Examples Of Science And Technology In 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.

The strict surveillance of citizens as seen in Orwell’s novel, 1984, is similar to the government involvement in today’s smart devices due to their advanced technical abilities.

“BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”(Orwell 2), is a saying that surrounds society in the classic novel 1984. The author, George Orwell provides his audience with an abundant amount of themes throughout his writing. One very prominent one is Orwell’s psychological manipulation of his characters. As characters within this society are constantly surrounded by sayings such as, “WAR IS PEACE”, “FREEDOM IS SLAVERY”, and “IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”(Orwell 4), Orwell shows the ultimate type of control within his characters. Orwell is able to achieve such psychological manipulation in his characters through physical control and the abundance of technology. Without Orwell’s use of telescreens, his characters would be able to have their

George Orwell uses his novel 1984 to convey that human beings, as a species, are extremely susceptible to dehumanization and oppression in society. Orwell demonstrates how a government’s manipulation of technology, language, media, and history can oppress and degrade its citizens.

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.

Similar to how telescreens work in 1984, our society has personal information analyzed and recorded by the government. Data collection is a turning more to privacy taken away from citizens. If people are constantly being under surveillance, people start to lose their individuality because people transform into automatons. On (1.5.65) Winston says, "It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away." This quote explains the significance of privacy, as even the smallest things in society matter. Orwell is foreshadowing the increasingly tighter surveillance on citizens and that affects society today because our society today is becoming more similar to the one portrayed in

George Orwell’s 1984 shows us the dangers of a society who never was allowed to have a childhood. In 1984 children do not get to experience adolescence. They are not allowed to think for themselves which results in a society which conforms to whatever they are told. Children join an organization known as the Thought Police. Here they are told to keep an eye on adults and make sure they do not speak or rebel against their government. All of society conforms to government, eventually even the rebels conform.

Another type of surveillance was that the part used children,”With those children, he thought, that wretched woman must lead a life of terror. Another year, two years, and they would be watching her night and day for symptoms of unorthodoxy. Nearly all children nowadays were horrible. What was worst of all was that by means of such organizations as the Spies they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages, and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the Party. On the contrary, they adored the Party and everything connected with it”(24,Orwell). This quote shows that the party used children to spy on their parents and other individuals. The children have been brainwashed since they were born, this is another tactic the party used to make sure that it stays in power because if they can move the youth to their side, the whole nation will follow. We might not know it but our government might just be looking through our electronics and keep an eye on us. Technology is good for us but it has been exploited in so many different negative ways that it would be better if we did not have electronics because we would still have our privacy.

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, Orwell’s last and perhaps greatest work, deals with drastically heavy themes that still terrify his audience after 65 years. George Orwell’s story exemplifies excessive power, repression, surveillance, and manipulation in his strange, troubling dystopia full of alarming secrets that point the finger at totalitarian governments and mankind as a whole. What is even more disquieting is that 1984, previously considered science fiction, has in so many ways become a recognizable reality.

The book 1984 depicts a society unimaginable to most; however, a further look shows us that we actually do live in an Orwellian society. Orwell describes a country called Oceania made of multiple continents which is ruled by the dictatorial “Big Brother” who uses different systems like the “thought police” and “telescreens” in order to have full control over the country. Our democratic government, through organizations such as the NSA and NGI, can look through our most private conversations and moments using spyware. Due to the secrecy of the government, citizens in 1984, as well as those in our society, fear the government.

In order to be a dystopia, there is normally some kind of constant surveillance within the society. 1984 has telescreens that watch them all the time. Orwell explains how technology has only made life worse for the citizens:

Nineteen eighty-four. Published in 1949, a novel containing the main character, Winston Smith and his everyday struggle to survive in a totalitarian government. In the novel, George Orwell describes the atmosphere of London, England using 3rd person limited. One of the ways he vividly describes the atmosphere of the current time is through the use of technology. The government managed to manipulate London’s population through technologies such as, telescreens, cameras, microphones, and the “thought police”. When writing the book, George Orwell’s perspective on technology was way beyond his decade. He envisioned technology to a highly advanced level which may have been nonexistent then, but now is reality. The unexpected effect technology

Orwell’s warning of the dangers of totalitarian regimes to his contextual readers and future audiences is portrayed through his novel, 1984, because “Big Brother is Watching You”, exerting total control over the masses. The masses are effectively controlled by the thought police, telescreens and children who are “against their parents and taught to spy on them and report their deviations”.... Orwell writes about the potential dangers that are inherent when power and technology are abused, resulting in mindless citizens and “a world of fear and hatred and torment”, which Winston perfectly captures with his metaphorical epiphany; “we are the dead”. Like the dead, society will become opiated, lacking individual thought, a highly valued asset of

Another aspect of Orwell's prophetic novel is the thought of technology. During the time that Orwell wrote 1984, the radio was more comment than the television and computers had not even been considered. Nonetheless, Orwell found a way to include these things in his story. The tele-screen could be related to the modern TV. Also, in the book, the control of machinery and sources of information are controlled by computers. Orwell uses technology in this book to