Fig. 1. The Connection Between Smoking and Stress. N.d. Tips On How to Give up Smoking. Web. 19 Sept. 2015.
Conflict
How do drugs tie into the conflict of 1984? How is this reflected or contradicted in contemporary society?
"Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime is death" (Orwell 28).
Fig. 2. Smoking Deaths. Digital image. Southern Nevada Health District. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2015.
In 1984, drugs really do force Winston and the other Party members to lie deprived of motivation and remain malleable to the manipulative hands of the Party. In conjunction with contemporary society, nicotine addiction continues to run rampant in the United States, especially affecting adults 26 years or older. To people trapped within the unrelenting cycle of discomfort and fulfillment associated with physiological dependence, nicotine addiction seems to be an inescapable peril while simultaneously being an escape from stress and pain -- much like doublethinkin 1984. Many parallels between the cigarettes consumed in reality and Victory Cigarettes in 1984 can be drawn, most largely by their purposes psychologically and their effects physiologically. In the novel, Winston smoked pitiful cigarettes of poor quality that easily “came to pieces” and that had to be held carefully in order “to prevent tobacco from slipping out” (Orwell 12). As small colonies of anti-Party revelations begin to incubate in his head, Winston’s constant fear of the disclosure of his anomalous beliefs by other Party Members warranted his use these cigarettes as an escape from stress, depression, and even physical pain (his varicose ulcer above his ankle). The cigarettes and gin Winston frequently consumed ironically aided the retention of his sanity as they alleviated his morbid fear ofthoughtcrime, his awareness of his own desolate state of being and the abuses of the Party, and his physiological discomfort that stemmed from an exhaustive job and minimal access to medical care. Winston smoked Victory Cigarettes, described as foul-tasting and terribly produced, not for their appeal but rather for their ability to smother his constant fear of surveillance under a blanket of blissful inattentiveness; his personal anecdote stating that “thoughtcrime did not entail death” but rather “was death” illuminated his perpetual fear of the fate he knew was inevitable: undocumented torture (Orwell 28). Drugs in the novel represented an ideological conflict between the choice of sustaining a conscious awareness of an inherently unjust government, which is markedly risky, or the simpler choice of drowning obvious iniquities in mind-numbing relaxants found in tobacco and alcohol products. Similarly, just as consumption of cigarettes in 1984 was ubiquitous amongst most male Party members, cigarette consumption in the United States is also high; 20.5% of American males smoke habitually, and even more so related to 1984 is the fact that 29.2% of Americans below the poverty line smoke cigarettes while only 16.2% of those at or above the poverty line smoke (“Cigarette Smoking in the United States” www). It becomes apparent that cigarette-induced addiction serves as a digression from economic and social issues in American society -- “positive pleasant sensations are increased” due to the psychological effects of nicotine, meaning that stress and discomfort can be postponed by cigarette use, a harsh self-disintegrating cycle with harmful consequences (“Nicotine Effects” www). Sustained cigarette use leads to lung and gum disease in the long term and is currently the “leading cause of preventable death in the United States” (“Nicotine Effects” www). In both the novel and in the contemporary United States, cigarettes are a means of relief while also a means of harm, a principle of contradiction in the novel known as doublethinkthat applies to both situations: in the novel, Winston is aware that his rationed cigarettes render him and the masses complacent against the Party’s abuses, but at the same time he uses them for relief. Contemporary cigarette users also rationalize the harmful effects of tobacco products in order to use them for relief. Many hide behind the growing trend of e-cigarettes, marketed as safer than conventional cigarettes, but "formaldehyde and lead" are found in vapor smoke, "carcinogens known to cause chronic disease and cancer" ("The Dirty Truth About E-Cigs" www). Among teenagers, e-cigarette use is expanding at an alarming rate, and although physiological damage due to vaping is not exactly comparable to that of cigarettes, e-cigarettes still trigger relaxant sensations and, of course, nicotine dependency.Victory Cigarettes and contemporary nicotine use are both examples of internal conflict. They provide a clear view of the how humans, both fictionally and in actuality, settle cognitive dissonance by remaining selectively blind to the ramifications of their drug habits (or in the case of Winston, remaining selectively blind to his situation using drugs). Some contrasts between cigarettes in 1984 and contemporary American society exist, notably in their relation to choice. Americans are not pushed to smoke as they are in the novel; nicotine use in the United States is chiefly a product of individual choice whether it be for inducing relaxation or falling victim to pressure. In 1984, however, Victory Cigarettes and Victory Gin are cheap and rationed to citizens, encouraging them to partake in intoxication in order to help the oppressive government fulfill its agenda lest spirited Party members attempt to disrupt order. Drug use, both in a dystopian society and in our familiar contemporary society, reveals that a Party slogan may be a reality -- "IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH" (Orwell 26). Drugs take the stressors of daily life and suspend them overhead only to have them come crashing down with catastrophic results, those being complacency for Party members and negative health benefits for American people.
Fig. 3. "The Dirty Truth About E-Cigs." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2015.