30 and wild in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Considering the nature of reasoning which were
directly proportional to the nature of language. So, who could control the language he can also could control the logical reasoning people.
There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed.
…If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face
—for ever.’… Orwell, 1948: 267
4.1.3 Changed History and News
The government in Nineteen Eighty-Four has four ministries; that was The Ministry of Truth, which concerned itself with news, entertainment, education and the fine
arts. The Ministry of Peace, which concerned itself with war. The Ministry of Love, which maintained law and order. And the Ministry of Plenty, which was responsible
for economic affairs.
The Ministry of Truth —Minitrue, in Newspeak [Newspeak was the
official language of Oceania.]… The Ministry of Truth contained, it was said, three thousand rooms
above ground level, and corresponding ramifications below. Scattered about London there were just three other buildings of
similar appearance and size. So completely did they dwarf the surrounding architecture that from the roof of Victory Mansions you
could see all four of them simultaneously. They were the homes of the four Ministries between which the entire apparatus of government
was divided. The Ministry of Truth, which concerned itself with news, entertainment, education, and the fine arts. The Ministry of Peace,
which concerned itself with war. The Ministry of Love, which maintained law and order. And the Ministry of Plenty, which was
responsible for economic affairs. Their names, in Newspeak: Minitrue, Minipax, Miniluv, and Miniplenty.
Orwell, 1948: 4
Universitas Sumatera Utara
31 The Ministry of Truth duty is everyday always was to alter the truth, to erase
the past, and created the new present. Simply did by Smith were changing the contents of the speeches, magazines, newspapers and other archival solely for the
benefit of the ruling party. Everyday history always changed. People could not differs between truth and untruth, because everything has been changed and formed
by the government. And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed
— if all records told the same tale
—then the lie passed into history and became truth. ‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls
the future: who controls the present controls the past.’ And yet the past, though of its nature alterable, never had been altered. Whatever
was true now was true from everlasting to everlasting. It was quite simple.
Orwell, 1948: 34
The citizens have lost track of the history because of the work had done by Winston and other employees in the government. The people can’t differ which the
information right and wrong is. So, they really have lost the instructions on how life before the era Big Brother. An information was published is information from the
Party. The truth information is according to the Party. Citizens can’t differ between the lie and the truth because all things have changed and shaped as the Party wishes.
Government controls every source of information, managing and rewriting the content of all newspapers and histories for government goal. Government does not
allow individuals to keep records of their past, such as photographs or documents. Consequently, memories become fuzzy and unreliable, and citizens become perfectly
willing to believe whatever the Party tells to them. By controlling the present, the government was able to manipulate the past. And in controlling the past, government
can justify all of its actions in the present.
Universitas Sumatera Utara
32 And the Records Department, after all, was itself only a single branch of
the Ministry of Truth, whose primary job was not to reconstruct the past but to supply the citizens of Oceania with newspapers, films, textbooks,
telescreen programmes, plays, novels —with every conceivable kind of
information, instruction, or entertainment, from a statue to a slogan, from a lyric poem to a biological treatise, and from a child’s spelling-
book to a Newspeak dictionary. And the Ministry had not only to supply the multifarious needs of the party, but also to repeat the whole operation
at a lower level for the benefit of the proletariat. There was a whole chain of separate departments dealing with
proletarian literature, music, drama, and entertainment generally. Here were produced rubbishy newspapers containing almost nothing
except sport, crime and astrology, sensational five-cent novelettes, films oozing with sex, and sentimental songs which were composed entirely by
mechanical means on a special kind of kaleidoscope known as a versificator.
Orwell, 1948: 43
4.1.4 Limited Entertainment
