Patriotism is the love that people feel for their country; in the novel 1984, George Orwell consistently utilizes a three sentence slogan to illustrate a world with patriotism taken to the extremes. These sentences are “War is peace” where individuals accept the constant warring, “Freedom is slavery” where the people ignore their own thoughts, “Ignorance is strength” where the individuals blindly follows the Party’s orders. Through this slogan, Orwell describes a future where the ignorant and loyal prevail and support an endless war.
The first phrase “War is peace” advocates war because it promotes patriotism and devotion to the country. Most of the characters, aside from the proles, were born in an era where war was present. War makes them believe that without war there is no peace because if all the countries were at peace then tensions between them could still be present. “The world went through the same war, one must realize in the first place that it is impossible for it to be decisive.” Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia use the endless war to convince their subjects that the only way to live is by constantly supporting the war. The Party conveys to the citizens that their peaceful everyday life occurred during war and to maintain such peace, it needs war. Since “a peace that was truly permanent would be the same as a permanent war,” the absence of war cannot exist because even if there was no war the three nations would still have disputes over boundaries or some other issue. Therefore, the Party states that peace cannot exist without war, so the only solution to preserve peace is to have permanent war.
The second phrase “Freedom is slavery” tricks individuals in the novel into believing that real freedom makes them a slave to their desires and weaknesses. The Party believes that these thoughts are enemies to citizens and wants them to eliminate love towards everyone except Big Brother. “In the Two Minutes Hate … everyone was obliged to act a part, but, on the contrary, … it was impossible to avoid joining in.” This is one method the Party uses to find individuals who are against them. Orwell describes the need for individuals to prove their loyalty in order to survive and free themselves from their own disagreements with the Party. According to Winston, “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.” However, the Party denies freedom of thought and forces all their subjects to be oblivious to everything and only listen to what it say. To them, their citizens should not have any thoughts because freedom forces them to try to selfishly follow their own desires like slave to themselves.
The third phrase “Ignorance is strength” demonstrates that the people’s ignorance gives the Party strength because they can manipulate evidence and facts. The people willingly obey and follow all their orders without knowing what they are actually doing. Many of these individual’s jobs, like Winston’s, are to hide and change facts to allow people to have faith in the Party. Many “books… were recalled and rewritten again and again, and were invariably reissued without any admission that any alteration had been made” to hide information from the people. The protagonist, Winston, figures out the real problem with this system and realizes the Party has tricked their citizens. Orwell exhibits the citizen’s oblivious attitude toward everything shown to them and their growing faith for the party allows them to follow the party’s orders. Their new language’s, Newspeak, main purpose was “not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible.” The Party utilizes this language to create more ignorant citizens. The strength of their nation is its ability to allow individuals to forget all traces of rebellion and continue to fight with the country without knowing what is right or wrong.
Orwell creates a monotonous world where all the individuals must have the Party think and decide for them. “War is peace” emphasizes the individual’s overall acceptance and need for war, “Freedom is slavery” makes people believe that true freedom is only achieved when following the Party and “Ignorance is Strength” supports the idea that individuals should not trust their beliefs or thoughts. In the end, the novel displays that all the power is placed in the hands of only those willing to follow and support the Party.
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