1984

1984 take-home literary analysis final essay

In George Orwell’s political allegory 1984 the Party of Oceania develops a government which is able to exert complete and total control over all of its citizens through their ability to dictate to the citizens what is and is not true. Truth is defined as
1. the true or actual state of a matter
2. conformity with fact or reality
3. actuality or actual existence

In the climactic scene where O’Brien is torturing, interrogating, and “reforming” Winston, O’Brien says “Only the disciplined mind can see reality, Winston. You believe that reality is something objective, external, existing in its own right. You also believe that the nature of reality is self-evident. When you delude yourself into thinking that you see something, you assume that everyone else sees the same thing as you. But I tell you, Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes; only in the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal. Whatever the Party holds to be truth is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party (205).”

In a well-developed five-paragraph literary analysis essay, explain the ways in which the Party is able to define “truth” and “reality” for all of Oceania and analyze why these measures are so effective in leading to 100% control and domination of the human mind and free will.