1984-Paradox

"WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH." page 4

This quote represents the paradox upon which the Party is built. In times of war, people are vulnerable. The goal of the Party is to keep the people under their control to maintain the kind of peace they want to have. The vulnerability created by war sustains the peace the Party desires. The Party has trained people to believe that freedom makes them slaves to choice. They are free to make errors, and they are slaves to the consequences of those decisions. By making decisions for the people, the Party takes away the freedom of choices and gives the freedom from consequences. Ignorance in the people results in strength for the Party. If the people do not question what the Party does or says, the Party has no opposition. It also goes the other way. Those who remain ignorant and show no desire for true knowledge are not in danger of being "vaporized" or arrested, and they do not have to deal with the truth. The truth causes doubt. With no knowledge of the true occurrences, the people can stay strong in their beliefs and avoid doubt.

#13

In "Barbie Doll," society is paradoxical. Society will only accept the girl in the poem once her true self is dead. In society, her life begins when the person she truly is dies and a new personality and character takes over. This paradoxical view is used as a criticism of society. The speaker uses the seemingly contradictory values of society to make society appear backwards and nonsensical. To the reader, though, the paradox makes sense after some thought. How often are we told indirectly that there is a certain image which is defined as "pretty"? It allows the reader to relate more fully to the feelings of the girl in the poem because the reader has likely experienced a similar occurrence.