Title: Ministry Of Truth 1984 - eNotes.com
Headings: Ministry Of Truth 1984
1984
Ministry Of Truth 1984
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Content: Winston works here, rewriting old news articles to reflect the Party's latest version of reality and throwing the old articles down a "memory hole" where they are incinerated. The Ministry of Truth reflects the Party's belief that power is the only truth and that those with the power can make the "truth" into whatever they choose. The power of Minitrue, as it is called, shows in the enormous glittering white pyramid of its building, which towers over and dominates a landscape of sagging houses and rubble. A hint of what nonsense-manufacture goes on inside might be suggested by the three slogans of the Party emblazoned on it: WAR IS PEACE/ FREEDOM IS SLAVERY /IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
Minitrue supposedly has 3,000 rooms above ground level and 3,000 below, a testament to the resources the government puts into manufacturing its own version of reality, from rewriting history to producing propaganda to trying to remove as many words as possible from the English language to reduce people's ability to think. Its main role is to help control the population through misinformation, outright lies and lack of information so that the state can maintain total power over the people. Approved by eNotes Editorial Team
mwestwood, M.A.
M.A. from The University of Alabama
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With its markedly ironic title, The Ministry of Truth in George Orwell 's dystopian novel, 1984, is one of the most important agencies of the government. For, an uninformed or misinformed populace can be confused, deceived, and directed easily by controlling powers. Keeping the people confused about who is at war with whom and what is the reality of things causes them to become involved in nothing and, therefore, no threat to the power structure. Orwell's creation of this Ministry of Truth that alters history is reflective of the actions of Napoleon, who, upon his conquest of a country, immediately had the newspapers controlled by his governing powers, and it is also much like the government of Communist Russia which virtually rewrote history.