In 1984, as Winston is getting tortured and brainwashed by O'Brien, they discuss many things, including the Party's motive for doing everything. When Winston tries to tell O'Brien what he thinks O'Brien wants to hear by saying the Party acts for the good of the proles, O'Brien sharply and bluntly tells Winston that the Party works to achieve absolute power.
From a narrative standpoint, at first I was confused as to why O'Brien would tell Winston this, as it sort of seems counterintuitive to O'Brien's purpose of turning Winston into a loyal follower of the Party. It sort of seemed to me that brainwashing Winston would be harder if you confirm Winston's suspicions of the Party acting not for any conceivable good for anyone but rather for its own cold self-interests.
However, now that I think about it I think that by telling Winston this, O'Brien reveals the true extent of the Party's power. Winston is turned into a mindless follower of the Party with all of the Party's principles imposed upon him by the end of the book, and this is all done with Winston's knowledge of the Party's true intent. Winston has been turned into a demonstration of the control the Party has over people's minds, which is what O'Brien said the Party truly wanted to control.
While this is sort of a simple motivation behind the Party's existence, it makes a decent amount of sense. While the merits of spending one's existence to gain power can and should be debated, some people definitely do want to accumulate as much power as they can. It isn't too far fetched in my opinion to imagine that some of these people who were motivated by power were able to seize control over the Party and the things it controls.
This motivation turns out to be quite obvious throughout the book, in retrospect. The Party's slogans and other actions throughout the book don't exactly indicate any higher ideological ideal the Party wants to achieve (maybe except some vague sense of equality?). Everything in Oceania is tailored to take away freedom of thought, to the point where people, as well as us readers, can't tell whether anything is true (Is the Brotherhood real? How much of Goldstein's book is made up, and how much do we really know about the world? etc.), and so the Party's lies become accepted as truth. Absolute power is a reasonable goal for the Party to pursue, and 1984 is a warning against the accumulation of this power and the methods used to achieve it.
From a narrative standpoint, at first I was confused as to why O'Brien would tell Winston this, as it sort of seems counterintuitive to O'Brien's purpose of turning Winston into a loyal follower of the Party. It sort of seemed to me that brainwashing Winston would be harder if you confirm Winston's suspicions of the Party acting not for any conceivable good for anyone but rather for its own cold self-interests.
However, now that I think about it I think that by telling Winston this, O'Brien reveals the true extent of the Party's power. Winston is turned into a mindless follower of the Party with all of the Party's principles imposed upon him by the end of the book, and this is all done with Winston's knowledge of the Party's true intent. Winston has been turned into a demonstration of the control the Party has over people's minds, which is what O'Brien said the Party truly wanted to control.
While this is sort of a simple motivation behind the Party's existence, it makes a decent amount of sense. While the merits of spending one's existence to gain power can and should be debated, some people definitely do want to accumulate as much power as they can. It isn't too far fetched in my opinion to imagine that some of these people who were motivated by power were able to seize control over the Party and the things it controls.
This motivation turns out to be quite obvious throughout the book, in retrospect. The Party's slogans and other actions throughout the book don't exactly indicate any higher ideological ideal the Party wants to achieve (maybe except some vague sense of equality?). Everything in Oceania is tailored to take away freedom of thought, to the point where people, as well as us readers, can't tell whether anything is true (Is the Brotherhood real? How much of Goldstein's book is made up, and how much do we really know about the world? etc.), and so the Party's lies become accepted as truth. Absolute power is a reasonable goal for the Party to pursue, and 1984 is a warning against the accumulation of this power and the methods used to achieve it.
I was struggling with trying to understand the deep meaning of 1984 while reading the book, but I think you made a good point here. I think the deeper meaning of the book is just showing how much power the Party has. Not necessarily what the Party does or why the Party does what it does, but just that the Party literally controls everything, and whenever you think you found something that is not government controlled, it is actually the Party.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, I think Brian's revelation to Winston really drove home the deeper meaning of 1984. Otherwise, I think some of us could still be under the impression that the Party seeks in some way to bring prosperity to its people. I also loved Brian's revelation because it reflects the fact that if a government isn't designed in the interests of its people, some will pursue absolute power.
DeleteI also struggled to find the deeper meaning of 1984 while I was reading it. I think O'Brien's reveal of the Party's true motivation really ties the book together and eliminates most of the doubts readers have about why the Party does a certain thing and what it might mean in the long-term.
DeleteThis post was by me
ReplyDeleteI do think that you’re right. Particularly, the party’s motives are pretty clear throughout the book. Mostly, I think that the party emanates this message that power is control. O’Brien’s talk with Winston is in itself a show of control. By revealing the true motives of the party, O’Brien sends a message to Winston that the truth is so worthless to the party they can divulge it to him and Winston’s knowledge of it means nothing because the party controls everything.
ReplyDeleteI agree, and while I initially was disappointed at the reveal that the Party only wanted power, I've come to appreciate the motive a bit more, since it permeated everything that was in Oceania or in the party's grasp. The theme might not be a shocking twist, but it ties everything together into a neat, cohesive whole.
ReplyDeleteI Agree. Given the way modern literature works, you come to expect some shocking twist as to why a party is doing something, perhaps being driven mad out of love or some twisted sense of purpose. However, that is not the point of 1984. The point of the in party simply wanting power ties together as a whole.
DeleteI think that this is correct, the party has nothing to fear from telling Winston their true motives (if even this is the truth) because they know that once they get their hands on Winston, they will be able to convince him of whatever it is that they want. They can also be certain that Winston will be forever loyal to the party, no matter what it is that they tell him, because he will always love Big Brother.
ReplyDelete-Sasha
I think that it is also part of the doublethink 'brainwashing', in that although the party seeks power, it is totally fine that you should follow it and be loyal to it, and i think it might be an integral part of the brainwashing.
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