powerplay1

G
May 16, 2018

Contents
1 Quotes 8
1.1 "The songs, the processions, the banners, the hiking, the drilling
with dummy rifles, the yelling of slogans, the worship of Big
Brother-it was all sort of a glorious game to them." . . . . . . . . 8
1.2 "Even from the coin, the eyes pursued you. On coins, on stamps,
on the covers of books, on posters and on the wrapping of a
cigarette packet-everywhere. . . Nothing was your own except
the few cubic centimetres inside your skull." . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.3 "Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime is death." . 8
1.4 "Today there were fear, hatred and pain, but no dignity of emo-
tion, no deep or complex sorrows" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.5 "When there were no external records that you could refer to,
even the outline of your own life lost its sharpness." . . . . . . . 8
1.6 "All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and re-inscribed ex-
actly as often as necessary." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.7 "Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow
the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime
impossible because there will be no words to express it." . . . . . 8
1.8 "Orthodoxy means not thinking-not needing to think. Orthodoxy
is unconsciousness." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.9 "I love you." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.10 "No emotion was pure, because everything was mixed up with
fear and hatred. Their embrace had been a battle, the climax a
victory. It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a political
act." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.11 "Confession is not betrayal. What you say or do doesn’t matter-
only feelings matter. If they could make me stop loving you-that
would be the real betrayal." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.12 "We are the dead,’ he said. ’We are the dead,’ echoed Julia
dutifully. ’You are the dead,’ said an iron voice behind them." . 8
1.13 "We are not content with negative obedience, nor even with the
most abject submission. When finally you surrender to us, it
must be of your own free will." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

1
 1.14 "The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not
interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power." 8
1.15 "Power is not a means, it is an end. . . The object of persecution
is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of
power is power." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.16 "Slavery is freedom. Alone-free-the human being is always de-
feated. It must be so, because every human being is doomed to
die, which is the greatest of all failures. But. . . if he can merge
himself in the Party so that he is the Party, then he is all-powerful
and immortal." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.17 ". . . There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of
life. But always. . . always there will be the intoxication of power,
constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at
every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of
trampling on an enemy who is helpless." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.18 "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on
a human face-for ever." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.19 "The more the Party is powerful, the less it will be tolerant: the
weaker the opposition, the tighter the despotism." . . . . . . . . 8
1.20 "A world of victory after victory, triumph after triumph after
triumph, an endless pressing, pressing, pressing upon the nerve
of power." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.21 "I have not betrayed Julia.’ ’No,’ he said,’no; that is perfectly
true. You have not betrayed Julia." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.22 "All happenings are in the mind. Whatever happens in all minds,
truly happens." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.23 "Julia! Julia! Julia, my love! Julia!" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.24 "You must love Big Brother. It is not enough to obey him: you
must love him." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.25 "But it was all right, everything was alright, the struggle was
finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big
Brother." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2 Quotes-only the important ones 8

2.1 Techniques used by the party . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.1.1 "Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to
narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make
thoughtcrime impossible because there will be no words
to express it." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.1.2 "Orthodoxy means not thinking-not needing to think. Or-
thodoxy is unconsciousness." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.1.3 "All happenings are in the mind. Whatever happens in
all minds, truly happens." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2
 2.1.4 Doublethink-it’s oxymoronic nature highlights the insane
level of control desired by the party-yet it holds the terri-
fying implication that such supreme power has the ability
to alter reality itself-essentially a form of mind control.
This is achieved through Newspeak which eradicates the
very concepts of rebellion as well as through constant re-
instating, recurring examples of doublethink and the un-
believable. Eg. 2 + 2 = 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2 Why the party seeks power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2.1 "The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We
are not interested in the good of others; we are interested
solely in power." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2.2 "Power is not a means, it is an end. . . The object of per-
secution is persecution. The object of torture is torture.
The object of power is power." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2.3 "Slavery is freedom. Alone-free-the human being is al-
ways defeated. It must be so, because every human be-
ing is doomed to die, which is the greatest of all failures.
But. . . if he can merge himself in the Party so that he is
the Party, then he is all-powerful and immortal." . . . . . 8
2.2.4 ". . . There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process
of life. But always. . . always there will be the intoxication
of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing
subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill
of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is
helpless." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2.5 "You must love Big Brother. It is not enough to obey
him: you must love him." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2.6 "A world of victory after victory, triumph after triumph
after triumph, an endless pressing, pressing, pressing upon
the nerve of power." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3 Effects of this power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3.1 "Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime is
death." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3.2 "Today there were fear, hatred and pain, but no dignity
of emotion, no deep or complex sorrows" . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3.3 "No emotion was pure, because everything was mixed up
with fear and hatred. Their embrace had been a battle,
the climax a victory. It was a blow struck against the
Party. It was a political act." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3.4 "But it was all right, everything was alright, the struggle
was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He
loved Big Brother." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

