Title: Illustrating Themes in 1984 by George Orwell
Headings: Themes, Symbols, and Motifs in
1984

Themes, Symbols, and Motifs in 1984
Content: When there is a common enemy, there is camaraderie. In addition, rather than focusing on emotions like love and tranquility, the government fires people up through exercises such as Two Minutes Hate, and Hate Week. While there is no resolution to this absolutist tyranny in the novel, it does lay out the dangers of allowing a government, political party, or dictator gain too much control over citizens’ privacy and lives. Propaganda
The media reports in Oceania are all propaganda, because they are all controlled by the government. For example, Winston is sent a few short missives that come down a mysterious pneumatic tube. The first reads “times 17.3.84 bb speech malreported africa rectify.” According to Winston, his job is to go back into old news items and change them to make them true, even if they were not. In the first message, it appears that on March 17th, Big Brother had predicted a Eurasian offensive to be launched in North Africa; in reality, the offensive had been launched in South India instead. Winston must change, or “rectify” this discrepancy so that Big Brother is never incorrect.