1984 Persuasive Essay

Today’s society is predicted as living in a world George Orwell envisioned in 1984. The system Orwell invented is compared to what the United States government is capable of doing. Government control of society is an essential subject due to the current mind set of the world today. In 1984, George Orwell represents how Big Brother is compared to today’s government, showing the consequences and dangers of a government with unlimited surveillance power.

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.

Totalitarian governments, by their very nature demand control over the people, encompassing all aspects of their lives, and through the use of surveillance, this control is maintained. Through the works of Anthony Burgess in A Clockwork Orange, Tom Rob Smith in Child 44, and George Orwell in 1984, these authors take a closer look into the necessity of surveillance in the survival of any totalitarian government. To begin with, the motivation for using surveillance over the people stems from the concept of power, maintaining the power of the state is the ultimate goal, and as long as the state is maintained, any measure taken is worth it. In addition, through the use of surveillance, governments create an environment where the family unit itself is broken down, and society drifts towards one devoid of trust, encouraging people to turn on one another in the name of the state. Finally, the use of surveillance allows the government to form the next generations, molding their ideal nation, into one where the truth of the government is absolute, and any thought of revolution is crushed. Through the use of surveillance, totalitarian governments create an environment where secrets and privacy no longer exist, and the state is the dominant and absolute power, at the expense of the people

“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

1984, a novel by George Orwell, represents a dystopian society in which the people of Oceania are surveilled by the government almost all the time and have no freedoms. Today, citizens of the United States and other countries are watched in a similar way. Though different technological and personal ways of keeping watch on society than 1984, today’s government is also able to monitor most aspects of the people’s life. 1984 might be a dystopian society, but today’s condition seems to be moving towards that controlling state, where the citizens are surveilled by the government at all times.

In the brainwashed society of Oceania in 1984, by George Orwell, led by a totalitarian government in the name of a leader known as Big Brother, citizens are placed under constant surveillance from the government, preventing them from having individuality and freedom of thought. Although written in a fictional setting, the book strikes analogous similarities to the United States in today’s world. Due to a growth in surveillance, personal information and privacy are being intervened, however, not violated. While technological advances are increasing and crimes such as hacking and terrorism are becoming more prominent in society, government surveillance is becoming largely needed to ensure the protection

Similar to how telescreens work in 1984, our society has personal information analyzed and recorded by the government. Data collection is a turning more to privacy taken away from citizens. If people are constantly being under surveillance, people start to lose their individuality because people transform into automatons. On (1.5.65) Winston says, "It was 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." This quote explains the significance of privacy, as even the smallest things in society matter. Orwell is foreshadowing the increasingly tighter surveillance on citizens and that affects society today because our society today is becoming more similar to the one portrayed in

“Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves”(Reagan). In the book, 1984, Winston recognizes the power the government has over the citizens of Oceania. The citizens lack privacy from the government. George Orwell warns society about a government with total control in 1984. Based on Dana Hawkin’s article, “Cheap Video Cameras Are Monitoring Our Every Move”, as well as Beech Etal’s, “The Other Side of the Great Firewall”, society may truly have something to fear in the form of surveillance and information manipulation.

George Orwell’s work of fiction 1984 is a futuristic, dystopian novel about citizens living in a totalitarian London. In this society, the government maintains power by controlling as many aspects of its citizens’ lives as it possibly can. The protagonist, Winston Smith, attempts to fight against the government’s controlling ways. For some time, critics have argued that this book was intended as a warning of the scenarios that could emerge if citizens traded freedom for security and allowed governments to take away too many of their rights. 1984 is a powerful warning against the risk of allowing governments to control too many aspects of the lives of their citizens through propaganda and the acquisition of personal information. These methods

George Orwell's fantasy novel “1984” predicts the future in terms “Big Brother” is watching you!” His book, “1984”, was considered a visionary and futuristic novel that presents itself in an imminent society. Many people believe that a society like the one in 1984 is authentically impossible. However, the world has transformed over the years and become more controlled by the regime which is precisely what was transpiring in the book. With big brother overlooking us, and vast advertisements all over our technology that has influenced our society, and the crazy surveillance technology that is implemented into our everyday lives, a society like 1984 is not far from impossible. Our present world is commencing to become 1984 by our world control, mass surveillance, and propaganda

The constant watch over the citizens is accomplished with the use of telescreens, microphones, children, and the Thought Police. If anyone is found to be taking actions or thoughts against the ideas the Party puts in place, he or she will be punished. The Thought Police keeps note of people’s thoughts, though there is “no way of knowing whether [an individual is] being watched at any given moment” (3). If a thought comes up that is frowned upon the individual with that thought could be vaporized, imprisoned, tortured, or killed. Today, there should be no fear over whether the government is keeping track of peoples’ personal information as it is assumed there is some privacy from the government. In reality, every person is subject to similar surveillance as those in Oceania, whether it is by the government, family members, friends, or strangers. The government has surveillance cameras set up around the country, criminals are going through trash, and hackers are breaking into computers, trying to steal people's’ identities. It is impossible for any kind of individualism to flourish if an individual or object is always watching or listening, but surveillance is inevitable, both in Oceania’s society in 1984 and in our society today, whether citizens

“Big Brother is watching you” (Orwell 2). This quote is from the novel 1984 by George Orwell. In this book, the society is controlled by an all powerful government that capsizes the people’s brain so that there is no independent thought. Citizens are constantly being watched and monitored while all they can do is support them and pour out hate to the enemy thinking the party is always right. Hope comes to a man named Winston, the protagonist, a lone man who secretly opposes the manipulation of the mind. After the plot unravels, Winston begins to show his opposition against the party. The party controls everything in the society and puts everything the way they want it to be, endlessly reminding people that they

In the book 1984 written by George Orwell, the author wanted the readers to understand the message he has created. The message that he has conveyed throughout the book was that the Party took away many of the individual’s rights and freedoms. Orwell has shown specific examples of how the peoples’ rights are taken away throughout the text. Some of these examples include the people do not have their own privacy in their homes, control over their own thoughts, as well as control over emotions. Orwell may have given these examples for the readers to be able to relate the novel to the government today. Today the government uses security cameras and phone records to be able to keep an eye on their citizens. In 1984, George Orwell has created the message of the government took away the peoples’ individual rights and freedoms with the use of the telescreens, control over thoughts, and control over emotions.

People nowadays complain about the NSA monitoring over what we post, what we say over the phone, what we text to each other. George Orwell have made this discovery not knowing he did! In 1984, George Orwell uses fear and security to make the Party control language used in society and use the telescreens to check the conversations. Winston Smith, a character in this novel starts to resist the Party, writing his thoughts down in a journal. Orwell has made a noticeable mark, having Big Brother control the society through “panoptic gaze”. Watched over can make someone paranoid and cause them to self-regulate their life. The self-regulation has made people watch how they speak and how they act. This is like the NSA.

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.