3 Annotations 9

3
 3.1 "A world of victory after victory, triumph after triumph after
triumph, an endless pressing, pressing, pressing upon the nerve
of power." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.1.1 Repetition of pressing, victory and triumph . . . . . . . . 9
3.1.2 Metaphor-power as a nerve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.1.3 Hyperbole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.2 "But. . . if he can merge himself in the Party so that he is the
Party, then he is all-powerful and immortal." . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.2.1 Hyperbole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.2.2 God-like imagery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.3 "But always. . . always there will be the intoxication of power,
constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at
every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of
trampling on an enemy who is helpless." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.3.1 "Thrill" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.3.2 Repetition of "always" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.3.3 "Trampling" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.4 "Even from the coin, the eyes pursued you. On coins, on stamps,
on the covers of books, on posters and on the wrapping of a
cigarette packet-everywhere. . . Nothing was your own except
the few cubic centimetres inside your skull." . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.4.1 Big Brother is an omnipresent figure-a god . . . . . . . . 10
3.4.2 Use of eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.4.3 Irony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.5 "Orthodoxy means not thinking-not needing to think. Orthodoxy
is unconsciousness." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.5.1 Unconsciousness, indifference is what ultimately leads to
the destruction of individuality-it is encouraged by the
Party and it is what allows them to take control over the
minds of all people. Orthodoxy is the act of merging into
the Party’s values, an act that requires the destruction of
individuality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

4 1984 11
4.1 Orthodoxy is ultimately what allows the Party to exercise control
over the minds of people. This is done through propaganda-where
anything less than obedience and acceptance of the Party’s values
is impossible. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.1.1 "Even from the coin, the eyes pursued you. On coins, on
stamps, on the covers of books, on posters and on the
wrapping of a cigarette packet-everywhere. . . Nothing
was your own except the few cubic centimetres inside your
skull." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

4
 4.1.2 "Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to
narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make
thoughtcrime impossible because there will be no words
to express it." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.1.3 "When there were no external records that you could refer
to, even the outline of your own life lost its sharpness." . 11
4.1.4 "All happenings are in the mind. Whatever happens in
all minds, truly happens." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.2 Orthodoxy and lack of questioning from the general public is what
gives the Party it’s power-the end goal of it’s strict surveillance.
Where there is no freedom, individuality, there is no choice but
to be one with the Party and it’s values-to willingly accept the
Party’s version of reality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.2.1 "Orthodoxy means not thinking-not needing to think. Or-
thodoxy is unconsciousness." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.2.2 "A world of victory after victory, triumph after triumph
after triumph, an endless pressing, pressing, pressing upon
the nerve of power." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.2.3 "But. . . if he can merge himself in the Party so that he is
the Party, then he is all-powerful and immortal." . . . . . 12

5 Perils of Indifference Quotes 13

5.1 We felt that to be abandoned by God was worse than to be pun-
ished by Him. Better an unjust God than an indifferent one. For
us to be ignored by God was a harsher punishment than to be
a victim of His anger. Man can live far from God – not outside
God. God is wherever we are. Even in suffering? Even in suffering. 13
5.1.1 Here the god bears similarity to the Party or Big Brother-
omnipresent figures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.1.2 Sets up rest of speech-indifference takes away power from
the victims-abandonment is worse than hatred. . . . . . . 13
5.2 In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the
human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous
than anger and hatred. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.2.1 Similar to the Party-they try to make people inhuman. . . 13
5.2.2 Even hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it.
You denounce it. You disarm it. Indifference elicits no
response. Indifference is not a response. . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.3 And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy,
for it benefits the aggressor – never his victim, whose pain is
magnified when he or she feels forgotten. The political prisoner
in his cell, the hungry children, the homeless refugees. Not to
respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering
them a spark of hope is to exile them from human memory. And
in denying their humanity we betray our own. . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5.3.1 "we" directs this message directly to the audience. . . . . 14

