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Surveillance In 1984 By George Orwell

717 Words3 Pages

Do you feel like your every thought and action is being controlled and monitored? Do you ever feel like you’re constantly at war with someone? Throughout this novel the characters are under constant surveillance, via the telescreens that watch their every move. They also constantly talk about the war between Oceania and Eastasia. And lastly, they never actually say it, but the entire book is depicting what would happen if society was entirely communist, controlled by the government. 1984 by George Orwell has topics relevant today that society still has to worry about such as surveillance, war, and communism.

People are under constant surveillance in both the book 1984 and in today’s modern society. One example of this is when Winston is exercising and a voice comes from the telescreen saying, “6079 Smith W! Yes, you! Bend lower, please! You can do better than that…That’s better, comrade…” (Orwell,1949, p.36). This shows that people on both sides of the telescreen can see what’s happening on the other side, proving that people in the book are under constant surveillance. A second example that we are under surveillance is in an article by VICE that says,” You are being watched.. Your smartphone is logging your location. And if you’re …show more content…

In the book Oceania is at war with Eastasia, as is said by O’Brien, ”Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia. Since the beginning of your life, since the beginning of the Party, since the beginning of history.” (Orwell, 1949, p.??). This shows that even before the beginning of the book Oceania and Eastasia have been at war. An example of war in our lives is stated by an article by the New York Times which says, “Russian forces began their full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Since then, Western officials estimate that hundreds of thousands of people have been killed…”. This shows that there is a war not only in the novel, but also in our lives

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However, it is not to be said that the mics would alone work to capture rebels, but instead increase chances of said rebels being incarcerated. Julia is caught by the telescreens eventually, after all, and so it would only be sooner or later that rebels would be captured. In conclusion, by using telescreens and mics to monitor the people, the government is able to effectively prevent them from engaging in revolutionary actions and getting away with it, thus spreading a fear to take action among the people. Yet another potent example of fear to instill paranoia by Big Brother is the use of police. One such occurrence lies on the integration of children into Oceania’s “police” force, as in they would be used to spy on their very own family members.

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In the book “1984 by George Orwell the author uses imagery and foreshadow to show the readers the horrible world we will have in the future. In this novel, you will find out that everybody is watched and has no privacy no matter what they do or where they go. Everybody is constantly under surveillance. This makes people frustrated because they want to live and a free and individual life where they can do what they want and think what they want but this seems to be a hard job because not everyone is able to fight for individualism. This is kind of strange because this book was published right after World War II and the things that happen in this book are currently happening now in 2017.

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(Orwell 3-4). In 1984, telescreens are everywhere, they speak, record, and scan all areas within its reach. These are designed to spy on people, never allowing anyone to ever be alone, lessening the number of people that will rebel against Big Brother. Society is constantly around technology (not much of a choice), people are thought police that will see that you are guilty of committing a thought crime (thinking any bad thought against Big Brother). In this novel, thoughts are not private anymore.

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Throughout the novel, Winston Smith regularly reminds the reader of the civilians’ lack of privacy due to the government’s ability to see everything. One prominent concept that reappeared numerous times throughout the story was The Party’s usage of a device known as “telescreens”. These televisions, although typically harmless to the real world, are tools The Party uses to monitor the lives of every individual within Oceania.

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Do you ever feel as though you are being watched or having knowledge taken from you, many novels have discussed this theme as such examples. The core premise in 'Fahrenheit 451' centers around government control robbing individuals of knowledge. Furthermore, when it comes to literature, the individuals in this dystopian society are surveillance cameras. Furthermore, in 'The Giver,' every individual is being watched by the government to see what task will be assigned to them. There are about 1 billion surveillance cameras in our society.

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Orwell’s dystopia filled with skepticism and paranoia reflects the real paranoiac world that existed during World War II and the Cold War. Two types of paranoia existed in Orwell’s dystopian nation, Oceania: the paranoia of citizens and the paranoia of the Party. The people of Oceania had to be robots, because they could be prosecuted if they thought or acted out of line with the Party’s beliefs. While this already would be difficult, the people of Oceania were under constant surveillance as Winston explained, “There was of course no way of knowing whether or not you were being watched at any given moment” (Orwell 6). Factors such as never knowing when one was being watched contributes to the paranoia of the dystopia and emphasizes the oppressive nature of the Party.

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In both 1984 and The Hunger Games individuals are rendered powerless by oppressive states which subvert technology to surveil and distribute propaganda. In George Orwell's 1949 novel, 1984, telescreens placed in the homes of individuals deemed a possible threat to the party are symbolic of the omniscient panopticism Big Brother yields. Winston psychologically struggles with the constant surveillance and subsequent lack of privacy: ‘Winston kept his back turned to the telescreen. It was safer, though, as he well knew, even a back can be revealing.’ Telescreens act as a pervasive deterrent, yet in a place where individuals are always watched, always listened to, and always judged, resentment is inevitable, and recidivist acts increasingly likely.

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The U.S. government is invading the privacy of its’ citizens through the use of mobile devices such as phones and laptops. This use of privacy invasion is similar to the technology used in George Orwell’s novel 1984. What makes today relate to 1984 is how the government tracks us through location, voice, and messaging. George Orwell’s 1984 has a totalitarian government that can track its’ citizens through location with the use of telescreens. In the novel, telescreens can track your location in a room through a telescreen, which is demonstrated by Winston´s thought ¨so long as you remained within the field of vision … you could be seen¨ (Orwell, page 3).

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While I agree with his assertion, many ideas in Orwell’s 1984 remain frighteningly pertinent as well. In 1984, the people are controlled by the all-seeing, all-powerful Big Brother. Threatening telescreens display a constant message that “Big Brother is watching” in every room, from which there is no escape. Petrified by the idea of what might happen to them if they break a rule, the citizens of Oceania live emotionless, cookie-cutter lives.

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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.

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Imagine being followed everywhere by a government agent. They’re watching your every move, and they’ll report you if you even make a wrong facial movement. This is essentially the case in George Orwell’s novel, 1984. Run by an English socialist government called the Party, the people’s every move is watched through telescreens. Citizens are not individual, but rather an extension of the Party.

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George Orwell’s 1984 is a precautionary tale of what happens when the government has too much control in our lives. The protagonist, Winston Smith, is at odds in a world in which he is not allowed to counter the government’s surveillance and control. Perhaps more striking is the noticeable relationship between the novel and modern society. In George Orwell’s novel 1984 the book predicts the surveillance of Big Brother in modern day societies.

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An As an American citizen do you feel safe in today’s society or do you feel that your rights, privacy is at stake, that is for you to decide? In George Orwell’s 1984 he prophesied about a government that invaded our privacy and sworn that It was good for the people or whatever the case may be. If you were to read George Orwell's “1984” this would be way more than relevant in today’s society knowing that most or If not all things that George orwell predicted has become a reality. An example of this would be how in the novel “1984” they had a device known as speakwrite that shared similarities with a microphone which hadn’t even been invented at the time, they also had the telescreen which resembled a television. In conclusion, I’d like to say that George Orwell’s “1984” is so relevant to today's government that you should watch watch what you do and/or say

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