George Orwell's - 1984 Novel

The novel 1984 by George Orwell is an innovative extrapolation of present and future society. It includes new domestic monitoring operations, the suspension of liberty in the name of increased protection, and language changes to cater to the masses. 'Big Brothers' is a symbol for the government and national leadership. They are not only omnipresent, but even imperceptible to the average person. As a propaganda strategy, the book examines how politicians repeatedly lie to people and leave listeners terrified and disbelieving. The government, in theory, doesoms people to submission by associating protection with unquestioning orthodoxy. Failure to comply exposes a person to the horrors of the infamous Room 101. The culture of privacy, security, and communication takes a center stage in the manipulation of the unsuspecting public. In this essay, there is a demonstration that the current American governments deliberately but indirectly manipulate and divert private citizen’s lives to enhance public support and minimize rebellions that could arise as a result of poor service delivery..

The main character, Winston Smith is thirty-nine years but fatigued with an older person. Winston occupies a low rank in the London ruling party in Oceania. He is watched on closely telescreens installed by the instruments of power owned by the Party. The novel reveals that the private and public places are occupied by television screens broadcasting the propaganda of the government. The news and entertainment aired are the ones that are approved by the government only. In this case, George Orwell suggests that the government controls movements and manipulates information that people can consume through media. During campaigns, media reflects on presidential candidates’ persona to market them(Miller 22). The government also uses the technologies to monitor movements and create a notion of omnipresence of the government. For instance, Winston confesses that he cannot help seeing a face of the omniscient leader of the ruling party, Big Brother.

The ruling party is in control of everything including Oceania's language and history. With its powers, the Party has resorted to implementing a new language referred to as Newspeak as a way of minimizing the citizen's chances of political rebellion. The notion of Newspeak is the distortion of language which is typically linked to tyrannical governments. Newspeak renders some ideas unthinkable literally by not only reducing vocabulary but also grammar. With the alteration of language, thoughts are controlled effectively. In relation to Newspeak, in the current America, an idea of politically incorrect language emerged recently whose primary aim to hedge personal was thought to make people forget about the existence of personal problems. Phraseology is now regulated by the autocomplete and autocorrect functions that are provided by technology. Differentiation of terms such as gender and sex, substitution the term 'cripples' with 'physically disabled' and 'blind' with 'visually impaired' creates memory holes, and regulate pain and pleasure among citizens as claimed by Beale.

What is more, the party goes ahead to illegalize other invisible acts such as having rebellious thoughts by creating an institution called ‘thought-crime’. Controlling personal thoughts is believed to be the best approach to controlling personal actions. John Sanford uses the concept of ‘ the shadow’ to reveal that such control of the mind prevents people from living their ideal lives and instead makes them slaves of their ego. John Sanford reveals how classical Christian teaching were been structured to model people to become good in accordance with the doctrine of the religion. He identifies the dynamics that the teachings have gone through. For instance, despite that the New Testament asserts that a person becomes evil by surrendering to evil deeds, the original Christianity recognized the presence of opposites that exist within a person. There is an acknowledgment that it is God that can save a person from evil deeds. Later, people lost the perspective and began seeking being identified with good, sometimes using pretense which is equivalent to losing contact with the shadow.

After the medieval period, Christianity resorted to change the sinning idea that it is not actions that translated to evil but also having fantasies about the same. For instance, both engaging and thing about adultery were considered to be equivalent sins. The approach made people represent and repress their lives of fantasy. The more the shadow was shifted further the more the split increased. The hypocritical reality can be categorized on the basis of gender. Feminine reality entails little contrast while masculine element can see things as they are. In feminine reality, there is blending of things such that distinction of things from one another is minimal. The complexities of the shadow are not similar to the way evil and good appear to be. The feminine element mitigates the splits ego and shadow. The classical Christian tradition split the shadow and ego starkly by disclosing the nature of horrible things. Despite that the church was concerned with banning fantasizes, it had awareness about interior life and developed value for introspection (Sanford 20). On the same note, Winston is expected to portray love and loyalty to his party despite the significant escalation of hatred to the party. He bemoans about how it is even harder to think about sex. Winston’s case is similar to the contemporary USA where all citizens are converted to hypocrites on the basis of love for government.

