War, Freedom, Ignorance

"WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH." (Orwell 4).

These statements are the slogans of the Party and of Big Brother. They are very important throughout the novel. They are seen everywhere, and people see them so often that they accept them without really thinking about them, which is what the Party wants them to do for everything. They are in general nonsensical statements, requiring use of "doublethink," a goal of the Party's. Clearly war is not peace, freedom is not slavery, and ignorance is not strength. But the Party wants the people to accept these things, whether they make sense or are true or not, because the Party says so, because Big Brother says so. This is the whole point of the Party and their political system; blind faith in it. The Party also works very hard to keep people united and uniform, so there is no deviation in actions or even thoughts. These statements help this. Oceania is always at war with either Eurasia or Eastasia, as Big Brother intends. Uniting the people against a common enemy, one of these other two nations, helps to keep them united and patriotic, thus, war is peace. They say "freedom is slavery" because they don't want any freethinkers or revolutionaries. "Ignorance is strength" illustrates the point made earlier, that they want the people to have blind faith in the Party, which for the most part, they do.