Relevance_of_George_Owrells_1984

Nineteen eighty four: Relevance today The year Nineteen Eighty Four has past; clearly George Orwell’s prophecy has not come true. While his novel is entertaining it is no longer relevant anymore. Although there are many aspects of the novel which conform to this statement there is an overwhelming amount of evidence which suggests that the novel and reality are more closely related then many people may believe or like to believe. All someone has to do is cast their eyes on a calendar to prove that George Orwell’s prophecy has not come to pass, but the date is where the differences between the novel and reality end. In a literal sense there are obvious aspects of the novel witch seem fully fictional like big brother, Ingsoc and newspeak. However these aspects of the novel have taken different forms in reality, and still hold relevance in today’s world. In Nineteen Eighty Four, George Orwell warns of the terrifying dangers that man may create for himself in his quest for a utopian society.  It warns that people might believe that everyone must become slaves to the government in order to have an orderly society, but at the expense of the freedom of the people. This is proven in the evolution of society, it seems that the more laws we develop to protect our civilizations the more freedom we seem to lose and the more control our government gets, for the party to protect its citizens it has to control everything that affects the citizens’ even history. This history control scares Winston "If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say this or that even, it never happened—that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death." —pg 32 But is history controlled now and if it is, how and why is it controlled' In today’s world society seems to have an addiction to the discovery of historical artifacts and the past in general, but to many peoples surprise historians believe that over 20 % of all our recorded history is incorrect and of that 10 % is unknown. The reason why historians believe this is because nearly all history is passed down through legend, from person to person and just like a game of Chinese whispers, facts can be distorted and fabricated very easily. This fabrication of historical events and facts is still current in this time. Since the beginning of Australia’s involvement in the Iraq war the Prim Minister John Howard constantly waved accusations that the war in Iraq was started so that Australia could have control of one of the main oil suppliers in the world, but just a few weeks ago John Howard announced that the war in Iraq was always due to the securing of Australia’s oil supply and that it was not his intention to mislead the public, so it is quite obvious to see why historians believe what they do. This recent event is only one example of the many falsities in today’s world, and is also an example of the significance that Nineteen Eighty Four has today. It shows the similarities between the two realities and warns us not to believe in hearsay because if we only believe in what people say and don’t try to find out the truth four ourselves, than anything can become true and as Winston Smith say this is much more terrifying than mere torture and death. As mentioned earlier for humanity to have a utopian society the government needs to have absolute control, this even means language control, George Orwell does this by introducing us to the concept of newspeak. Newspeak is a language being implemented by the government which basically removes all words that in any way conflict with government objectives. The justification behind Newspeak is that if people have no knowledge of rebellious words, they will be unable to have rebellious thoughts and therefore be unable to rebel or even question the government. "Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought' Has it ever occurred to you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now'…The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact, there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness." —Syme, pg 46-47 Human beings use words to structure their thoughts, even when you think in your head, you do it in the language you know best so without the words to express them, certain thoughts, in essence, cease to exist. Anthropologists also theorize that young children are better able to make memories when they have words to which they can connect images, which is why the first memory for most people coincides with the period when they were learning to speak. Thus, by controlling language, the Party is able to control not only people's thoughts, but also their ability to make memories. The relevance that newspeak has in today’s language is in the form of text messaging, msn and many more time saving ways of writing words. Although these languages aren’t forms of control implemented by the government, they are an example of how our language is being shortened and it may have the same effect like newspeak has in the novel witch is loss of our individualities. Most of humanities greatest expressions of self come from the use of expressive languages, so as you can see it would be a great shame if we decide to shorten our language on the basis of efficiency. Nineteen eighty four warns us of this and shows us how important words are in our society. Nineteen Eighty Four is a despotic world, full of fear and propaganda, it’s hard to believe how anyone could live in these situations, but Winston gets along. He has the ability to hold his independence, his sanity even though he might feel like committing suicide. Although there are other people in the world of Nineteen Eighty Four a rare few keep there independence but this may not be a good thing. When people think of the relevance that nineteen eighty four has today they think the book is some sort of warning of the bad things to come in pursuit for a utopian society. But what if its not, what if it is a window of the great possibilities that a Big Brother government will open for us, at first it would seem preposterous to believe this is what Gorge Orwell set out to do when writing the novel, it may be a possibility that even he overlooked When you read the novel you get this overwhelming sense that the people of Oceania are mindless drones that will believe