1984: The Misuse of Government Power

1984 The Misuse of Government Power

The misuse of government power is shown throughout the book 1984 in many different ways. They mistreat people and violate their human rights; they torture people and they are constantly watching them. The party compared to our government today to me, seems way different. The government does not watch our every move, even in our homes, they are not allowed to torture us or manipulate us severely as they do in the book 1984. I hope our government doesn’t ever come close to the totalitarian government that we learned about through this book.
There are three different classes, The Inner party could be compared to our high class, the Outer party could be compared to our middle class, and the Proles could be compared to the lower class. The Inner Party is the most controlling and manipulating part of the government. They are in a way, forcing everyone to follow Big Brother. The Outer Party is bigger than the Inner party, they are more of a working class and do things like change history for the party. “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” By having control of the past the party ensures that they will have control of the future, especially because they can always go back and change the records anyway. The past that the party creates is one way they compel people to work towards the party’s goals.
Big Brother is the face of the party, but ironically is never seen, so it makes us wonder if he is actually a real man. “Big Brother is Watching You” is a quote seen throughout the book and it is literal in that it means you are always being watched. Big Brother abuses his power and has a lot of control. If you were to compare big brother to our society today he would be like our president, he holds a lot of power. The party has quite a few slogans but one I think stands out is, “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery and Ignorance is Strength.” The first part of that, War is Peace, is an oxymoron that describes a totalitarian government perfectly. The second part, Freedom is Strength, is also a comparison to the totalitarian style government, because you give up your rights and freedoms for the government. The third part of it, Ignorance is strength, kept the people uninformed of the truth and easily manipulated.
The Totalitarian government is the government they had in the book 1984. A Totalitarian government is a centralized government that does not tolerate parties of differing opinion and that exercises dictatorial control over many aspects of life, they have control over the freedom, will, and thought of others. This definition explains the government they had perfectly. They had control over their freedoms by knowing where they were all of the time. They had control of their thoughts by brainwashing them and by having “thought police” that could even sentence you to death by being caught of guard. What this government does is make everyone their own robot and brainwashes them to believing what they want them to, even if it has to be 2+2=5 which we all know isn’t true.
The techniques they used in their government to control people were by their technology, how they controlled their information, by torture, and by physical and mental manipulation. They had so much technology all over the place so that they could watch and hear everyone at all times. They had telescreens, which was like a two-way flat screen that couldn’t be turned off. They also had microchips hidden so they could hear you. The information they changed about the past kept them looing good all the time. If there was something that they wanted to change, they did. It was a simple thing for them, people wouldn’t often remember the past anyway so if they changed it most people wouldn’t notice but those who did knew they couldn’t say anything.
This book was interesting and it makes you think! The government in this book misuses their power and it is shown throughout the book 1984. They mistreat people and violate their human rights; they torture people and they are constantly watching them. I sure am glad our government hasn’t gotten this bad and I hope our government doesn’t ever come close to the totalitarian government that we learned about through this book.