Questions- 1984

[tnjdance]

I have a few questions to ask about 1984. One, I was wondering, what is the thought police and their job? How can people turn other people in for crimes they say are committed in that persons head, over to the though police and have them kill them? Two, who do they have the two minutes of hate? What is the point of sitting down and screaming at your enemy that is in a telescreen? Third, why is some so excited about decreasing Oceania's vocabulary? Wouldn't you want your country to increase in speech? If anyone can answer these questions it would be greatly appreciated. Thank You :)

[Lucario]

In the novel 1984 the population of Oceania is always decreasing because reducing the vocabulary is a tactic to control the proles easily. Oceania's government decreases the vocabulary each year because a society with a limited vocabulary is also an easily controlled society. In Oceania the proles lives are terrible and they have a-lot to worry about.So because of the proles life of hardship why not help them by shortening their vocabulary. This makes their lives somewhat easier so they could worry about important events. Because Oceania is already under the governments control, the government is allowed to even tighten their control even thorougher.

[JazzHands]

Limiting speech is not about the proles. Not completely at least. I believe that the proles have it better than party members because they have privacy, they are allowed goods that are not allowed anywhere else, and they can have children and form relationships. Their lives are hard, yes, but the government doesn't want to help them. They want it to look like those relationships, privacy, and goods make their lives difficult. They want someone to look at the proles lives and say "well i don't want that". Limiting speech is about controlling the whole of Oceania. If you take away the words one wants to say, how will they be able to say them? Asking questions and having opinions will be almost impossible if you don't have the words to express what you're feeling.


To answer your other questions:
The Thought Police's job is to "arrest" people who have committed Thoughtcrime (any thought against Big Brother). The Thought Police don't actually have to have proof of Thoughtcrime. The action of killing someone and saying it was because they had thoughts different from society or against the party is enough to make people afraid. Thought Police were created to make people fear their own thoughts. It's another way to control the people. They cant rebel if they're afraid of even the thought of doing it.

The two minutes of hate is a way to unify the people against a common enemy and to release pent up emotion. Big Brother uses Goldstein to distract people from the issues going on and really as a scape-goat. They can blame everything on Goldstein while making themselves look like the hero. The two minutes of hate also releases any frustration or emotion anyone may have, making them calmer. This reduces the chance of rebellion

Hope I helped

[Kydina Lordsee]

I, myself don't understand (to a large extent) the answer to question 1 and 3. However I do know the answer for question 2. The two minutes of hate is supposed to unify the country by giving them a common enemy to hate and despise. While also distracting them from some of the questionable and horrible things happening in their world like their lack of privacy and their lack of freedom. I hope this helps to answer one of your questions (so sorry that I couldn't answer all of your questions)