What drives fear in people? Maybe it’s a depraved person, death, heights, or the spider on the wall. Either way, everyone is afraid of something. In the book 1984 by George Orwell, the characters fear someone whom they don’t know the existence of called Big Brother. He is the symbol of fear, torture, and persecution in the eyes of the citizens of Oceania. In the following paragraphs, Big Brother’s impact of fear on people’s lives will be discussed. Also, a great leader of Germany by the name of Adolf Hitler will also be gone over.
To begin, there are many things that people are afraid of. In some cases, that fear is because of a person. In Orwell’s book called 1984, that happens to be the case amongst the citizens of Oceania. As Orwell states
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This happens because it is the party’s way of getting into the citizen's heads. On page (??) O’Brien says to Winston, “There are three stages in your reintegration. There is learning, there is understanding, and there is acceptance.” This quote from O’Brien tells us how the party manipulates the people into loving Big Brother. Their definitions of these three stages, however, are tortuous. They use learning to get the selected person to learn their crimes that they are accused of. For Winston, the first stage consisted of numerous beatings and degradation of his character. He is accused of all crimes of sexual perversion to spying. The party uses this technique to humiliate Winston and destroy his power of arguing and reasoning. Winston gives in and admits to all these crimes since he is afraid of further violence. Furthermore, Winston must understand to love Big Brother. At this point, O’Brien confesses to Winston that he is the author of Goldstein’s book. Winston continues to protest but then O’Brien shows him a powerful image which consisted of his own malnourished body. While Winston blames O’Brien for his health, O’Brien says “This is what you accepted when you set yourself up against the Party. It was all contained in the first act. Nothing has happened that you did not foresee.” (??) Since Winston is still not convinced, this …show more content…
Although Hitler was responsible for the lives of many people and was a real human being, him and Big Brother have many similarities. A few examples of how they are similar include their security, power, and leadership. The party in 1984 kept surveillance of their people and everything they did. Meanwhile, Hitler used guards to keep an eye on the Jews. Even though the Jews had direct supervision, both the Jews and the citizens of Oceania were closely being watched. Both Big Brother and Adolf Hitler used their power to control the people. On page (??) “Always eyes watching you and the voice enveloping you. Asleep or awake, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or bed- no escape. Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters in your skull.” This quote refers to the eyes of Big Brother watching you. However, people of Oceania feared Big Brother more than the people of Germany feared Adolf. This is because of the fact that, despite Hitler’s violence, people still looked up to him because he tried to gain back their pride and cooperation following Germany's defeat in World War 1. Many German people felt that other nations were treating them badly. Therefore, they looked to Hitler to gain their pride and power back. “Some days in the camp you prayed to live; some days you prayed to die quick. Some days you didn't bother praying, knowing there was no sense
Big Brother - Big Brother is the enigmatic dictator of Oceania. In the society that Orwell describes, everyone is under complete surveillance by the authorities. The people are constantly reminded of this by the phrase "Big Brother is watching you", which is the core "truth" of the propaganda system in this state. In the novel, it is unclear if Big Brother is a man or an image crafted by the Party. In a book supposedly written by the rebel Emmanuel Goldstein, it is stated that nobody has ever seen Big Brother. His function is to act as a focusing point for love, fear, and reverence.
George Orwell’s haunting dystopian novel 1984 delves into the closely monitored lives of the citizens of Oceania as the Party tries to take control of society. In totalitarianism, propaganda and terrorism are ways of subjugation with a main goal: total obedience. He aimed to create a “what if” novel, what would happen if totalitarian regimes, such as the Nazis and Soviets, were to take over the world. If totalitarianism were to happen, the leader would be the brain of the whole system. Orwell emphasizes the theme of individualism versus collective identity through Winston, the protagonist, and his defiance to the Party and Big Brother, with a frightening tone, surreal imagery and a third person limited point of view.
In a totalitarian controlled society, the people must be continually kept in a state of paranoia in order to maintain complete control. In George Orwell's novel, “1984” (1949), the people of Oceania are kept in that state by the Inner Party. This must be done, without it, the people will revolt. The only reason they have not done so yet, is due to their lack of actual memory and knowledge. The people of Oceania are taught their whole lives to conform to the party and their ideas, and that the party knows best. It is not easy to keep an entire populous in a state of paranoia for such a long time, to “erase” any memory or idea that may be against the party's beliefs.
