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1984 George Orwell Essay

Decent Essays

Psychological manipulation is a social influence that aims to change the perception or behavior of others through deceptive or even abusive tactics. Physical control is physically doing an action yourself. In nineteen eighty-four orwell created a totalitarian universe with its own history and inner mechanism. George Orwell's novel is focused against fascism.

Psychological control is a major theme throughout 1984 and Orwell shows this theme is possible by giving examples of how a totalitarian government could gain psychological control using their power to control history and technology. George Orwell wrote 1984 as a warning to people of what might come in the future if people were not careful about our government. During the time Orwell …show more content…

Telescreens with hidden microphones are placed throughout the city to watch the citizens every action. There were even telescreens in every citizen’s room that ran Big Brothers picture. “It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran.”(Orwell 5). People were constantly being watched and controlled by the party. This general psychological control is the second frightening theme in 1984. Another example uses children. Beginning at an early age, children were brainwashed and encouraged to spy on their parents by an organization called the Junior Spies. This organization destroyed family structure by having children report any instance of disloyalty to the Party. The telescrenes and children are a perfect example to how the totalitarian government abuses technology for its own purpose instead of using their knowledge to improve civilization.

Just like the telescrenes, the theme of psychological control is scattered throughout Orwell’s 1984. “Those who control the past, control the future: who controls the present controls the past”, by understanding this and a totalitarian government, we can see that with manipulation of history, such as rewriting it and deleting personal photos, and the use of technology – like cameras and microphones, psychological control of people is easier than it

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