Date of Award
5-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
College/School
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Department/Program
English
Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair
Jonathan Greenberg
Committee Member
Adam Rzepka
Committee Member
Martina Santia
Abstract
This thesis analyses George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), focusing on how propaganda, language, and intellectual domination function as mechanisms of totalitarian control. It argues that Orwell presents intellectual domination, a concept that extends beyond physical coercion, as the primary objective of totalitarian regimes, achieved through the manipulation of language. This objective, to control not only citizens’ actions but also their thoughts, is central to shaping Orwellian reality. Both Newspeak and doublethink facilitate this linguistic control over citizens’ thoughts and perception. The analysis integrates scholarly evidence to connect Orwell’s representation of language as a tool of manipulation with propaganda and disinformation campaigns, supporting his argument from a theoretical perspective. Based on this analysis, the thesis argues that intellectual domination is achieved by systemic undermining of positive propaganda, the promotion of government-led widespread fear and terror-based propaganda, and compounded disinformation campaigns. The thesis also traces allusions to the concepts of totalitarian control, intellectual domination, and language as a manipulation tool in Orwell’s work prior to Nineteen Eighty-Four. It further examines the historical events that gave propaganda a central role in Orwell’s dystopia, particularly how his experience of the Spanish Civil War informs the context, theme, and events of the novel. The final section draws parallels between Winston Smith, the novel’s protagonist, and Orwell’s personal experience as a BBC broadcaster, highlighting the struggle to maintain an objective perception of reality amid the dense fog of wartime propaganda.
File Format
Recommended Citation
Abbasi, Pariwish Feroz, "From Propaganda to Dystopia: Language, Disinformation, and Intellectual Control in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four" (2026). Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects. 1676.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/1676