Fear, an emotion that takes control over you, forces you to act in a certain way and refrain from taking certain risks. Fear takes over us day after day. We fear dying, losing, and failing. In the world of 1984, fear not only controls people individually, but human kind as a whole. Leaders of the Inner Party, and the ultimate leader Big Brother controlled the people of Oceania by their fears. Through revolt, love, technology, and control over history Party members became restricted in every aspect of human nature.
According to the government of Oceania, most acts Winston engages in represent signs of rebellion. For example, within the first few pages of the novel, Winston wrote down the words “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” several times in his journal (Orwell 16). “Big Brother” stands as the leader of the Party who supposedly watches over everybody. When Winston writes down the phrase “down with big brother,” he participates in ThoughtCrime. Committing ThoughtCrime requires having thoughts displaying hate or defiance towards the Party. Participating in ThoughtCrime always leads to death, so someone had seen Winston’s journal, then he would immediately go The Ministry of Love, a place of torture, horror, and death. Furthermore, Winston also rebels against the party by becoming lovers with Julia and secretly meeting up with her multiple times. In this society, no two people can love, show affection, or have pleasurable sex without major consequences. Winston breaks both of these rules with Julia because he loves destroying the “pureness”and “virtue” of the Party. He strives for corruption, and says he will do “anything to rot, weaken, [and] to undermine” the Party (Orwell 111). He enjoys “the animal instinct, the simple undifferentiated desire,” and thinks the force of desire he feels will “tear the Party to pieces” (Orwell 111). Due to his beliefs, he repeats his actions over and
George Orwell’s key objective throughout his novel, 1984, was to convey to his readers the imminent threat of the severe danger that totalitarianism could mean for the world. Orwell takes great measures to display the horrifying effects that come along with complete and dominant control that actually comes along with totalitarian government. In Orwell’s novel, personal liberties and individual freedoms that are protected and granted to many Americans today, are taken away and ripped from the citizen’s lives. The government takes away freedom and rights from the people so that the ruling class (which makes up the government), while reign with complete supremacy and possess all power.
The book, 1984 written by George Orwell, is in the perspective of Winston. Winston lives in airstrip one, which is Britain broken by war. In the beginning Winston opens up with his frustrations towards the party and Big Brother’s controlling ways. Winston’s freedom is limited by the rules and regulations of the party. Winston finds ways to get out of these rules, but he soon finds out that the people he thought were helping him were actually spies and workers for the party. He gets put through brainwashing until he has no individuality or freedom wanting to break out of him. In the end he is successfully brainwashed as seen on page 298 “He loved Big Brother.” As seen through Kim Jun Un who controls his followers through propaganda. The author’s
In book 1984 by George Orwell, the government is ran by Big Brother, whose face is plastered everywhere in Oceania.. Oceania is a society that is ran by the government who is in full control on how their people think and even the actions they perform. Many mechanisms of control are used by Big brother in order to keep the people of Oceania oppressed, by any means necessary including physical means, language, technology and control of information and history. “History" is an important theme in 1984.Orwell’s novel reads like a history book.1984 was written to forewarn readers that the world of Oceania would be the future, if people fail to learn lessons reveals by major historical events and figures such as World War 1 and 2,Hitler,Stalin,
Winston Smith is the main character in George Orwell’s “1984”. He is a thirty-nine year old man, he commits thought crimes, and he has anti-party views. Winston, also, is not in the best of health. “1984” tells of Winston’s struggles as he tries to make a change in his society. He and every party member is constantly being watched and listened to by the telescreens. There are such things as the “Thought Police,” “Hate Week,” and the “Junior Anti-Sex League”. The party’s main goal is to control their people and sculpt them into feeling nothing unless it is love for the party and for the Brotherhood and Goldstein. The society is split up into four parts, the slaves, the proles, the outer party members, and the inner party members. Winston feels that everybody is against him and he desperately wants to find a member of the Brotherhood, if it exists. O’Brien had struck him as a man that was on his side during one of the Two Minutes Hate sessions when they had eye contact
In the book 1984, Orwell uses the ominous Big Brother to depict what a government with all control would feel like; giving the reader a real sense of how powerless a population would really be under an all-controlling regime. Winston, the main character in the novel, sees posters throughout London with a man gazing down underneath contains the words “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.” Even though Big Brother is virtually everywhere, Winston secretly questions whether or not he actually exists. Orwell uses Big Brother to symbolize the vagueness of a totalitarian government, what it is like to leave all power in the hands of government officials, and then just simply take their word for what they say or what they do. Although the term Big Brother can in one way be considered as a reassurance of protection, the following words “big brother is watching you” also insinuates that he is an open threat. Although this story takes place after Big Brother has risen to power, Orwell does not fail to emphasize that this power was not taken; it was given, as power always will be. The only way Big Brother, or a totalitarian government can truly work, is only after we give them the power to take that kind of control. When looking back at history, we can see similar situations as with Adolf Hitler...
