In George Orwell’s 1984, Winston Smith wrestles with oppression in Oceania, a place where the party scrutinizes human actions with everwatchful Big Brother. Defying a ban on individuality, Winston dares to express his thoughts in a diary and pursues a relationship with Julia. These criminal deeds bring Winston into the eye of the opposition, who then must reform the nonconformist. George Orwell’s 1984 introduced the watch words for life without freedom: BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. The themes I will introduce to you somehow will describe what Winston is going through and how his life and the lives of other are being controlled, through psychological manipulation and the dangers of Totalitarianism.
Totalitarianism is a political system with absolute and total rule over its people. The state has no limits to its authority and tries to regulate every aspect of public and private life. This is most evident when Orwell writes, “it was conceivable that they watched everybody all the time.” The danger of this form of government is that your life ceases to be your own.
In 1984 manipulation is aimed to change the perception or behavior of others. This quote is stated “Thoughtcrime was not a thing that can be concealed forever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years but sooner or later they were bound to get you.” O’Brien saw the words “Down with big brother” written in Winston’s journal. Winston panicked, because he knew that no matter what he did to his journal, no matter how he rephrased what he said there’s no erasing what he wrote. Big brother is always watching, he knew that they would soon catch on to him knowing that he doesn’t agree and that he’s not on their side.
Winston says that the party’s goal is to try and fill their minds with lies instead of the truth. Winston cannot do anything without being watched. “The party told you to regret the evidence of your eyes and ears”. That means the party only wants you to believe them, and not memories. This is a connection to life as we see it now, we see propaganda everywhere on television ads etc.. Its everywhere. I don’t necessarily agree with Orwell because in some way Winston’s world then is somehow related to our world now, For example:
Now: The Red ribbon of the Anti-Aids League 1984: Telescreens in every room. The programming runs 24 hours a day, and proles have no way of turning their screens off. Now: Televisions in every room. 1984: Telescreens in all public and private places. Now: Surveillance cameras in most buildings (operated by business), and some public streets (operated by police) to prevent crime. Although most of these cameras are operated by private businesses instead of our intrusive government, the end result is the same. Our generation now and then is the same and I think that 1984 was a good example of our world and totalitarianism.
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