5
 5.3.2 Listing of people clearly shows the targets and humanises
them-helping his fact that indifference is harmful and the
opposite of empowerment to our fellow men-indifference
gives power to the enemy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5.4 Does it mean that we have learned from the past? Does it mean
that society has changed? Has the human being become less
indifferent and more human? Have we really learned from our
experiences? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5.4.1 Rhetorical questioning forces the audience to reflect on
their indifference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5.5 But then, there were human beings who were sensitive to our
tragedy. Those non-Jews, those Christians, that we called the
"Righteous Gentiles," whose selfless acts of heroism saved the
honor of their faith. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5.5.1 Touches on religion-shows that lack of indifference are im-
pactful, powerful on a spiritual level . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5.6 But this time, the world was not silent. This time, we do respond.
This time, we intervene. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5.6.1 Repetition of "this time" is a call to action for the audience 14

6 Powerplay thesis statements 16

6.1 Indifference is the ultimate state of submission. It requires sub-
mission of the self to the enemy-be it an entity or general inhu-
manity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
6.2 Manipulation of language is a form of powerplay. . . . . . . . . . 16
6.3 What are the aims of powerplay? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
6.3.1 1984 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
6.3.2 The Perils of Indifference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

6
7
1 Quotes
1.1 "The songs, the processions, the banners, the hiking,
the drilling with dummy rifles, the yelling of slogans,
the worship of Big Brother-it was all sort of a glorious
game to them."
1.2 "Even from the coin, the eyes pursued you. On coins,
on stamps, on the covers of books, on posters and
on the wrapping of a cigarette packet-everywhere. . .
Nothing was your own except the few cubic centime-
tres inside your skull."
1.3 "Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime
is death."
1.4 "Today there were fear, hatred and pain, but no dig-
nity of emotion, no deep or complex sorrows"
1.5 "When there were no external records that you could
refer to, even the outline of your own life lost its sharp-
ness."
1.6 "All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and re-
inscribed exactly as often as necessary."
1.7 "Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is
to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall
make thoughtcrime impossible because there will be
no words to express it."
1.8 "Orthodoxy means not thinking-not needing to think.
Orthodoxy is unconsciousness."
1.9 "I love you."
1.10 "No emotion was pure, because everything was
mixed up with fear and hatred. Their embrace had
been a battle, the climax a victory. It was a blow
struck against the Party. It was a political act."
1.11 "Confession is not betrayal. What you say or do
doesn’t matter-only feelings matter. If they could
make me stop loving you-that would be the real be-
trayal."
1.12 "We are the dead,’ he said. ’We are the dead,’ echoed
8 the dead,’ said an iron voice
Julia dutifully. ’You are
behind them."
1.13 "We are not content with negative obedience, nor
even with the most abject submission. When finally
you surrender to us, it must be of your own free will."
1.14 "The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake.
2.2.5 "You must love Big Brother. It is not enough to obey him:
you must love him."
2.2.6 "A world of victory after victory, triumph after triumph af-
ter triumph, an endless pressing, pressing, pressing upon the
nerve of power."
1. Repetition of pressing

2.3 Effects of this power

2.3.1 "Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime is death."
2.3.2 "Today there were fear, hatred and pain, but no dignity of
emotion, no deep or complex sorrows"
2.3.3 "No emotion was pure, because everything was mixed up with
fear and hatred. Their embrace had been a battle, the climax
a victory. It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a
political act."
2.3.4 "But it was all right, everything was alright, the struggle was
finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big
Brother."

3 Annotations
3.1 "A world of victory after victory, triumph after tri-
umph after triumph, an endless pressing, pressing,
pressing upon the nerve of power."
3.1.1 Repetition of pressing, victory and triumph
3.1.2 Metaphor-power as a nerve
1. "Pressing", "Nerve of power" invokes imagery of physical sensation-pain,
yet pleasure and satisfaction

3.1.3 Hyperbole

3.2 "But. . . if he can merge himself in the Party so that he

is the Party, then he is all-powerful and immortal."
3.2.1 Hyperbole
3.2.2 God-like imagery
1. "All-powerful" implies complete control
2. Transcendental levels of power

9
3.3 "But always. . . always there will be the intoxication
of power, constantly increasing and constantly grow-
ing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be
the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an
enemy who is helpless."
3.3.1 "Thrill"
1. Implies an instinctive need and drive for power

3.3.2 Repetition of "always"

1. Emphasises the everlasting nature of power

3.3.3 "Trampling"
1. Extremely visual, invokes imagery of pain-a common motif in the book
2. Metaphor for mental pain Party invokes, not only physical-the trampling
of emotion, joy

3.4 "Even from the coin, the eyes pursued you. On coins,
on stamps, on the covers of books, on posters and
on the wrapping of a cigarette packet-everywhere. . .
Nothing was your own except the few cubic centime-
tres inside your skull."
3.4.1 Big Brother is an omnipresent figure-a god
3.4.2 Use of eyes
1. Personal-the window to the soul

