The Irony of the Individual in Nineteen Eighty-Four
By: Cynthia Lin
In George Orwell’s political satire Nineteen Eighty-Four, the superstate of Oceania is ruled by a totalitarian government known as the Party who strives to destroy individuality in society. Ironically, however, the members of the Party consolidate their authority into a political figure known as Big Brother to effectively control the thoughts of the Oceanic people as well as to combat Emmanuel Goldstein, the leader of the Party’s main opposing conspiracy known as the Brotherhood. In this sense, the Party is only able to annihilate individuality by reifying the individual through Big Brother and through their efforts to conquer Goldstein.
As Silje Gaupseth describes, the Party’s core objective is to “[overpower] the individual with sheer force” to eliminate the possibility of an uprising that could overthrow their regime, for the Party clearly recognizes that “individual consciousness is the greatest menace to [their] absolute supremacy” (77, 48). To maintain their control over Oceania, the Party prohibits the people, including Party members themselves, from displaying emotions towards others, and they strip citizens of their individual rights and freedoms, including the right to privacy and the right to speech or thought against the Party. Heavily scattered throughout Oceania, microphones and telescreens, television-like objects that constantly monitor people and record sounds while broadcasting propaganda, are used by the Party to intrude on people’s lives. Unable to turn off these microphones and telescreens, the majority of Oceanian people refrain from acting, speaking, or exhibiting facial expressions that would otherwise suggest opposition against the Party; those who show any sign of opposition are isolated and arrested by the Thought Police, an insidious search force who takes rebellious individuals to the Party for questioning, brainwashing, and “correcting” thought through physical torture. Even children are trained by Party members to eavesdrop on their parents’ conversations and report any negative talk about the Party to the Thought Police. These invasive measures set by the Party create apprehensive tension among the people of Oceania, depriving them of their individuality and forcing them to bottle up their emotions to avoid punishment from the Party for their social behavior.
Ideally, to eradicate all forms of individuality from Oceanic society would require the Party to eradicate one crime in its entirety: thoughtcrime. Thoughtcrime, as the story’s chief protagonist Winston describes in the novel, is “the essential crime that [contains] all others in itself” (Orwell 20). In other words, one cannot commit a crime without committing thoughtcrime, or thinking about the crime, beforehand. One of the Party’s tactics to rid Oceania of thoughtcrime is “to vilify the individual”, or to defame the individual (Wahlqvist 21). This is ironic because in the Western Hemisphere, whose landmasses are part of Oceanic territory, the Western individual has been encouraged to “be himself” since the end of the Middle Ages, demonstrating that individuality is valued and held of the utmost importance by Western society. The Party “[vilifies] the individual” by sending out a public message of force directly stating that should one become independent, one should be afraid of the independent oneself. (21) By broadcasting this message, the Party emphasizes that Oceania’s citizens must look down on and fear individuality because the individual is dangerous. This urges the Oceanic person to abstain from becoming a free-minded individual, which is favorable for the Party since thoughtcrime can only be committed by one who shows any trace of individual thought. An example of the Party’s success in “[vilifying] the individual” occurs in Part Three of the novel, when Winston encounters his neighbor Parsons, who has been arrested for committing thoughtcrime. Instead of scolding his daughter for reporting him to the ThoughtPolice, Parson praises her for her good work and blames himself for his actions. Parson’s reflection on his own arrest typifies that of the “good” Oceanian citizen, “[pointing] to how much control the ruling elite has in Oceania due to the comprehensive psychological manipulation and suppression of individualism” (22). Parson’s self-degrading justification for his actions also shows that the Party has truly influenced the Oceanic person to fear the free-minded individual.
