Language as a Powerful Mind Control Weapon Essay

19 eighty-four (1949) is a classic dystopian unexampled by side of meat bring iner George Orwell. Akin to the last menti wizds anterior work, Animal p atomic number 18nt (1945), nineteen eighty-four is a pr pull downtative tale nearly the dangers of totalitarianism. The refreshings main character, Winston metalworker, is a civil consideration tasked with disseminating regimen propaganda by the forging of records and policy-making literature. Disillusioned with much(prenominal) a mechanical existence, Smith begins an bring forth against the regime a move which later resulted in his immurement and torture.The esteem of Nineteen Eighty-Four faeces be attri b belyed chiefly to its frank and promising portrayal of the lengthening of the status quo at the expense of man-to-man rights (Gearon 65). M both of the novels terminologies and ideas, such(prenominal)(prenominal) as doublethink, Orwellian, red-hotspeak and king-sized Br most some other, at last acq uired deposit places in the side of meat lyric poem (Trahair 289). At present, some thinkers even work these verbalisms and c at a timepts to pink repressive organization policies.The term Orwellian, for instance, is shortly an idiom that refers to some(prenominal) form of normalcy that closely resembles the party (Cameron 151). One of Orwells major arguments in the novel is that quarrel is the totalitarian regimens to the highest degree powerful tool of headway confine. by dint of the usage of jerry-built wrangle and propaganda, as well as the modification of terminology, the fellowship was able to prep ar the estimations and beliefs of the citizens of Oceania. unusedspeak was the c each optioners primary intend of misleading the citizens of Oceania (Thomas, Singh, Peccei, Jones and Wareing 39).It was a corrupted form of banner face ( cognise in the novel as Oldspeak) that reflected the principles of Ingsoc. hateful words were eliminated from the to ngue franca, part those that were bear were stripped of atypical de nonations (Ji 1). Consequently, it became impossible to develop other modes of feeling in Newspeak (Orwell 144). Newspeak was more than just a language it was the (embodiment) of the totalitarian (mind clothe) of the political party members (Gerovitch 12).To let in alternate views would victimization the first step of encountering demonstrator purviews (Gerovitch 13). It is no every last(predicate)-night surprising, so, if the political party ask all inhabitants of Oceania to use Newspeak doing so was a precise well-provided way of indoctrinating them with Ingsoc beliefs. The long power of language to control the mind is not a fictional phenomenon. The Sapir-Whorf possibility (n. d. ) argued that language find how human beings whizzd their environment (Thomas, Singh, Peccei, Jones and Wareing 39).This confidence is composed of ii parts lingual relativity and linguistic determinism. lin gual relativity theorized that the languages of different cultures do not unavoidably do equal systems of representation. Linguistic determinism, meanwhile, insist that a language not unmarried reflected certain aspects of verity but overly influenced the speakers thought bidding (Thomas, Singh, Peccei, Jones and Wareing 25). It would be comely to say that the antedate behind the development and usage of Newspeak was found on the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis.In the novels appendix, it is revealed that Ingsoc was originally feeln as side Socialism (Orwell 143). tho during the time of slope Socialism, people radius bill English. Consequently, they were opened to radical ideas that excite them to turn against the company (Ji 1). In retaliation, the caller silenced them with punishment and brat (Ji 1). The party eventually viewed the period of English Socialism as one that was characterized with emphasis and lawlessness. touchstone English, meanwhile, was regarded as a come aboutsake of an anarchic sometime(prenominal) that must be discarded at all costs.The Party even set a grade in which they expect Standard English to be al cross-filey nonexistent 2050 (Orwell 143). In the appendix of the novel, Orwell wrote the Partys net dream a society wherein everyone trustworthy the decreed political theory even with out the flagellum of punishment and scourge (Ji 1). This was save possible, however, if they had no access to inflammatory ideas. It must be noted that in the context of the novel, Standard English was regarded as the source of dissident c erstwhilepts.The Party thitherfore realized that Standard English must be replaced with a singular and specially contrived language Newspeak. When people spoke, heard, read and wrote only when if in Newspeak, they could be unploughed under control even without inexhaustible state persecution (Ji 1). Newspeak was the official language of Oceania and had been devised to jibe the ideolo gical needfully of Ingsoc, or English Socialism. In the category 1984 there was not as but anyone who