Is Technology Used In The Book 1984 By George Orwell

McCarthyism, the Baby Boom, and the development of the atomic bomb were all significant events that were taking place during the 1940’s and 50’s. Joseph McCarthy was a senator and became known for his movement against communism. He caused the famous Red Scare, which instilled fear into all the citizens that anyone who was un-American or different was a communist. (Education Portal) Ray Bradbury lived during the 50’s and experienced McCarthyism first hand; he had the fear instilled in him. He wrote Fahrenheit 451 and set it in the future of 2400, but why? Ray Bradbury used the idea of being homogeneous, the fear of technology, and the characterization of Mildred to show his apprehension of McCarthyism and its effect on the people in his life.

Several limits must be placed on technology to avoid totalitarian excesses represented in 1984. A government should not spy on its own innocent civilians. Governments should not ever have the power to use technology as a tool to control public and private behavior. A government should not make its citizens paranoid and scared with technology.

Everyday technology is advancing and has become part of people’s everyday life, from phones, cars, computers, and even the light switches in a room. With all this technology, it would be easy to use it for other things then what they were intended for. For example what if someone wanted to control what another person could do such as sleeping or going places. It would not not be that hard to try and control another human being, or even worse being watched every single moment of everyday for the rest of their life. That idea is not as farfetched as it may seem now with even more phones, computers, televisions and cameras in general. Technology is taking humanity nearer and nearer to world of Big Brother and the worse part is that if they are not careful, Big Brother could raise without any citizen ever knowing.

Dystopia, is the world one step closer or is it striving clear out of way? In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the story revolves around a dystopian society where books are banned and exiled, Guy Montag our protagonist, works as a fireman, going around and burn homes of those with books. Montag comes home, to find that his wife has overdosed on sleeping pills, Montag calls for help and two Handymen show up and save Mildred. The next day Montag goes to the firehouse, where the Mechanical Hound is first introduced, the firehouse is then informed of a old lady spotted with a book, they go out to the lady’s home, burning her along with her books, Montag is traumatized by this, and begins to rethink everything. He then begins to read

In today’s world our cell phones are our telescreens, and the government is Big Brother behind them. In George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984, telescreens are like televisions that can also see and hear what is going on around it. The telescreens are monitored by the Thought Police, which is the police force that watches for thoughtcrime, or thoughts against the government. The government is run by the Party and Big Brother is the leader. In 1984 society is relevant to today’s government because like the telescreens, our cell phones and other technologies allow the government and other corporations to invade the privacy they have promised to protect.

George Orwell uses his novel 1984 to show that Big Brother is very powerful due to the technology it uses to spy on the society. Big Brother has a purpose of protecting the people of the society and is willing to invade everyone's privacy for their well being and keep the government running. Since Big Brother is an intimidating form of government, they use their technology to bring fear to society members who try to rebel or threat to the government, “But the face of Big Brother seemed to persist for several seconds on the screen as though the impact that it had made on everyone’s eyeballs were too vivid to wear off immediately”(16). The only way Big Brother feels they are meeting their objective of having consistency by using technology to

The government of 1984 is a foreshadow of the future George Orwell imagined. The citizens of Oceania were constantly watched by the government at every time of the day. Parts of their language was destroyed in order to suppress any outlet to rebellious expression. The protagonist Winston fights the urges of rebelling but falls in love with the idea of freedom. Even though the United States foundation is set up on freedom it has begun to adapt many of Big Brother’s traits.

Through the novel 1984, the telescreens at homes are the symbol of heteronomy; in the society everything is controlled and people should follow the law. Except the telescreens, there are another instruments of domineering; omnipresence of though police and teaching children to inform on their parents.

In George Orwell’s 1984 novel, the government known as Big Brother controlled and monitored the citizens by numerous types of technology. The technology used were telescreens, thought police, the government was able to get complete control over the people of Oceania. While the ideas of technology were ahead of the actual time frame of the novel, they should be dismissed. While our technology continues to develop over time, there is not a way of telling how it will affect the future in the book. If it gets put into the wrong hands, important information and technology can be very harmful as shown in the novel 1984.