The Party’s extensive usage of technology and of the Thought Police demonstrates that in Brigid Rooney’s words, “[they have] the capacity to monitor and control the lives of individuals” (78). However, the Party also demonstrates that “that [they] can ‘get inside’ and destroy one’s inner being” by questioning, brainwashing, and “correcting” thought through physical torture (78). This procedure of “‘[getting] inside’ and [destroying] one’s inner being” is exactly what O’Brien, one of the highest Party members (or a member of the Inner Party, as Orwell refers to him in the novel), does to Winston. Kicked and beat into telling Party members of any crimes he has committed, Winston is re-taught the principles of the Party. Additionally, he is electrocuted multiple times by O’Brien for not complying to regurgitate these principles. Winston is brainwashed into believing these principles through the unbearable physical torture he undergoes (including a session where O’Brien holds carnivorous rats, Winston’s greatest phobia, next to Winston’s face), and he loses all rebellious thought, conforming to the Party’s standard of not allowing anyone in Oceania to possess any thought opposing the Party. O’Brien had fully reduced Winston into a sentient being with no individual thought and into “simply a mouth that uttered…whatever was demanded of him” (Orwell 245). O’Brien’s domination of Winston dramatizes that “[the Party’s] thirst to exercise and even to play with power is relentless…the theme of ‘powerplay’ acquires the sinister sense of the ways in which Party ‘plays with’ or ‘enjoys’ power” (Rooney 78). In other words, the Party attains a “collective pleasure…through the possession and exercise of power”, especially over the individual (78).
These individuality-destroying measures enforced by the Party make it difficult for the people of Oceania to openly express their feelings without attracting the Party’s suspicion. Therefore, to avoid attracting this suspicion and potentially undergoing punishment from the Party, the people of Oceania are forced to bottle up their feelings. However, there are two Party-supervised opportunities for the people to openly express feelings: the Two Minutes Hate, a daily activity in which all Party members must watch a two-minute film depicting the Party’s enemies and demonstrate hatred for them, and Hate Week, an annual, week-long public rally involving military parades and speeches to amplify hate for Oceania’s superstate enemies. Although both events do allow the people to convey their hatred, the hatred is directed towards the enemies of the Party and not at the Party themselves. By allowing the people to show and verbalize their hatred for their enemies during these two occasions, the Party members romanticize their own image of “goodness” and unite the people through a sense of Oceanic nationalism. In this sense, the Party increases their governmental power by prescribing both the Two Minutes Hate and Hate Week to the people as much-needed “safety valves” for releasing emotion. These “safety valves” regulate the outburst of emotion from the people to be negative towards the enemies of the Party and positive towards the Party themselves.
Controlling the people’s emotions is one way that the Party destroys individuality, but it is also a way that they reify the individual. The Two Minutes Hate, in particular, is a major opportunity for the Party to assert their dominance in Oceania and also a noticeable instance that the Party emphasizes the individual. As mentioned previously, the Two Minutes Hate is the Party’s strategy to stir the Oceanian people with jarring hatred. They achieve this by beginning every film with discordant noises and by showing the “inherently despicable” face of Goldstein (Orwell 13). Goldstein then attacks the doctrines of the Party in his sheep-bleating voice, infuriating the audience of Party members to break out in “uncontrollable exclamations of rage” (14). Winston reveals to the reader during the first Two Minutes Hate that “the sight or even the thought of Goldstein produced fear and anger automatically. [Goldstein] was an object of hatred more constant than [the superstates]” (14). He continues to explain that even though Goldstein was despised every day a thousand times a day by everybody everywhere, his influence on Oceania never faded. (15) Winston’s description of Goldstein’s omnipresence in Oceania implies that that the Party ceaselessly targets Goldstein as an individual and as a primary focus of hate; Goldstein is a social hate staple in the life of the Oceanian citizen.
Appearing after Goldstein in the first Two Minutes Hate film is the “black-haired, black mustachio’d” face of Big Brother, “full of power and mysterious calm” (Orwell 13). Seeing his face after erupting into a chaotic frenzy relieves the audience, and they begin a “deep, slow, rhythmical chant of ‘B-B! … B-B! … B-B!’” (17). As Tomas Wahlqvist points out, the Party members’ adoring reaction towards Big Brother’s shows that Big Brother is the Oceanian people’s “symbol of love” (20). Orwell also observes this in the story, as he describes Big Brother as the people’s “focusing point for love, fear, and reverence, emotions which are more easily felt towards an individual than towards an organization” (209). For the people of Oceania, loving Big Brother is one of the prescribed “safety valves” for releasing emotion. As mentioned previously, the people are deprived of the freedom to express feelings against the Party, so the only expression they can show towards the Party is love. Every human is born to love others, and not being able to display love for others, as the Party commands, can create a void of loneliness inside. The Party uses this to their advantage; allowing the people to love Big Brother fills the void of loneliness and also encourages them to love the Party.