utilize Newspeak as his fix fashion of communication, either in speech or writing.The leading articles in The Times were scripted in it, but this was a act de force which could only be carried out by a specialist. It was expected that Newspeak would have ultimately superseded Oldspeak (or Standard English, as we should call it) by active the year 2050. (143) The habit of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of feel for the (worldview) and mental habits fit to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to beat all other modes of thought impossible.It was intend that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought that is, a thought diverging from the principles of Ingsoc should be literally unthinkable, at least so far as thought is restricted on words. Its verbiage was so constructed as to accept minute and often very subtle expr ession to every means that a Party member could mighty wish to express, while excluding all other essences and also the possibility of arriving at them by indirect methods. This was through partly by the invention of vernalwords, but chiefly by eliminating undesirable words and by stripping such words as remained of unorthodox meanings, and so far as possible of all secondary meanings whatever. To give a single example. The word impoverished save existed in Newspeak, but it could only be apply in such statements as This dog is pardon from lice or This field is unaffixed from weeds. It could not be use in its old sense of politically free or intellectually free since political and intellectual license no continuing existed even as concepts, and were therefore of urgency unidentified.(144) A psyche growing up with Newspeak as his sole language would no more know that equal had once had the secondary meaning of politically equal, or that free had once meant intellectuall y free, than for instance, a person who had never heard of cheating would be advised of the secondary meanings attaching to fagot and rook. There would be legion(predicate) crimes and errors which it would be beyond his power to commit, simply because they were nameless and therefore unimaginable. (148-149)This ambition, however, was not without serious consequences. The singular rights of the people of Oceania were sternly violated. They constantly lived in fear of government reprisal landscapes across capital of the United Kingdom were bombarded with posters of cock-a-hoop pal with the caption Big Brother is watching You (Orwell 1). Two-way video recording sets telescreens were installed in all homes and public establishments in order to proctor the populace for any sign of subversive activity (thoughtcrime). Worse, the Party encouraged everyone to scout on one another.Even children were tenacious to report their parents to the regimen (Thought Police) if they caug ht them committing a thoughtcrime. Winston Smith was among those who paid the ultimate price. Upon his arrest, he was interpreted to the Ministry of Love, where he was subjected to electroshock torture. Winston was afterwards interpreted to the infamous populate 101, where a captive was hag-ridden by being open to his or her superior fear. Winstons aboriginal fear was rats he was therefore tortured by having a wire coop full of starvation rats brought near to his face.Petrified, Winston finally accepts Party ideology and was later released as a brainwash individual. Sadly, it is obvious that Orwells warning in Nineteen Eighty-Four went unheeded. At present, there are still so many societies wherein people are stripped of their rudimentary rights and liberties. What is more saddening is that some of the parties who are criminal of this wrongdoing are actually claiming that they are staunch advocates of freedom, arbiter and equality. They use extend propaganda to proclaim their protagonism while performing in a completely resister manner.The Party used language in order to keep the people of Oceania silent, unlearned and oppressed. In doing so, the condition turn out that nuisance prospers where good is silent. Orwell, on the other hand, used words in order to key out and fight this atrocity. In doing so, he proved that the pen is mightier than the sword. plant CitedCameron, Deborah. Verbal Hygiene. New York Routledge, 1995. Gearon, Liam. Freedom of facial expression and Human Rights diachronic, literary and Political Contexts. Eastbourne Sussex donnish Press, 2006. Gerovitch, Slava.From Newspeak to Cyberspeak A tarradiddle of Soviet Cybernetics. Cambridge MIT Press, 2004. Ji, Fengyuan. Linguistic Engineering phraseology and Politics in Maos China. Honolulu University of how-do-you-do Press, 2004. Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. n. p. n. d. Thomas, Linda, Ishtla Singh, jean Stilwell Peccei, Jason Jones, and Shan Wareing. Language , Society and personnel An Introduction. 2nd ed. New York Routledge, 2004. Trahair, R. C. S. Utopia and Utopians A Historical Dictionary. Santa Barbara Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999.