What Is The Moral Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell

Starting off, the novel, 1984, takes place in a Totalitarian country where all aspects of life is

controlled by the government. The definition of totalitarianism is “the state recognizes no limits

to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever

feasible”The once called free country, Great Britain, is now part of a huge combination of

countries called, “Oceania. In Oceania, there is absolutely no concept or idea of freedom,

everything and anything is being watched and recorded by the government. Any sort of action

taken against the government’s will, are quickly censored and taken away to stop the influences

to the other citizens. .” Individuality is almost non-existent. The novel centers around
1984 explains and shows how far a government will go to have total power over the minds of its citizens

making them believe every single statement they are given. Manipulation is the government’s goal over

all its citizens.

Posadas 2

From the scholarly article,” Orwell takes both propaganda and surveillance to extreme limits: total

surveillance and total propaganda. Writing them large he brings important aspects of each into sharp

relief, which is why his novel has the iconic status that it does for theorists in both literatures.

However Nineteen Eighty-Four is of interest not just for its potential contribution to theorizing about

propaganda or about surveillance. Propaganda and surveillance in the novel are not just accidentally

related but essentially linked.” Again, in a totalitarian state, the government’s goal is to control all

aspects of life and to have a complete influence to its citizens. Propaganda and surveillance are the

essential tools of manipulation the government has to controlling all aspects of life. The government will

do anything to grasp the human conscious. Fear is another tool the government has which is connected
The citizen have no sense of privacy and can be easily targeted if they are planning any action

that is against the government. Constant propaganda will enter the minds of citizens repeatedly until they

know it by heart. “Like propaganda, surveillance is pervasive in the novel. Instances of

surveillances divide into two main kinds: panoptical and surreptitious. Panoptical surveillance is

interiorised self-surveillance. In the belief that one is under surveillance, one censors oneself so

as to avoid unorthodoxy, the detection of which would be detrimental. Surreptitious surveillance

works on the opposite belief: believing that one is in a private space not under surveillance, one

is disinhibited and acts and thinks freely, thus making it possible for an unsuspected spy to detect what

one really believes.” The goal is to manipulate the citizen’s mind. Total control of all aspects of life. The

government in 1984 is successful with its tools of manipulation to control the minds and force

information to its citizens.

Posadas 3

The author of the novel, George Orwell, lived in an area where the government had strict control and

strict laws. George Orwell creates a dystopian atmosphere where life is depriving. Nothing is