Why Is Watching Important In The Book 1984 By George Orwell?

The Party uses surveillance in various intrusive ways to police the thoughts and actions of the people. In the opening scene, Winston uses an alcove in his flat to write in his diary out of sight of the telescreen, an instrument similar to a television that cannot be turned off. Winston knows that it is watching his every move. Later, when O’Brien simply turns off his telescreen, Winston is amazed at this inconceivable privilege. The screens cover public areas as well as each house in Oceania. Also covering the streets are posters of a man with a black moustache and following eyes, which everyone knows as Big Brother. This idyllic, anonymous figure

“BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”(Orwell 2), is a saying that surrounds society in the classic novel 1984. The author, George Orwell provides his audience with an abundant amount of themes throughout his writing. One very prominent one is Orwell’s psychological manipulation of his characters. As characters within this society are constantly surrounded by sayings such as, “WAR IS PEACE”, “FREEDOM IS SLAVERY”, and “IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”(Orwell 4), Orwell shows the ultimate type of control within his characters. Orwell is able to achieve such psychological manipulation in his characters through physical control and the abundance of technology. Without Orwell’s use of telescreens, his characters would be able to have their

While Winston is conversing with Smith old boy during a Ministry announcement, the girl from the fiction department is staring deep into Winston’s soul. Winston starts to sweat and thoughts start to wander in his head; however he remembers that it is horrible to have his brain wander. “ It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you are in a public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away” (60). The telescreens dispersed throughout the town of Oceania can detect ones mood in any setting, which frightens the population of Oceania. “Life, if you looked about you, bore no resemblance not only to the lies that streamed out of the telescreens, but even in the ideals that the party was trying to achive.” As Winston is arriving at his flat, a voice announces over the telescreen and can detect any slight sound Winston makes. “There was of coarse no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the thought police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork”(3). Evidently, the people controlling the telescreens could tap into a person at any given time. Winston decides to keep is back facing the telescreen because it will be more safe for

In the book “1984” written by George Orwell in 1948, the proles are presented as an impoverished, powerless and massive group of people. Nevertheless, they are free, unlike the rest of Oceania. They are not checked by the Party on what they do and think; therefore the proles are the only ones able to take Big Brother down.

The main version of this surveillance is through the telescreen that is stationed in every room constantly watching the people. There is always propaganda across the screen supporting Big Brother and the endeavors of Ingsoc. The telescreen combined with the thought police is the ultimate tool for destroying individual thought, "The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself-anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide" (Orwell). This non-stop flow of information stimulates everyone to join in with the demands of Big Brother even when they do not want to. Even the telescreens and Thought Police are not enough because the people are faced with the omnipresent signs reading "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU," that are constantly scrutinizing them.

By using the telescreen, a surveillance device located in the homes of all Party members, the Thought Police are able to keep everyone under scrutiny. Winston says, “You had to live-did live, from habit that became instinct -in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and except in darkness, every movement scrutinized” (Orwell, 3). This quotation shows how the intense observation efforts stifle the actions and thoughts of the people in Oceania. An essential component of being human is the ability to communicate freely. Communication has fostered developments in mathematics, literature, science, and every field of learning. The Party deprives their citizens of the human spirit of education by preventing uninhibited conversation. Stephen Ingle’s essay from The Abuse of Power in 1984 reads, “This lack of distinction between a private and public realm is precisely what gives life in Oceania its nightmare quality. Nobody has the recourse to a private world in which he or she may regain self esteem or attempt to control even the smallest part of their destiny: there is no escape from Big Brother” (_______, ____). This excerpt reveals that constant surveillance removes a portion of humanity. Humans need to have havens of refuge where they can lower their defenses against the outside world and have the safety to think and act as they wish. Of course there is the

The government in 1984 maintains power by using constant surveillance and suppression of citizens. Unlike the modern era, all citizens know they are being watched and are cautious about their actions. Winston says of the telescreen, the Party’s method of espionage: “Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it [the telescreen], moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as

