We are all mental. Where we walk the fine line between reality and what is not reality, we must be careful not to count two plus two as five, but as four as reality tells us it is. Doublethink is a curious concept that the governing party has adopted quite efficiently that allows them to manipulate the society into what they want it to be. However, not only does the governing party of '1984' use it, but it is present in modern society today too.
Similar to the necessity of it at a war front, soldiers of today are stereotypically told to merely follow orders, without question. Where ignorance is bliss, soldiers are kept in bliss excepted to only follow orders. Without question and only action, this is also similar to how the Brotherhood is expected to act.
However, being an integral part of the world of '1984,' "Even the humblest Party member is expected to be competent, industrious and even intelligent within narrow limits, but it is also necessary that he should be a credulous and ignorant fanatic whose prevailing moods are fear, hatred, adulation and orgiastic triumph." page 200. A balance between 'think' and 'don't think' must be struck. Even while being asked to make use of one's brain, one must be securely ignorant, allowing only thoughts of approved queries to appear in your brain. This of course, is a goal of the '1984' government, and their use of Newspeak that will limit vocabulary so much that thought crime will become impossible without the right words.
Doublethink is shown in the novel, when in mid-speech, the enemy is switched between Eurasia and Eastasia and people just accepted it, and even though they knew that, they continued to swallow every word the speaker was saying.
In modern day society, we have words for things that represent two contradicting ideas that make sense: oxymorons and paradoxes. Even though those in '1984' are merely trained puppies, we know that we can't believe everything what we think we see. When two plus two equals four, we all walk the line between sane and insane.
page 195-215
1 comment:
Doublethink is one of the more interesting aspects of the world in 1984 and it delights me that you commented on it! Again, you have a captivating opening sentence. It makes people think twice. You make a very interesting comparison between the military and the society of Oceania. I had never thought about it before. The only thing (very small thing) I can correct you on is a typo in the second paragraph. Very good work!
Post a Comment