Imagine the world we live in today being divided into three sectors and each of these sectors have a totalitarian government like we have never seen before. One that controls everyday speech, thought, and emotion and even changed the language you speak. Oceania is one of these territories. It controls everything its people say and do by total surveillance and documentation. When a government is given an immense amount of power, it tends to use the power to become even more controlling. In Oceania, the people have no sense of what personal freedom is because they are told what to think and what to believe. The Party uses methods of regulation in order to dehumanize the people of Oceania which effects them tremendously in their ability to think, …show more content…
act, and have their own emotions. In George Orwell’s novel, 1984, the government of Oceania uses multiple methods of control and regulation in order to secure its power and to take power from the people.
The Party places devices called telescreens in every possible corner of London to help gain total surveillance. Winston said that these telescreens were constantly recording and transmitting information to the Party and that the faintest whisper could be heard by it. (Orwell 3). Just when you think telescreens may be enough, the Party also has flybys with helicopters. The Police Patrol helicopters often made trips between the roofs of the apartments just to snoop into people’s windows. (Orwell 2). They obviously already have the apartments of each person covered by the telescreens, so why would the Party do this? They do this as an intimidation factor to scare the people even further. Not only will the Party watch its citizens’ physical actions but it also will go as far as controlling the thoughts of the people because it gives them power. This puts fear into the citizens and dehumanizes them by not allowing …show more content…
them to live their life without the thought of being watched. Another way the Party accomplishes full control is the Thought Police, which is a secret police of the superstate of Oceania and the adds to the concept of Big Brother. The Thought Police’s job is to uncover and punish those who create a “thoughtcrime.” Thoughtcrime is any belief or doubt that goes against Ingsoc. Winston claims that the Thought Police watched them at every second of the day. (Orwell 3). Winston and others are well aware of the grasp that the government has on them. The problem resides in that they are not able to fight back because everything that they possibly could use against the Party has been taken away from them. This has an extraordinary effect on people when government control becomes excessive. The people of Oceania would not believe the amount of personal freedom that we have in the United States of America.
They might even call us crazy if we said that we could express our opinion freely at times. People in Oceania have little to no personal liberties. In Orwell’s 1984, Winston bought a diary to write down his thoughts. While he was excited to do so, he understood the consequences, which are punishment by death or twenty-five years in a forced-labor camp. (Orwell 6). These are the consequences that the Party hands out to those who disobey their orders. These things not only are happening in the book, but also in today’s world. For example in communist China, the government censors people’s thoughts in order to keep power in the government’s hands and to also create an image that the government is perfect. (Conner). This creates the idea of only one central idea for all citizens and affects the idea of freedom of thought and happiness for all people. In an article, Meredith Jessup talks about how even in the U.S. we have succumb to surveillance of our own citizens. She tells the story of a man that found out that his mail was being closely monitored by the National Security Agency. Not only is the mail being watched, but so are telephone calls and emails. They all go under the same scrutiny. (Jessup). The U.S. will soon find out, just like 1984, that more government surveillance and control does not mean more safety, but means less personal liberties, which will
affect the speech and thought of generations to come. It does not stop as far as thought, but continues as far as controlling thought and emotion. When a government searches for more power over its people it does not stop after monitoring its people’s thoughts. It goes as far as having surveillance cameras and listening devices in every possible spot in order to contain actions that go against the Party. In Orwell’s 1984, there are multiple scenes between Winston and Julia that show how secretive they must keep their relationship in order to stay alive. They met at a pub to discuss the next meeting place and when it would occur. Orwell explains that once Winston and Julia came up with the next meeting place they did not speak again even when they are sitting on opposite sides of the table. They could not even look at each other! (Orwell 113). This is disturbing that they must worry about telescreens, microphones, and spies watching them at every moment. What happened to being able to have a conversation with somebody without anyone disrupting or listening in on it? This not only occurs in the world of 1984, but also in today’s world. John W. Whitehead explains in an article about how Corporate America is teaming up with the NSA to spy on Americans. He claims that with every smartphone we buy, every GPS device we install, every Twitter, Facebook, and Google account we open, and with every purchase that we make, we’re helping Corporate America build a dossier for its government counterparts on who we know, what we think, how we spend our money, and how we spend our time. (Whitehead). By doing this the government is not only limiting free speech, but is also disrupting the average Americans lifestyle by forcing them to worry about who may be watching their next move. He believes that we are moving closer to this type of world and you can already start to see the effects. It is proven that the government that governs best, governs the least. Orwell’s 1984 shows that the more government control and regulations that get put into place deplete the amount of free speech that people may have and also affect their everyday lives. The telescreens watching your every move, the microphones listening through every crack or crevice, and Thought Police and spies checking surveillance all cause the people of Oceania to act and think in paranoia that they may be the next person taken to be vaporized. In the U.S. and around the world the same events are happening with censored social media posts and monitored texts, phone calls, and emails. Depleting numbers in thoughts and opinions only leads to more power in the government’s hands and the more power in the government’s hands only leads to a more dehumanized and corrupt society. It is not only a reality in Orwell’s 1984, but also in our own backyard.
