"Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?... Has it ever occurred to you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now?... The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact, there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness."
-George Orwell, 1984, Chapter 5
One of the themes in Orwell's 1984, is the deconstruction of language as a means of controlling the general population. The Party is doing so by creating and refining a language called Newspeak. Newspeak is closely related to English except for its grossly simplified vocabulary. Newspeak is the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year. In the novel, Winston's friend, Syme is working on putting together the 11th edition of the Newspeak dictionary. He talks about every new edition contains fewer and fewer words. They seem to be essentially stripping down the English language to its bare bones, to its most logical form. They're doing this, as Syme puts it "to narrow the range of thought and therefore make thoughtcrime virtually impossible".
Language is defined as "communication of meaning in any way". Freedom is defined as "the power to exercise choice and make decisions without constraint from within or without". It would be seemingly impossible to exercise choice and make decisions when ones only means of expression has been significantly handicapped. Obviously, language is crucial to the idea of freedom because without it, one does not have the means to express discontent, desire for change, or ones opinion.
One of the themes in Orwell's 1984, is the deconstruction of language as a means of controlling the general population. The Party is doing so by creating and refining a language called Newspeak. Newspeak is closely related to English except for its grossly simplified vocabulary. Newspeak is the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year. In the novel, Winston's friend, Syme is working on putting together the 11th edition of the Newspeak dictionary. He talks about every new edition contains fewer and fewer words. They seem to be essentially stripping down the English language to its bare bones, to its most logical form. They're doing this, as Syme puts it "to narrow the range of thought and therefore make thoughtcrime virtually impossible".
Language is defined as "communication of meaning in any way". Freedom is defined as "the power to exercise choice and make decisions without constraint from within or without". It would be seemingly impossible to exercise choice and make decisions when ones only means of expression has been significantly handicapped. Obviously, language is crucial to the idea of freedom because without it, one does not have the means to express discontent, desire for change, or ones opinion.
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