Obedience In George Orwell's 1984

In any society, there is an expectation that everyone follows the laws and rules set out for them. However, such power in the wrong hands can change the circumstances drastically, leading to a totalitarian civilization. In George Orwell’s 1984, Big Brother controls his people into obedience through a variety of methods. First, Big Brother destroys and censors the dictionary for Oceania and creates Newspeak to defeat the purpose of articulating oneself. Secondly, he monitors his citizens to assure that no one is going against the Party and its government. Thirdly, if all else fails, Big Brother imposes torture that reshapes and rebuilds one’s mind into conformity. In George Orwell’s 1984, obedience to authority is a key idea to this dystopia

where Big Brother censors, monitors, and tortures one’s mind into acceptance and redefines Oceania as a society, similarly to how one follows society today.
The more unaware a person, the less they will question and those in authority can easily manipulate these minds.

In Orwell’s 1984, Big Brother does just that; he uses Newspeak to diminish the dictionary and prevent rebellious acts such as thoughtcrime. Thoughtcrime is a crime when one thinks about going against the party and is preventable as long as censorship of words separates one from their expressions and thoughts, “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.” (Orwell, 30). Without words to explain how a person feels, one is unable to express and would not be able to rebel against Big Brother. Also, in John Rodden’s The Cambridge Companion of George Orwell, Rodden analyzes Orwell’s 1984 and finds that to rule Oceania, Big Brother has to destroy the trust between everyone and direct their trust his way, “Mutual trust is that virtue praised by Aristotle, asserted to be necessary to true citizens and the very thing that a tyrant must smash if he is to perpetuate his rule successfully.” (Rodden, 2007). Furthermore, if authoritative figures like Big Brother and the Party defeat the trust between one another, they become more dependent which allows the Party to overcome one’s mind and take control over it to rule a successful nation. On the other hand, as Northrop Frye discusses in The Educated Imagination, English is the most

important subject in the world, “As that, it’s the most practical subject in the world: you can’t understand anything or take part in your society without it.” (Frye, 2). In other words, without language it becomes difficult to interact with others and to convey their own feelings, which, in Oceania no one will be able to find the words to describe what they feel about the Party. Next, the article, “George Orwell’s 1984”, talks about how the truth destroys the image of the Party which implies the significance of censorship. More importantly, blindness to everything facilitates the Party even more, “Anyone who dares to oppose the dictator’s principles or think differently is vilified and will disappear. Those who work for the party are instructed to manipulate the truth as needed. In fact, nobody really knows the truth and nobody should care to reflect on it because their lives would be at stake if they did. Physical movements and facial expressions are closely monitored by telescreens in people’s homes, political prisoners are treated worse than criminals and love does not exist; hatred and fear condition everybody’s behavior. Blind obedience to Big Brother is what matters.” (George Orwell’s 1984, 2012). The article emphasizes the importance of ignorance from the people of Oceania, as that will bring power to those in higher authorities and is why Big Brother wants to extinguish the dictionary and fill the country with propaganda instead. As a result, suppressing the language in Oceania and the destruction of words refrain the citizens from such expressive thoughts, which prevents the overthrowing of the society that they live in.
The next step in achieving control of one’s obedience is to keep the mind captive and in doing so, would involve constantly monitoring the people in case they commit any thoughtcrime. In 1984, Big Brother uses telescreens which surveillances citizens of Oceania relentlessly and precisely to the point. Despite the continuous efforts by Winston in hiding from the telescreen in his house, he realizes he cannot hide from it no matter how hard he tries, “Behind Winston's back the voice from the telescreen was still babbling away about pig-iron and the over fulfilment of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that 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 of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment.” (Orwell, 30). Having telescreens in the house and watching over people on a regular basis causes fear for citizens and as a result would limit their chances of causing a rebellion. To add on, Robert Tucker expands on Orwell’s idea of how monitoring people works, “And if they fail to think the proper new political thoughts as commanded, these telescreens, which are two-way affairs, enabling unseen authorities to spy on their doings and feelings inside their apartments, may detect in them evidence of ‘thoughtcrime.’” (Tucker, 111). The main idea is that there are many ways to observe and keep an eye on people and as a result, those who do oppose the party can be easily captured. Last but not least, Frye mentions the idea that universal human events are for the purposes of being empathetic for the characters in the novel. Frye goes on to say, “You wouldn’t go to Macbeth to learn about the history of Scotland – you go to learn what a man feels like after he’s gained a kingdom and lost his soul.” (Frye, 24). Obedience to authority is universal, whether one chooses to obey or governments use manipulation to do so. Big Brother’s eyes are so powerful that not even Winston Smith can hide his thoughtcrime and rebellious ideas. The constant watching and spying is the build up to which implements the final step for those who the Party find are rejecting their ideological world.
The final step to a successful dictatorship of a society is to set out the punishment and rehabilitation for those who begin to gain conscience and become aware of the dystopian civilization they are a part of.

