In the second half of Book 1, we learn quite a bit about the methods of control used by the government. The most effective are language (which you have already discussed) and changing the past. Discuss the concept of “controlling the past,” both as a concept and the specific methods the Party uses. Why is this method so devastatingly effective?
When taking a look at the two methods of control, changing the past plays a very large role in the aspect control. In today's society, it would be very difficult convince everyone that... let's say... WWII didn't happen. Too many people would know that it did occur. But, in the society of 1984, the Party creates something called the Ministry of Truth, which its soul purpose is to rewrite the past to whatever the Party wants it to be so that whatever they say is fact. And, a lot of the time, the Party changes its mind. So, the Ministry of Truth is quite busy. But, they basically rewrite the history, proclaim the new 'truth' either in writing or through the telescreen, and destroy an evidence or documents of what could have been the past... that includes all books. So, in 1984, books don't exist anymore. That's how the Ministry of Truth can get away with changing/controlling the past so well. They can get away with saying that they (the Party) invented air planes and they've (Oceania) always have been fighting with Eastasia and allied with Eurasia even though they clearly didn't invent the airplane and were arch enemies with Eurasia not that long ago. But, controlling the past is what the party does in order to keep their way of life going.
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1 comment:
I agree with your point on the idea that if we had a ministry of truth in today's society and they tried to make us believe that WWII didn't happen, people would not believe it. Unlike people in the party, we do not block out the memory and listen to the things our government tells us. We are not good little sheep doing as we're told, we all have opinions, and in our society we get our ideas out there. I also think that we would keep books, and one thing I think that our society would warm up to would be a telescreen, cause when you look at it, we might have a Wii that is like that in the near future. I do not think that controlling the past woulw work in our society today, and I agree with you on this.
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