As a society, we sometimes wear a mask to hide our true beliefs. We act a certain way when we are with certain people. We tend to put this mask on when we do not want others to see who we really are. Wearing a mask, people typically try to cover up their feelings, beliefs, and emotions. Masks can provide a shroud of personal protection to deal with emotions behind a closed door. Comparatively, Orwell’s 1984 allows the reader to see Winston and Mrs. Parsons putting up their metaphorical masks when they are in public and with the children as opposed to when they are by themselves. They keep to themselves so that they will not speak against the government even if the viewpoints are wrong.
Early in Orwell’s 1984 we see an early occurrence of the
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Events which occur, that might affect conditions in the workplace or that cause stress in the household, might also make a person keep quiet and distant. While Orwell does not directly say that Mrs. Parsons is keeping a mask up while around her children it can be seen from this quote, “With those children, he thought, that wretched woman must lead a life of terror. Another year, two years, and they would be watching her night and day for symptoms of unorthodoxy. Nearly all children nowadays were horrible. What was worst of all was that by means of such organizations as the Spies they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages, and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the Party” (24). The Party seeks to maintain power by severing private loyalties and replacing them with loyalty to the party. With children, the success of the Party’s plan manifests further in that the children serve as extra surveillance forces for the Party. No one is safe in their own home; therefore, you must keep this mask up when around people you would normally