sane) (hey simply swallowed everything, and what they
swallowed did them no harm, because it left no residue behind)? (hus, the term
Hreedom is ;lavery is not only propaganda encouraging the removal of all freedoms,
but also a description of how freedom of thought leads to the reali7ation that one is
enslaved) (he phrase 4ignorance is bliss& comes to mind) Without freedom, slavery as an
abstract idea never reaches an individual&s consciousness, and the :arty is able to
accumulate power unhindered)
War is Peace
,anguage is =ig =rother&s key to stability in controlling its populace in the long term)
=ecause language is the basis of thought, and thought is the basis of freedom, it follows
that language is the key to freedom itself. removal of language constitutes the most
severe type of attack on freedom itself 6 exactly what the :arty hopes to accomplish)
Overall, >the Kevolution will be complete when the language is perfect) 1ewspeak is
/ngsoc and /ngsoc is 1ewspeak)? Orwell puts a lot of faith in the power of language,
even more so than Kay =radbury&s 2ahrenheit 461) (o truly understand the historical
relevance of 1984 (and there always is historical relevance. Orwell is famous for his
treatises against totalitarianism) it is necessary to look at the novel through the context
of the time period it was written in)
Orwell conceived of 1984 in the closing years of World War // and wrote most of the
novel in the years immediately after) While it is possible that Orwell was inspired in part
by 1a7i propaganda and how the (hird Keich was able to restructure the 9erman
language to inspire 1a7i ideals (seeE )inga Tertii Imperii by Lictor 2lemperer), the
similarities between Oceania and the M;;K and Orwell&s own fascination with the rise
of ;talin in previous works suggest that the true historical basis for 1984 lay in <oscow
instead of =erlin) (he towering mustachioed =ig =rother evokes images of ;talin
plastered onto billboards) =oth are fueled through a powerful cult of personality, and
both are the soul of the :arty itself) On the other hand, the goateed +mmanuel
9oldstein hints at ;talin&s archGrival ,eon (rotsky, with 9oldstein&s sheep
transformation reminiscent of (rotsky&s goat transformation, and The Theory and
Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism reminiscent of The 3evoltion (etrayed$ :erhaps
the most obvious hint as to Orwell&s source of inspiration, however, is the practice of
combining words into one G something that appeared extensively in both Oceania and in
;talinGcontrolled M;;K) /n addition, many of Oceania&s more famous policies 6 such as
the creation of unpersons and the doctoring of history 6 were already in place in the
M;;K by the time Orwell began to write) (he start of the Cold War, with both the M;;K
and the M; rising as super powers that en8oyed complete control in their own
territories while demoni7ing the other through propaganda and literature) (hroughout
+urope and the world, there was a meteoric rise in the importance of information and
the presence of espionage)
Orwell took the events he observed and extrapolated $% years into the future) Fe was
convinced that the end of WW// was inextricably tied to the start of a global revolution
in which the spheres of in!uence that had been established would expand while
technology aided governments in massive violations of individual rights and abilities)
'lthough Orwell was unable to foresee the strength of the 'merican commitment to
Iemocracy G which prevented much of the predicted geopolitics from coming true G
1984 accurately portrays much of what occurred in the M;;K in the $% years following
WW//) Hrom the perspective of historical satire, much of the inspiration behind "#N$
becomes clear)
*et, the novel is not really about the M;;K, at least not in the way -nimal 2arm is)
;tripped of history, -nimal Harm begins to lose meaning) (here is a certain persistence
in 1984. something about it still impacts readers almost O0 years after it was published
6 P% years after the titular date) Orwell&s study of language continues to strike a chord
in its readers, because in 1984 there is a nagging alarm that manages to remain
relevant as long as there are parallels that can be drawn to modern day events)
Orwellian has entered the public lexicon. use of the word is as evocative as a curse
when it comes to describing governments) /n that sense, perhaps it is unfortunate that
the novel remains in our public consciousness 6 it&s still needed as a check on power)
*et, in an optimistic view that is in no way conveyed by the dystopian piece, by
educating the populace on the dangers of excessive government control, Orwell has
certainly made the path to dominance a lot harder for any aspiring =ig =rothers) /n
many ways, because Winston&s future looks so bleak, our own future may be a little bit
brighter)