A World Of Contradiction Essay Research Paper — страница 2

How is this so? Orwell is subtly employing doublethink on this very subject throughout the novel. There are no laws, but people are living in fear because of possible punishments. If that small section early in the novel is overlooked, the reader believes that there are laws and that is why there is punishment. The idea of punishment has the reader believing that laws exist. An unwritten law is the requirement of all party members to do some kind of volunteer work, and for women, it is usually to become a member of the Anti-Sex Leagues. Julia, Winston s eventual lover, is a member of the Junior Anti-Sex League, and wears the mark which is an odious scarlet sash, [an] aggressive symbol of chastity (17). She is regarded as a virgin, yet she is not. When Winston and Julia are in the

woods about to have sex Winston asks, Have you done this before? Of course. Hundreds of times–well, scores of times, anyway (104). She is revered as a virgin, yet when alone with Winston, she is everything but one. In both contexts, she is accepted as either promiscuous or a virgin. She is two contradicting things simultaneously and they are both conceived as true. Truth, in doublethink, what is truth? Throughout the novel, the reader is often conflicted by two ideas that are both written as facts, yet are complete opposites. Doublethink was Big Brother s way of manipulating his followers, and it is also Orwell s way of manipulating his readers. Orwell used doublethink as not just a concept, but as a mode of writing. The reader is aware of Big Brother controlling a mass of

people while at the same time, Orwell is controlling the readers who, unconsciously, find themselves in the throws of 1984 society.