The Four Ministries

          In 1984, there are four ministries divided of the government and each has their own role. There is the Ministry of Truth, Ministry of Peace, Ministry of Love, and the Ministry of Plenty. In 'Newspeak' their names are Minitrue, Minipax, Miniluv, and Miniplenty. These ministries each had their own separate building as well.

The Ministry of Truth was associated with the news and entertainment the citizens were allowed to see. The doublespeak of Minitrue is them twisting the truth of the media they show to the public, instead of showing the full detailed truth. How does this differ from our media we have shown to us today?

The Ministry of Peace was dedicated to strictly war. They are in charge of military defense and who to defend. Big Brother says that "War is Peace," and I believe Minipax wants their military to be strong and occupied so citizens will not realize they are being fed false information and believe things that aren't true from what they are shown by the Ministry of Truth.

The Ministry of Love maintained law and order, and according to Winston it is "the really frightening one." (Orwell 4). Although he had never been inside, he knew the building had no windows, and to even enter was an obstacle itself. You have to go through barbed wires, steel doors, and machine guns. Love isn't so great in this situation after all. They try to introduce love from Big Brother by making it fearful at the same time. Inside the building is something called Room 101, and this is where the nightmares they give you come alive.

Finally there is the Ministry of Plenty, which is responsible for economic affairs. Their main focus is to be in control of the more poor people rather than wealthy. Big Brother twists the truth yet again by having Miniplenty make everyone fall short of food and production.

In reality, all 4 ministries don't sound as pleasant as their names. Big Brother wants this in order to gain more control over the citizens, and like I said in my first blog post, brainwashes them into thinking the governments tactics are going to benefit them in ways no other government could. Which ministry do you think is the least beneficial? And if you had to choose, which one do you think would be the most beneficial?