Oceania

Oceania is a transcontinental country in the Americas, the British Isles, Iceland, the Oceania region, Antarctica, and the southern portion of Africa; it is the country in which George Orwell's novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, is set. It is the largest country in the world by area, and is is comparable to Eurasia in terms of size. Oceania's capital is called Airstrip One, which was the former United Kingdom.

History

It is stated that Oceania formed after the United States merged with the British Empire. The text, however, does not indicate how the Party obtained the power it possesses or when it did so. The state is composed of "the Americas, the Atlantic Islands, including the British Isles, Australasia and the southern portion of Africa".

Oceania was founded following an anti-capitalist revolution, which, while intended to be the ultimate liberation of its proletariat (proles), soon ignored them.

Geography

Oceania is made up by provinces, one of which is "Airstrip One", as Britain is now known. The whole province is "miserable and run-down" with London consisting almost solely of "decaying suburbs". Airstrip One is the third most populous province in Oceania, but London is not the capital, for Oceania has none. This decentralisation enables the Party to ensure that each province of Oceania feels itself to be the centre of affairs, and it prevents them from feeling colonised, for there is no distant capital to focus discontent on. 85% of Oceania's population are proles, with most of the remainder presumably in the Outer Party; 2% rule as members of the Inner Party. Winston yearns for revolution and a return to a time before Oceania, says Craig L. Carr, but "no revolution is possible in Oceania. History, in Hegelian terms, has ended. There will be no political transformations in Oceania: political change has ended because Big Brother will not let it happen". No political collapse is possible in Oceania, suggests Carr.

Politics

Oceania's political system, Ingsoc (English Socialism), uses a cult of personality to venerate the ruler, Big Brother, as the Inner Party exercises day-to-day power.

A totalitarian and highly formalised state, Oceania also has no law, only crimes, says Lynskey. Nothing is illegal; social pressure is used to exert control, in place of law. It is hard for citizens to know when they are in breach of Party expectations; and they are in a state of permanent anxiety, unable to think too deeply on any subject whatsoever so as to avoid "thoughtcrime". For example, Winston Smith begins to write a diary and does not know if this is a forbidden offence, but he is reasonably certain of it. In Oceania, to think is to do and no distinction is drawn between either. Criticism of the state is forbidden, even though criticism must be constant for the state's survival, since it must have critics to destroy so as to demonstrate the state's power. Governance of Oceania depends upon the necessity of suppressing freedom of thought or original thinking amongst the Outer Party (the proles are exempted from this as they are deemed incapable of having ideas).

The state is highly bureaucratic. Winston notes that myriad committees are responsible for administration and are "liable to hold up even the mending of a window-pane for two years". The rulers of Oceania, the Inner Party, says Winston, were once the intelligentsia, the "bureaucrats, scientists, technicians, trade-union organizers, publicity experts, sociologists, teachers, journalists, and professional politicians". The state's national anthem is Oceania, 'Tis for Thee. The official currency of Oceania is the dollar; in Airstrip One, the pound sterling has been demonetised.