“Big Brother is Watching You”, is one of the most obvious connections between today’s society and 1984. In the novel Big Brother, the supposed leader of the Party, rules the nation of Oceania and keeps endless surveillance on the population through telescreens. In the real world, conversely, many individuals have hand-held telescreens, called cellphones, which they carry with them mostly

Imagine a world where all technology is used for one purpose, surveillance of the masses. In George Orwell’s novel, 1984, he depicts such a world, in which the notorious “Big Brother” is the face of the government and the political party, “The Party”, runs the country of Oceania through a series of cameras and televisions called “telescreens” that can never be turned off. That novel was written in 1948 as a prediction of the future. As Orwell’s novel did not accurately depict the soon to come 1984, he may have been able to predict the future, past the current 2000’s. Mass Media and technology today has become widely available and functions as an everyday necessity. With advancements in technology such as WIFI, the GPS, and the smartphone, to name a few, where we are constantly being tracked, is our technology taking us closer to the world of Big Brother? To answer that question, one must examine how 1984 described society, what the extent of today's technology is capable of, and their similarities and differences.

Orwell cites in his book 1984, “Big Brother Is Watching You” (Orwell 2). He said that everywhere you went Big Brother could watch and see you. You cannot do anything wrong because someone or something is watching your movements all of the times. George Orwell correctly foresaw government’s growing ability to spy on their citizens and the citizens are unaware that government’s watching and tracking them. In 1984 every move and sound you made was being watched by the telescreens, as a result thoughts are also controlled. The telescreens are a propaganda tool used by Big Brother to control all their citizens. It is monitoring everyone’s speech and actions because those telescreens are everywhere. According to George Orwell as explained in his book 1984, “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. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself -anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide” (Orwell 62). It means that the tactics of the Party’s surveillance and technology are so advanced that even the smallest actions they do, can betray them into a big problem. Orwell predicted that people will give up their personal freedoms and right to privacy by being controlled all the time. Government

The comparative study provides a cautionary tale on technology in modernity. This is by creating connections between the treatment of power and the individual. George Orwell’s novel, ‘1984,’ and Fritz Lang's pioneering film, ‘Metropolis,’ advocate the dehumanisation of the proletariat paints a false image of unity, which serves only the government. In turn, both composers broadcast rebelling for emancipation as the dominant response to oppression, repression and suppression. Orwell utilises satire to censure against future despots like Hitler and Stalin. While Lang’s focus on the stresses of the Weimar Republic admonishes against rapid industrialisation to prevent the polarisation of the population. The texts offer insight into the human disposition under complete control. With both texts analysing the impact of tyrannic regimes on this psyche as well as the value of emancipation perceived by it.

Surveillance is prevalent in America today, whether it be a part of homes, stores, or streets – one may ask, when does this constant observation become too much? When does that same surveillance we so much praise about turn against us? George Orwell writes about when that instance occurs, with the concept of “Big Brother”, an omnipresent technological being created with the sole purpose of keeping everyone in check, eliminating thought and memory. The novel 1984, published in 1949, envisioned a world running on technology; cameras on every angle, microphones in every house, a world of self-policing, which is not too far off from what we have today. However, there are key differences; 1984 is setting for a dystopian world where government powers are without regulation, where there is little choice, where information is spoon-fed to its viewers. Nevertheless, technology today is striding towards a grim path, a path of no return.

While the existence of technology makes our life more convenience, it can also pave the way for dictator to suppress their power on the population. Technology can be used in so many ways to take control over the public. Likewise, in 1984 book written by George Orwell in 1948, Big Brother used technology to spread its influence over society and to monitor and manipulate citizens (Khanna, 2015). In every household and even public places like canteen contain a mental square telescreen, that could not be turned off completely. The telescreen is not just a useless mental, it contained a microphone inside which purposely placed to spy on every word the citizens say. The telescreen also enable the Thought police to watch every individual at any time