Essay on Brainwashing of Constituents in George Orwell's "1984"

Everyone has always wondered if people were ever watching them. Our technology today is capable to eavesdrop in on anyone’s conversations even if their phones are turned off. In the novel, “1984”, the party INGSOC uses telescreens to watch over the people and always know what they are up to. This denies the people’s rights and privileges to go about their business as they please. The technology we have today is almost exact to what big brother uses in George Orwell’s novel by taking over the public and private parts of our lives.

1984, a novel by George Orwell, represents a dystopian society in which the people of Oceania are surveilled by the government almost all the time and have no freedoms. Today, citizens of the United States and other countries are watched in a similar way. Though different technological and personal ways of keeping watch on society than 1984, today’s government is also able to monitor most aspects of the people’s life. 1984 might be a dystopian society, but today’s condition seems to be moving towards that controlling state, where the citizens are surveilled by the government at all times.

George Orwell’s novel 1984 reflects on the society of dystopian city Airstrip 1 where main character Winston Smith lives. Along with the many other citizens, Winston is controlled by the Inner Party by constantly being monitored via telescreens that keep sight of everybody and their actions. Besides using telescreens the government also easily arrests people in any case of “thoughtcrime” which consists of any thoughts that regard disobedience towards the government. Thoughtcrime and telescreens are two of the several factors that reflect the extreme surveillance in 1984. Orwell uses surveillance as the central theme of the novel to spread his idea that the usage of more extreme surveillance could eventually lead to a totalitarian society. On a less extreme scale, today’s society also has a significant amount of surveillance but many question whether or not more surveillance is necessary. With the many current text sources, it is certain that we need less surveillance in order to keep a stable society that does not take away the individualism of people.

The book 1984 is a prediction of what the world would be like in the future. The prediction of the future in this book was made all by the writer's imagination. In reality, there are a few scenarios that are evident in today’s society that the writer predicted. For example, in 1984 there is a lot of invasion of privacy that occurs. Although in the book it is much more serious than today, there are times that the government is able to invade your privacy if they have a warrant or if there is suspicion. A serious case that caused issues for many people is when the government was accused of tapping into phones to try and stop terrorists. Many people found this to be a serious invasion of privacy, while others found it settling that the government was trying to protect the nation.

1984 creates a world ruled with an iron fist crushing any semblance of resistance or any actions less than complete devotion to The Party. They achieve this through a number of tactics the first and foremost being constant surveillance. Telescreens are omnipresent; they constantly transmit and receive both audio and video having a strong psychological effect on the citizens. They know, or at least believe, that they are constantly under the scrutiny of the thought police. This idea is confirmed from time to time in different ways; one day during the physical jerks, the mandatory

1984 was written by British writer and journalist, George Orwell. Orwell created the novel based off of the main protagonist, Winston, who tries to overcome the malicious obstacles of the political regime and is faced with judgements and mistreatments from the Party. One needs to only apply the epithet of "Big Brother" to a government or organization in order to conjure up the nightmarish oppression which is vividly portrayed in Orwell's novel. “1984 depicts a fictional society ruled by an oppressive regime that functions mainly to ensure and to increase its own power and status” (Becnel). As Big Brother gathers more power, problems arrive. The people of Oceania seem to feel lifeless, due to the inhumane treatment from the Party. George Orwell’s novel, 1984, leads to the dehumanization of the citizens of Oceania through the use of propaganda, mind control, and the lack of privacy.

Our world is becoming like 1984 due to the similarity between social media and telescreens. Both coming from the same origin, technology, where each contains the issue of a stalker. The past and present are similar in the way that humans are always being watched through the very accessible technology. In 1984 citizens of Oceania are monitored through telescreens. Winston explains by keeping his back toward the screen he is safer, because anything can be revealing (3). By having these screens monitoring the civilians, the government is technically stalking.

In 1984 by George Orwell, Psychological Manipulation is a form of control that allows the population of Oceania to remain under the influence of Big Brother. Big Brother uses this tactic to lead people to assume that the circumstances of their situation is favorable, and the way their lives have improved, compared to before. Winston Smith, the protagonist, is well aware of the deceptive way the Party changes ones' opinions. The Party is created to keep people from thinking anything but what is allowed. This causes Winston not to rely on his own memories.

