Puppet of the Government "1984" book club essay

A Puppet of the Government

1984 Book Club Literary Essay

Zach A. Thompson

Class 711

March 15, 2015

“BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” (Orwell, page 2).  And controlling you too.  The dystopian novel 1984, by George Orwell, tells the story of Winston Smith, a man who gets into a relationship with the woman Julia, and who joins the secret anti-government organization “The Brotherhood.” The year is 1984, in the future, and there is an oppressive government called the Party that controls almost everything in their territory.  They eventually catch Winston and Julia, and Winston is sent to the “Ministry of Love,” where he is interrogated and mentally tortured until the end, where he declares that he loves the mysterious government leader, Big Brother.  The author is sending a message to the readers that we should keep our eyes peeled because governments can take total control, so much that they are controlling every aspect of what people do or say, owning their lives.  He is saying that we should be careful because that kind of government shouldn’t exist in real life.

                 

The government makes itself seem like the “good guys,” the ultimate heroes, and that life before them was terrible.  When people believe that propaganda, when they think the government is doing the right thing, they will be powerless against the oppressive rulers.  In the story, it says, “The history books say that life before the Revolution was completely different from what it is now. There was the most terrible oppression, injustice, poverty—worse than anything we can imagine” (Orwell, page 79).  The Party is talking about when there was capitalism in many countries.  They are saying that back then governments were corrupt and unfair to the people, that back then was the “bad old days,” that life is much better now.  Now, they say, peoples’ lives have been saved by the Revolution and the beginning of the Party.  Propaganda in the history books make people believe lies about the Party, and become under the government’s control.  If they start to think what the government says is true, that life is good now, they will be less likely to rebel or try to overthrow the government.

The Party also uses constant surveillance to control peoples’ lives.  They use telescreens, to watch everyone in the whole country.  In the text, it says, “The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously.  Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it; moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard” (Orwell, page 2).  Telescreens are like security cameras, but much larger and in every home and building.  Government officials watching on the one end could see and hear people on the other end.  The telescreens could not be switched off, which meant that the government could use them to see what was going on virtually any place where they had power.  The telescreens allow the government to know what’s going on during every moment of peoples’ lives, and doing something even slightly suspicious could send someone to a forced labor camp, so peoples’ lives are very controlled.  Furthermore, children were recruited into groups like the Spies, where they could report anyone of being a traitor, and then be considered a hero.  The book says, “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” (Orwell, page 21).  The Spies are a great opportunity for the Party to control the people.  Not only are they watching everyone to report to the authorities, but this kind of work at such a young age means that kids will grow up loving the Party, and stay that way for life. 

In 1984, the government has supreme power, so much so that they can control the lives of the people.  They use constant surveillance and propaganda to take power.  The message the author is sending is clear—we should not let this happen to our world, the world outside of a book.  The message is that today, countries like the U.S., which are democracies, shouldn’t become like North Korea, where people have no freedoms.  Here, we take these everyday liberties like freedom of speech for granted, but we might be losing them.  Internet surveillance is getting stronger.  Groups like the NSA and others are constantly looking at our Internet activity to see if any of us might be terrorists.  I don’t think our government should be doing this, knowing everything we do online.  Our nation shouldn’t become like the Party in 1984.