Title: 1984 Analysis - eNotes.com
Headings: 1984 Analysis
1984 Analysis
Analysis
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Content: If [a citizen] were allowed contact with foreigners he would discover that they are creatures similar to himself and that most of what he has been told about them is lies. The sealed world in which he lives would be broken, and the fear, hatred, and self-righteousness on which his morale depends might evaporate. This distrust of foreigners also gives the Party fuel to implement extremist policies that capitalize upon the human capacity for hatred, such as portraying foreigners as inhuman forces of pure evil. Likewise, Big Brother—representing the dangers of blind worship and religious extremism—symbolizes the omnipotence and omnipresence of the Party’s values. Further, Goldstein describes Big Brother as a tool used by the Party to serve as a “focusing point for love, fear, and reverence” in order to prevent individuals from engaging in conscious thought and pursuing innovative ideas. He asserts that: Every success, every achievement, every victory, every scientific discovery, all knowledge, all wisdom, all happiness, all virtue, are held to issue directly from his leadership and inspiration...
Big Brother is simply a construct—a vehicle for the Party’s ideology and a means by which they strategically promote the idea that “ignorance is strength.” If ignorance is the source of strength, then the possibility for implementing progressive policies—especially social and economic equality—diminishes. Moreover, the influence of ignorance continues to threaten progressive humanism. In Goldstein’s words, “everywhere there is the same pyramidal structure, the same worship of semi-divine leader, the same economy existing by and for continuous warfare.”