Urban decay is the setting. Why is this important?
Urban decay is very important as a setting in 1984, as it is another example of an unjust social system. The Inner Party doesn't care about the living conditions of the Outer Party and the Proles, it shows they don’t have their best interests at heart. If the people they govern are living in dilapidated houses sometimes with no electricity or plumbing, with rats living in the walls and they decide to spend all their money on celebrations and surveillance it shows what they care about, keeping their power. The Inner Party has a lot of comforts the Outer Party doesn’t have such as better accommodation and food, servants, and cars, so it’s not as though they are all living in these unjust conditions.
The use of technology as an oppressive tool.
They use technology as a kind of mind control. With constant surveillance not only monitoring sound but also their facial expressions, people who are committing crimethink are in constant fear. They watch people all the time, even when you think it wouldn't be necessary. When Winston is doing his Morning Jerks, the telescreen calls out to him to touch his toes. Telescreens, which are in every Party member's apartment simultaneously, receive and transmit information. Outer Party members can’t turn it off and it never stops playing. It is a reminder that Big Brother is always watching.
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The state is All Powerful!
1984 is a brilliant example of the state as All-Powerful, the book is powerful enough to make an impact even 60 years later. It shows the dangers of constant surveillance and mind control. They control people through psychological manipulation, watching them constantly on the telescreens, they destroy families as they teach children to constantly watch their parents and if they show any sign of being unloyal to the party turn them in. They also control them through surveillance and technology watching for a twitch or a certain emotion on their face. Through the control of history, they change records and destroy history, they lie about their defeats and allow no one to keep records of the past. Last, but not least they control people through their language, as newspeak will eliminate any words that could be used for revolt, and the word freedom won’t exist. It will limit people from expressing thoughts as the words won’t exist. This plan should be complete by 2050.
The mutability of truth.
One of the scariest things in 1984 is the mutability of truth and history. The truth is whatever the Party deems it to be. If they say so 2 + 2 = 5, to believe otherwise you would be unloyal to the Party, people do this through doublethink. Doublethink is to hold two thoughts that contradict each other while believing in both, Party members are expected to do this unconsciously. Winston works in the Ministry of Truth, his job is to change and forge articles from the past that will become historical facts. The mutability of truth is most obvious when during Hate Week Oceania who was at war with Eurasia, suddenly was at war with Eastasia and people were told they had always been at war with Eastasia. Everybody accepted this as truth and believed it.
1984 teaches valuable lessons for the modern age.
1984 teaches a lot of valuable lessons for the modern age such as the dangers of the advancing technology in our age and how far people will go to stay in power. It shows that invasion of privacy creates fear through telescreens, expressions, and punishment, even people who haven’t committed any crimes and love the party can’t show the expression on their faces. It shows us what could happen if we gave the government complete control with no one to question or oppose them. It shows what the world would be like with individualism removed and independent thought a crime. It reminds us to not let this happen in the future, and to prevent it.
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