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1984 Surveillance Essay

528 Words3 Pages

Surveillance 1984, by George Orwell, is a magnificent dystopian novel about a society with a totalitarian government. Winston, the protagonist in 1984, is a confused resident in the city of Oceania. He is constantly questioning the government in a society where an opinion is not allowed. Surveillance is a method that the government uses to monitor all citizens and keep them under control. The government uses surveillance through telescreens, the Thought Police, and people who seem friendly, but are not. Telescreens, from the human eye, seem to be just a regular wall; however, they are used to constantly study all of the people in Oceania. Winston, along with all of the other people, have to constantly act like they are supposed to. He does not know if he is being watched or not and “any sound that Winston made, above the level of a whisper, would be picked up by it [telescreen]” (Orwell 3). In addition, the telescreens can view Winston no matter where he is. The narrator justifies that “as long as he remained in the field of vision which the metal plate commanded, he could be seen as well as heard” (Orwell 3). The residents of Oceania are “constantly” being under the watch of the telescreen, causing them to have sustained anxiety. This anxiety affects …show more content…

Charrington, a store owner, and O’Brien are friends with Winston, but they are not the friendly people Winston thinks they are. At first, Winston is clueless about who Mr. Charrington is because he seems to be just a standard citizen. Winston finally realized who Mr. Charrington was when he “was looking, with knowledge, at a member of the Thought Police,” and that member turned out to be Mr. Charrington. Furthermore, O’Brien is disguised as someone who questions the government, just like Winston. It is not until O’Brien allows the guard to hurt Winston that he realizes that O’Brien is one of “them [Thought Police].” When O’Brien says, “they got me a long time ago” it shows that he is a member of the

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