George Orwell is a well-known and respected author from the 20th century. 1984 is one of Orwell's’ most famous and controversial books, being banned in schools around the United States due to political conflict, as well as sexual content. The book is about a character named Winston who lives in a society where the government is modeled as one person (Big Brother) and is the leader of the people. Big Brother controls the people's thoughts, actions, and the society in which they live in. Everyone is under constant surveillance and the nation is involved in an ongoing war. If the people go against what big brother tells them they have committed a thought crime and are taken by the thought police and vaporized after being tortured. Winston our …show more content…
The people do not know anything so therefore it is common sense to stick to what you know. When Winston received Goldstein’s book chapter 1. Ignorance is Strength showed how ignorance removes power from the people in order to maintain control. For example the people do not know there is a plenty of food to go around for everyone, that people do not have to starve but withholding the food makes people rely on the government for what little they do receive, and it makes the government look like it is doing everything in its power to help out its people (Orwell 152). Also the people are not allowed to meet other people from who they are supposed to be at war with because then the people will see how alike they are and gain consciousness in that way. Ignorance keeps the people stable, if they do not all know the truth then they will not be able to draw conclusions and potentially take down the government. Fear of the government keeps people in line and those who are conscious of their thoughts do not express them out loud or else they too will be vaporized. It is easier to pretend and play along, rather than to speak up and face the consequences. Also speaking to the public Fear of being seen causes everyone to act orderly , fear of being hated and not heard keeps people quiet, and fear of the unknown keeps people locked together in an orderly fashion doing what they are