The novel Nineteen Eighty – Four by George Orwell represents a dystopian society that serves a warning to our present day. I agree with the statement that the most successful texts helps us to think but doesn’t tell us what to do and in terms of Nineteen Eighty – Four, Orwell does exactly this through language, manipulation and invasion of privacy. These themes and ideas are presented throughout the novel to open up the reader’s mind and consider whether this is happening in our society today rather than telling us to do something about it. Langauge and manipulation are used to help us think about our present-day through Newspeak and the Party manipulating its citizens by invading privacy with the use of telescreens, big brother and thoughtcrime. The reader is presented with a society where citizens are forced to conceal their identities by the party, the ruling force of the nation.

By simplifying the language in Oceania Orwell helps the reader to think about how similar our vocabulary is to the one in the novel, and how much it has been dumbed down without telling us to do something about it. In the novel, mini plenty controls Oceanias language, Newspeak. We are confronted with a series of neologisms such as “plus good”, “doublethink” and “uncold”. Orwell uses this type of language to remove emotion from a sentence and put language in its simplest form. The Party do this to control its citizens, and to limit them from using less of their own thoughts where they could then form groups against the state. The type of language in the novel helps the reader think about how similar it is in our present world. Language such as “lol” is exactly what Orwell warned us about. However, we are surrendering our thoughts and the citizens of Oceania are forced to. This is were Orwell helps us to think, our language is so similar to Newspeak and is constantly getting smaller. By the year 2050… not a single person will be alive who can understand the conversation we are having now”

News and information that is presented to citizens of Oceania are untrue. The Party give them false information to keep society in order and keep the love for big brother alive. Orwell helps the reader to think about how similar this is in our society today, as we can alter information at any time and rarely know if a source is true or not. Winston works in the Ministry of Plenty where his job is to rewrite history and change articles in newspapers Truth they reach the public. “Who controls the present controls the past… who controls the past controls the future” Orwell uses this method of manipulation and control to present a world of lies controlled by the government. This manipulation and control is further developed throughout the novel with 2 minutes hate. Orwell uses Two Minutes Hate to manipulate citizens into going against people who challenge the party such as Goldstein. In doing this Orwell uses control through though police and telescreens to force citizens to these occasions so that they can be brainwashed. “a desire to kill, to torture… seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current, turning one against one’s will”. Here Orwell helps the reader to think without telling them what to do because again, this happens in our society. It helps the reader realise that, for example, if a group of people have the same opinion about something it is common for others to get on the bandwagon and express the same feelings even if it’s not what they truly believe.

Private space in the sense of being free form observation had successfully been terminated by the aid of two-way telescreens and hidden microphones installed on every corner and every home; a direct effect of these methods of control is an extreme dismantling of privacy. Invasion of privacy is such a huge idea in Orwell’s novel that is implemented in any way possible. This helps the reader to think because our world is so much similar, we have street cameras, police cameras, security cameras in many public spaces without our permission to be filmed. “It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when in the range of a telescreen, the smallest thing could give you away.” The Party’s surveillence tactics and technology are so advanced that even the smallest movement could betray you. The state use such heavy surveillence to control citizens because without it they fear that people will start to form loyalties and groups and eventually go against the Party, which they may not be able to control.

George Orwells novel Nineteen Eighty four is more than a work of fiction, it helps the reader to think about how these events and ideas are happening in our society years on from when the novel was published. Orwell presented a warning and helped us realise the similiarity between our worlds without telling us what to do about it. These ideas of surveilence, manipulaton and change in language give us small in