ORWELL

George Orwell 1984

Eerie parallels with today's online economy of words and knowledge

George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984 functions as a satire of many of the excesses of 20th century communism, such as everyday citizens' communal, monotonous lives, its nonsensical wars to keep the people complacent, and the creation of 'Big Lies' that are accepted, simply because the government so totally dominates the media. A symptom of this totalitarian thinking is manifested in the way in which language is used throughout the novel, through the use of slogans like "war is peace," "freedom is slavery" and "ignorance is strength." Even the ministry which plans the war is known as the Ministry of Peace; the ministry which engineers the propaganda disseminated throughout the society is the Ministry of Truth. So long as you call something the 'right' name it doesn't matter what the ministry actually does.

Orwell suggests that by...
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