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WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF OPPRESSION?

Welson Wei
Jul 25, 2015
3 min read

Hey there! Welcome to my first post of my blog. Today I'm going to go over the idea of Oppression and why is it important when shown in 1984.

THEME: Oppression and Control

In the novel, there is many instances of oppression shown. This is because it is an extremely powerful tool that is utilized by the party to control the people and maintain the sense of a totalitarian government. An example of the way the Party oppresses its citizens is the "two minute hate" and "hate week". During these key events, the people of society are worked into a state of anger and hatred towards the state that they were in war with, being Eastasia, or Eurasia. In addition to this, Emmanuel Goldstein was especially looked down upon and used for the people to hate because of his actions of turning against the party. Many pictures of Big Brother influences the minds of the people to love him and assert dominance. This further oppresses the people as they have no right for free speech and have to show that they love this idea of "Big Brother". If one were to deviate from the actions of hatred and acrimony during the hate week or two minutes of hate, they will be caught and sentenced to death. Furthermore, another instance of propaganda and oppression is when the red sashes were worn by the many members of the "Anti-Sex League", and using party slogans like "War is Peace". These forms of messages are deliberately displayed to instate fear in individuals and to persecute them even more.

The significance of oppression is that it creates despair in one's mind so that they have to submit to whatever the government tells them to do, or what is right for the social norms. If someone fails to follow the ideals, they can be extremely discriminated against and face death if necessary. Connecting this idea to our world today, there are many afflicted groups in the world ranging from religion, gender, and types of races. For example, the Native Americans in both the USA and Canada are among the "top 10 most oppressed minorities" in the world (Dan 1). Aboriginal people were given lands to live on called "reserves" under the Indian Act. "An Indian Reserve is land held by the Crown 'for the use and benefit of the respective bands for which they were set apart' under treaties or other agreements" (Mccue 1). These lands given to these types of people by the government were very overcrowded, and had awful unhygienic living conditions also contributes to poor health. For example, there are three-bedroom houses with 25 inhabiting the compound (Kay 1). This shows just how badly the First Nations were treated. Providing basic housing, heathcare, and secure infrastructure of housing is just a start to changing their living conditions. In order to fully combat oppression, people need to accept other cultures and races entirely, and let them into our society. Therefore, George Orwell's message of oppression in 1984 serves as the perfect message of what it is like to be persecuted and excluded from society. It is important for us to understand this idea in order to change the circumstances that are apparent in our world to create a better future for humanity.

Sources:

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/aboriginal-reserves/

http://www.historyandheadlines.com/10-oppressed-minorities-around-world/

http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/jonathan-kay-whats-wrong-with-remote-native-reserves-lets-ask-a-doctor-who-worked-there-for-43-years