Anthony Fanning Mr Cantrell English 703 OL 28 April 2024. Truth and lies, sanity and insanity, past, present, and future, these seemingly clear ideas are in truth as murky as a polluted lake. These themes are present throughout the entirety of 1984. The more important question, however, is why these themes appear so frequently throughout the novel? It becomes clear that this entire novel is a cautionary tale, much like other dystopian novels of the time. It is a tale warning the world of the dangers of complacency, mass surveillance, and the loss of free thought. This novel is also a very clear attack on authoritarianism and totalitarianism. Despite these two terms being used interchangeably, they are quite different. First, the difference …show more content…
The party accomplishes this with the use of telescreens, and the thought police. Given how these tools are portrayed in 1984, the reader can see that this novel is a blatant attack on these styles of government. Next, the themes of the novel must be examined. Truth, lies, sanity, insanity, and the flow of time, are all clear themes in 1984. The party controls the truth throughout the novel. Winston states, “In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it.” (Orwell, Pt 1, Ch7). The party also has complete control of history, as they are the ones who control the flow of information. The party seeks to convince the nation of Oceania that the history of the party is the only correct history by branding the ones that tell of an alternate history as insane. Due to the themes of this novel and the attitude towards these themes, the author clearly infers that no one group should have this amount of power. Thirdly, the connection to the world that existed then and the world today can be investigated. Technology that is necessary for mass surveillance may not have existed at the time of publication, however the …show more content…
According to the ACLU, government agencies, in the U.S. at least, have the authority to see all communications that are sent using digital methods. Things to Know About NSA Mass Surveillance. Despite this alarming revelation, many Americans are uncaring or uninformed about this situation. Much like the proles, the American people are uninterested in politics and thus uninformed about serious issues like this one. The party may have fallen, but we know not how. The warnings given to the world in 1984 are more relevant now than ever due to the increasingly technological world. “Down with big brother” Winston wrote in his journal. Big Brother is not a god-like figure, he is the representative of a world of powerful men and the uncaring masses beneath them. If the world is not extremely careful in the years to come, the warnings of George Orwell will
In a world filled with technology we must ask ourselves, is technology taking us closer to the world of Big Brother? In the novel 1984 by George Orewell, Orwell has generated this unbelievable world in which no one would ever think to be possible, but then again pondering upon it our worlds are quite similar, it is slightly alarming. It was not noticed till recently that perhaps our technology is pulling us closer to the world of Big Brother. The technology used in the novel 1984 are correlated to the technology we use currently.
The novel, 1984, written by George Orwell, gives readers an insight to a possible frightening future where one government has complete and definite control of the people. But “control” might not be the term to describe such a rule. The Party dominates every aspect of life. There is not a single thing that is not under the Party’s rule. Feelings, history, language, statistics, and even human nature are submissive to the Party. They corrupt the mind so much that there is no longer a line that separates truth from a lie. Slogans are repeated through telescreens on a daily basis so the people are gradually forced to believe in illogical statements. Upon first glance, it may seem that a 1984 society is not even imaginable in the world we live in currently. But is it really logical to make such an assumption so quickly? Do we know that what we see on the news and read in our history textbooks is completely accurate? The Internet is one of the most powerful technologies our world has, consisting of an insurmountable amount of information, which is not always what it seems. Ultimately, there are so many things that we do not know, some of which is being held a secret from us. Modern day society shockingly has evidence of a transformation into a menacing 1984 society because of similar government actions and abuse of advanced technology.
The Party and its leader Big Brother play the role of authority in 1984. The Party is always watching the citizens of the Republic of Oceania. This is exemplified in the fact that the government has telescreens through which they can watch you wherever you are set up almost everywhere. Even in the countryside where there are no telescreens, the Party can monitor its citizens through hidden microphones disguised as flowers. The Thought Police are capable of spying on your thoughts at anytime, and can arrest or even kill you on a whim. Not only does the Thought Police find and hunt down felons, but it also scares others into being good citizens. The Party strives to eliminate more and more words from people’s vocabularies. Thus, the Party can destroy any possibilities of revolutions and conspiracies against itself. Its ultimate goal is to reduce the language to only one word, eliminating thought of any kind. The Party makes people believe that it is good and right in its actions through the Ministry of Truth and through the slogans printed on the Ministry of Truth:...
