Boethius+Essay

Dear Boethius, I have read your book, and I thought that your philosophy that all people can be happy when they still have their minds free is very fascinating. I have written this letter to tell you that where I come from, this philosophy is very wrong. Let me explain why.

I live in the country Oceania, and in Oceania, the government, which is called the Party, has absolute control over everyone. One way that they do this is through the use of telescreens. A telescreen is a big metal picture that can not only show you pictures, but it also picked up every sound and movement that you would make. "You had to live- didlive, from habit that became instinct- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized." (page 5). So as you can see, you were constantly watched and listened to at all times due to the fact that telescreens were everywhere.

Another way to keep everyone loyal to the Party is to disallow any relationship that any two people would have together. That means that no man or women can have sex unless they were given permission by the Party to do so, but that would be very unlikely. One way to make sure of this is to create the Anti-Sex League. The Anti-Sex League is used to make the thought of having sex extremely unbearable and disgusting. They make banners and have marches in which to make people not have sex and keep their mind focused on the Party. "All this marching up and down and cheering and waving flags is simply sex gone sour." (page 145).

Finally, the Party makes you use what they call "doublethink". This is where usually you would think that two plus two equals four, but if the Party says that two plus two equals five, and they say that it always equalled five, then you would have to erase any memory that it ever equalled four, and believe that two and two does equal five. With the concept of doublethink, the Party would be able to tell you anything, and you would believe it. With doublethink, "reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else." (page 273).

As you can see, the Party very much controls your body and your mind. If you ever have an incorrect thought, then the thoughtpolice will come, arrest you, torture you until there is nothing left of you except your body, and then kill you. The Party controls not only your body, but also your mind. As you can see, the Party has destroyed your philosophy with their own.

Your comrade, Nathan Staples