Oppression and Dehumanization in George Orwells 1984 Essay

Jonah Faulkner Mr. Mikalaitis English 9 12 April 2012 Oppression and Dehumanization of Society in George Orwell’s 1984: The Manipulation of Technology, Language, Media and History George Orwell uses his novel 1984 to convey that human beings, as a species, are extremely susceptible to dehumanization and oppression in society. Orwell demonstrates how a government’s manipulation of technology, language, media, and history can oppress and degrade its citizens. In 1984 the political manipulation of technology oppresses the people of Oceania and leads to the downfall of individuality and of the qualities that define humanity. Telescreens and the Internet are used not for entertainment purposes but to monitor people’s lives.†¦show more content†¦The people are robbed of an opportunity to criticize the Party, adding to their overall dehumanization. â€Å"The fabulous statistics continued to pour out of the telescreen. As compared with last year there was more food, more clothes, more houses, more furniture, more cooking-pots, more fuel, more ships, more helicopters, more books, more b abies — more of everything except disease, crime, and insanity. Year by year and minute by minute, everybody and everything was whizzing rapidly upwards† (Orwell 33). Through omitting the negative, the people are only informed of the positive. Society is left with nothing to question, and nothing to analyze. By deceiving the people, the Party is able to maintain support, and therefore power. This manipulation of media allows oppression to go unnoticed because the citizens are unable to think critically. By manipulating history and giving no opportunity for inquiry the government dehumanizes the people even more by destroying free thought. The Party knows that memories will lead to questions, and then to critical thought. 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