Three Slogans of Oceania

Ross Schonberg

Ms. Gubanich

Western Literature 

September 17, 2015

Three Slogans

           Hello outsiders to the great Oceania. In our society Big Brother is always watching us. Here we have no laws and we have three slogans to live by, which are "War is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength". These three slogans are the most important and definitely the truest ideas for those of us in Oceania.  

           The first slogan is "War is peace" and since this is the first slogan, it is clearly the most important. If we are at war against another country, this creates a feeling of patriotism and loyalty to the party. When we are all united against a common enemy, there is peace among the people in Oceania because we all feel very passionate about hating the same foreign country. I feel that we believe in the idea that "War is peace" is because it implies that out of war and conflict comes peace if we are successful. We read in our history books about the many battles and it is said that when Big Brother came to help and to create order, he was there for the people when we were in peril. As Big Brother once said, “out of chaos comes order” and we listened to many of his important quotes. Now thanks to the party we don’t have to worry about this anymore because we have the Ministry of War to take care of our peace and war issues.

            The second great slogan is “freedom is slavery”. The reason that this makes sense to the people of Oceania is that if we are allowed to be “ free” thinkers and we start to do whatever we want with our lives, a person will find that they are not free because you start to crave material things. You might want things like money, electronics, homes, fancy cars, etc. Therefore, you have to keep working just to buy these unnecessary items. Also, even though there are no true laws, we do have a sense of what our place is in society (thanks to the government) and if people start to deviate from their daily lives then they might make bad choices and have to be sent away to a work camp. We all need to have someone to guide us, and we thank Big Brother for all he has done. Fortunately for us we have the Thought Police to keep everyone in check, plus our Tele-screens are always monitoring us, so that we behave properly.

          The third slogan that the people of Oceania truly believe in is that Ignorance is Strength.  This helps keep order in our country because if no one ever knows to question the authority of the party or Big Brother there will be order and that keeps the country strong. Also, if the group all thinks the same way, there is strength in numbers.

            In conclusion, as a citizen of Oceania I continue to live by these slogans and I know that they help make this country stronger. As an outsider I hope that I have given you a good description of Oceania and to follow the party and obey Big Brother.