Wednesday 2 March 2011

Power: What is power within the book? In your opinion what makes a person powerful?

In the dystopian society of Oceania in George Orwell's novel 1984, power over the mind and power over the past are both necessary to ensure power over the population.  Striving to control the past is demonstrated by the party slogan "Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.”  Here, the Party promulgates the idea that whatever government is in power at a given time has the power to control everything that is, everything that was, and everything that ever will be.  The Party creates the illusion of its own immortality by claiming that it has always been right, is always right and will always be right by falsifying the records of the past.  By doing this, the population perceives that resistance is futile, and submits completely to the power of the Party.  Control of the past therefore ensures the survival of the Party.  Power over the mind of the population is also crucial to ensure the Party’s complete control.  The Party uses fear and intimidation to control the minds of its population. Surveillance is used to ensure that no deviation from Big Brother’s doctrine can take place.  This surveillance gives the Party a god-like appearence in that the Party seems to be all-knowing and ever-watching for your sins.  This changes the entire perception of the Party.  The Party essentially brainwashes its population through the skewed education it provides children (The Spies, Juniour Anti-Sex League) and through the malleability of the past under its' rule.  Self-control of the mind, in the form of “doublethink,” is also vital to the survival of the Party.  It allows the public to willingly accept all lies that the Party may disseminate.  This allows the Party to mutate the past and impose its hypocritical, contradictory values on the population.  All in all, power over the past and power over the mind are crucial to the survival of the power of the Party.



In order to be considered powerful a person must be in the possession of several qualities and attributes.  First and foremost, a person must be confident in themselves, and appear to be without doubt in their decisions.  In the novel, the Brotherhood represents self-doubt, as they deviate from the purpose of the entity that is Oceania.  The confidence of the Party is demonstarted by the "vapourization" of the dissidents.  The Party could not survive without the full support of each and every one of its members, which explains why heretics are tortured before they are killed.  Without the torture, the Brotherhood members would never submit to the ideals of the Party.  However, after the torture, the heretics embrace the Party's ideals wholeheartedly.  Secondly, in order to be truly powerful, one must have influence.  Sheer confidence is not enough to be powerful; one must actually be able to shape events in order to merit the description.  The actions of the Party leaders affect war strategy, the rations of the population, and the daily lives of each and every citizen of Oceania.  The Party goes one step further though, by actually changing history.  The Party is truly powerful in that it can influence the present, the past and the future.  Thirdly, in order to stay in power, one must appear to be compassionate.  Compassions implies a connectionwith the people and empathy for their situation.  If the ruler does not appear compassionate, people would be unlikely to support him, because they would perceive that the ruler would not have their best interests at heart and would be out of touch with what their lives are like.  Though Winston sees through the actions of Big Brother, the vast majority of the Party population thinks that whatever the Party leaders do, be it a wartime strategy, or cutting the ration of chocolate, it is in the best interest of the population.  Even Big Brother’s name creates the illusion of a compassionate, caring, approachable leader that is a memeber of your own family.  Even if it is not a compassionate system, the appearance of compassion renders the Party powerful.  All in all, one must be confident, influential, and compassionate in order to be powerful.

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