Doublethink

Big Brother is the figurehead of a government that has total control. The Big Brother regime uses propaganda and puts fear in its citizens to keep the general population in line. “Big Brother is watching you”(5) is just one example of many party slogans that puts fear in its citizens. Big Brother uses various ways to catch people guilty of bad thoughts And the term Big Brother is used though out other literature as well as other forms of media and communication. Lesson Ideas 1.

Thought crime occurs when someone does not fully agree and follow what the Party has said. People who commit crimes become unpersons; therefore, they stop existing, and any record of their existence is erased or they can be sent to the ministry of truth, where The Party will try to break them, and force them to love Big Brother. This is very relevant because in order to serve justice which according to them is having everyone love the Party and nothing else, everyone else must be eliminated or brainwashed. The use of technology in this novel is very important because it is the main way in which justice is carried out. Telescreens, microphones and cameras cover the whole nation.

The party controls the telescreen by broadcasting propaganda about Oceania’s military victories, economic production figures, the nation anthem, and the Two Minute Hate Films. “Big Brother is Watching You” (3) is a slogan that is always shown or mentioned using telescreens. This itself is intimidating and dominating. It makes Oceanians second-guess their actions; therefore having no free will. Especially, since the consequences of betrayal towards Big Brother are extremely severe such as room 101.

The crimes committed are known as thought crimes, and “People have to be made to disappear too if they commit thought crimes, which the thought police are to control. (Davis)”. Speaking out against big brother or just doing anything that the thought police could are not fond of could be a thought crime and be prosecuted for it. “Dissension and rebellion are not permitted, and those who speak against the government and the Party are branded as traitors

Power of Manipulation In George Orwell’s novel 1984 the civilians of Oceania live under the manipulative powers of Big Brother that drive the people to extreme obedience. Big Brother is the leader of the party and the authoritative figure who all people obey. As a dystopian society numerous techniques are used to keep the population of Oceania under control. The party enforces many crude laws to keep the population of Oceania from revolting against the government. Above all ways of controlling the people of Oceania, the most effective are the telescreens because they are in the homes of every civilian and everywhere they go, they monitor their every move including their pulse, and they are used for manipulating people through propaganda.

They focus on destroying peoples confidence in their common sense, ability to make their own decision and intelligence. How they party does this is through what they call double think. This is propaganda suggesting that if the people are having other thoughts then what The Party says it is a crime because it isn’t what the “truth” is. The telescreens are used to instill fear in the people of oceania.”There was no place you could be more certain that the telescreens were watched continuously”(107) From this quote you can clearly see there was no place to hide from The Party. Every you go they have eyes and ears on everything you do or say.

From the very beginning of the book, the government is already shoving fear down on top of the citizens of Oceana. This threat is not all bark either, but all citizens are being monitored by cameras and microphones everywhere. In every single room there is a “telescreen” with propaganda of how great the country is. Nazi Propaganda leader Minister Joseph Goebbels said, "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." And that is exactly what Big Brother did.

In Oceania, the Party mainly uses technology as the chief ingredient to implement a psychological manipulation over society by controlling the information they receive. An example of this is the big screen television set up in every person’s home, and the poster all over the city. The giant “telescreen” in every citizen’s room blasts a constant stream of propaganda designed to make the failures and short successes of the Party appear to be glorious. In Winston Smith’s apartment, this “instrument” is always on spouting propaganda and constantly brain washing the peoples’ mind. In actual fact, “It could [only be] dimmed… there [is] no way of shutting it off”.

Winston is aware of the untruths, because he makes them true. This makes him very upset with the government of Oceania, where Big Brother, a larger than life figure, controls the people. Big Brother is the figurehead of a government that has total control. The Big Brother regime uses propaganda and puts fear in its citizens to keep the general population in line. Big Brother has a army of informers called thought police, who watch every citizen at all times for the least signs of thought that the goverment would not agree with(a thought crime).

The dystopian novel “1984” was written by George Orwell in 1949. It was issued as a warning about what the world would become if totalitarian governments were not stopped. Totalitarianism is a state in which a government holds complete control over the society and all aspects of public and private life. This was influenced by the governments of the Soviet Union, Germany, and Spain, who had total control over their citizens during the Cold War. In this novel Winston Smith is a helpless man living in Oceania, a totalitarian nation where the government controls all human actions with the always watching Big Brother.