From birth people are told cautionary tales. Stories like Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks and the Three Bears have been passed down and told countless times to convey to individuals various messages. Many people have noticed a warning in George Orwell’s 1984 about the future of human freedom in a world where political organizations and technology can manufacture power. Orwell wrote the book 1984 as a cautionary tale for future generations to warn them about the effects of a totalitarian society and the loss of independent thought.
Unlike our government in the United States, we actually have freedom of speech, press and petition unlike in 1984 where you could be killed for speaking and acting what is not in the regulations and could be sent to room 101 and sent to the labor camps where bad things happen to you. “We’re getting the language into its final shape- the shape it’s going to have when nobody speaks anything else. When we’ve finished with it, people like you will have to learn it all over again. You think, I dare say, that our chief job is inventing new words. But not a bit of it! We’re cutting the language down to the bone. The Eleventh Edition won’t contain the language down to the bone. The Eleventh Edition won’t contain a single word that will become obsolete before the year 2050” (51). The quote explains the kind of power that Big Brother can expose to the citizens of Oceania and goes to show that changing the language and not being able to speak in a certain way takes away the number one right people have and that is to free speech. Just like the United States does and I am pretty sure the rest of the world does, there should be a clear line between too much government control over to little government control. When the government starts having too much control is when they start going above and beyond the citizen’s health and safety. A quote from 1984 states that “war is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” Which basically explains that the only way to have peace is to start a war, freedom is slavery because in 1984 being your own person and being free was a crime so was having your own opinion because of all the propaganda they tried forcing down everyone’s threats the party expects you to act and think in a certain way. Ignorance is strength because in the world of 1984 rebelling was the worst thing you could do, being
Instead, the Oceania government brainwashed their citizens into believing everything they had to say. The citizens of Oceania were convinced that Big Brother was always watching, the Thought Police could at any moment in time catch you for thinking something unlawful, or knowing there was nothing illegal, but if caught it would end in death or twenty-five years in a forced labor camp. 9. The Oceania society was not allowed to have thoughts or even opinions knowing their government has the capability of punishing them.
Today’s modern world may not be exactly like 1984, but there are some issues that are very similar to it. Some of the biggest issues that is becoming compromised today is the issue of privacy, which in the book 1984 was something that the people did not have much of because of things like telescreens. Not only is our privacy compromised but the government is also being too controlling. Ways today’s privacy is being compromised are through things like game consoles, phones, social media, and drones and not only is our being compromised through these things but the government is also gaining too much control by compromising our privacy.
Human beings are renowned for both their benevolent and malevolent qualities. However, when it comes to a human being and their self, it is a different story. It varies among individuals, some of them are exceptionally confident with themselves whereas others suffer from low-esteem. The way a person perceives themselves determines how they apply their personal beliefs. However, in many cases, when a person is presented with a dilemma, they will often try not to adapt to a situation and attempt to keep their character. Even when going through intense pressure, individuals will attempt keep their personalities in order stay true to themselves. George Orwell, a prominent English literary
George Orwell’s key objective throughout his novel, 1984, was to convey to his readers the imminent threat of the severe danger that totalitarianism could mean for the world. Orwell takes great measures to display the horrifying effects that come along with complete and dominant control that actually comes along with totalitarian government. In Orwell’s novel, personal liberties and individual freedoms that are protected and granted to many Americans today, are taken away and ripped from the citizen’s lives. The government takes away freedom and rights from the people so that the ruling class (which makes up the government), while reign with complete supremacy and possess all power.
1984, a novel by George Orwell, represents a dystopian society in which the people of Oceania are surveilled by the government almost all the time and have no freedoms. Today, citizens of the United States and other countries are watched in a similar way. Though different technological and personal ways of keeping watch on society than 1984, today’s government is also able to monitor most aspects of the people’s life. 1984 might be a dystopian society, but today’s condition seems to be moving towards that controlling state, where the citizens are surveilled by the government at all times.