Gaining the people’s admiration for Big Brother is favorable for the Party, for “Big Brother is the guise in which the Party chooses to exhibit itself to the world” (Orwell 209). Big Brother is the ultimate icon of the Party, the Party’s “cult of personality” (Wahlqvist 20); he is the façade of Party minds, ideas, and voices combined into a charismatic individual. The Party funnels the majority of their power into Big Brother because “such a figurehead [adds] purpose to the organization behind him/her” (20). For example, when one hears the words ‘Nazi Party’, one of the first thoughts that jumps to mind is Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi Party. Hitler as an individual, epitomized the Nazi Party, heightening the importance of the group and the group’s global influence. The Oceanic Party achieves the same effect by delegating Big Brother as their representative symbol.
An interesting concept to consider is that in a sense, Big Brother is God. O’Brien tells Winston, “[Party members] are the priests of power. God is power” (207). As explained previously, Party members channel their power into Big Brother, constructing Big Brother into the ultimate collection of power. Thus, it is logical to say that Big Brother is comprised of power. But what is power? God is power. Therefore, one could argue that because God is a major component of Big Brother, Big Brother is mostly God. Additionally, Big Brother’s preeminence brings up a curious concept in the novel. Big Brother is “a face on the hoardings, a voice on the telescreen”, but Winston directly tells the reader that “[n]obody has ever seen Big Brother”, raising the question of whether Big Brother even exists (Orwell 209). O’Brien also asserts that Big Brother cannot die. (263) These two “clues” about Big Brother connect him even more closely to God; Big Brother is like God in that the existence of both “individuals” has always been questioned and in that the image of both will never fade from society. The Party injects so much authority into such an existent yet abstract political figure who represents them, and it is clear that the Oceanian people openly receive Big Brother despite any doubts they may have of his tangible existence. By creating such an infallible, shadowy character who is so well-integrated into society, the Party truly reifies the individual.
Similarly, when Winston asks O’Brien whether the Brotherhood exists, O’Brien replies, “That, Winston, you will never know…As long as you live, it will be an unsolved riddle in your mind” (Orwell 263). O’Brien’s answer implies that the Brotherhood may merely be fictional, raising the question of whether Goldstein is fictional. Moreover, O’Brien later tells Winston that he wrote (or rather, helped write) The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism, a book authored by Goldstein that contained a “compendium of all the heresies” contrary to the Party’s doctrines (15). O’Brien’s claim to have written the book makes the reader lean towards believing that Goldstein does not exist. Still, the uncertainty of Goldstein’s existence makes the reader question whether the Party even has enemies, and if not, why the Party would fabricate such a character. Most likely, the Party created Goldstein as an individual subject of propaganda to make the people of Oceania conform to superstate policy. Furthermore, Goldstein also may have served as the Party’s “thoughtcrime trap”; those who show interest in Goldstein and in the Brotherhood are a threat to the Party, and through Goldstein, the Thought Police can lure these individuals into captivity, just as they did with Winston at the end of Part Two of the novel.
By treating both the abstract Big Brother and Emmanuel Goldstein as concrete figures in Oceanic society, the Party reifies the individual in a world where individualism is suppressed. The Party destroys the individuality of Oceanic citizens by policing the citizens’ thoughts and channeling the citizens’ emotions in a way that increases the Party’s own power and elevates the Party’s already high status in society. They manipulate Big Brother and Goldstein as perfect, charismatic images of the individual and rely on them to eliminate thoughtcrime in Oceania. By focusing on their most significant method of control, the control of thought and emotion, the Party maintains their influence over the people and over Oceania.
References:
Gaupseth, Silje. “To Narrow the Range of Thought: Language, Power and Satire in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.” Diss. U of Oslo, 2004. Google Scholar. Web. 4 May 2014.
Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. New York: Harcourt, 1949. Print.
Rooney, Brigid. “Narrative Viewpoint and the Representation of Power in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.” Sydney Studies in English 28.2002 (2002): 69-85. Google Scholar. Web. 4 May 2014.
Wahlqvist, Tomas. “Speaking About Newspeak: Teaching Democracy, Critical Thinking and Language Through Nineteen Eighty-Four.” Diss. U of Gothenburg, 2013. Google Scholar. Web. 4 May 2014.
