Thursday, April 25, 2013
Language and Thoughtcrime
In this section of George Orwell's 1984, Winston and one of his comrades, Syme, discuss the idea that the society is trying to eliminate unnecessary words from the language. By eliminating words and streamlining the language into the bare minimum required for communication, the government will be able to "narrow the range of thought," which will make thoughtcrime impossible (52). Since there will be no words to express ideas with, there will no way to have thoughts against the Party. Syme describes the new society as a place where people will live their lives "not needing to think" (53). I think it is interesting that in this society, the government is blatantly trying to eliminate thought of any kind, while in other novels that we have read, such as The Handmaid's Tale, the government tries to manipulate what people think, but not eliminate thought entirely. I also think it is interesting that free thought is what the Party fears the most, since it shows how powerful that can be. Even Winston notes that Syme will be vaporized, because he is too intelligent. Changing the language parallels Winston's job; by changing what is written in the past, he essentially makes it impossible for anything to contradict the Party. Likewise, by eliminating most words, people will not be able to have thoughts against the Party or communicate anything that opposes the Party. In order for the Party to remain in power, they have to prevent any rebellion, and to do this, they have to get rid of any thought that goes against them.
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This is really interesting. I think that the oppressive society Orwell creates in 1984 is one of the most frightening out of all our dystopian novels. In other societies, you can at least keep your head high and your thoughts rebellious, as Offred did. But in 1984, even that is impossible; you have to surrender yourself to the Party heart, mind, and soul. Winston (and everyone else) lives in constant fear of a tiny slip up, a small contradiction of the 'truth' (even if the truth happened to be edited a moment ago), which wears down on them until resistance is impossible.
ReplyDeleteI find the power of language to be quite significant in this text, although I also like your allusion to The Handmaid's Tale, because Gilead does try to control language through the regulated dialogue of the ceremony and between handmaids. In that text, too, we see Offred losing the internal battle - more slowly than Winston, surely, but still becoming increasingly willing to give up her rebellious thoughts, partly due to her restricted language.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting how in 1984 the government tries to control the way people think by getting rid of words so they have no way to think about certain things since they have no way to describe them. In my book, Never Let Me Go, the children are not told anything about their future and they are kept away from the rest of society so that they won't know anything. While my novel is much different than 1984 I never thought about the fact that both novels explore the idea of limiting thought and questioning. If you don't know what you want to object or have no way to explain what you object you can't object to it.
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