As the reader understands the society more, so does Winston Smith. Winston realizes in one of his diary entries how the government survives: "Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious." (90) In other words, the people cannot rebel against the nation because the nation tells them what to think.
Another method that the government maintains its power is through hope. In this section, the lottery is depicted as a major event. The lottery is so important to some people that it is "the only reason for remaining alive." (109) Orwell used the lottery to represent the hope that is still left in Oceania. However, the lottery only helps Big Brother by making his people believe that they have a chance. The lottery is Big Brother's way of keeping his citizens happy enough to accept the horrible totalitarian government that rules them.
Orwell shows how a government can hold its power by suppression with a small amount of hope. Through these ideas, it is alarmingly realistic how the government of Oceania keeps its incredible power.
I, too am reading 1984 and I agree that the only way a sort of totalitarian government is through a degree of manipulation. One of the most horrifying forms of their manipulation to me is when Syme was explaining to Winston how they were updating their language to make the idea of rebellion impossible to even express through expunging words or altering them. What do you think is the most alarming form of manipulation that Big Brother uses?
ReplyDeleteYou mention that the government becomes more understandable to the reader at the same time as it does to Winston. Is the story then written in first person view? Or is it third person omniscient so we get Winston's thoughts? If either of these is true, how big an impact do you find that Winston's thoughts have on you as the reader; would it be different reading the book from another character's perspective?
ReplyDeleteDo you think this book had more of an impact on its initial readers because it came out so close to the totalitarian governments of the WWII era?
ReplyDeleteWe saw in Brave New World how the government kept people unaware of the problems, through sleep teaching and conditioning; how does Big Brother control their thoughts, exactly? And what is it a lottery for?
To answer your first question, yes, there is more of an impact because of the time period. Many people around the time period were worried when they heard about the totalitarian governments of Germany and the Soviet Union. Also, with nationalism movements in the United States and England, people were worried that their governments had too much support. Dystopian novels like 1984 were needed at the time to remind society of the importance of individualism.
DeleteThe Party controls its people in a similar way to the World State. The Party uses propaganda, and the World State uses conditioning; however propaganda is really a form of conditioning.
The lottery is also one of the ways that the Party controls its people. The department that runs the lottery is ironically the Ministry of Plenty, which does not give its people enough supplies. Because there are poor living conditions, winning the lottery would enable a lower class member to get the supplies that they are lacking.