1984 Essay

In a world controlled by a higher power, constantly living in fear of

doing or saying something wrong, thoughts can be incriminating. Even worse,

any unpure thoughts may make you disappear. Constantly being watched, and

observed without knowing. A telescreen watching every facial expression and

recording any abnormal body language and movement everywhere you go. Even in

your home there is no escape. You are unable to get away or turn off the

power of the Telescreen and "Big Brother". This novel is of a man's struggle

against a totalitarian government that controls the ideas and thoughts of

its citizens.

In the novel 1984 by George Orwell the government used advanced mind reading

techniques to discover the thoughts of the people and punish those who show

signs of rebellion against the government. The novel is supposed to be a

prophetic story, however, it was somewhat wrong in predicting the date when

this government would rein. Although some themes described in the book are

now realities, some are not going to happen for some time to come and this

is why this novel continues to be overwhelming to us today.

Perhaps Orwell's purpose for writing 1984 was to express his feelings of

how the governments would come to control everything and anything they

wished to do. It is also possible that he wanted to tell of how mind control

and torture techniques could be used to make an individual or an entire

nation do what the government wanted. This story shows the danger of a world

in which the government has too much control. The novel shows how the

government controls its people, eliminating their individuality and the

essence of everything that makes a human a human.

"And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed-if all records

told the same tale-then the lie passed into history and became truth. 'Who

controls the past' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls

the present controls the past.'" (Page 37)

Though this society is efficient, it means little since the people cannot

enjoy freedom and therefore have no rights. This quote emphasizes how if you

don't recall anything about the past you will be easily controlled by the

government and you will no longer have any concrete evidence.

In this novel, Orwell used the image of a man who stood in a shadow that

covered his face. This was to make him anonymous and unrecognizable. This

figure was called "Big Brother", and was placed on posters everywhere with

the saying "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU." This was used to let the people

know that no matter where they go, they could not escape the watching eyes

of the controlling government. "If the Party could thrust its hand into the

past and say this or that even, it never happened-that, surely, was more

terrifying than mere torture and death." (Page 37)

The government itself was very mysterious and had several parts that were

very suspicious to the main character, Winston, who worked in one part of

the government. It was divided into four parts. The ministry