User:Alto.Sax.Master/Sandbox
Oceania | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
| Motto: War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength | |
| Anthem: "Oceania, Tis For Thee" | |
 | |
| Capital | New York City, London |
| Official languages | Oldspeak (English) |
| Demonym(s) | Inner Party Members, Outer Party Members, Proles |
| Government | Ingsoc (Totalitarianistic) |
• Dictator | Big Brother |
| Revolution against Societal Structure | |
• Created | 1914 |
| Population | |
• Estimate | 300,000,000 |
| Currency | United States dollar ($) (USD) |
Oceania is one of three totalitarianistic superstates present in George Orwell's 1984, the other two being Eurasia and Eastasia. It comprises the Americas, the Atlantic islands including the British Isles, Australasia, and the southern portion of Africa. Oceania has no defined capital, but regional capitals could probably be considered New York City and London, London being where Winston resides and the story takes place. The specific form of totalitarianism is uses is defined by the Newspeak word Ingsoc.
Founded by the vague revolutionary figure 'Big Brother', the nation was created and recognized presumably in 1914, as America absorbed England during a global conflict involving nuclear weapons. Oceania has three levels of social classes: The Inner Party Members, The Outer Party Members, and the Proles. Whoever the actual dictator does not change the state of things much in Oceania. All that matters is that the figurehead Big Brother be present and real in the minds of the Outer Party and the Proles. There are four main branches of function: the Ministry of Love, the Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Peace, and the Ministry of Plenty.
The citizens of Oceania are little more than shells of humans as we know them. Or at least, this is true for the Proles and Outer Party. They go about their daily, pointless, harsh lives as if it were perfectly normal. The Party brainwashes everyone so that they are this way. The citizen population of Oceania is so desensitized that for entertainment that comedy involves boatloads of kids getting gunned down by helicopters. The Party had brainwashed the kids in Oceania so well that the kids reported their parents and other adults to be vaporized. There was no sense of a nuclear family, nor true friendships or love. Telescreens command a view of every perspective on citizen life, in order to monitor citizens' actions in case they do something wrong. In preparation, if any citizen appears to be thinking, or about to be thinking in the future, of something nonconformist, the Party will send out Thought Police to vaporize that individual and eliminate him from history. Ultimately, the bulk of the population of Oceania (as well as the other superstates) was there to give unfathomable amounts of power to the Inner Party.
History[edit]
The history of Oceania could never, under any circumstance, be defined by a person living in Oceania. This is due to the fact that the Ministry of Truth, in irony to its name, as all the Ministries, does the opposite of what is implied--it alters all historical events to warp the population's world to make the lower two classes believe whatever the Inner Party wants them to believe. The Ministry of Truth is also where Winston works.
The only source of presumably credible history of the world in the book is Emmanuel Goldstein, who is depicted to the residents of Oceania as a subhuman monster that should be destroyed indefinitely. Goldstein was the doer of all, if any, bad deeds, treacheries, and wrong-doings in the world. Goldstein explains that in the early twentieth century, a nuclear war breaks out, ultimately leading to the absorption of the worlds nations by bigger ones and the creation of the three superstates. Any (loyal) Party Member would tell you that their history records state that Big Brother led them; led the revolution, to create the legendary, undefeated, non-wrong-doing nation that they are. There isn't much of a history of Oceania to speak of. Any records of anything interesting, unusual, or disrespectful to the Party are altered again and again as need be, in order to wipe out any doubt about the Party or its duties. After Oceania's creation, the society hardly changes.
Government[edit]
Ingsoc, or English Socialism, is the form of totalitarianism used to rule Oceania. It is simply a no power-limit government where the Inner Party does whatever it pleases, and enjoys its added luxury and leisure. Both of the other superstates have nearly identical governments. However, Eurasia calls it Neo-Bolshevism, and Eastasia calls it Death-Worship, or 'Obliteration of the Self'.
