Self Control In 1984

In George Orwell’s dystopian novel, the government blocks almost all forms of self-expression in order to assert its authority over the people. Those within the society who show signs of defiance against the set rules, even those who act unwillingly, are seen as a threat to the success of the regime are wiped from existence. In Orwell’s 1984, the government uses different forms of propaganda and brainwashing to achieve complete control of society for their own personal benefit.
The government in 1984 uses different forms of distraction to prevent the feeling of rebellion caused by the unjust form of governing. In the book supposedly written by Goldstein, it states, “In one combination or another, these three superstates are permanently at

O’Brien tortures Winston due to his acts of thoughtcrime, Winston is told that the Party will be satisfied with nothing less than Winston completely giving in. O’Brien explains, “We are not content with negative obedience, nor even with the most abject submission. When finally you surrender to us, it must be of your own free will. We do not destroy the heretic because he resists us; so long as he resists us we never destroy him” (210). Winston is tortured for the goal of eradicating the cause of Winston’s fight, to consider himself happy and free. O’Brien wants to destroy any possibility of Winston becoming a martyr for his cause. The use of the telescreens, microphones, and all other sources of the government spying on its people ensures a lack of freedom: “Asleep or awake, working or eating, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or in bed- no escape. Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters inside your skull” (26). The members of this society are monitored at all times for the sole purpose of government control, with constant monitoring they are able to discover the most they can about individuals and later use it against them to gain an upper hand in controlling any possible uprising. Fear is used as another tactic to gain control. Winston is aware of the fact that “More

Children are one of the easiest to control in this society: “It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children. And with good reason, for hardly a week passed in which the Times did not carry a paragraph describing how some eavesdropping little sneak [ . . . ] had overheard some compromising remark and denounced his parents to the Thought Police” (24). By using the children of Oceania the Party is able to simultaneously find more people who could possibly try to rebel and create a new generation of citizens where the only alliance they feel is that towards Big Brother and the Party. The government has suppressed all basic human connections: “The terrible thing that the Party had done was to persuade you that mere impulses, mere feelings, were of no account, while at the same time robbing you of all power over the material world” (136). The government knows that human nature can overcome the influence of the Party, therefore they encourage the suppression of feelings so they have better control of the population. The bond Winston and Julia create evolves their disdain towards the regime gives them courage to fight against the government: “They can’t get inside you. If you can feel that staying human is worth while, even when it can’t have any result whatever, you’ve beaten them” (138). The Party wants to