Orwell's 1984 and Nihilism - Essay Example

Orwell’s 1984 and Nihilism George Orwell’s 1984 is one of the most influential and read novels in modern history and this is mainly because it brings about a sense of nihilism that is prevalent throughout the story. Nihilism comes about in the story through there being no hope among the populace of any significant changes taking place in their society and that their only salvation is in remaining obedient to the line of the Party, which dominated the country (Howe 1982). The ability of the Party to exert its will over the population of Oceania, especially when one considers that there is basically no free will, is based on the use of force and constant surveillance which ensures that members of this society remain in line and do not go against the ideals that have been fostered by the Party. Nihilism is shown in 1984 through different aspects such as anti-God, the post-modern society, and self-destruction. Nihilism is a belief that nothing in the world has any meaning and that all things that are in existence have no reason for being there in the first place (Cooper 1974). This is an idea that is highly prevalent in 1984 especially in scenes where the protagonist, Winston Smith, has to deal with knowing the truth concerning different historical facts yet work towards destroying them in a bid to ensure that the only history that exists is that supporting the Party. It is essential to note that it is through official Party doctrine that nihilism in society is encouraged and this is done in such a way that the society itself does not realise that it is being manipulated, as seen in the statement “Orthodoxy was unconsciousness” (Orwell 2003, p.57). An example of such a situation is where the Party has created a Ministry of Truth which is used for the purpose of ensuring that the population is provided with entertainment, education, and arts that are in line with its policies. The Party slogan goes “who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past” (Orwell 2003, p.35). In this way, the population is fed on propaganda to such an extent that they come to believe that the Party exists to cater for their interests while at the same time ensuring that they give it the support that is necessary for it to maintain its absolute hold of power over the society. Nihilism in the story is also presented through the way that the Party attempts to have absolute control over the people and this is done for no other purpose other than power. The Inner Party uses any means necessary to ensure that it retains its hold on society and this is done through its control over all essential aspects of society. In relation to this, it is stated that “nothing was your own except the few cubic centimetres inside your skull” (Orwell 2003, p.27). It should be noted that among the means that it uses to attain control is through placing a ban on religion and those who are found to have religious texts or literature that have religious reference are killed (Shelden 1991). This suppression of religion can be seen through the authorisation by the Ministry of Truth that all references to God be removed from literary work. Ampleforth, a colleague of Winston, ends up being put to death as a result of leaving the word God in a Kipling poem that he had been given the task to sanitise. The result of the sanitisation program that seeks to remove traces of religion from literature is to ensure that the society loses all hope of salvation because God is a symbol of hope. Without hope, the Party’s quasi-divine leader, Big Brother, takes the place of God and the people in society come to believe him to be the reason why they exist at all. It is not known whether Big Brother is real or not and this is the reason why O’Brien asks, “Does Big Brother exist?” (Orwell 2003, p.268). Furthermore, there are posters all over the city with the statement “Big Brother is watching”, a reference to the massive surveillance that the people in this society have to undergo both in their public and private lives. In 1984, Orwell paints an extremely nihilistic picture of post-modern society and this is one in which all humanity has lost hope and has instead chosen to surrender all its freedom to regimes whose main objective is the acquisition and maintenance of power at all costs. This is evident in the statement concerning Winston that “He loved Big Brother” (Orwell 2003, p.308) as well as “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever” (Orwell 2003, p.277). This is addressed in the statement, “all rulers in all ages have tried to impose a false view of the world upon their followers” (Orwell 2003, p.202). The post-modern society as seen in 1984 is one which has essentially destroyed itself through atomic war, constant wars between the various mega states that have come into being in the post-war world. The statement “a hierarchical society was only possible on a basis of poverty and ignorance” (Orwell 2003, p.194) is a reflection of the conditions prevalent in society. The result is that the quality of life across the planet has been destroyed, with a majority of the population living in abject poverty and famine. Authoritarian regimes have taken over the governance of these states and none of them condones any resistance from their people towards them, with those found to dissent being put to death and records of their existence erased, as seen in the statement, “Thought crime does not entail death, thought crime IS death” (Orwell 