The main roles of government are constituted of four ministries: the Ministry of Love, the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Plenty, and the Ministry of Truth. In real-world terms, these could be defined as the Department of National Security, the Department of War, the Department of Tax Revenue, and the Department of History, respectively. These bureaucratic offices exist under Big Brother and the Inner Party. the Ministry of Love is designed to brainwash and synchronize you with the views of the party, whatever they may be, by torture. If unchangeable, they kill you. The Ministry of Peace is basically the military head of Oceania. The Ministry of Plenty is not mentioned much in the story, but it can be inferred that their tax-collecting procedure probably are not the friendliest or fairest. The Ministry of Truth, as previously defined, rewrites all history to 'benefit' the citizens of Oceania.
The government has forced the modernization of Oceania to go backwards about fifty years, and it keeps it around there. The government technically doesn't have any laws, it simply gets a hold of you before you commit a thought crime. The government has also destroyed any artistic or cultural behaviors. The only music citizens ever hear is the war music that is played on the telescreen. The only type of literature available is graphy, and that is loosely restricted to the proles. Any independent thought or creativity has disappeared from the world. The only places to find any creativity is in prole stores or perhaps at the movie theaters.
War[edit]
Oceania is always at war with either Eastasia or Eurasia, or both. There are never any victors, or big advances from any of the three sides. The Middle East and Northern Africa constitute most of the area that is not permanently owned by a superstate, and any small advances on the battlefield usually take place there. The two sides that do ally with each other always end up having one of them betraying the other. No side can beat the other side, even if allied. This is simply because advancing on the countries is blocked by physical barriers that make it impossible. This perpetual stalemate actually defines perfectly a part of the Party's slogan War is Peace because if all the superstates were peaceful the state of the world would be virtually unchanged.
The citizens of Oceania are always brainwashed to believe that whoever they are at war with currently, that they have been at war with forever. The war does not affect civilian life very much. It is more or less another giant propaganda tool used for swaying the citizen's hate toward the country who they are currently at war with. In fact, there is no reason to be at war. All the economies are self-sustaining and any natural resource that might be needed could almost always be found some place within a superstate.
The soldiers that go to the war effort are vague in their origins. It is as if they vaporize, but rather than being killed they go to the war effort. Winston nor Goldstein never seem to talk about where the soldiers are supplied from--simply that they are there, fighting on vague fronts.
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The Citizens[edit]
The Outer Party and Proles of Oceania are simply there to support the Inner Party. The Proles are given free food and graphy to keep them distracted from how bad their lives really are. They serve no direct purpose in the society. Goldstein elaborates that should the middle working class, the Outer Party ever rebel, they would use the Proles, promising them better lives, but dripping them as soon as they reached where they are going. The Inner Party Members are the brains of the superstate. They make all the high level decisions that affect the other two classes. The Inner Party basically supports itself by using the Outer Party to carry out work and keeping the Proles oblivious and busy.
Population Distribution[edit]
Goldstein also details that Proles make up eighty-five percent of the population, and that the Inner Party shall never outnumber two percent of the entire population, which leaves roughly thirteen percent of the population to the Outer Party. The entire population, of course, is lower on the social hierarchy than Big Brother. If you assume that the Inner Party is at its maximum occupancy, you can calculate that the entire population of Oceania is about 300,000,000.
Global Relationships[edit]
The three superstates support each others existence. Since they are at war, they can ultimately control their respective populations. All three superstates have nearly identical social, economic, and political systems. The goal of the upper class in all of them is to secure their own power. To do this, the Inner Party cannot let the other two classes realize how bad their lives are out of comparison. Oceania does this by purely always keeping the Proles distracted with something, and changing history so that both the Proles and Outer Class cannot realize their lives are bad out of comparison. To keep their power, the upper classes must also not let the middle classes get a surplus of anything, which would result in over-indulgence and then realization out of comparison and then revolution using the the lower class and resetting the cycle. The perpetual war solves this problem because any surplus supplies goes directly to the war effort, even though it may not be directly needed or even used. In fact, it could just be burned, but the point in keeping the population in a state-of-war mood is to create the appropriate moral among the population, so that they eagerly give up their surplus products without hesitation.