Examples Of Fear In 1984 By George Orwell

Robin Sharma is quoted saying, “The fears we don’t face become our limits.” Fear is something every human has to struggle with at some point in their life. It is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. Some people are strong enough to overcome their own fear, some are not. The tactic of fear is used by the government to control the citizens of Oceania in the novel 1984, written by George Orwell. The use of fear that the Party places on the citizens through thoughtcrime, the lack of privacy, and the Ministry of Love ultimately strips the citizens of their humanity to the point that they cannot be considered fully human.

Every society in history has had some sort of government, with laws stating what is legal and illegal. In the city of Oceania, the government is called the Party. The Party is supposed to be loved and honored by everyone in the society. To ensure that a rebellion will not occur, the Party has put into place

thoughtcrime, which can be describe as “The essential crime that contained all the others in itself” (Quinn 413). Thoughtcrime is put into place so that anyone who even thinks a different way than the Party will be dealt with as soon as possible by the Thought Police. Thoughtcrime controls the people whether they know it or not. The citizens of Oceania are being stripped of their basic human right to be an individual and make their own decisions. One of the characters, Winston, does not have much power over himself. "He could not help feeling a twinge of panic. It was absurd, since the writing of those particular words was not more dangerous than the initial act of opening the diary....The thought police would get him just the same. He had committed the essential crime that contained all others in itself" (Orwell 21). Winston knows how risky thoughtcrime is, but he still puts himself in several situations that are dangerous. He puts himself in these situations because he is frustrated with the way the Party controls his life. Winston reminds himself on several occasions “Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime is death” (Orwell 28). The entire society of Oceania is under the control of thoughtcrime because the people of Oceania are paralyzed and scared, just the way the Party wants.
The constant lack of privacy puts the citizens of Oceania on edge. The Party takes away the feeling of being alone and being safe, even in the comfort of one's own home. Telescreens are the equivalent to security cameras around nearly every corner.
The telescreens received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound the Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it; moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. (Orwell 3)
The telescreens sets Winston on edge from the moment he wakes up until the moment he falls asleep. He is always thinking twice about everything he does. "On the landing post, opposite the lift shaft, the posters with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption read" (Orwell 1-2). Winston can not help but feel watched when that phrase is posted everywhere. He is not able to live the free life all humans deserve to have. The Party prevents him from exercising his basic human right of privacy.
The fear that Winston feels does not only come from the telescreens, but also from the children of Oceania, that are trained from a very young age to be spies. These children are taught to report anyone, even their parents, who are committing thoughtcrime. "With those children, he thought, that wretched woman must lead a life of terror. Another year or two they would be watching her day and night for symptoms of orthodoxy" (Orwell 26). Winston knows what the woman’s fate will consist of, and having her own children betray her to the Party is the ultimate punishment. The Party teaches the children when they are young, impressionable, and are too young to think for themselves. They stuff the children so full of propaganda that they believe whatever you tell them. The goal is to train these children to be the next generation’s Thought Police. They will do anything that the Party tells them to do, no questions asked. These children are trained to be loyal to Big Brother and the Party from a very young age. This training engraves all of the information in their brains, and this action cannot be undone. The children lose the common human value of individuality. They are all slaves of Big Brother. Winston fears for the future, even if he is not around to see it. He fears the absence of individuality and independence, even though he does not truly know what it is like to have all of his human rights.
The Party has three branches that together keep Oceania running smoothly: the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Love, and the Ministry of Plenty. Together they have the ability to control everything.
The irony of the ministry’s name is repeated in the names and tasks of the other ministries: The Ministry of Peace oversees the constant effort of war with the enemy- alternately Eastasia and Eurasia, depending on the Party’s intentions. The Ministry of Love oversees the enforcement of law and order, as well as the reprogramming of wayward Party members. Finally the Ministry of Plenty oversees economic affairs, specifically rationing and the destruction of surplus goods. (Bloom 23)
These ministries are run by the people but controlled by the Party. This allows the Party to make laws that benefit Big Brother and the Party. With these three ministries in place everything is controlled, the past, present, and future. The ministries also control the year, 1984. No citizen truly knows the year, however they assume it is 1984. This is just one example of how the Party controls all aspects of life. “Winston learns about the reality of power. After enduring the hours of psychological rehabilitation, including an experience in the infamous Room 101, Winston emerges as a mindless puppet who in the end, along with the rest of the masses, loves Big Brother” (Thorp). The ministries have the ultimate power, they can change a person into something they are not. Winston, over time has slowly become this puppet of the Party and knows his days are limited until he becomes a prisoner of Big Brother and the Party.
The Party has the control to do what pleases Big Brother, that is where Room 101 comes into play. Room 101 is controlled by the Ministry of Love. The room is where each person's worst nightmare occurs.
'Do anything to me' he yelled you've been starving me for weeks. Finish it off. Let me die. Shoot me. Hang me. Sentence me to twenty five years. Is there somebody else you want me to give away? Just say who it is and I’ll tell you anything you want. I don’t care who it is or what you do to them. I’ve got a wife and three children. The biggest of them isn’t six years old. You can take the whole lot of them and cut their throats in front of my eyes, and I’ll stand by and watch it. But not room 101! (Orwell 236-237)
Room 101 is where the Party uses all of the knowledge they have about a person against them. For example, they use Winston’s fear of rats against him. "Out of all the horrors in the world- a rat!" (Orwell 151). The Party uses that knowledge to get information out of him, that would help the Party catch those who are committing thoughtcrime. Winston knows what is coming to him in Room 101 and he is willing to watch his own wife and children die in front of his eyes in order to avoid the punishments waiting for him in there. When Winston is in Room 101 he wishes that the punishments be put on Julia, his lover, instead of himself because it is too much for him to handle. The Party, having the power to know everything about everyone, can control everyone through fear. They feel no remorse for the pain and suffering they are putting people through.
Winston’s fear of being controlled by Big Brother and the Party has come true.