In 1984, the Party also asserts that the leader of The Brotherhood, is the most dangerous person alive but Winston understands that it is a swindle.In American politics, such propaganda is prevalent and is used in different contexts. There is emphasis of individual following in the choice presidential candidates. Charisma is an important factor in the choice of a political candidate in national and local elections. The ability to move the masses and make them lose their traditional loyalty and moralities and impose a devised order in them as suggested by Aldous (p.41) is emphasized. According to Aldous, little logic and knowledge is applied in knowing about the characteristics and behavior of the masses. Instead, politicians employ by unconscious drives and feelings. Parties choose flag-bearers on the basis of their ability to manipulate emotions and instincts as well as devotions that inspire their and hysteria that propel them to take an action. Such tricks make American masses to vote for them (Aldous p.41-42). The candidates that excite the masses and make them lose both personal and shared responsibility and subject them to rage, panic and enthusiasm or herd poisoning are the most preferred in the American politics (Aldous 42).

The dark haired girl, Julia, sends Winston a notice with words ‘I love you’. The two begin an affair but are forced to be on a constant lookout for party monitoring. Winston thinks that she is an informer but decides to stay with her. For safety, they rent a room in a store in a district inhabited by proletariats. Though the relationship lasts, in his mind Winston knows that one day their relationship will be disclosed and subject them to punishment.

The couple visits the apartment of O'Brien who has invited them. It is a surprise to Winston that Obrien lives a significantly luxurious life. O'Brien confirms that he also has the hatred for the outer Party and he is a Brotherhood member. Eventually, the two are indoctrinated to the Brotherhood. To make him understand about the illegal group, O'Brien gives Julia and Winston a book of Goldstein that contains the manifesto of Brotherhood. When Winston reads the book, he establishes that it contains the theories of social classes in the 20th century.As he reads the book to Julia, officials seize their house. Interestingly, it is later revealed that the owner of the store, Charrington is a bonfire member of the Outer party and has been an informer all along.

As punishment, Winston is separated from Julia and taken to the Ministry of Love. Later, Obrien realizes that O’Brien is also a spy of the party rather than a member of the Brotherhood. His membership in the Brotherhood is merely a pretense and his primary aim is to catch people that are secretly rebellious to the Outer Party. To convert him, O’Brien tortures and tries brainwash Winston but Winston resists. Eventually, Winston is sent to Room 101 where O'Brien ties a cage of rats onto Winston’s head for the rats to feast on his face alive, Winston requests him to do it to Julia instead of him. In the current America, torture and other harsh treatments are mechanisms employed by the government to demand love from citizens that depict an attribute of rebelliousness or disloyalty.

In modern America, freedom is defined on the basis of licenses and permits, which is typically a form of enslaving when humans stay from what is essential or good. Similar to 1984 the police can read license plates to disclose cars that are stolen, unregistered, and uninsured. Police can search Facebook pages and internet to disclose information with an idea of disclosing criminal facts in order to boost national security. Moreover, cell phone numbers and ZIP codes are an important part of transactions in the present day America. For such reasons NSA is always spying people by collecting data about cellphone calls such as revealed in the recent case of Edward Snowden. Despite that is a form of infringement of individual liberties, the public is geared to understand that it is aimed at increasing their public good, security. Additionally, there is a fallacy that liberty is all about getting what is wanted rather than what is needed. More so, there is a popular argument that the government is the primary giver of the same. Apparently, the measures put in place by governments enhance propagation of slavery when efforts are made to facilitate subservience through mindless entitlements for government bailouts and handouts.

