The Oceania society depicted in the 1984 George Orwell novel is simply driven by propaganda. It seems as though every citizen of the “Super State” country must interact with a daily intake of propaganda create by the government so that control is maintained. Even the “non-citizen” Proletarian community, which is the ignorant majority, is lead into a life filled with propaganda that inflicts feelings such as fear and hatred so that they can be controlled in a mental manner. Every person in Oceania is continually reintroduced to propaganda on a day to day basis so that they adore what their government does and whole heartedly hate any person who is against their ideals. The book is about control.
Controlling a majority keeps the minority in place. The government in the novel knows that its citizens can be kept at an appropriate level of control if a lie is constantly told. As you know everyone in Oceania is working for the benefit of Big Brother. The Party members and inner party members are lead to believe that they are laboring for the good of the country and for their comrades, but in reality they are only working to help Big Brother and the government obtain absolute power.
The government makes sure that every level of knowledge in Oceania is obscured. The book written by Goldstein explains how a party member is preferred to be slightly incompetent. The government ensures that even the smallest details of history and literature is falsified to meet the ideals of Big Brother. Winston knew that things such as the “two minutes hate”, the constant announcements of winning battles, and even how much supplies the country had are all tools to get the citizens to believe that the government is doing good rather than evil.
A constant flow of wartime propaganda is also present throughout the text. The various posters of the Eurasian soldier with “The gun that seems to follow you from whatever angle you are looking at it from” are meant to inflict fear in the citizens and make them feel patriotic. Not only is the propaganda constant, but it is also changing. One portion of the book Oceania will be at war with Eurasia and then instantly they will be at war with Eastasia. This is shown in the book when Winston was in the street listening to an orator speaking of the war and “In mid-sentence without a shudder in his words” the speaker changed his speech to say that they were now allied with Eurasia and at war with Eastasia. Although the Proles experience propaganda, it is not as abundant as it is with party members.
The Proles are controlled with such freedoms as “the lottery” and most importantly thought. I believe that the government that is shown in 1984 is quite a mastermind. It is able to control its citizens with a constant flow of lies. Because the government is perpetually lying to its people then it never has to worry about making a mistake in the truth. The position of the leader Big Brother is propaganda in and of itself so that a constant influx of lies makes no difference in the commander’s effectiveness. Without propaganda the totalitarian society of 1984 would crumble..