Party example essay topic
(Hollis 207) Winston worked in the Ministry of Truth and changed newspapers to represent Big Brother and if people said they remembered something, it was considered Thought Crime and was punishable by death. Orwell shows us that people who cannot remember history are doomed to repeat it. Many of the methods that the Party in 1984 uses to sustain its absolute power, such as the rewriting of history and the use of political icons, were actually employed in Communist nations around the world (Big Brother is similar to Lenin in the Soviet Union and Mao in China). Every day Winston hears on the tele screen the Two Minutes of Hate which came on every day. This was usually to test the people to see if they believed in the party. The person usually giving this speech is the former leader of the party Emmanuel Goldstein who is the enemy of the people.
Winston could not talk to any of his co-workers. He was not allowed to possess memories and if you were caught some, how it was all punishable by the Thought Police. Everyone was living in horrible conditions. George Orwell described the provinces of Oceania, Decaying, dingy cities where underfed people shuffled to and fro in leaky shoes, in patched-up nineteenth century houses that smelt always of cabbage and bad lavatories. To me this sentence gave me a good mental picture of where and how these people were living.
(Orwell 77) Oceania is at war with Eurasia and had an alliance with Eastasia. Later on in the book, this changes as Oceania denies ever having an alliance with Eurasia. The territory of these three nations was constantly being captured or recaptured as each nation was really at war with each other. There were no alliances. All three super-states are permanently at war, and have been for over 25 years. (Orwell 193) They have been fighting each other for so long because there is no one who has the power to do so and they are at war for no specific reason.
It seems as though they are fighting just for the fun of it. It was one way of keeping the people of Oceania involved in the Party. If they were to win the war eventually the citizens would support the party for eternity but if they were to lose the people would most likely revolt. The balance of power between these three nations always seems to be even as the war goes on as each nation has its on protection by its geography. Due to the nature of the ruling faction, and the political system that perpetuates it, the theme of power is very important to the story. The Partys very existence is based on the pursuit of power.
(Phil mus 62) They use this power to maintain that which they already have, and in the attempt to gain more power; e.g. the near constant warring with both Eastasia and Eurasia. When Winston has been noticing that a girl that has been following him lately, he was afraid to talk to her because of the tele screens and the Thought Police. He could not trust her. Then after a few weeks this girl ends of handing him a note and on it, she says that she loves him. Winston is shocked by this and does not know what to do because he is still married but has not seen his wife in 20 years. She is presumed dead.
Winston then agrees to meet with her at a secret spot, which she gave him directions to. He finds out her name is Julia. Because of this meeting, Winston became horrified of the Thought Police thinking he might be caught and punished. He thought the only way to escape this was to commit suicide but he ended up changing his mind as he began to love Julia.
Instead, he smoked his Victory Cigarettes and drank his Victory Gin. If Winston and Julia were to get married, it would have to be approved by a committee and would be denied if they were thought to be physically attracted to one another. The only purpose for marriage was so party members could have children for the service of the party. The party had been trying for years to get rid of attraction of the opposite sex.