1984 Essay Research Paper Orwell s society — страница 2

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the Party ultimately denied their members all means of checking information. Yet through careful observation (as for instance Winston did) people could realise that indeed the Party insidiously manipulated their existence. As a matter of fact this is one of the potential dangers of empirical thinking for the system : By carefully controlling and judging information people might notice that for instance the whole functioning of society, the devotion of the government and the father figure of Big Brother, all was a carefully constructed lie. As a matter of fact contrary to the Party propaganda their standard of living was not constantly increasing, Goldstein did probably not exist nor is there any threat of an immediate invasion of any part of Oceania. Ultimately an awareness might

arise that the state massively manipulates and blurs reality and that their whole party-distorted existence has no relation to reality whatsoever but only aims at sustaining the Party s authority. Winston s rational behaviour reveals to which extent an empirical way of thinking constitutes a threat to the system. Although small and unimportant as a person himself, many Winstons might eventually cause the downfall of the Party. Indeed Winston is the living evidence of Goldstein s statement that empirical thought opposes the Party s principles. Another crucial concept contrived to maintain the system is the concept of doublethink . In practise it means the power of holding simultaneously two contradictory beliefs in one s mind and accepting both of them. In Nineteen Eighty-Four

this is not merely a way of thinking, it is a doctrine. It is a concept which lies at the very heart of Ingsoc. Undoubtedly an empirical point of view radically contradicts the concept of doublethink . Hence this is another fundamental reasons why Goldstein s book identifies empirical thought as opposed to the most fundamental principles of Ingsoc . Indeed it refutes the very relativism (i.e. 2 x 2 = 5) as displayed by the regime s spokesman O Brien in the Ministry of Truth during Winston s interrogation. Another example of doublethink is the idea of world-conquest which is believed in most firmly by those Inner Party members who know it to be impossible (1984 p.225). As a general rule the greater the understanding the greater the delusion: the more intelligent, the less sane.

Hence the somehow paradoxical conclusion that the prevailing mental condition in Oceania must be one of controlled insanity (1984 p.225). Eventually it is the denial of reality which is the special feature of Ingsoc (1984 p.205).