Is the American government trustworthy? Edward Joseph Snowden (2013) released to the United States press* selected information about the surveillance of ordinary citizens by the U.S.A.’s National Security Agency (N.S.A.), and its interconnection to phone and social media companies. The motion picture Citizenfour (2014), shows the original taping of those revelations. Snowden said that some people do nothing about this tracking because they have nothing to hide. He claims that this inverts the model of responsibility. He believes that everyone should encrypt Internet messages and abandon electronic media companies that track personal information and Internet behavior (op.cit, 2014). Snowden also stressed to Lawrence Lessig (2014) the importance of the press and the first amendment (Lessig – Snowden Interview Transcript, [16:28]). These dynamics illustrate Lessig’s (2006) constrain-enable pattern of powers that keep society in check (2006, Code: Version 2.0, p. 122). Consider Lessig’s (2006) question what is “the threat to liberty?” (2006, p. 120). Terrorism is a real threat (Weber, 2013). Surveillance by social media and websites, rather than the government, has the greater negative impact on its users.
The novel 1984 is one that has sparked much controversy over the last several decades. It harbors many key ideas that lie at the root of all skepticism towards the book. With the ideas of metaphysics, change, and control in mind, George Orwell wrote 1984 to provide an interesting story but also to express his ideas of where he believed the world was heading. His ideas were considered widely ahead of their time, and he was really able to drive home how bleak and colorless our society really is. Orwell wrote this piece as a futuristic, dystopian book which contained underlying tones of despair and deceit.
In George Orwell’s 1984, the ruling body, known as the Inner party, gains complete control over the people in their country. In all the homes, apartments, business offices, and town squares, there are telescreens. The telescreens give the ruling body the ability to invade the people’s privacy, and create fear into their lives. The ruling body of 1984 is afraid of unionization between the people and their ideas. They believed that if people got together and talked about their ideas about the parties, they would realize that their way of life had not always been like this, ruled by the Inner Party. The Inner Party controls everything that the people in their society does, thinks, says, and acts. Winston Smith, the main character of this novel, begins to realize that he has thoughts from his past and that the...
In 1984 many government issues take place, for instance propaganda, secret police, brainwashing, and a wide manner of other devices to oppress their populations. The idea is to illustrate the dangers of totalitarian government whether it be Communist, Fascist, or otherwise. Totalitarianism is an imposing form of government which the political authority exercises control over all aspects of life such as their sex life, and health in general. “If you can feel that staying human is worth while, even when it can't have any result whatever, you've beaten them” (George Orwell, 1984). Also psychological manipulation and mind control are a big controversy in 1984. Psychological manipulation is a social influence that moves towards the behavior of others through deceptive, or even abusive tactics. “And so it was with every class of recorded fact, great or small. Everything faded away into a shadow-world in which, finally, even the date of the year had become uncertain” (book 1, chapter 4). The author, Orwell wants the readers to think that the government monitors and controls everything that the humans do, and that basically everything that people do are against the law.
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.
middle of paper ... ... Due to the travesty of 9/11 society today lives in post 9/11 fear where citizens want protective polices in place but don't want those actions used against them. What government has done is manipulate this fear, while 1984 helps those who welcomed intrusive surveillance question this as another form of government manipulation to bolster government power over its citizens. Ultimately, common ideas found in the novel 1984, totalitarianism, surveillance, and lack of privacy are also ubiquitous in modern society and government.
According to John W. Whitehead, “The fact that the government can now, at any time, access entire phone conversations, e-mail exchanges, and other communications from months or years past should frighten every American.” (Whitehead). The NSA
Whether the U.S. government should strongly keep monitoring U.S. citizens or not still is a long and fierce dispute. Recently, the debate became more brutal when technology, an indispensable tool for modern live, has been used by the law enforcement and national security officials to spy into American people’s domestic.
Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell, is a superb novel with outstanding themes. One of the most prominent themes found in this novel is psychological manipulation. Citizens in this society are subject to ever present signs declaring “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” (Orwell 1). Along with psychological manipulation, physical control takes place. The Party not only controls what people in Oceania think, but what they do as well. Technology is another important theme. Without the constant telescreens, microphones, and computers, the Party would be all but powerless. Big Brother is the main figure of the Party. The main symbol that drives these themes is the telescreens. It is representative of the party always watching and controlling everyone at all times.
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.
Eventually, the lack of privacy and freedom leads to a suppression of people’s thinking. In 1984, people’s thinking was controlled by lies, invented stories and false information. The stories of the past are all altered and the information is constantly changing every day without any sign of change. The party uses propaganda as a deadly weapon to control its citizens’ minds.
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.