1984 Telescreens Used To Instill Fear Into The Citizens

Terrifying Telescreens

"War is Peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength." 1984 is a novel used as a warning to show what would happen to citizens if governments gained too much power. The Party uses different techniques to control every facet of life of the its citizens, or slaves. The citizens are much too afraid to revolt against the tyrannical government, because of the constant eye of the Party. The telescreens are used by the Party to instill fear into the citizens of Oceania.

First, while Winston is doing his jerks one morning, he is confronted about not doing them correctly. He is directly spoken to through the telescreen and told that any man his age should be able to stretch better than he is. Winston's mind was wandering about Julia and his many thought crimes until he is spoken to, and then immediately everything on his mind drops, and all he can think about is, "Never show dismay. Never show resentment. A single flicker of the eyes could give you away." (37). Winston instantaneously becomes afraid that he is doomed, because they know he is thinking thoughts contrary to those of the Party. Through the constant eye of the telescreen, Winston is immediately terrified at any thought he may have in regards to thought crimes, or Julia.

Also when Winston writes his first thought crime in his journal, he instantaneously feels as though he is dead. He feels that he will be seen through the telescreen and feels that he is surely to be caught and killed. Through this constant eye Winston feels that he is doomed from the second he writes this little indiscrepancy. He immediately thinks that he is caught when he hears a knock at the door, "Already. He sat as still as a mouse, in the futile hope ...

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... did not look at her. He unpacked his tray and promptly began eating." (115). They are too afraid to sit near each other at a lunch table, unless she is sitting by herself and he can sit down. Even when they do speak, their heads are down so that the telescreen cannot see them speaking. Their actions towards each other are a direct result of their fear of these screens. They avoid them whenever possible, and when they do speak in front of them the conversations are always short and extremely well planned out.

Telescreens are the chosen device of the Party to scare their citizens out of rebellion. There are other things such as the mikes, and how they teach children to be advocates of the Party, but the most important factor is the use of the telescreens. This constant eye over the citizens does not allow them to rebel, making them fearful of the consequences.