In George Orwell’s political satire Nineteen Eighty-Four, the superstate of Oceania is ruled by a totalitarian government known as the Party who strives to destroy individuality in society. Ironically, however, the members of the Party consolidate their authority into a political figure known as Big Brother to effectively control the thoughts of the Oceanic people as well as to combat Emmanuel Goldstein, the leader of the Party’s main opposing conspiracy known as the Brotherhood. In this sense, the Party is only able to annihilate individuality by reifying the individual through Big Brother and through their efforts to conquer Goldstein.
As Silje Gaupseth describes, the Party’s core objective is to “[overpower] the individual with sheer force” to eliminate the possibility of an uprising that could overthrow their regime, for the Party clearly recognizes that “individual consciousness is the greatest menace to [their] absolute supremacy” (77, 48). To maintain their control over Oceania, the Party prohibits the people, including Party members themselves, from displaying emotions towards others, and they strip citizens of their individual rights and freedoms, including the right to privacy and the right to speech or thought against the Party. Heavily scattered throughout Oceania, microphones and telescreens, television-like objects that constantly monitor people and record sounds while broadcasting propaganda, are used by the Party to intrude on people’s lives. Unable to turn off these microphones and telescreens, the majority of Oceanian people refrain from acting, speaking, or exhibiting facial expressions that would otherwise suggest opposition against the Party; those who show any sign of opposition are isolated and arrested by the Thought Police, an insidious search force who takes rebellious individuals to the Party for questioning, brainwashing, and “correcting” thought through physical torture. Even children are trained by Party members to eavesdrop on their parents’ conversations and report any negative talk about the Party to the Thought Police. These invasive measures set by the Party create apprehensive tension among the people of Oceania, depriving them of their individuality and forcing them to bottle up their emotions to avoid punishment from the Party for their social behavior.
Ideally, to eradicate all forms of individuality from Oceanic society would require the Party to eradicate one crime in its entirety: thoughtcrime. Thoughtcrime, as the story’s chief protagonist Winston describes in the novel, is “the essential crime that [contains] all others in itself” (Orwell 20). In other words, one cannot commit a crime without committing thoughtcrime, or thinking about the crime, beforehand. One of the Party’s tactics to rid Oceania of thoughtcrime is “to vilify the individual”, or to defame the individual (Wahlqvist 21). This is ironic because in the Western Hemisphere, whose landmasses are part of Oceanic territory, the Western individual has been encouraged to “be himself” since the end of the Middle Ages, demonstrating that individuality is valued and held of the utmost importance by Western society. The Party “[vilifies] the individual” by sending out a public message of force directly stating that should one become independent, one should be afraid of the independent oneself. (21) By broadcasting this message, the Party emphasizes that Oceania’s citizens must look down on and fear individuality because the individual is dangerous. This urges the Oceanic person to abstain from becoming a free-minded individual, which is favorable for the Party since thoughtcrime can only be committed by one who shows any trace of individual thought. An example of the Party’s success in “[vilifying] the individual” occurs in Part Three of the novel, when Winston encounters his neighbor Parsons, who has been arrested for committing thoughtcrime. Instead of scolding his daughter for reporting him to the ThoughtPolice, Parson praises her for her good work and blames himself for his actions. Parson’s reflection on his own arrest typifies that of the “good” Oceanian citizen, “[pointing] to how much control the ruling elite has in Oceania due to the comprehensive psychological manipulation and suppression of individualism” (22). Parson’s self-degrading justification for his actions also shows that the Party has truly influenced the Oceanic person to fear the free-minded individual.
