The Spies and the Role of Children in 1984

         Children always have, and always will, play an important role in revolutionary history.  Often seen as the future success, rising powers will devote a large portion of propaganda to training children. In 1984, all children take part in a group called the Spies. George Orwell’s ideas are based on some revolutionary powers of the 20^th century, particularly Hitler Youth, and youth groups like the Spies have arisen since then (for example, North Korea’s Young Pioneers).

The Spies in 1984 could be compared to Hitler Youth of Germany’s Nazi Party in the Second World War.  Although Hitler Youth was not instructed to denounce their families as such, it was not safe to discuss politics in front of children in the league.  Both the Spies and Hitler Youth were trained in fighting.  A great deal of propaganda was directed at both groups.  The aim of this propaganda was to push the children closer to the party, and in doing so, away from their families.

In 1984, children are essentially used to break up the family unit.  There were no family ties, despite families being a biological unit, as the parents were afraid of being turned in by their children. “It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children”:pg. 29.  Even the most orthodox-thinking parents (such as Parsons) could be subconscious “thoughtcriminals”, and it was often not a matter of if, but when, they would be denounced by their children.

In the novel, “all children are swine.” (Julia, pg. 190) “What was worst of all was that by means of such organizations as the Spies they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages, and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the Party.” (pg. 29)  As with the Two Minutes Hate, the children were stoked to frenzy by the Spies and speeches, and they let out their energy by showing their devotion to the Party. I think that the first “Children of the Party” could have easily had their strong emotions swayed into revolution, but the later generations, having had patriotism ingrained in them their whole lives, would never dream of revolting.

         The concept of children being used in war is not new, but it is serious, even if children are not fighting directly.  To trust the children of 1984 with a secret would be nothing short of turning oneself in as a thoughtcriminal.

North Korean propaganda poster

Hitler Youth propaganda poster

Spies propaganda poster

Wow...yet again, Blogger has completely screwed up my settings...just highlight the text, I guess? I have no idea how to fix it. Sorry!!~

Doublethink

This blog post was co-written with Devon Horner Bourassa.

(http://www.blogger.com/profile/01934303794302410388) 

Doublethink is the goal of the Party. To fully believe in everything Big Brother says one must use doublethink.  Doublethink is a form of reality control, a series of victories over your own memory.  If the Party says that something does not exist or has not happened, then that is the truth. Doublethink is “to know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them.”  (p. 37) To understand the word "doublethink", one must use doublethink.

The purpose of doublethink is control.   Doublethink could be expressed as an act of escapism in its compliance, as it is giving in to the ideas of the Party without losing your own.  It would be safer to accept the Party's lies, but easier to easier to simply overwrite the truth. One goal of doublethink is in the Ministry of Truth: when workers falsify documents they are using doublethink to convince themselves that the documents had been wrong and must be corrected. All Party members train themselves at doublethink in case they come across potentially incriminating things like the photo Winston found, where they would convince themselves that it was false.

          Doublethink creates reality. The Party is never wrong; the facts are simply misreported. It is Winston's job to fix the "misreported" facts as the views of the Party change.  To do this job, it would be best to be very skilled at doublethink, so as to block out the past as soon as one was done altering it.  It allows the general population to believe in the Party’s success even while they experience deprivation.  If the Party goes back on its word, such as with the chocolate rations, the general population will quickly accept the “new truth” even though they are being manipulated.

The ministry's names themselves involve doublethink. The Ministry of Truth is concerned with the falsifying and modifying of the past, the Ministry of Peace with war, the Ministry of Love with torture and hatred, and the Ministry of Plenty with rations and scarcity. The Party slogans also contain doublethink, as they are expressing complete opposites to be the same (War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength). Any one of these slogans would be regarded as insanity in todays society, because of the blatant contradiction.

We believe that in the future (of 1984), doublethink will have become completely natural to everyone as they had been raised thinking that way (ex. Parsons’ children growing up in the Spies). They would not have known a time with any other form of government. When Newspeak is the only language of Oceania, doublethink will become less necessary as expressing an unorthodox opinion would be very difficult given the limited vocabulary available.

Doublethink as a way of life is a very scary prospect. One of the most treasured human traits is the ability to tell what is truth. To have someone else tell us to forsake our memories would drive many to insanity. It is duckthink.

Hate As a Theme in 1984

          Hate is a strong theme in 1984.  There are many public displays of hate, tolerated and even supported by the Party, such as the Hate Week, the Two Minutes Hate, and the hate of their everyday lives.

          The Two Minutes Hate is a short daily period where the telescreens stoke the viewers to a raging, violet mass.  Participation is not only mandatory, it is also evaluated by the Thought Police.  To not have an instinctual reaction to pictures of Goldstein and the Enemy is a form of Thoughtcrime, and as Newspeak cancels out all other meaning of the word was just as bad as supporting them.

          Parsons turns the Hate Week into a sort of competition, and I think that the goal of the Party was achieved in that.  To turn hate into a positive emotion, to be able to create a celebration of hate would be one of the trickiest and most useful political strategies.  By changing hate, one of the two most powerful emotions, the Party is essentially halving all emotion.  By altering the meaning of love to the love of Big Brother, the Party has destroyed the other half of emotions, because no one really loves Big Brother, they just admire and covet his power.


          Because hate is such a strong emotion, it would be very difficult to change its meaning, but the Party has done just that. To normalise hate, to encourage it makes it more and more difficult to find the meaning of true feeling.  After many generations,  this lack would become impossible to reverse, creating a planet of sheep.

Context of the Three-Year Plans

Several times in 1984 a specific Three-Year Plan is mentioned.  I wondered about it because it is mentioned that it is number nine in a series of these Three-Year Plans.  This led be to believe that the previous eight had failed, or had left the country in a worse situation than before.

            The three year plan in the novel is based on Poland’s own Three-Year Plan of Reconstructing the Economy, which was put into effect shortly after the second World War.  Poland’s resources, economy, and population were seriously depleted, and  the Central Planning Office decided to take action.  The plan was to raise the quality of living above what it was before the war by the end of three years. It succeeded in this aim, but only marginally, and in 1950, the new Six-Year Plan was passed and employed.  The Six-Year Plan stoked extreme urbanization of Poland’s countrysides; however, the Three-Year Plan is considered to be Poland’s only economic plan that succeeded.






Hopefully this might clear up some confusion as to the purpose of the economic plans in the novel!!~

War in 1984

          The revolution in Orwell's 1984 occurred shortly after the end of the second World War.  At this time, the whole world was incredibly vulnerable, and open to suggestion on how to prevent another catastrophe.  It was then that the Party could take power.  Although the Party came into power promising peace and an end to warfare, the three superstates never stopped fighting amongst themselves.

          Winston's job is to alter the past to suit the needs of the Party.  By changing the past of the wars, there is nothing to prove that any of them happened.  I think that it is entirely possible that the leaders of all three states make up the wars as it suits their needs, and to keep the citizens in check.  As it would be fatal to bring attention to the changing wars, no one would risk questioning the absence of reason behind the battles.

          I think that it is far more dangerous to try to suppress the memories of millions than it would be to leave them with some of the memories of war.  During the Hate Week, the speaker who was making a war speech changed the enemy (from Eurasia to Eastasia) mid-sentence.  I was baffled by the reaction of the crowd: instead of wondering at the sudden change, they convinced themselves that Goldstein and the Brotherhood had sabotaged the demonstration by posting anti-Eurasia décor all over the square.  
By keeping no ties with the country's allies, they are assuring that there will be no end to the warfare.


A/N: Thank you so much, Blogger, for completely deleting this the first time I posted it. Much appreciated!!~