When George Orwell’s epic novel 1984 was published in 1949 it opened the public’s imagination to a future world where privacy and freedom had no meaning. The year 1984 has come and gone and we generally believe ourselves to still live in “The Land of the Free;” however, as we now move into the 21st Century changes brought about by recent advances in technology have changed the way we live forever. Although these new developments have seamed to make everyday life more enjoyable, we must be cautious of the dangers that lie behind them for it is very possible that we are in fact living in a world more similar to that of 1984 than we would like to imagine.
“No one is free when others are oppressed” (www.civilfreedoms.org) said Aishah Shahidah Simmons who is a producer and a writer, probably not knowing the relationship between the quotation and George Orwell’s novel 1984. The quotation explains that when some people are being oppressed or denied of their right without any relevant reason, the remaining people are not free. Connecting the quotation to the novel it means that when Big Brother is oppressing someone from Oceania the other citizens of Oceania are not free. Big Brother misuse their power by denying the people of Oceania from their rights, they also use newspeak and non-written laws to suppress the people of Oceania and they use their power to change history and control information. Modern totalitarian leaders and Big Brother misuse their power to oppress people by denying them of their individual right. This is significant because every human is meant to be given their right without discrimination but when the leaders are denying
George Orwell’s novel, 1984, depicts a dystopian vision of the future, one in which its citizens thoughts and actions are controlled by Big Brother government. This novel relates the ruthless surveillance and lack of privacy of the citizens to government actions today. Totalitarianism, surveillance, and lack of privacy may all be common themes in Orwell’s novel 1984, but are also prevalent in modern day society and government. Many people today have and will continue to dismiss the ideologies mentioned in 1984 as unrealistic predictions which could never occur in the democratic run system they live by today. But, are Orwell’s ideologies completely implausible, or have his predictions already played a hidden role in society? Many citizens today are truly unaware of how much of their private lives are made public. Especially with new technological advances, the modern democratic government can easily track and survey citizens without their knowledge. While the government depicted in 1984 may use gadgets such as telescreens and moderators such as the Thought Police these ideas depicted can be seen today in the ever evolving democratic government known to be the "equivalent" of the people's voice. Orwell may have depicted a clearer insight into modern day surveillance then one may have imagined from this "fictional" novel.
People hear about political issues all over the news and form their own opinions on them, but are they really deciding beliefs for themselves or are they just believing whatever the media tells them? Because of the modern day media biased, many people do not think independently, even when they think they are. They merely believe the lies the media feeds them and do not research the matter themselves to get an accurate idea of what is truly going on and how the control of information will impact the world around them. Because of people’s tendency to accept any piece of information that gets shoved down their throats, the US is slowly digging itself into the same government-controlled, no-freedom world as in the book 1984 by George Orwell.
George Orwell’s Famous book 1984 is about a man who struggles to live under the superintendence of Big Brother. Throughout the novel, Winston struggles with constantly being surveilled and the lack of freedom. Similarly, in our world today, there are government agencies that have the power to listen to phone calls, track people's movements, and watch them through cameras. Winston’s world of surveillance and inadequate confidentiality both privately and publicly is in many aspects much the same as in our world today and the people should demand regulations to be set in place to protect their privacy.
The novel 1984 by George Orwell presents the readers an image of a totalitarian society that explores a world of control, power, and corruption. The main idea of government control presents itself in the novel by protecting and listening to the people of Oceania. However, Orwell suggests giving too much power to the government is a mistake because eventually the decisions they make will not be about the people anymore but rather themselves. In 1984, the power and corruption the party has is overwhelming for the people. There are no ways around the beliefs of the Party, the party attempts to control and eventually destroy any mental or physical resistance against their beliefs. The agenda for the party is to obtain mind control over its people and force them to adore their leader. The methods the Party uses to achieve its goal are: the use of constant propaganda and surveillance, the rewriting of history, and Room 101.
The telescreens record and stream everything from the room they’re in. The only time you have privacy is when it’s dark or you’re out of the line of sight from the telescreens camera, and even then it still picks up sounds. When the citizens are at work or on the street their movements are monitored by cameras and hidden police. The children are not only encouraged but trained to hunt out enemies of the party. Someone who has doubts about the government is a walking corpse. It is inevitable that the government will find out and execute them. THis knowledge can cause an extreme amount of stress causing the guilty person to act recklessly or even give themselves
state controls all aspects of people’s lives. Oceania’s entire population is under totalitarian rule and is