1984 Vs Big Brother Research Paper

Is the U.S. as free as most Americans think? Or, is the U.S. closer to Oceania, the dystopian country in the novel 1984? Is the privacy of homes really that private? Both 1984’s society and the modern societies have lots in common when it comes to surveillance. The U.S. government could be considered very similar to Big Brother (1984’s government) in that they can track citizens at any moment, have any information on any person with a few clicks of a button, and watch people who could be trouble for their power. Big Brother is different from the U.S. government in that the U.S. doesn’t tell the citizens they are watching, while everyone in Oceania knows Big Brother is watching. Big Brother is also different in that they use their surveillance systems to control and scare, which is different from the U.S. because they are using it as a form of protection. Firstly, the governments of both societies can track them with different forms of technology. Big Brother …show more content…
The telescreens are a constant reminder to behave and keep following Big Brothers rules. They are scared into submission with the constant propaganda and war to try to distract them from how awfully they are being treated. The citizens are scared to commit thought crimes and practice something called crimestop. Crimestop is forcing yourself not to commit thought crime. The citizens are in constant terror of being vaporized and forgotten from the society altogether. U.S. citizens think of cameras and undercover police officers as a sense of protection from terrorists and crimes. Cameras are in almost any public place and in every store so that they can catch criminals. These make us feel comfortable because that means that the crook will probably get caught and brought to justice. If the U.S. was more like Oceania, then we would see these cameras as a warning to act