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Manipulation through Newspeak It is advantageous for every totalitarian society to have a medium by which they are able to control the minds of the citizens. Oceania of 1984, led by their supreme leader Big Brother, is a society of absolute dictatorship. Big Brother has unquestionable and unlimited power. However, in order to sustain his unquestionable power, he needs all the citizens to obey, fear and respect him. Big Brother achieves this by controlling and manipulating the citizen’s thoughts. Newspeak, a language he devises specifically for the purpose of controlling his citizens, also helps him to attain the perception as a good leader. Newspeak holds the key to Big Brother’s absolute, tyrannical power; control over people’s thoughts, emotions and actions and ultimately erases the possibility of rebellion. An interesting feature of Newspeak is the power to separate people that lie in its division into A, B and C categories. The words are linked on a fundamental level to unite the citizens on a basic level, but are also distinct according to the different aspects of society. The fundamental in which all words can be related to is category A. They are words that are needed in everyday life such as eating or drinking. Category B consists of words deliberately created for political use. These words were devised to post a certain mental attitude on a person. In many cases, the words in category B are euphemisms. ‘Such word for instance, as joy camp (forced-labor camp) or Minipax (Ministry of peace, i.e. Ministry of War) meant almost the exact opposite of what they appeared to mean’ (Orwell, 320). Only people with proper political knowledge would be able to understand and apply the vocabulary in a proper manner. Vocabulary C is dedicated wholly to scientific and technical terms. Like the other two categories, the words in this category are stripped of any undesirable meanings. These words are useful only when the people communicating work as either scientist or technicians. Although all the words are somewhat linked, they are divided according to the specific aspects of society that they deal with. This division is able to divide the citizens of Oceania.
Approximate Word count = 1402
Approximate Pages = 5.6
(250 words per page double spaced)
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