Sunday 16 March 2014

I have a paragraph on Newspeak: why/how it's put into use and how it is effective. I need a few quotes and supporting details. I need help forming...

One of George Orwell's central themes in 1984 is the power of language. This is actually a theme he explored elsewhere in his work, including Animal Farm and a famous essay entitled "Politics and the English Language."


Newspeak is central to the Party's power and is discussed throughout the book. For example, Syme, a Party philologist tasked with compiling a Newspeak dictionary, explains to Winston in book 1, chapter 5 that the purpose of Newspeak...

One of George Orwell's central themes in 1984 is the power of language. This is actually a theme he explored elsewhere in his work, including Animal Farm and a famous essay entitled "Politics and the English Language."


Newspeak is central to the Party's power and is discussed throughout the book. For example, Syme, a Party philologist tasked with compiling a Newspeak dictionary, explains to Winston in book 1, chapter 5 that the purpose of Newspeak is not simply to invent a new language but rather to destroy words in an effort to eliminate the possibility of thoughtcrime. With each edition of the dictionary, Syme says, "the range of consciousness [is] always a little smaller." He continues by explaining the significance of this:



The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect. Newspeak is Ingsoc and Ingsoc is Newspeak . . . How could you have a slogan like 'freedom is slavery' when the concept of freedom has been abolished? The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.



These quotes should illustrate the effectiveness of Newspeak. We can find one example of how Newspeak alters the way people think (or attempts to) by looking at the word "bad." This word, Syme tells Winston, is superfluous. It is better to say "ungood." If something is very bad, instead of using an adjective like "terrible," Newspeak would have people say "doubleplusungood." In this way, every synonym for "bad" and every word that expresses gradations of "bad" is gone.


A good topic sentence for the paragraph would illustrate that through Newspeak, the Party seeks to control the thoughts of people in order to make nonconformity impossible.

No comments:

Post a Comment

In "By the Waters of Babylon," under the leadership of John, what do you think the Hill People will do with their society?

The best place to look for evidence in regards to what John's plans are for his people is the final paragraphs of the story. John has re...