Themes

After reading 1984, one could take out multiple different themes that are discussed in the novel.  I have chosen the themes that stuck out the most to me...

1. If the past is forgotten, a society will remain static.
As a mean of survival, humans must learn from their mistakes, therefore, must remember their past.  A main goal of Oceania, is to destroy the past. Done so by altering prints (newspapers, magazines) and getting rid of everything from the post-Big-Brother-era (songs, books, antiques, etc.)  By destroying the past, the people of Oceania have nothing to compare their lives to.  Citizens cannot accurately judge whether their life is better off now than it was before because the time before has been altered.  Big Brother has successfully changed the past to make it appear as though the government has always been right, and times are always getting better and better.  Therefore, the people have been tricked into believing their lives are indeed better under Big Brother's rule.
One of the many Party slogans is:
"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past" (Orwell 260)
When the past is forgotten: mistakes are repeated, nothing is learned, and progress cannot be made.  This is shown through the routineness of the society.  Everyone is orthodox, performing the same job everyday, doing the same duties everyday.  No one ever moves up in the ranks or is promoted to a new job.  As individuals, no one makes progress and lives remain the same.  As a society, no progress is made either.  The war never ends, conditions do not improve, and power is never affected.  The society does not improve economically, socially, physically, or emotionally.  In this way George Orwell shows the importance of the past and how it affects the present and future.  Without learning from the past, history is bound to repeat itself...which it does, over and over again in Oceania.

2. The only way to remain an individual is through critical thinking.
Orwell emphasizes the importance of independent thinking by showing the effect of a society without it. Oceania is a culture of psychological clones that mindlessly follow and absorb the words of Big Brother. Despite the lies and outrageous expectations, the citizens lack opinions and personal beliefs...except that "Big Brother is always watching you" and "2+2=5."  The essence of thinking in Oceania is governed by three words: crimestop, doublethink, and blackwhite.
"Crimestop means the faculty of stopping short, as though by instinct, at the threshold of any dangerous thought.  It includes the power of not grasping analogies, of failing to perceive logical errors, of misunderstanding the simplest arguments if they are inimical to Ingsoc, and of being bored or repelled by any train of thought which is capable of leading in a heretical direction." (220).
Blackwhite, "a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this.  But it means also the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed contrary." (221)
"Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them...To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality which one denies-- all this is indispensably necessary." (223)
The government of Oceania relies on the absence of critical thinking.  With such thinking, a oligarchical government could never last..."Ultimately it is by means of doublethink that the Party has been able-- and may, for all we know, continue to be able for thousands of years-- to arrest the course of history." (223).  I believe remaining an individual, through means of critical thinking, is Orwell's biggest message in 1984.  A totalitarian society like Oceania may rule temporarily, however, if individualism remains, it will always be overruled.  In a previous blog post I discussed the connection between the lack of critical thinking the novel and the decline of critical thinking in our own society today.  The cause of the decline is not due to a dictatorship, but, by the media.  Nonetheless, 1984 is a warning of what can happen when independent thinking is destroyed.

3. Fear is an unjust strategy to manipulate a population.
Throughout the novel, Orwell provides example over example of how fear affects behavior.  The government of Oceania has endless power over the people.  Power that is only achieved through the incitement of fear.  As reader's we have seen this theme discussed in multiple books; how powerful can fear be? In The Handmaid's Tale, the government uses public hangings and interactive executions to prove their dominance.  Fahrenheit 451 is another perfect novel showing the result of an overruling power.
O'Brien describes the Party's view on power as the following:
"Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation.  Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.  Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating? ...a world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself.  Progress in our world will be progress towards more pain.  The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love or justice.  Ours is founded upon hatred.  In our world there will be no emotions expect fear, rage, triumph and self-abasement.  Everything else we shall destroy-- everything." (279).
In 1984, after being caught by the Thought Police, Winston ends up in the Ministry of Love.  This is where criminals are tortured and punished for their crimes.  Winston is there for an unknown amount of time, months or possibly years, and withstands relentless torture.  However, it is not until his last day there that he is sent to Room 101. This room is infamous among the criminals as the worst possible place to go.  When Winston asked O'Brien what the room contained, O'Brien said:
"You know what is in Room 101, Winston.  Everyone know what is in Room 101." (273)
And it is true, Room 101 contains everyone's worst possible fear.  Big Brother does not allow anyone to die a traitor, or an enemy to the Party.  The Ministry of Love is used to make sure that everyone dies loving Big Brother.  That is the difference between Oceania's government and the totalitarian governments active at the time that Orwell was writing this book.  The Party does not give rebels the opportunity to die as brave heroes.  Therefore, Room 101 is used as the last resort to force traitors into followers.  Pain has been used prior to the room, but it is one's worst fear that sends them over the edge...
"By itself, pain is not always enough.  There are occasions when a human being will stand out against pain, even to the point of death.  But for everyone there is something unendurable-- something that cannot be contemplated.  Courage and cowardice are not involved.  If you are falling from a height it is not cowardly to clutch at a rope.  If you have come up from deep water it is not cowardly to fill your lungs with air.  It is merely an instinct which cannot be disobeyed.  It is the same with rats.  For [Winston], they are unendurable.  They are a form of pressure that you cannot withstand, even if you wished to. You will do what is required of you."  (297).
For Winston, it is his fear of rats that breaks him.  The fear causes him to genuinely wish his pain upon the woman he once loved, Julia.  This was O'Brien's goal. Breaking the bond between Winston and Julia was the last measure taken to force Winston into conformity.
In this way, Orwell shows how fear can be used against someone.  The effects of torture and fear in 1984 is frightening.  Especially at the end of the book when Winston ultimately capitulates to Big Brother. The ending is used perfectly by Orwell to emphasize his point that using fear as a government is dangerous and immoral.

These three themes are the messages I, personally, took away from reading 1984.  They are the points that stuck out the most to me.  However, one could take out many more from this one book...Which is another reason why the novel deserves AP merit.  It has multiple factors that can be thoroughly discussed, with the evidence to support it.