George Orwell’s 1949 novel, 1984, is a revolutionary novel that tells the story and relationship between big government, its people, advanced technology, and individual freedom. In 1984 you follow a character named Winston as he is thrown into Big Brother’s arms, the totalitarian regime of where he is from, Oceania. Throughout the book he tries to escape Big Brother’s tyranny, yet telescreens are placed everywhere - in his home, in his job , in the cafeteria where he eats, even in the bathroom stalls. Every move he makes is being watched. No place is safe. Is this our possible future considering the high tech surveillance systems we now have?

The Communist Party is considered as a bad government. The Party which Big Brother, a head figure, leader is even worse than Communism. One of the huge differences between the two parties is the idea of torturing the people. A kind of brutal torture, not physical torture, but psychological torture and causing people live in crisis. Through psychological manipulation, the Party is able to make everything it lies become the truth that it desires. When psychological is instability, thinking about a regime overthrown is almost not possible. In 1984 by George Orwell, the Inner Party manipulates the population through torture since birth. The lives of the people are being deprived of freedoms, became a docile slave, serving an anonymous inhuman

Developing emotions such as compassion are arguably the most fundamental part of being human. However, when a danger such as an over controlling government threatens to take those feelings away, one truly appreciates the kindness and loyalty of humans. In 1984, George Orwell is able to use O’Brien’s deceptive, astute, and political nature in order to warn readers about the negative effects that a brainwashing totalitarian government could have on human minds and emotions.

In Orwell’s 1984, he displays psychological manipulation through Oceania’s government which it uses to control its citizens. This includes the use of propaganda, control of content, and ethnocentrism. The Party’s methods of control relates to real life events repeated in history such as the Nazi Regime from 1933 to 1945 headed by Adolf Hitler and common patterns in cultural history.

When first published, 1984 was viewed as an absurdly fictional novel. Readers thought it was over exaggerated and would never be a reality, however, it is exceedingly evident that it is no longer such a stretch of the imagination. All over the world small and seemingly insignificant changes are being made that signify a slide toward totalitarianism. The first event that makes this change seem inevitable is the use of hidden surveillance cameras. These seem to be in coherence with telescreen that are used in the novel. Most Wanted and the Crime Stoppers also give the impression of being parallels to the Two Minute Hate and the Thought Police respectively, which are methods used by The Party to control the citizens of Oceania.

 (p. 4) Big Brother set up all the rooms in Oceania to have mics. These mics captured and played back everything that came out of the citizens mouths. The telescreens monitored and captured every action by the citizens. If Big Brother had any suspicion or doubt he would snap and consider the person guilty. Big Brother even created a modified version of English, New Speak In 1984, Big Brother is the overseer of everything everybody does. He monitors every citizen through televisions, cameras, microphones, and even posters. If someone's facial expression looks off they will instantly be considered guilty of Facecrime, no questions asked. People can even be convicted of Thoughtcrime for sleep talking if they say something that goes against Big Brother's guidelines. Punishment for minuscule crimes is also over the top. The party knows people want to form loving bonds and think for themselves instead of going by Big Brother's orders. The party has to make the punishments extreme to keep in control of everyone. Big Brother is never seen in person, he only appears on telescreens and

What exactly is brainwashing? One may say it is the manipulation of the mind. As a matter of fact, “brainwashing is a non-scientific concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques” (Wikipedia). The concept of brainwashing was highly debated in the 20th century regarding if reconditioning the brain was possible; many argued that it was possible due to the incidents in the Korean War. However, there is no scientific proof that brainwashing (a theoretical form of mind control) exists or is even possible. The concept of mind control is quite evident in the novel, 1984. 1984 follows the life of Winston Smith, an undeceived Outer Party member in Oceania, and his attempts to retaliate against the manipulative government, Big Brother. To Winston, Big Brother is the doctrine of manipulation, propaganda, and totalitarianism. Although this may be true, the majority of the citizens continues to follow Big Brother unconditionally. George Orwell’s cautionary tale, 1984, depicts that humans and citizen of Oceania are easily manipulated into doing the government’s bidding. Furthermore, both 1984 and 21st century’s bureaucracy controls its citizens by the use of Thought Police, propaganda and language. More importantly, the government does this in order to control citizens to remain in power forever.