Saturday 21 December 2013

How do the three party slogans (Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength, War is Peace) become truthful by the end of 1984?

These three
slogans are all quite paradoxical since they appear to be contradictory, yet hold a great deal
of truth in relation to the novel.  Remember that this is a Dystopian novel that takes place in
a Totalitarian society where all personal freedoms, including the ability to think for one's
self, have been stripped away.

Freedom is Slavery:
With freedom comes the responsibility of making choices.  In this society, people
are usually punished for independent thinking or any type of behavior that is not dictated or
approved by The Party.  If people made their own choices in this society they would likely be
captured by the Thought Police and vaporized.  Freedom is slavery because freedom would lead to
bondage and death in this society.  You become a slave to yourself, a slave to the
responsibility of thinking and acting on your own.  By allowing the party to strip away your
freedoms, you no longer possess the responsibility to think or make decisions and are
"free" from the threat of capture and
vaporization.

Ignorance is Strength: As
mentioned before, knowledge and free-thinking will ultimately lead to being captured and
vaporized in this society.  By remaining ignorant you remain strong, because you are not a
threat to The Party.  If you possess knowledge asand Syme did, The Party becomes threatened by
your abilities.  Having knowledge may lead people to question Big Brother and eventually attempt
to overthrow the government.  Ignorance is strength, because it keeps you alive and safe from
the threat of capture and death.

War is Peace:
The people in this society need somewhere to direct their anger which is why The
Party invented Emmanuel Goldstein.  If the people do not believe that Oceania is at war and
threatened by Emmanuel Goldstein, they will start to question the conditions they are living in
and the laws established by the government and eventually direct their anger towards Big
Brother.  War is peace, because war unites the people of Oceania and maintains harmony within
that particular super-state in order to avoid the threat of
mutiny.

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