2003, p.29). The post-modern world according to Orwell is one where surveillance is an aspect of daily life and individuals do not have any privacy because all of their activities are monitored in order to ensure that they do not conduct activities against the Party as well as finding out those that are doing so. In this way, it is possible for the totalitarian regimes in this society to ensure that their people are deterred from rebelling against them through making them lose hope. One of the aspects of the world in 1984 is the self-destruction that is the human race is inflicting on itself in the name of power. It seems that the ruling elite have become cynical concerning the manner through which to attain power and are willing to do anything, including manipulating history, in order to attain it as seen in the statement “The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth” (Orwell 2003, p.77). Once this power is attained, it is retained through the creation of enemies for the state, both real and imagined and this is done to ensure that the society rallies around the party. The ability to ensure the loyalty of the public to it is done through the Party choosing to make enemies of the other two mega states that exists alongside it, namely Eurasia and Eastasia and even though these states are not actually enemies, the similarity of their regimes ensures that they encourage foreign wars as a means of making their people give their full support. In the novel, it is stated that “the object of waging a war is always to be in a better position in which to wage another war” (Orwell 2003, p.192). It is through these wars that society is destroying itself because the ongoing wars mean that there is constant loss of life. Furthermore, through the propagation of war, the regimes of 1984 end up channelling massive funds into the effort and this leads to a situation where the state ends up diverting resources that might alleviated poverty to war. Thus, the price of the Party’s having power is that it brings about a situation where life has no meaning hence a nihilistic conscience is developed within society (Doomen 2012). Moreover, the self-destruction prevalent in society is one where individuals have been forced by the Party to behave in a manner that destroys traditional personal relationships as seen in the statement “The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labour” (Orwell 2003, p.195). This is where there is a breakdown of the family structure to such an extent that children end up reporting their parents for actions that are deemed to be against the Party. The result is that parent’s end up fearing their children and members of the same family cannot trust each other because their relationship has become less personal; each looking out for themselves and the Party’s interests. The story in 1984 can be compared to the 2008 film Choke, which also has diverse aspects of nihilism within it. This is seen through the different problems that the protagonist, Victor, has to undergo from one point of the film to the next. He has a sick mother who needs a lot of money in order to be well taken care of at the hospital and this creates a situation where Victor ends up going to upscale restaurants where he pretends to choke every time so that he can be given money in sympathy. The survival tactic that he adopts in order to ensure that his mother gets the treatment he deserves is similar to the way through which Winston attempts to get through life under the Party so that he does not end up being an unperson. Despite knowing the truth concerning the reality of life around him, especially its history, he chooses to tow the Party line because this is the only way through which he can ensure his survival. Both of these men seem to take on self-destructive actions in a bid to ensure that they save themselves from pain; Winston from torture and potentially losing his life, and Victor from losing his mother. Despite all of their efforts, both of these individuals, especially Winston for his curiosity as well as striking a friendship with O’Brien, end up destroying their lives. In conclusion, the discussion above has shown that nihilism is a belief that nothing in the world has any meaning and that all things that are in existence have no reason for being there in the first place. Nihilism in the story is also presented through the way that the Party attempts to have absolute control over the people and this is done for no other purpose other than power. Moreover, it has been seen that the post-modern society as seen in 1984 is one which has essentially destroyed itself through atomic war, constant wars between the various mega states that have come into being in the post-war world. Finally, among the aspects of the world in 1984 is the self-destruction that is the human race is inflicting on itself in the name of power. References Cooper, N. 1974, "Moral Nihilism". Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, vol. 74, pp. 75 - 90. Doomen, J. 2012, "Consistent Nihilism", Journal of Mind and Behavior, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 103-117. Gregg, C. (Director). (2008). Choke [Motion Picture]. United States: Fox Searchlight Pictures. Howe, I. 1982. Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four: Text, Sources, Criticism. New York, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Orwell, G. 2003. 1984. New York, Plume. Shelden, M. 1991. Orwell – The Authorized Biography. New York, HarperCollins. Read More