Orwell’s vision of the future is not entirely accurate, but it is not completely fiction. There is Big Brother around us, like in 1984. For example, the FBI surveillances phone calls and texts and could easily get into databases, without the permission of the person they are surveillancing. In some ways, we have to sacrifice a part of our privacy to the government. We are being watched, just as the people were being watched by Big Brother. On the other hand, we are given human rights and we do not

Everyone has always wondered if people were ever watching them. Our technology today is capable to eavesdrop in on anyone’s conversations even if their phones are turned off. In the novel, “1984”, the party INGSOC uses telescreens to watch over the people and always know what they are up to. This denies the people’s rights and privileges to go about their business as they please. The technology we have today is almost exact to what big brother uses in George Orwell’s novel by taking over the public and private parts of our lives.

Many of these spying techniques benefit from advances in technology. The telescreens are used as “security cameras” that can be found in the homes of the citizens. These telescreens record the words of the citizen and monitor facial expressions. If a citizen speaks or thinks any doubt about “Big Brother,” they will be imprisoned. Because these telescreens were almost everywhere, the thought police always knew where a citizen was at any given moment (Orwell 6-7).

The book 1984 depicts a society unimaginable to most; however, a further look shows us that we actually do live in an Orwellian society. Orwell describes a country called Oceania made of multiple continents which is ruled by the dictatorial “Big Brother” who uses different systems like the “thought police” and “telescreens” in order to have full control over the country. Our democratic government, through organizations such as the NSA and NGI, can look through our most private conversations and moments using spyware. Due to the secrecy of the government, citizens in 1984, as well as those in our society, fear the government.

One of the main factors that led Orwell to feel the need to tell such a cautionary tale was World War II. The Soviet Union might have been the number one reason, since the Nation was the most socialist country. With government tracking and listening to every call and every single conversation, Orwell saw the nation that did not know the truth and lived in the world that the government has painted for them. Orwell might have also tried to caution people that because of World War II, other nations might use this war as an excuse to take little steps to gain total control. For example, government may introduce acts and laws such as listening to phone calls, and say “This law was introduced in order to avoid a new war." In his book, Orwell described the nation where government totally controlled everything and where people lived the way that the government told them. Which is very similar to Soviet Union. But the

If the telescreen records you doing certain things you are immediately under suspicion like turning your back to the telescreen ”Winston kept his back turned to the telescreen. It was safer, though, as he well knew, even a back can be revealing. (1.1.6)” In book one chapter one paragraph 6 Winston reveals that even by facing away the thought police could still detect his rebellion. Winston also reveals in book one chapter five paragraph 65 that “It [‘s] terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away...” For example “to wear an improper expression on your face (to look incredulous when a victory was announced, for example) was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime, it was called. (1.5.65). Which is similar to how a small thing could put you under surveillance by the

No one can be trusted in fear that they might report to the Thought Police. This held true for families as well. Children are sometimes known to turn in their own parents to the thought police for such simple things as hoarding spices for food. One has to watch his or her facial expressions at all times, because "the smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself - anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide." (Orwell, p.65) Those who think for themselves are arrested by the Thought Police and sent to the Ministry of Love, where they are re-educated or killed. Sometimes both.

One of the main ways the government inflicts their control on the citizens is through the invasion of privacy. In this society, every home is installed with telescreens and microphones that watch the residents every move. The government does this to watch for any signs of abnormality in citizens. The cameras are installed in streets as well to prevent conspiring among the citizens. Citizens are watched everywhere and there is no escape from being scrutinized. The caption “Big Brother is Watching You” (Orwell 3), is posted all over the city as a constant reminder to people that they are never away from Big Brother’s watch and that Big Brother knows everything. Winston feels that the picture is “so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move” (Orwell 3). Obviously, pictures can not move, yet Winston feels like it watches him constantly.