Who Controls the past, controls the future - Who Controls the present controls the past - What might George Orwell have meant to say when he said this?

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Question: Who Controls the past, controls the future.  Who Controls the present controls the past.  What might George Orwell have meant to say when he said this?

George Orwell, a large figure of literature, was an anti-communism, and against totalitarian tendencies.  Therefore, in 1949, he published a book, 1984, warning about the future.  A prediction of the future? Fear is a characteristic built within the human being, which at the time was the future and in whose hands it would be?

In this novel, George Orwell’s vision of the world is deeply shocking, as domination of a certain ‘Party’, controls everyone and everything.  They control what we (the public) see, hear, touch, smell, and even think about.  History is a vital part of human existence and as illustrated well in the book, the past is ‘nature alterable’, and if done so, will be true ‘from everlasting to everlasting’.  The re-creation of history by these white males conveys the world, as they want it to be, in order to attain control over the public i.e. the World.  By rewriting books, as they wanted them, and confiscating any unwanted material, they had full control of the past, therefore they were control of the current time (present), and hence the future!

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The motto of the Party is ‘Those who control the past, control the future; Those who control the future control the past.  By manipulating all forms of information available to us, they have full control over our beliefs, and therefore are forced to be innocent followers of ‘the Party’.  And by manipulating the views of the people, they had the power to do anything, as by gaining a great deal of manpower, they may as shown in the book, undergo military action, and overthrow the world, in order to obtain a single ruling dictator, which will continue to rule, ...

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Quality of Written Communication as a whole is pretty good, however the punctuation in particular can really make this essay a struggle to read. The answer is riddled with comma splice (unnecessary use of commas) - too many to list here. The candidate sometimes substitutes full stops for commas lending to grammatical nightmares, or simply puts commas where they aren't needed, which breaks up the flow of the otherwise very well-written sentences to a snail's pace, really detracting from the impact of such a good essay. The disjointed nature also loses the fluidity of the writing, making the answer seem less knowledgeable than it actually is because of the drip-fed chunks of half-sentences. This is something that really needs to be addressed as it hugely prevents this essay from achieving the A grade it's capable of.

The Level of Analysis here is excellent,. The candidate shows deep-set knowledge and critical understanding of Orwell's fictional mantra, appreciating the harrowing realism of the novel that are alive even today towards the end. This particular section I would dispute is not absolutely necessary, so other candidate should not feel discouraged if they cannot include this, but it will help the candidate's answer stick out among hundreds of other similar essays. Where this answer excels it's it's sensitive critical understanding of the rule The Party instates on it's civilians. Where it is not so impressive is the glaring error which sees the candidate write "Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the future, who control the past", although this is not hugely detrimental to the essay. There is also a minor irk in that they write: "Moreover another idea brought into the novel was 'doublethink' this was that 3 + 3 = 7." If stating an example, they should explicitly say so, and I would advise therefore to use the example in the novel ("2 + 2 = 5"). The wording in the statement the candidate gives suggests that all doublethink is believing 3 + 3 = 7; this is not a definition of doublethink - it is merely one very simple example given by O'Brien. Candidates should watch how they exemplify something so complex.

This answer is a strikingly profound response to the novel. The candidate shows a clear and deep understanding of the intentions of the Party's mantra "Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present, who control the past". There is plentiful evidence of the candidate taking time to elaborate on the mantra to ensure full understanding for the reader of their essay, and they then go on to answer the question more explicitly, showing how Orwell intends to solidify the totalitarian dystopia of The Party's oppressive rule as a means of controlling of the history, and what it means for the present and future.