anything Big Brother Says. This is true and because it is the above statement may not be as preposterous as first thought because it takes us to that famous phase ignorance is bliss. Imagine a perfect world where everything you wanted was there, times of plenty and prosperity this it what you would see if you saw the world through the eyes of citizen of Oceania. Although this is the complete opposite to the reality it does not matter, if Big Brother said that a plastic apple is real not only will they see a real apple the will feel smell and taste it as a real apple and eventually it will become a real as anything else. Throughout history man has desired happiness, though everyone has different views on what this is, it has been the one thing we live for, and the Big Brother government allows this and gives it to everyone that will accept it. As mentioned earlier all people have different views on what happiness is so what does it matter what the subject is, if it’s real in your eyes then it is real. See how the Big Brother government is good, Big Brother and the parties have the ability to remove all that’s bad they are able to remove poverty, famine disease and the unwanted memories man may create for himself. They do all this without doing anything all they have to do is say that chocolate rations have risen “from 30grams to 30 grams” not only would it seem true it will become true. So it’s easy to see how nineteen eighty four is relevant today it may be the best option for our future governments. So if the Big Brother government can do all this why is the novel constantly seen as a warning of all the terrors to come' The reason for this is because of the one thing Big Brother does not give to the people witch is the ability to love. The ability to love is the pinnacle of happiness; Big Brother can give materiel needs and peace of mind, but love the pinnacle of happiness is denied. No wonder Winston wants to rebel against Big Brother and the party, why wouldn’t he when he can trade in happiness for love. Love, we have all experienced it. Whether it is from our parents’ friend of lovers we have all experienced it and because of that we may sometimes take if for granted. But in the world of nineteen eighty four its non existent to most people, but there are exceptions to every rule, Winston and Julia are those exceptions. Throughout the novel Winston and Julia develop a sexual relationship in an attempt to defy the party and Big Brother. They first meet when Julia slips Winston a not simply stating I love you. After they meet a few times they realize they have to get a more permanent and secluded place they find one in a room above Mr. Clarington’s apartment. Eventually they get caught as part of an elaborate scheme from O’Brian. When they do Winston goes to room 101 in the Ministry of Truth, while there he goes through hell. He’s constantly beaten and tortured but he holds on to the last thing Julia said to him ‘they can’t get inside you’ eventually they even get to this; they force him to bargain with the one thing he holds dear his love for Julia. Although this shows that love can be defeated it also show’s how powerful love is, it did come under big brothers control but it was the last part of Winston to give in and for that we should appreciate how amazing love is and not take it for granted. 1984 shows us how important it is and why we shouldn’t take such a big part of our selves and our culture for granted. Now as we’ve seen it’s easy to see how Nineteen eighty four holds relevance in our society but what many people don’t realize is that Nineteen eighty four is part of our society not just a book of similarities between the two realities. Nearly every news article concerning privacy violations by any company or government mentions 'Big Brother' in some fashion. As opposed to just saying that some person or a group is violating privacy; people just say, 'Big Brother is watching you'. This term has become more than just part of a fictional story from the mid-twentieth century; it defines the fear of being watched by some unseen group. An example of this is the recent concerns over the U.S. Government's advancement towards closer watch of people within its borders to prevent terrorism. Some feel that in order to have any security; citizens in America must be willing to give up some privacy. Others feel that this is a step towards giving the U.S. Government more power than necessary. The people opposed to losing any privacy often make references to Nineteen eighty four and Big Brother. Privacy International even gives out Big Brother Awards to the government agencies, companies and initiatives that do the most to invade personal privacy. Winners have included Oracle CEO Larry Ellison for promoting a national ID card and Attorney General John Ashcroft for 'a massive increase in wiretapping of phones and other electronics and for the imprisonment without charge of as many as 1,200 people in the United States in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on America'. For those who have never read Nineteen eighty four: don't be thrown off by the title and think that this book is a thing of the past. Although the year has come and gone, this book is as relevant today as it was when it was first written in 1949. The story and its principals are timeless. George Orwell predicted events and situations in society that happened after the writing of this book and are happening today. George Orwell prophecies about how governments can control a society are subtle but powerful. Orwell also lays out the failures of past controlling government such as the Communists in Russia, the Nazis in Germany, and even the Inquisition. He then gives a perfected plan on how a government can control a group of people and remain in control. The Plan is sobering as the reader will realize all of these methods are used today by various governments. Currently, there is not one government instituting all the methods, but if one takes many of the methods used by different governments today and adds them up, the sum is Big Brother. So it‘s quite easy to see that the statement that George Orwell’s Nineteen eighty four is irrelevant to today’s time is simply false, not only does Nineteen Eighty Four hold relevance in society, it is a part of our society.