He knows there is nothing he, nor Julia, can do to take down the Party or even make Oceania the place it was before the revolution. He looks to the proles for a solution. They are a group of people that are disregarded from the rest of society. “Winston is looking forward to a popular prole uprising that could not possibly include him, made by people ‘who had never learned to think’” (Kerr 72). The proles are able to live a life free from thoughtcrime, telescreens, ministries, and Big Brother. They are clueless, but they are happy, and Winston is jealous of that. The proles have not been corrupted by the Party, and therefore are able to think and act with freedom. They are still humans when the rest of society are the puppets of Big Brother and the Party. The proles have not had the Party breathe fear down their necks, therefore they are able to live life the way they feel it best for

them.
George Orwell’s 1984 was not the first of its kind with a dystopian plotline in mind. “Orwell drew on many sources for Nineteen Eighty-Four. He had been fascinated with utopian literature since he first read Jack London’s The Iron Heel and H.G. Wells's novels as a young boy” (Rodden 80). Though this was his inspiration, 1984 was written as a warning to the world. Orwell wrote this book with the knowledge from World War I, and as he witnessed countries fall under the power of corrupted leaders, he found inspiration. Many write that Orwell wrote this novel as a warning, with all of his knowledge he was trying to give the people of his time an example of what the world would look like. “Orwell's chilling vision was not meant to be a prediction. It was, rather, a warning and, some might claim, as a warning, it contributed to the non-materialization of that horrific dystopia” (Knei-Paz 20). This is not an uncommon thing to be hearing about. Today, with the election of soon-to-be President Trump, a lot of the same emotions that Winston is feeling are also felt by the people of the United States. Fear was able to control the society of Oceania, who says it will not be able to control today's society?
The tactic of fear is used by the government to control the citizens of Oceania in the novel 1984, written by George Orwell. The use of fear that the Party places on the citizens through thoughtcrime, the lack of privacy, and the Ministry of Love ultimately strips the citizens of their humanity to the point that they can not be considered fully human. Fear will take away the will of living away from humanity. Will the society of Oceania be replicated in the near future even with Orwell’s warning?