1984 George Orwell Human Nature

1873 Words8 Pages

Our human nature is something that has been unchanged when it comes to power. The way people in power interact with those not in power has been a constant. People have been and will always acquire power through the fear and manipulation. George Orwell, like countless others before him, chooses to make human nature—specifically the shift in power— a dominant theme in his book. Throughout his writings, Orwell uses this human nature theme, changing it in different ways and giving the reader different power perspectives. His idea of human nature is reflected on the experiences he had throughout his life, growing up from English descent in imperialized India. He’s seen first hand the different power dynamics that occurred between British soldiers and Indians and how they …show more content…

They have complete control over their people, and have the ability to rewrite the past and drive the future in their direction. They instill fear into every single person by having them on constant watch by these telescreens that monitor the people. This fear factor causes people to question every decision they make because they know that “Big Brother is Watching.” Main character Winston knows that he even a certain flinch is dangerous, because the party is always looking for disloyalty towards them. When describing this he states, “To keep your face expressionless was not difficult, and even your breathing could be controlled, with an effort; but you could not control the beating of your heart, and the telescreen was quite delicate enough to pick it up” (1984 79). The fear of being seen as disloyal to the Party is so great that it forces people to obey the Party without thinking. It’s clear in the interactions between a Party member and a non-Party member that fear is present and these interactions are taken with caution by the non-Party member. The Party even go so far as to call kids Junior Spies to turn in even their parents for disloyalty towards the Party. Other than fear, the