The Party’s extensive usage of technology and of the Thought Police demonstrates that in Brigid Rooney’s words, “[they have] the capacity to monitor and control the lives of individuals” (78). However, the Party also demonstrates that “that [they] can ‘get inside’ and destroy one’s inner being” by questioning, brainwashing, and “correcting” thought through physical torture (78). This procedure of “‘[getting] inside’ and [destroying] one’s inner being” is exactly what O’Brien, one of the highest Party members (or a member of the Inner Party, as Orwell refers to him in the novel), does to Winston. Kicked and beat into telling Party members of any crimes he has committed, Winston is re-taught the principles of the Party. Additionally, he is electrocuted multiple times by O’Brien for not complying to regurgitate these principles. Winston is brainwashed into believing these principles through the unbearable physical torture he undergoes (including a session where O’Brien holds carnivorous rats, Winston’s greatest phobia, next to Winston’s face), and he loses all rebellious thought, conforming to the Party’s standard of not allowing anyone in Oceania to possess any thought opposing the Party. O’Brien had fully reduced Winston into a sentient being with no individual thought and into “simply a mouth that uttered…whatever was demanded of him” (Orwell 245). O’Brien’s domination of Winston dramatizes that “[the Party’s] thirst to exercise and even to play with power is relentless…the theme of ‘powerplay’ acquires the sinister sense of the ways in which Party ‘plays with’ or ‘enjoys’ power” (Rooney 78). In other words, the Party attains a “collective pleasure…through the possession and exercise of power”, especially over the individual (78).
These individuality-destroying measures enforced by the Party make it difficult for the people of Oceania to openly express their feelings without attracting the Party’s suspicion. Therefore, to avoid attracting this suspicion and potentially undergoing punishment from the Party, the people of Oceania are forced to bottle up their feelings. However, there are two Party-supervised opportunities for the people to openly express feelings: the Two Minutes Hate, a daily activity in which all Party members must watch a two-minute film depicting the Party’s enemies and demonstrate hatred for them, and Hate Week, an annual, week-long public rally involving military parades and speeches to amplify hate for Oceania’s superstate enemies. Although both events do allow the people to convey their hatred, the hatred is directed towards the enemies of the Party and not at the Party themselves. By allowing the people to show and verbalize their hatred for their enemies during these two occasions, the Party members romanticize their own image of “goodness” and unite the people through a sense of Oceanic nationalism. In this sense, the Party increases their governmental power by prescribing both the Two Minutes Hate and Hate Week to the people as much-needed “safety valves” for releasing emotion. These “safety valves” regulate the outburst of emotion from the people to be negative towards the enemies of the Party and positive towards the Party themselves.
Controlling the people’s emotions is one way that the Party destroys individuality, but it is also a way that they reify the individual. The Two Minutes Hate, in particular, is a major opportunity for the Party to assert their dominance in Oceania and also a noticeable instance that the Party emphasizes the individual. As mentioned previously, the Two Minutes Hate is the Party’s strategy to stir the Oceanian people with jarring hatred. They achieve this by beginning every film with discordant noises and by showing the “inherently despicable” face of Goldstein (Orwell 13). Goldstein then attacks the doctrines of the Party in his sheep-bleating voice, infuriating the audience of Party members to break out in “uncontrollable exclamations of rage” (14). Winston reveals to the reader during the first Two Minutes Hate that “the sight or even the thought of Goldstein produced fear and anger automatically. [Goldstein] was an object of hatred more constant than [the superstates]” (14). He continues to explain that even though Goldstein was despised every day a thousand times a day by everybody everywhere, his influence on Oceania never faded. (15) Winston’s description of Goldstein’s omnipresence in Oceania implies that that the Party ceaselessly targets Goldstein as an individual and as a primary focus of hate; Goldstein is a social hate staple in the life of the Oceanian citizen.
Appearing after Goldstein in the first Two Minutes Hate film is the “black-haired, black mustachio’d” face of Big Brother, “full of power and mysterious calm” (Orwell 13). Seeing his face after erupting into a chaotic frenzy relieves the audience, and they begin a “deep, slow, rhythmical chant of ‘B-B! … B-B! … B-B!’” (17). As Tomas Wahlqvist points out, the Party members’ adoring reaction towards Big Brother’s shows that Big Brother is the Oceanian people’s “symbol of love” (20). Orwell also observes this in the story, as he describes Big Brother as the people’s “focusing point for love, fear, and reverence, emotions which are more easily felt towards an individual than towards an organization” (209). For the people of Oceania, loving Big Brother is one of the prescribed “safety valves” for releasing emotion. As mentioned previously, the people are deprived of the freedom to express feelings against the Party, so the only expression they can show towards the Party is love. Every human is born to love others, and not being able to display love for others, as the Party commands, can create a void of loneliness inside. The Party uses this to their advantage; allowing the people to love Big Brother fills the void of loneliness and also encourages them to love the Party.
