Nineteen eighty-four by George Orwell is a novel that primarily focuses on the way the State is able to control the minds of party members. The State had taken the trouble to 'cure' Winston Smith because they had the power to dictate the mind and therefore they exploit their power for the sake of being dominant over party members. It is never easy to kill anyone for whatever the reason may be but in the case of Winston, being a Thoughtcriminal, it would have been less time consuming and strenuous to simply kill him. However, the State wishes to cure those members like Winston who posses negative influential thoughts about the Party and Big Brother. This is the process of cleansing the m ...view middle of the document...
" It was in this way that O'Brien would now be the one to influence Winston by brainwashing him and reducing his minds to nothing but the love for Big Brother. Perhaps, one day, Winston may be in the shoes of O'Brien in which he will be the one to deceive any other Thoughtcriminals, but at this stage by releasing Winston back into society he would remind those around Winston of the incredible power and control the Party has over its people. "Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime is death." The influence that the Party wishes for Winston to have on others relates to the strength of the Party in which they attempt to try and gain even more power by "curing" others who have similar problems like Winston.Society as Orwell has imagined would be in nineteen eighty-four is one of which is dominated by those with power and those that use their power to try and gain more power. By simply controlling the behaviour of party members was not enough for the Party since it is the thoughts in our mind which cause these rebellious behaviours to occur. Therefore, it was paramount to the Party for them to control the minds so that there could be no stimulation of negative conducts. By 'curing' Winston the Party was able to gain more power as Winston was now totally controlled by Big Brother who he now 'loved'. If the party had decided to kill Winston, their goal of controlling society would be incomplete since Winston's soul would remain uncured of his pessimistic views of Big Brother. However, O'Brien was able to brainwash Winston and make him less of a threat to the Party and thus they gained more power. "In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality was tacitly denied by their philosophy." It was one thing to gain po...
