Oceania (Nineteen Eighty-Four)

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Oceania is red on the fictitious 1984 world map Note: At the end of the novel, there are news reports that Oceania has captured all of Africa, though as propaganda, the credibility of the reports are uncertain.

Oceania is one of the three superstates in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, and is the location of the novel's version of London, where Winston Smith, the main character, lives.

It is composed of the two American continents, the British Isles, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the southern half of Africa below the River Congo. It also controls - to different degrees, at various times during the course of its eternal war with Eurasia and Eastasia - the polar regions, India and the islands of the Pacific. It was described in Goldstein's book as resulting from the annexation of the British Empire by the United States.

It occasionally conquers the rest of Africa, but is later driven back by Eurasia. Oceania doesn't have a single capital, although what could be seen as regional capitals such as London are in place.

The ruling doctrine of Oceania is Ingsoc, loosely derived from English Socialism, which is ultimately devoted to the naked exercise of power. Its nominal leader is Big Brother, possibly an abstract personification crafted by the state, and who is officially credited with all virtue, power, success and accomplishment. The cult of leadership is maintained through Big Brother's function as a focal point for love, fear, and reverence, emotions which are more easily felt towards an individual than towards an organisation.

The chief language of Oceania is English (officially Oldspeak) and a minimalist deriviation of it, known as Newspeak. The restructuring of the language is intended to ultimately eliminate the possibility of non-Oceanic political thought.

The society of Oceania is sharply stratified into three groups, the small power-seeking Inner Party, the more numerous and highly indoctrinated Outer Party, and the large body of politically meaningless and mindless Proles. Except for certain rare exceptions like Hate Week, the proles remain essentially outside Oceania's political society.

Oceania's national anthem is Oceania, Tis For Thee, which in the film version of Nineteen Eighty-Four, takes the form of a crescendo of organ music along with operatic lyrics. The lyrics are sung in English, and the song shares many similarities with Soviet anthems.

[edit] External links

• Flag-Burning: a Detriment to the Oceanian Way, a satire by Alexander S. Peak.