What is Orwell's message in 1984?

As other educators
have commented,wrote  as a warning against the dangers of totalitarian
governments. With this in mind, it is also worth noting
that 1984 highlights the impact of such political regimes on the
development of language. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Newspeak, the official language
of Oceania. While Newspeak is pure , the idea that politicians use language to influence the
public and to further their own agendas is not. In fact, this is an important and
often-overlooked theme in 1984. 

To put this into
context, consider Syme's explanation of Newspeak in Part One, Chapter Five. In a conversation
with , Syme explains the purpose of Newspeak:

Don't you
see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end, we shall make
thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express
it.

In other words, by taking direct control of the
English language, the Party intends to manipulate the thoughts of the population. If they cannot
express discontent, for example, then it follows that they cannot feel it. The purpose of this
is to ensure that rebellion is kept to a minimum, thereby allowing the Party to
flourish. 

Orwell uses Newspeak to demonstrate the extremes of thought
control but it has an important message for people living under all types of government: that
language is instrumental in defining our liberty and freedom and we must never allow those in
power to manipulate it.