Minority Report By Philip K. Dick, 1984, And The Pedestrian

Vidhitaa Lamba
ENG4U
Ms. Hawley
June 12, 2023

ISP Report

Overview

The literary works Minority Report by Philip K. Dick, 1984 by George Orwell, and 'The Pedestrian' by Ray Bradbury explore pervasive themes such as surveillance and control, the loss of personal freedom, and the warning of dystopian societies. The protagonist, Chief John Anderton, in ‘The Minority Report’, is the head of PreCrime and believes in the infallibility of the precogs' visions. The precogs' are individuals that possess a psychic ability to see events in the future, primarily premeditated murders. The predictions are utilized to arrest individuals for crimes they have not yet committed. Putting them in jail for possible false accusations. The protagonist, Winston

Dick explores the theme of loss of personal freedom, highlighting the effects of a society governed by pre-crime technology. The Pre-Cogs, three psychic beings, predict future crimes, and law enforcement acts upon these predictions to prevent the crime from occurring. Citizens are subjected to a complete invasion of their privacy. In the text it states, “You’ve probably grasped the basic legalistic drawback to precrime methodology. We’re taking in individuals who have broken no law.” (Dick 224). This loss of personal freedom is exemplified by pre-crime as they detain individuals who have not (yet) committed a crime without giving them so much as a trial or the opportunity to change the course of their futures. This can be seen as a loss of personal freedom, as they are being restraint without even commiting a crime that may not even be committed. . Next, loss of personal freedom can be seen by John Anderton as he is being detained for a crime he is unaware of committing in the future. He believes that his memories were altered in order to frame him for becoming a murderer. In the text it states, “I’m being framed—deliberately and maliciously. This creature is out to get my job. The Senate is getting at me through him.” (229). Andertons freedom is shown being affected, as he is having his future changed against his will in order to be removed from the company. By changing his memories and predicting he will kill someone, he will quickly become

First, Winston describes the concept of "doublethink," a way of consciousness that the Party demands all citizens adopt. Doublethink involves believing two contradictory things at the same time. Winston's job at the Ministry of Truth involves doublethink; he must delete any evidence that contradicts the Party's new version of the truth, while at the same time erasing his own awareness that he has changed anything. While experiencing doublethink, people must also not be aware of the fact that they are experiencing it. In the text, he states “To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which canceled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic [...]” (Orwell 35). This shows how doublethink affects one's personal freedom amongst the city. If doublethink is successful, there is no need for indoctrination, laws, or even punishment to be put in place, people will simply believe whatever the Party tells them. They lose the ability to logically interrogate whether things are true lHumanity loses its way of decision making skills. Furthermore, Oceania reconstructed the English language into its own. Known as Newspeak, it is used to reinforce a dumbed down civilization. The Ingsoc Party’s pared-down version of the English