question for someone who read 1984?

Question

my english class is reading 1984 by George Orwell, and there is this quote "Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past" that does not make any sense to me.
can someone who has read this book please explain this quote for me?


thanks

Answer 1

This book was about Totalitarianism. The gov't controlled the past, in that they could say what they wanted had or had not happened, and who could say differently? Jailings, torture, re-education awaited anyone who contradicted the gov't account of past events. To the extent that people are influenced by the past, whoever can control what apparently happened in the past can influence the future.

The person who controls the present can control the past because they are in charge of what books get written, what news is reported, what subjects are taught in the schools, etc., and so if they want to say something totally untrue, change records, destroy records, destroy photos, jail, brainwash, torture or kill anyone who contradicts them, then they can say whatever they want happened in the past, and no one will say, or be able to prove otherwise.

Answer 2

It's a long time since I read 1984, but that quote sounds like one of the slogans at the bureau of information or whatever it was called. It's like this, the historian is the one who controls the past - by writing about it however they want. People supposedly behave according to how history teaches them to behave. So the past controls the future. And it's whoever is in power at present, that has the power to control what is written about the past.

Answer 3

It's the slogan that represents the dystopian society in 1984.
They think they that by controlling or "editing" the past that they can control the future. It is also totalitarian. They control every aspect of life, including time. They also feel that who ever controls the present (totalitarian) controls the past. Although there is technically no way of changing the past history, they feel like they can edit it to their liking. It really is a truely screwed up system they have... but a really interesting book!

Answer 4

"Who controls the past controls the future; Who controls the future, controls the past"
- refers to the fact that the present day government can re-write the history books - via censorship. As when it's announced that the country is now at war with Eurasia (or the other 'country' - it's been a while since I read the book) it is forbidden to say they were at war with the other country - as it is Eurasia now - and was Eurasia in the past.

Think of Nazi Germany, in the 1930's German history was re-written to suit Hitlers Government. It became known as The History of the Aryan Race, interweaving 'legends' that made aryan's more important than the jew's or any other race in Europe/ the rest of the world.

Because of this re-writing of history - it brainwashed a generation of youths into thinking that they were important. This led them to believe that they must continue this history - by keeping their bloodlines pure, and thus eliminating the jewish population from the 'Fatherland'.
This would be how the government would control the future.

Hope that all made sense!

Answer 5

Who controls the present controls the past: People in 1984, like Winston, constantly re-write the past, pushing what there is of past historical record into a "memory hole." People who lived in the past become un-persons: People who never existed. Who controls the past (in that way) controls the future. If there is no free present, how can there be any future? Or if there is a future, it will be what has come from the past, a past that (we) have arranged for you.

Answer 6

If you have power today, you control information through censorship and propaganda. This means you can change the history books and what people believe about the past, so in effect you are changing the past.

By changing the past, you also change the future. This is because the future is created by people's actions in the present. In turn, people's actions are based on what they believe about the past and the present.

So if you have power now, you can control the future through the control of information about the past and present.

Answer 7

The past happened as it happened. However, it is always recorded in the history books through a filter. For example, the winner of the battle gets to write the history of the battle. So the history books are always slanted in favor of the victor.

If Germany had won World War Two, the west would be taught that Adolph Hitler was a wonderful, visionary leader.

Do you see then that if you can control the way the past is perceived, you can also control the way people will think about the future?

If you control the present, then you control what is taught about the past.

The inference of Orwell's two statements is "who controls the present, controls the future."

The profound truth of his statements are exactly why the concepts of a free press, and free speech and freedom to think and publish ideas are at the core of human freedom. Without these freedoms, without the free exchange of ideas, all people are subject to being controlled through a steady stream of false information, manipulation and deceptive persuasion.

Witness how the infamous Jim Jones controlled his "People's Temple" cult. He isolated them from the free and open source of information by moving them to a jungle in South America. They had no access to newspapers, radio or television broadcasts from their native San Francisco. They were completely subject to the information that he fed them. Therefore he controlled them. He solidified his control by broadcasting a steady stream of false information via a loud speaker and a microphone. All hours of the day and night the cult members were told things like "Britain and the U.S.A. are implementing programs to expel all people of color within the next 6 months." Because a large percentage of the cult members were people of color, (around 70% of the inhabitants of Jonestown were black and impoverished), they felt deep fear that they were cut off from their homeland, and their homeland no longer wanted them. They were alone. Isolated. And therefore easily subjected to the complete control of a totalitarian dictator.

That is exactly the horror - on a small scale - that Orwell was warning us about in "1984."

If you want to gain a deep understanding of this phenomenon, and how hard it was to oppose the deceptive infusion of communist totalitarianism as it was taking root all over the world, read Ayn Rand. Begin with "Anthem." Then read her autobiographical "We the Living."

Later in her career, when Ayn Rand's own organization began to take on the flavorings of a totalitarian cult, with her as the divine totalitarian leader, this is what she said: "A blind follower is precisely what my philosophy condemns and what I reject."

To grow your intellect to the point where you begin to understand the differences (and the similarities) between a communist, totalitarian cult of deception such as Jonestown, and a cult of fervent devotion and over-willingness to comply with a great teacher, such as Ayn Rand's objectivism, is a big part of learning to think like an adult.

Answer 8

History controls the present, but history can be what you say it is if you control the present.

Russia was particulary good at it during the cold war. They had to re-write the history books when the communists fell out of power because they were so full of lies and falsehoods.

Answer 9

If you change the past you can change the future and if you control the present it will soon be the past so you control it too.

Answer 10

the people who run things decide what gets written about in history books and taught in schools.

at your school did they spend as much time talking about the genocide of the native american indians as they did the signing of the declaration of independence?

thats what orwell was talking about.