George Orwell's 1984: Big Brother And Thought Police

Throughout history, we see how totalitarian governments are often portrayed as a danger to society, by trying to hide the truth from the public and violating our rights, yet we do nothing about it. This is represented in 1984, as “Big Brother” and the “Thought Police” that monitor everyone’s lives through the use of telescreens, and other forms of surveillance, ensuring that no sort of rebellious act is ever acknowledged, in order to prevent individualism. It is quite evident that in the past, certain governments have at one point or another taken advantage of society. By limiting the rights of citizens and forcing hardships upon them, they enforce their ideas and censor any viewpoint that tells them otherwise. In George Orwell’s 1984, the …show more content…
They control society by keeping the truth hidden, and only disseminating the information they believe we want to hear. Historically, many uprisings have occurred in many nations but only because the citizens became aware of injustices. In the novel 1984, citizens are controlled through the use of manipulation, both physical and mental. The Party indoctrinates the inhabitants and completely controls them, as seen with Winston; he becomes deprived of any independent thought. Another prominent theme can also be exemplified in society today in the form of censorship, in the novel it is known as “Newspeak.” The Newspeak vocabulary diminishes as time goes on, removing negative words like “ not good” and replacing it with “ungood”, again a technique that slowly eradicates individual thought by removing negative thought. A similar example of this is when Joseph Stalin glorified himself by having posters displayed throughout the Soviet Union, much like “Big Brother”, he was the all-knowing figure, and no one could escape his oppression. Totalitarian leaders have always censored the truth, like “Big Brother”, he represents the authority that can protect you, or if you are guilty, you can never escape