The Party mottos seem unusual because they appear to be paradoxical, but what is perhaps even more unusual is that they do in fact, in the context of the dystopian setting, make sense. The motto, "War is Peace," for example, appears paradoxical, but war is in fact necessary to maintain the peace because it provides the people with vital opportunities to release their suppressed emotions, namely their anger.
They are angry, whether they know it or not, with the Party for making their lives so miserable, but they cannot direct their anger towards the Party, and so the Party provides them with constant war. If the Party didn't provide the people with war, then the anger, needing some form of release, might end up being directed their way. If this was to happen, then there would almost certainly be a civil war between those for the Party and those against the Party. To avoid this scenario and to keep the peace, the Party provides the people with imaginary wars.
The second motto, "Freedom is Slavery," also, on closer inspection, makes some sort of logical sense. The Party denies to the individual citizen the opportunities to think and act freely, and it does so on the understanding that the individual free to act as he or she chooses will inevitably become a slave to his or her own emotions, to his or her own body, or to his or her own interests. The Party would much rather the individual be a slave to it than a slave to him or herself. Perhaps, with this in mind, a more accurate—although less pithy—rendering of the second motto might be, "Freedom is a less preferable kind of slavery."
The third motto, "Ignorance is Strength," is likewise, on closer inspection, quite logical and not at all paradoxical. It can be read as another form of the phrase, "Ignorance is Bliss." Indeed, it stands to reason that those who are ignorant of the harsh realities of life are likely to be happier and more content than those who are not, especially when those harsh realities are irreversible. In this way, the individual's ignorance is a kind of strength. In the context of 1984, those who are ignorant of the terrible crimes of which the Party is guilty will be more likely and better able to fight for the Party. Thus, the ignorance of the individual is also the Party's strength. The latter depends upon the former.
The Party mottoes are as follows:
War is peace;
Ignorance is strength;
Freedom is slavery.
What's unusual about them is that they're blatantly contradictory. How can war be peace, or ignorance strength, or freedom slavery? But there's method to the apparent madness. The Party has constructed its own parallel universe, an alternative reality where whatever it says, goes, no matter how patently absurd or self-contradictory. In this world, if the Party says that war is peace or that 2+2=5, then that's all there is to it. Everyone has to get with the program and believe in the impossible.
This warped cognitive process, known in Oceania as "doublethink," is yet another method of control used by the state in this authoritarian society. If people can be made to believe such manifest absurdities as those contained in the Party mottos, then they'll believe pretty much anything they're told. And if people unquestioningly believe everything they're told, then it becomes possible to get them to do whatever you want.
To answer this question, take a look at part 1, chapter 1. In this chapter, Winston tells us that there are three Party mottos, each inscribed on the Ministry of Truth. They are:
War is peace
Freedom is slavery
Ignorance is strength
What is unusual about these mottos is that they don't really make any sense, because they appear to be contradictory. For example, how can war be the same as peace? Given that these two things are the opposites of one another, the motto seems contradictory.
However, when we consider the mottos in the wider context of the novel, it becomes clear that they also contain some truth. The Ministry of Peace, for instance, is responsible for the war against Eastasia and, later, Eurasia. Despite its name, the Ministry of Peace is not really concerned with peace at all; it is concerned with war. Similarly. The Ministry of Love is where people are tortured, and the Ministry of Truth rewrites history according to the Party's agenda.
These mottos are, therefore, examples of a paradox. While they seem contradictory at first, if we look a little closer, we can see that they contain some truth.
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