by Tim Grunloh

Created on: December 27, 2007

"As a means of control, language . . . is a construct for ordering external reality" (Knickerbocker 39). Language is a definitive example of the difference between human beings and other animals. Individual intelligence is quite often judged by lingual ability. Words enable widespread communication and idea sharing. Many of mankind's most important inventions, such as the printing press and the Internet, are built upon vocabularies. Some people go so far as to base their lives on the spoken word, which is also an enabler. Language's facilitation of thought is perhaps its most important aspect. Thought renders humans as individuals and as critical thinkers. Man's integral use of tools is based upon thought and reason. Such faculties allow people to solve problems, make decisions, and, most importantly, independently govern personal actions. With such sizeable benefits come equally evil potentialities. As presented in 1984, language becomes a tool of atrocious control and manipulation when tyrannically abused.

George Orwell explores the concept of language's great power in the dystopian fiction 1984. Orwell's brainchild, Newspeak, is a thorough showcase of ingenuity and foresight. The unchallenged political faction known only as the Party in 1984 is copiously aware of the malleability of human ideals through thought and language and uses this knowledge in the pursuit of completely unabridged power (Orwell 266). The language of Newspeak is designed to limit human cognitive ability in entirety and can be described as unleashing a "verbal holocaust upon the English language" (Green ix). If the population remains simple minded, the risk of rebellion is colossally minimized. The glue of any human society is language. When this glue is the invention and servant of one leader entity, the entire state becomes easily manipulated.

Newspeak is the endoskeleton of the Party. Characters within Orwell's novel state that Newspeak and governmental dominance are inextricably linked. This language is structured in such a way as to make obedience second nature to the entire population. A character in 1984, Winston Smith, states that "Orthodoxy was unconsciousness" (Orwell 56). This statement is a paragon of genius and becomes a motif of 1984. With Newspeak, Oceania's population essentially loses self-awareness. Ultimately, the common man loses the ability to describe his existence, even to himself. A race of zombie-like beings with no purpose higher than servitude is foreshadowed.

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