In 1984, Winston Smith regains his conscience through Julia, his love interest, and proceeds to commit thoughtcrime through their relationship. Upon being caught by the thought police, the Party begins remoulding Winston’s identity and forming a new moral for him through torture. As O’Brien, one of the Party’s many spies, says, “We are not interested in those stupid crimes that you have committed. The Party is not interested in the overt act: the thought is all we care about. We do not merely destroy our enemies, we change them. Do you understand what I mean by that?” (Orwell, 99). O’Brien believes that it is not the person committing the crime that the Party wants to abolish, but rather the mind in which they possess. Consequently, the Party psychologically manipulates one’s mind through their biggest fears and the progression of Winston’s torture involves his biggest fear of rats. According to the World Socialist’s article, “Depravity and Dehumanization as State Policy: The novel is chillingly imaginative in its depiction of torture. At one point, the interrogator O’Brien rips out one of Winston’s rotting teeth with his bare hand, to show Winston how futile and pathetic his resistance is. Then follows the famous climactic torture scene in Room 101, where the

rat-cage mask is placed over Winston’s head.” (World Socialist, 2010). The purpose of the torture that O’Brien uses is to dehumanize and separate Winston from his identity and enforcing this new identity upon him in his love for Big Brother. Additionally, Frye’s novel, The Educated Imagination, goes on to explain how literature like 1984 exaggerates the universal human event in obedience. For example, Frye refers to Achilles as, “not a portrait of an individual hero, but a great smouldering force if human desire and frustration and discontent, something we all have in us too, part of mankind as a whole.” (Frye, 25), referring that as far as Orwell’s 1984 pushes the boundaries of imagination, anyone who understands the idea of obedience can make connections to their own lives, as obedience to authority is a universal human event. In the end, the psychological and physical torture leading to obedience is universal through understanding the idea of manipulation and how those in authority imposes fear to control others.
In conclusion, to form a totalitarian leadership and maintain the obedience from everyone involves a series of steps: suppressing one’s expressions through destroying words, inspecting and spying on one’s privacy through telescreens, and to torture one’s mind into accepting anything and everything the Party tells them to believe. For Winston Smith, he commits the thoughtcrime and hides it for a short period of time before the Party arrests him and once they do arrest him, Winston rather that O’Brien tortures his love interest, Julia, than to have rats in his face. It is the torture that O’Brien inflicts on Winston that causes him to give up everything and everyone Winston trusts and cares for. On a much larger scale, Big Brother’s psychological manipulation is very effective that no one, not even Winston Smith can resist, “But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.” (Orwell, 342). Winston gives up every inch of himself to Big Brother and it further proves the power that Big Brother possesses. Lastly, Orwell’s 1984 is excellent in portraying the universal human event of obedience to authority, thus the amplification of dictatorship. As a result of that, 1984 ends on the note that no one can escape or overthrow Big Brother as long as they are clueless and remain that way; it causes them to submit to the powers of authority.