2. Symbolic of being watched, observed

3.4.3 Irony
1. Through use of pain and discipline as a means of control, even minds can
be altered

10
3.5 "Orthodoxy means not thinking-not needing to think.
Orthodoxy is unconsciousness."
3.5.1 Unconsciousness, indifference is what ultimately leads to the
destruction of individuality-it is encouraged by the Party and
it is what allows them to take control over the minds of all peo-
ple. Orthodoxy is the act of merging into the Party’s values,
an act that requires the destruction of individuality.
"Powerplay involves the use of tactics and strategies to exercise power over
others for a particular purpose."

4 1984
4.1 Orthodoxy is ultimately what allows the Party to ex-
ercise control over the minds of people. This is done
through propaganda-where anything less than obedi-
ence and acceptance of the Party’s values is impossi-
ble.
4.1.1 "Even from the coin, the eyes pursued you. On coins, on
stamps, on the covers of books, on posters and on the wrapping
of a cigarette packet-everywhere. . . Nothing was your own
except the few cubic centimetres inside your skull."
1. Big Brother is an omnipresent figure-a god
2. Use of eyes

(a) Personal-the window to the soul

(b) Symbolic of being watched, observed

4.1.2 "Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow
the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime
impossible because there will be no words to express it."
4.1.3 "When there were no external records that you could refer to,
even the outline of your own life lost its sharpness."
1. Allows the party to exercise their version of reality with no proof to back
it up

11
4.1.4 "All happenings are in the mind. Whatever happens in all
minds, truly happens."

4.2 Orthodoxy and lack of questioning from the general

public is what gives the Party it’s power-the end goal
of it’s strict surveillance. Where there is no freedom,
individuality, there is no choice but to be one with the
Party and it’s values-to willingly accept the Party’s
version of reality.
4.2.1 "Orthodoxy means not thinking-not needing to think. Ortho-
doxy is unconsciousness."
1. Unconsciousness, indifference is what ultimately leads to the destruction
of individuality-it is encouraged by the Party and it is what allows them
to take control over the minds of all people. Orthodoxy is the act of
merging into the Party’s values, an act that requires the destruction of
individuality.

4.2.2 "A world of victory after victory, triumph after triumph af-
ter triumph, an endless pressing, pressing, pressing upon the
nerve of power."
1. Repetition of pressing, victory and triumph
2. Metaphor-power as a nerve
3. "Pressing", "Nerve of power" invokes imagery of physical sensation-pain,
yet pleasure and satisfaction
4. Hyperbole

4.2.3 "But. . . if he can merge himself in the Party so that he is the

Party, then he is all-powerful and immortal."
1. Hyperbole

2. God-like imagery
(a) "All-powerful" implies complete control
(b) Transcendental levels of power
1984-ideological, spiritual, political powerplay
• Encloses people in a certain ideology-the destruction of individ-
uality, merging of thinking with the Party expressed through
extreme forms of control and conformity. Love apart from love
for the party is shunned, along with all forms of humanity.
Perils of indifference-political, personal powerplay

12
 • Encourages against indifference, conformity and control-not the
destruction of individuality but expression of humanity

5 Perils of Indifference Quotes

5.1 We felt that to be abandoned by God was worse than
to be punished by Him. Better an unjust God than
an indifferent one. For us to be ignored by God was a
harsher punishment than to be a victim of His anger.
Man can live far from God – not outside God. God is
wherever we are. Even in suffering? Even in suffering.
5.1.1 Here the god bears similarity to the Party or Big Brother-
omnipresent figures.
5.1.2 Sets up rest of speech-indifference takes away power from the
victims-abandonment is worse than hatred.

5.2 In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what

makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after
all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred.
5.2.1 Similar to the Party-they try to make people inhuman.
5.2.2 Even hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it. You
denounce it. You disarm it. Indifference elicits no response.
Indifference is not a response.
1. Wiesel takes it further-pure indifference is something that even the Party
does not denounce-there is still the lust for power and hatred. To an
extent however, this indifference is still a vehicle for members of the Inner
party-the Party itself to gain this rush of power.
2. "Orthodoxy means not thinking-not needing to think. Orthodoxy is un-
consciousness."

13
5.3 And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the
enemy, for it benefits the aggressor – never his victim,
whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten.
The political prisoner in his cell, the hungry children,
the homeless refugees. Not to respond to their plight,
not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark
of hope is to exile them from human memory. And in
denying their humanity we betray our own.
5.3.1 "we" directs this message directly to the audience.
5.3.2 Listing of people clearly shows the targets and humanises
them-helping his fact that indifference is harmful and the op-
posite of empowerment to our fellow men-indifference gives
power to the enemy.