Gaining the people’s admiration for Big Brother is favorable for the Party, for “Big Brother is the guise in which the Party chooses to exhibit itself to the world” (Orwell 209). Big Brother is the ultimate icon of the Party, the Party’s “cult of personality” (Wahlqvist 20); he is the façade of Party minds, ideas, and voices combined into a charismatic individual. The Party funnels the majority of their power into Big Brother because “such a figurehead [adds] purpose to the organization behind him/her” (20). For example, when one hears the words ‘Nazi Party’, one of the first thoughts that jumps to mind is Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi Party. Hitler as an individual, epitomized the Nazi Party, heightening the importance of the group and the group’s global influence. The Oceanic Party achieves the same effect by delegating Big Brother as their representative symbol.
An interesting concept to consider is that in a sense, Big Brother is God. O’Brien tells Winston, “[Party members] are the priests of power. God is power” (207). As explained previously, Party members channel their power into Big Brother, constructing Big Brother into the ultimate collection of power. Thus, it is logical to say that Big Brother is comprised of power. But what is power? God is power. Therefore, one could argue that because God is a major component of Big Brother, Big Brother is mostly God. Additionally, Big Brother’s preeminence brings up a curious concept in the novel. Big Brother is “a face on the hoardings, a voice on the telescreen”, but Winston directly tells the reader that “[n]obody has ever seen Big Brother”, raising the question of whether Big Brother even exists (Orwell 209). O’Brien also asserts that Big Brother cannot die. (263) These two “clues” about Big Brother connect him even more closely to God; Big Brother is like God in that the existence of both “individuals” has always been questioned and in that the image of both will never fade from society. The Party injects so much authority into such an existent yet abstract political figure who represents them, and it is clear that the Oceanian people openly receive Big Brother despite any doubts they may have of his tangible existence. By creating such an infallible, shadowy character who is so well-integrated into society, the Party truly reifies the individual.
Similarly, when Winston asks O’Brien whether the Brotherhood exists, O’Brien replies, “That, Winston, you will never know…As long as you live, it will be an unsolved riddle in your mind” (Orwell 263). O’Brien’s answer implies that the Brotherhood may merely be fictional, raising the question of whether Goldstein is fictional. Moreover, O’Brien later tells Winston that he wrote (or rather, helped write) The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism, a book authored by Goldstein that contained a “compendium of all the heresies” contrary to the Party’s doctrines (15). O’Brien’s claim to have written the book makes the reader lean towards believing that Goldstein does not exist. Still, the uncertainty of Goldstein’s existence makes the reader question whether the Party even has enemies, and if not, why the Party would fabricate such a character. Most likely, the Party created Goldstein as an individual subject of propaganda to make the people of Oceania conform to superstate policy. Furthermore, Goldstein also may have served as the Party’s “thoughtcrime trap”; those who show interest in Goldstein and in the Brotherhood are a threat to the Party, and through Goldstein, the Thought Police can lure these individuals into captivity, just as they did with Winston at the end of Part Two of the novel.
By treating both the abstract Big Brother and Emmanuel Goldstein as concrete figures in Oceanic society, the Party reifies the individual in a world where individualism is suppressed. The Party destroys the individuality of Oceanic citizens by policing the citizens’ thoughts and channeling the citizens’ emotions in a way that increases the Party’s own power and elevates the Party’s already high status in society. They manipulate Big Brother and Goldstein as perfect, charismatic images of the individual and rely on them to eliminate thoughtcrime in Oceania. By focusing on their most significant method of control, the control of thought and emotion, the Party maintains their influence over the people and over Oceania.
References:
Gaupseth, Silje. “To Narrow the Range of Thought: Language, Power and Satire in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.” Diss. U of Oslo, 2004. Google Scholar. Web. 4 May 2014.
Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. New York: Harcourt, 1949. Print.
Rooney, Brigid. “Narrative Viewpoint and the Representation of Power in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.” Sydney Studies in English 28.2002 (2002): 69-85. Google Scholar. Web. 4 May 2014.
Wahlqvist, Tomas. “Speaking About Newspeak: Teaching Democracy, Critical Thinking and Language Through Nineteen Eighty-Four.” Diss. U of Gothenburg, 2013. Google Scholar. Web. 4 May 2014.