Oceania (Nineteen Eighty-Four) 948556 225066003 2008-07-11T18:47:33Z Nutiketaiel 316104 Suggested Merge with Eastasia & Eurasia {{Mergefrom-multiple|Oceania (Nineteen Eighty-Four)|Eurasia (Nineteen Eighty-Four)|Eastasia (Nineteen Eighty-Four)|discuss=Talk:Oceania (Nineteen Eighty-Four)#Merger proposal|date=July 2008}} {{Unreferenced|date=December 2007}} [[Image:1984_fictious_world_map_v2_quad.png|thumb|right|350px|Oceania is pink 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 is 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 apparently composed of the [[Americas]], the [[British Isles]] (collectively called ''[[Airstrip One]]'' in the novel), [[Australia]], [[New Zealand]], [[Papua New Guinea]] and the [[southern Africa]] below the [[River Congo]]. It also controls - to different degrees and at various times during the course of its eternal war with either [[Eurasia (Nineteen Eighty-Four)|Eurasia]] or [[Eastasia (Nineteen Eighty-Four)|Eastasia]] — the polar regions, [[India]] and the [[Oceania|islands of the Pacific]]. It is described in [[Goldstein's book|''The Theory and Practice Of Oligarchical Collectivism'']] by [[Emmanuel Goldstein]], Oceania's declared Public Enemy Number One, as resulting from the merging of the [[British Empire]] and the [[United States]]. Goldstein's book also states that Oceania's primary natural defence is the sea surrounding it. This may be the reason why the Party highlights the [[Floating Fortress|Floating Fortresses]]. It occasionally conquers the rest of [[Africa]], but is later driven back by Eurasia. Oceania lacks a single capital, although what could be seen as regional capitals such as [[London]] and apparently [[New York City]] are in place. The ruling doctrine of Oceania is [[Ingsoc]], the [[Newspeak]] term for [[England|English]] [[Socialism]], which is ultimately devoted to the naked exercise of power. Its nominal leader is [[Big Brother (1984)|Big Brother]], probably a leader of the revolution who has now died and is now the way in which the Party chooses to express itself. The [[Cult of personality|Personality cult]] 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 organization. The [[lingua franca]] of Oceania is English (officially [[Oldspeak]]) and the official language is [[Newspeak]]. The restructuring of the language is intended to ultimately eliminate even the possibility of unorthodox political and social thought, by eliminating the words needed to express it. 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|Hate Week]], the proles remain essentially outside Oceania's political control. It should be noted that almost all of the information about Oceania beyond London is given to the reader through government or Party sources, which by the very premise of the novel are unreliable. Oceania may control only the [[British Isles]] (highly probable) or it may be the sole unchallenged [[world government]]. The war, similarly, may be entirely, or in part, fiction. The whole Earth may well be controlled by one [[State|state]] which pretends to exist as three states, perpetually warring in order to maintain the climate of fear needed for totalitarian rule. By its references, and the period in which it was written, Big Brother and Goldstein can be compared with [[Joseph Stalin]] and [[Leon Trotsky]] whose conflict over the future of international Communism was well known and a subject of constant debate within the movements of the post-war international Left. Oceania's [[national anthem]] is ''Oceania, Tis For Thee'' which, in one of the three film versions of the book, takes the form of a [[crescendo]] of [[organ (instrument)|organ]] music along with operatic lyrics. The lyrics are sung in [[English language|English]], and the song is reminiscent of ''[[God Save the Queen]]'' and its American cousin ''[[My Country Tis of Thee]]'' (Which is sung to the same tune). ==External links== *[http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/fic(1984.html Flags of Oceania and Eurasia] at [[Flags of the World]] {{1984}} [[Category:Fictional countries in the future]]<!-- relative to first publication --> [[Category:Nineteen Eighty-Four]] [[ca:Oceania (1984)]] [[da:Oceanien (1984)]] [[it:Oceania (1984)]] [[nl:Oceanië (1984)]] [[pl:Rok 1984]]