George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 follows the psychological journey of main character Winston. Winston lives in a utopian society called Oceania. There, the citizens are constantly monitored by their government coined “Big Brother” or “The Party”. In Oceania, there is no form of individuality or privacy. Citizens are also coerced to believe everything and anything the government tells them, even if it contradicts reality and memory. The goal of Big Brother is to destroy individual loyalties and make its citizenry only loyal to the government. In Orwell's novel 1984, he uses Winston's psychological journey to stress the dangers of individuality in a totalitarian regime because it can result in death. Winston’s overwhelming desire to rebel
George Orwell creates a dark, depressing and pessimistic world where the government has full control over the masses in the novel 1984. The protagonist, Winston, is low-level Party member who has grown to resent the society that he lives in. Orwell portrays him as a individual that begins to lose his sanity due to the constrictions of society. There are only two possible outcomes, either he becomes more effectively assimilated or he brings about the change he desires. Winston starts a journey towards his own self-destruction. His first defiant act is the diary where he writes “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER.” But he goes further by having an affair with Julia, another party member, renting a room over Mr. Carrington’s antique shop where Winston conducts this affair with Julia, and by following O’Brien who claims to have connections with the Brotherhood, the anti-Party movement led my Emmanuel Goldstein. Winston and Julia are both eventually arrested by the Thought Police when Mr. Carrington turns out to be a undercover officer. They both eventually betray each other when O’Brien conducts torture upon them at the Ministry of Love. Orwell conveys the limitations of the individual when it comes to doing something monumental like overthrowing the established hierarchy which is seen through the futility of Winston Smith’s actions that end with his failure instead of the end of Big Brother. Winston’s goal of liberating himself turns out to be hopeless when the people he trusted end up betraying him and how he was arbitrarily manipulated. It can be perceived that Winston was in fact concerned more about his own sanity and physical well-being because he gives into Big Brother after he is tortured and becomes content to live in the society he hated so much. Winston witnesses the weakness within the prole community because of their inability to understand the Party’s workings but he himself embodies weakness by sabotaging himself by associating with all the wrong people and by simply falling into the arms of Big Brother. Orwell created a world where there is no use but to assimilate from Winston’s perspective making his struggle utterly hopeless.
In 1984, George Orwell presents an overly controlled society that is run by Big Brother. The protagonist, Winston, attempts to “stay human” in the face of a dehumanizing, totalitarian regime. Big Brother possesses so much control over these people that even the most natural thoughts such as love and sex are considered taboo and are punishable. Big Brother has taken this society and turned each individual against one another. Parents distrust their own offspring, husband and wife turn on one another, and some people turn on their own selves entirely. The people of Oceania become brainwashed by Big Brother. Punishment for any uprising rebellions is punishable harshly.
Also, "Nineteen Eighty-four depicts the horrors of a well-established totalitarian regime of whatever type with great power and skill and force of imagination." (Davis). The book 1984 was written in futuristic setting to depict what a well established totalitarian government would look like. In the book, George Orwell crafted many ways of how big brother controls society and creates fear. In the book “Big Brother is watching you” (Orwell) is a common phrase that appears throughout the book. The phrase is creating fear in the society, it gives a sense that Big Brother and other party members are watching and he or she is not alone. As well keeping the people in the society in place, so he or she does not “rebel” against big brother or the party. The quote “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.” (Orwell), to have freedom a person in the society has to believe that two plus two does equal four. While Big Brother and the party wants he or she to believe that two plus two equals five, the party wants the society to believe everything that they say, the party does
The fictional world of 1984 is best described as bleak. In the aftermath of the fall of capitalism and nuclear war, the world has been divided among three practically identical totalitarian nation-states. The novel takes place in London, which has become a part of Oceania, the nation state comprising the Americas and western Europe. A state of perpetual war and poverty is the rule in Oceania. However, this is merely a backdrop, far from the most terrifying aspect of life in 1984. Oceania is governed by a totalitarian bureaucracy, personified in the image of Big Brother, the all-knowing/ all-seeing godlike figure that represents the government. Big Brother is best described as a "totalitarian socialist dictator, a political demagogue and religious cult leader all rolled into one." So great is the power of Big Brother that the reader is unsure whether he actually exists or is simply a propaganda tool of the government. The party of Big Brother, Ingsoc (English Social...