Big Brother: A Personal Narrative

“Did you choose Luther because of Luther College?” seems to be a reoccurring question when introducing my youngest brother to an acquaintance or stranger. Without even knowing his name, most fall in love with Luther’s sweet smile and giddy personality. I came to love him before he even entered the world, let alone the first time I held him in his hospital room. Although many can find little brothers as being nuisances, having the title of “Big Sister” to my younger brothers Ethan and Luther is a very important title for me to hold: my teaching can help shape their lives while their love changes my life in ways I could have never imagined.

1984 by George Orwell is a novel set in a dystopian near-future London, the chief city of Airstrip One, Oceania. The people in Oceania are under the control of the Party. Big Brother, or BB, is the face of the Party and the leader of this great power that rules over Oceania. He is a dominant figure who acts as a trustworthy entity for the people he governs, but ironically is their worst enemy in many ways. His posters, captioned “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”, can be seen everywhere in the streets of London. These posters give the reader a physical description of what one can imagine Big Brother to look like. He is a man of about forty-five with a heavy black moustache and ruggedly handsome features that make him look scary but leader-like. Most people in this society are unaware of how they are brainwashed and controlled by the Party. Big Brother controls Oceania with various carefully designed techniques, some of which are: keeping the Outer Party in control with the 24-hour surveillance, Reality Control and by controlling the proles -- by keeping them ignorant and luring them through privileges.

Speaking ever so confidently, I kept on and on about my little game with the people I find here. As I spoke, he looked at me as if I were a supernatural creature, but my only thoughts were about how exciting it would be to play with Sanger Rainsford, and to tell my story of the victory. Soon after, Ivan and I got up to show off our basement.

The dictatorship of Big Brother and the American government, both use similar ways to monitor their citizens, but they have different reasons for it. Big Brother wants to closely monitor his citizens so they are obedient by fear and the American government watches their citizens to protect them and their rights. They do this through televisions, spies and surveillance cameras.

“Before Sept. 11, the idea that Americans would voluntarily agree to live their lives under the gaze of a network of biometric surveillance cameras, peering at them in government buildings, shopping malls, subways and stadiums, would have seemed unthinkable, a dystopian fantasy of a society that had surrendered privacy and anonymity”(Jeffrey Rosen). Where were you on September 11, 2001? Do you remember the world before this tragic incident? Throughout history, the United States has adopted forms of legislation with the intention of improving national security. From prohibition, to gun laws, the outcomes of these legislations have not always been good.

In my life, just as everyone else’s, we win and lose some battles, but every once and awhile, we lose a big battle. When I was a sophomore I had tried out for the volleyball team and unfortunately I did not make it. While this was a big loss for me, I soon learned that I would come across a huge achievement.

As a youngster, I was told Big Brother or the government is always watching you and Big Brother’s reach in America has gotten wider since 9/11. National security and safety is of the utmost importance and government agencies like the police, FBI and numerous other government agencies are gathering and retaining data on individuals who are not even a threat. Many Americans believe that the invasion of privacy is deteriorating our freedom. New technology empowers government to track, record, and analyze ever detail of our lives, even our most private information. Big Brother has our personal demographic information and massive government surveillance systems throughout the country collect data from our cars, phone, computer, web cams, social

Surveillance is defined as any form of concentrated attention or observation to personal information for the purposes of influence, management, or control (Lyon, 2009, p.1). While privacy is defined as a state of being free from others attention and from being observed. The two terms together form a contradiction, as they oppose each other and relate to the major inconsistency of equality (everyone being under surveillance) verses freedom (people’s right to privacy), since the enlightenment. Ever since reading George Orwell’s 1984, with ‘Big Brother’, I have been interested in the topic of privacy verses surveillance in terms of fighting crime and preventing terrorism. In my unexamined opinion, it is apparent that it is a continuous issue in

I was walking with Gary, my best friend, towards my school, Eastern High School." Gary, you, me , game night . " I said, snapping my finger at him. " Okay," He said, putting his hands in his red jacket.

1984 is a dystopian world where everything is controlled by the government. 1984 takes place in Oceania and is ran by Big Brother. Big Brother is essentially the group that is controlling all of its citizens. Big Brother influences the citizens by controlling the food rations, what they can buy, and what they are able to do. In each house, there is something called a telescreen. A telescreen is an instrument that Big Brother uses to essentially spy on all of the people to prevent an overthrow of Big Brother. The telescreens always spurt out propaganda that influences citizens to think a certain way. The language of 1984 is called newspeak. Big Brother created newspeak in order limit the language of the citizens of Oceania. In the dictionary,

I hear coaches yelling their athletes place saying “16,17,18, you can’t let her get you!”. Leaping to get in the top twenty I cross the finish line, a voice in the speaker announced my name and place. “Vanessa Gonzalez eighteenth place!” my legs could not continue, a medical student asked for backup right before I passed out. I opened my eyes to the feel of cold towels and bags on my neck all the way down my body with people throwing water in my

There is no question that today’s technology is way more advanced than what we even could have imagined 60 years ago. People invent new technology every day, but is it as good as it seems to be. Do we still have the same privacy that we had before technology, and is our technology taking us closer to the word of the big brother? I believe that our society eventually will become more regulated by the government like it is in the book 1984, unless we do something about it before it is too late.

The simulation was able to help me understand how the people in “1984” felt being under constant surveillance from everyone around them.

"Big brother is watching you" A line which stopped many of the people from doing wrong and go against the rules. Big Brother is fictional character in George Orwell's novel, He is the powerful leader of Oceania, a totalitarian state, Totalitarianism is a political system in which the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism).

In George Orwell’s 20th century dystopian novel 1984, the omniscient power of Big Brother holds the Oceanic population hostage. The government enforces its totalitarian reign through different combinations of repression, that include constant telescreen visual monitoring, and jurisdiction of the thought police over the minds of citizens. The control is so measured, that there is no room for successful rebellion. In fact, the only heroes that exist in Oceania are those of principle. The only measure of heroism in the times of Big Brother is effort and any attempt at resistance. In this context, heroes can be defined by their communitarian ideas, initiative, and bravery. By these standards, it can also be argued that Winston Smith is a hero, not because of his accomplishments but because of his ideology and actions.