1984

1984 Why would it be nearly impossible to translate a document like the “Declaration of Independence” into Newspeak?

book two

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Consider this passage from the declaration of Independence.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of those ends, it is the right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government...

The original intent would have been lost in the translation to Newspeak. Everything would be translated into one word: Crimethink. Newspeak forbids an ideological translation because it simply cannot be expressed in newspeak. It is against party ideology so there are no meanings in Newspeak to express ideas like individuality.

I finished reading 1984 last week. When I read the Appendix and the improbable example of translating the famous passage from the Declaration of Independence into Newspeak, I took it as a challenge:

We think it goodthink that all mens are the same, that they have always had life, choice, and goodseek. To keep goodthink, the Party has always lived, taking their power with the goodthink of mens. When the Party is ungood to its purpose, the proles and the mens can unhave the Party and have a new Party...

Anyway, that's my attempt.

Melanie N. Lee, September 4, 2018

Source(s)

Inspired by "Appendix: the Principles of Newspeak", from the novel 1984 by George Orwell Adaptation inspired by the Declaration of Independence, 1776.