Nineteen Eighty-Four Type Up – Mock Exam 2020

Statement #4: The most significant texts are cautionary tales

“The best books are those that tell us what we already know.” Written by George Orwell in his dystopia Nineteen Eighty-Four, this idea of literature presenting us with aspects of society already familiar to us is the overarching idea that links dystopian texts together. The most significant texts are those that make us reflect on our own lives and take action based on what we have read; and dystopian texts certainly achieve this purpose. By projecting aspects or fears of the current society into a future of decay or totalitarian control, dystopias warn readers of what could happen if they do not take preventative action in their own lives to prevent this undesirable future from becoming the reality. George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, by how it warns readers of the dangers of not paying attention and being complacent to increasing levels of control, demonstrates how cautionary tales are effective in making us carefully consider our own lives and our society. This demonstrates why cautionary tales are the most significant texts. The dystopian future of Nineteen Eighty-Four reflects key aspects of a totalitarian future, namely the control of language, control of facts and information, and control of actions through surveillance, in order to warn readers of what their future could look like if they aren’t aware of the dangers this could present. 

Language is a precious thing. It allows us to communicate with others and express ourselves, but the language itself and the words available for us to use can control us and influence our thought processes more than we often realise. The danger of this is that if we remain unaware of how important language is to our thinking (which then influences our actions), then we can be easily controlled by how others use the nuances of language against us. This idea is presented in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four by his creation of the language “Newspeak”, which the higher ranking government officials (‘The Party’), use to communicate. Newspeak involves the destruction of words, “cutting the language down to the bone” and results in a society in which there is “every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller.” This idea of how much language really does influence our thought processes is shown by when Orwell writes “Don’t you see? The whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought.” Through this, Orwell warns readers to pay attention to how the very mechanisms of communication that we use can be manipulated to control our thought processes. This fear of being controlled by those in power in ways that are not recognised is a key idea that dystopian literature often reflects, and this is a fear that has underlined society for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. This therefore makes the most significant texts cautionary tales based on how they warn us of aspects of our own society that make us uncomfortable or could extrapolate into a disastrous future. Through how Orwell warns us of the power that language has in influencing our thoughts and actions, he therefore inspires us to pay more attention to how language is used against us in our lives today, and warns us to not let ourselves be controlled by the unconscious undercurrents of our own language. 

Furthermore, cautionary texts are the most significant texts through how they warn us to question the “facts” presented around us. They warn us not to let our thoughts and actions be controlled by how the very information we receive can be filtered or edited. This importance of critical thinking is presented by dystopian texts. In Nineteen Eighty-Four this takes the shape of a government mechanism by which all information is written and rewritten so that The Party is always right. Orwell writes about the falsification of past events through how the main character Winston’s job is to rewrite old predictions in order to make them agree with the actual events that occurred. Orwell writes that “Who controls the past controls the future” and “Who controls the present controls the past,” meaning that by changing what has already happened through false events and information, this can influence, change and control the future actions of other people. The key to this control is also shown when Orwell writes “for how could you establish even the most obvious fact when there existed no record outside your own memory?” This inability to ‘fact-check’ due to how the government controls both the past and present (through falsification of past events), provides a warning to readers about what could happen if we simply accept everything that we hear without giving it critical thought or analysis. Dystopian texts are significant in that they show us the importance of thinking independently and not just accepting everything that everyone else believes in without giving it a second thought. Even though Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four was written in 1948, and so serves to reflect the fears of society at that time, this warning of falsification by means of control is still very relevant to the society we live in currently. Donald Trump’s “alternative facts” and how modern-day media can be biased or influenced to control our thoughts and actions is an aspect of our current lives that is vital to consider more carefully, before it goes too far without us taking any preventative action to stop it. It is human nature to question things for our own safety, and yet we often become too trusting of authoritarian figures because of how we perceive them, based on the information we receive about them. It is of vital importance to critically evaluate the information we hear and not just accept it as a truth without a second thought, which is a key idea presented in Nineteen Eighty-Four. This reflects why dystopian literature as cautionary texts are some of the most significant texts, based on how they urge us to take action against the fears of our society. 

A further example of how dystopian literature serves to warn us against becoming  complacent to our fears is demonstrated in Nineteen Eighty-Four through the degree to which its citizens are surveilled. This warning provides further evidence of why cautionary tales are the most significant texts. The surveillance in Nineteen Eighty-Four is a mechanism by which the party can control the citizens of Oceania, catching them out when they are most vulnerable to “thoughtcrime.” For example, telescreens in the novel are devices that “received and transmitted simultaneously,” and as they are embedded in the walls of all homes and workplaces, they ensure that all citizens can be “seen as well as heard.” However, there was “of course no way of knowing if you were being watched at any given moment,” so the citizens (including Winston) must be on constant guard to protect himself against revealing any symptoms of “thoughtcrime” or “unorthodoxy.” Additionally, even in places with no telescreens, “there was always the danger of concealed microphones by which your voice might be picked up and recognised.” This development of technology as being used for government control is a key fear of the mid 1940’s when Orwell wrote this text. Just after World War 2 and during an era of booming technological advancement, and also leading into the rise of Stalininst Russia, the fears of technology being used in ways for a government to gain vast amounts of control over its citizens was a very real fear for Britain in the 1940’s. As such, this is reflected in Orwell’s writing. He warns his readers against accepting this, and warns them of the dangers of rising levels of surveillance. This is further demonstrated by how in Nineteen Eighty-Four, even the children were turned into government spies to be used against their parents, and were “a device by means of which everyone could be surrounded night and day by informers who knew him intimately.” These warnings of increasing levels of surveillance into private life are a reflection of fears in the 1940s, but can even be linked to our own present time now. This demonstrates further why cautionary tales are the most significant texts, as even if the writing was intended for a different time, there are always aspects of the warning which can be applied to our society now. The level of surveillance in our current lives would be shocking to those in the 1940s. Our phones and ‘smart TVs’ can “receive and transmit simultaneously” and can function identically to a telescreen, even without our knowledge. Computer algorithms know more about our choices and desires than we do, and can build profiles of us without us even realising. The surveillance we are subjected to has arguably reached Orwellian levels, and yet we don’t even seem to recognise this as being an issue. This is despite feeling uncomfortable with the level of surveillance in Orwell’s novel. As a result, this cautionary tale is still relevant to us today in that it warns us strongly of the dangers of becoming complacent and accepting aspects of our lives becoming more controlled and influencing us without our knowledge. This is a common undercurrent amongst dystopian literature, which serves to inform us of what could happen if we simply allow our fears to become reality by failing to recognise them in time. As a result, cautionary tales are indeed the most significant texts in how they present these warnings and empower us to make changes in our own lives, to counteract the otherwise unrestricted advancement of what we fear. 

As has been demonstrated, the most significant texts are those that inform us about aspects of our lives that we need to closely examine. They inspire us to take action, and make us think carefully about aspects of our lives that we accept without question. As a result, cautionary texts and dystopian literature certainly fulfill this purpose. Dystopias warn us of the dangers of becoming complacent with the fear that we have, and urge us instead to take actions against these. This is demonstrated in Nineteen Eighty-Four by how Orwell presents how language, “facts” and surveillance can be used to control and manipulate our thoughts and actions, and therefore to caution us against accepting this control and instead urges us to critically examine these mechanisms of control in our own society, in order to maintain our ability to think independently of the state and think for ourselves. In that sense, the most significant texts are indeed cautionary tales, which “tell us what we already know” as they reveal to us undesirable aspects of our society which are already present and as such, urge us to think critically and take action against our fears becoming the reality.