5.4 Does it mean that we have learned from the past?

Does it mean that society has changed? Has the hu-
man being become less indifferent and more human?
Have we really learned from our experiences?
5.4.1 Rhetorical questioning forces the audience to reflect on their
indifference

5.5 But then, there were human beings who were sensitive
to our tragedy. Those non-Jews, those Christians,
that we called the "Righteous Gentiles," whose selfless
acts of heroism saved the honor of their faith.
5.5.1 Touches on religion-shows that lack of indifference are impact-
ful, powerful on a spiritual level

5.6 But this time, the world was not silent. This time, we
do respond. This time, we intervene.
5.6.1 Repetition of "this time" is a call to action for the audience
Orthodoxy and indifference is what gives the Party, the enemy of humanity
it’s power. Where there is no freedom, individuality, there is no choice but to
abandon the weak, those in pain. Indifference is further more what allows us to
abandon our humanity and to an extent, allow us to become vessels for power on
the part of the enemy. Indifference takes away control from others, but further
more, it allows us to be controlled, less human.
• The Party’s complete desire for power-complete utter submission that can
only be derived from indifference and compliance.

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 – The ultimate lust for this power, the nearly spiritual nature desire
for power is ironically one of the most emotional experiences.
• Wiesel’s message on how indifference makes us less human, gives power to
the enemy
Through acts of looking out for fellow humans, acts of irrational humanity, we
become the ones in power.
• Julia and Winston’s love in 1984
• Wiesel’s message in "Perils of Indifference"
The desire for power over others is a constant present throughout all facets
of humanity. It is one that extends past humanity and morals, but in other
cases extends past extreme control by others. The process of obtaining greater,
long-lasting power is one that involves careful manipulation, strategy and most
of all, a motive that allows those being controlled to be content with being so.
Orwell’s novel 1984 and Wiesel’s speech "Perils of indifference" demonstrate
the effects of this motive-indifference and a desire to conform to the actions and
behaviour of those around us. This is achieved through constant surveillance
by the Party in 1984 and by the ego’s fear of action and tragedy in Wiesel’s
speech.
Through constant supervision and propaganda, the Party in 1984 is able to
enact extreme forms of powerplay upon its citizens. "Even from the coin, the
eyes pursued you. On coins, on stamps, on the covers of books, on posters and on
the wrapping of a cigarette packet-everywhere. . . Nothing was your own except
the few cubic centimetres inside your skull." In this quote, the ever watching
eyes are used as symbolism of constant surveillance from the state, emphasised
through the hyperbole of "everywhere". Eyes, however, also hold symbolism
as being a window to the soul and deeply personal. Through doing so, Orwell
depicts Big Brother as an omnipresent, everlasting figure, almost able to be
likened to a god-one that is ever present and ever punishing of stray thought
outside of the Party’s agenda. "Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak
is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime im-
possible because there will be no words to express it." Another strategy used by
the Party is similar in it’s intent and effect-ultimately to eliminate actions that
imply power against the state-anything other than complete mental submission.
In contrast to control through surveillance and monitoring of the public, the
Party uses the power of language to oppress it’s citizens. This phrase is highly
ironic-generally the purpose of language is to provide a medium for expression
but rather it has become averted to become exactly the opposite. Thus through
use of extrinsic tactics to intimidate the masses, the Party gains initial mental
power over it’s citizens.
Indifference strips away not only our individual power, but more importantly
our humanity.
Similarly, Wiesel uses emotive language in order to convey how such thinking
strips power away from the individual.

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6 Powerplay thesis statements
6.1 Indifference is the ultimate state of submission. It
requires submission of the self to the enemy-be it an
entity or general inhumanity.
6.2 Manipulation of language is a form of powerplay.
6.3 What are the aims of powerplay?
6.3.1 1984
1. The Party-to gain complete control over the minds of citizens and reality
itself. To feed off the intoxicating sensation of such control and power. To
feel such power as to transcend to another, almost spiritual level.
2. Winston and Julia-to rebel against the Party’s desire for power and to
reinstate their own. To have freedom and bring personal justice through
acts of rebellion.

6.3.2 The Perils of Indifference

1. Wiesel’s message against indifference-To regain power and humanity over
indifference. To be the righteous gentile, to at the very least care for
victims of injustice. To empower others through realising their plight and
not turning a blind eye.

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