Gorge Orwell states that Winston works in the Ministry of Truth. His role in the ministry is to alter historical records to ensure they fit needs of the Party. One of the Party’s allegations in the history is that that Oceania formerly allied with Eastasia in the war against Eurasia. However, according to his memory, Winston knows that the notion is a hoax. In the contemporary America the polity is maintained productive and intact with such war allegations but there is little effort to improve the standard of living. Erasing and editing history that occurs in the Ministry of Truth is based on the notion that control of the past facilitates future control as well. The American politicians usually employ the model of double-thinking to lie consciously and deliberately. As time goes by, people become accustomed to mutable truth. Similar to the approaches employed in erasing important memories by in Orwell’s book 1984, the current America has paper shredders to alter, and cause disappearance of previous records to ensure the information available is the one that the government wants the polity to view in order to support its activities that are based on deceit and propaganda.

Orwell’s 1984 also depicts international war as an entity that is endless. At one point, Oceania allied with Eastasia against Eurasia and but the friendship changes after a while. Such war is used in the modern America to keep the citizens in a constant mood of fear such that they can avoid thinking about dissent. Those that do otherwise are subjected to punishment. It is not only in the current America but also the global scene that the notion of war against terrorism has prevailed with no sign of the end of the same. Sometimes, civil liberties are put to suspense but the ill-defined enemy is sometimes hard to establish. War is made to look more important than a person's job. As a matter of fact, in contemporary America, the limitless objectives of war, especially constant fight against the faceless enemies, result from paranoia and restricted liberties of civilians.

In the neighborhood where Winston loves wandering in the evenings are proletarians that live filthy lives. Interestingly, the proletariats are not monitored by the party, which indicates the government’s lack of concern for workers. Similarly, the Affordable Care Act ( Obamacare) is an hypocritical reflection of what a concerned government ought to do to improve the welfare of the citizens because healthcare is perceived to be a necessary public utility. However, such ideologies are common in a failing education system. People are encouraged to subscribe to the program because it is hard to afford healthcare. The inability to purchase can be tracked to reduced college attendance that also results from ever-escalating costs of education. With such policies, the government can successfully prevent the citizens from profiling the concept of unequal opportunity in the country.

Double-thinking in which people accept two mutually contradicting theories as correct is articulated by slogans used in the book 1984. Gorge Orwell uses the slogans such as 'War Is peace', 'Ignorance is Strength' and 'Freedom is slavery'. To reveal what the government pumps in the minds of its citizens to manipulate it. The idea that ignorance is strength helps to criminalize transgressions against the party in the book 1984.Geoge Orwell reflects on invisible ignorance. Appearing orthodoxy without understanding the ideal meaning of such orthodoxy is the primary goal of American governance. The viewpoints of the party are enhanced when people are incapable of understanding them. On the other hand, the notion that 'War is Peace has been adopted fabricated and accepted by the ordinary citizens despite that the truth of the notion is subject to question. The concept of becoming allies with other nation and enemies with others seeks to keep individuals in constant fear, perpetual industry, and order that is required by the Big Brother. More so, war acts as an outlet for emotions such as discontent, hatred, and patriotism. Nevertheless, the 1984, a slogan that 'Freedom is Slavery' seeks to sacrifice personal freedom for collective freedom. Entire submission to the Party calls for personal surrender of all impulses and identity, especially those arising from receiving everything as an individual. It can be established that the system is such that little concentration it dedicate to things that touch people’s real lives at the personal level such as poverty and other societal inequalities’. It is an approach through which the government minimizes chances of normal uprisings. The concept is based on the notion that all people are united under a watchful eye of the party Leader, The Big Brother. Ideal freedom can be realized when people are unimpeded from realigning their human goods on the basis of priority.

Similarly, in the present-day America, double-thinking is an approach used to manipulate citizens to support government projects. Liberals, who are primarily democrats, have formerly used such contradictory ideas to introduce legislations that regulate clinics of abortion with a notion that the laws seek to protect the health of women. However, they also come up with others that force closure of the clinics with stringent regulations. Such approaches not only prevent women from accessing abortion services but also other essential health services. Double-thinking minimizes people's control over reality. However, it is a form of violation of truth mind and memory control is a measure seeking to shape people's world in accordance to the way Big Brother wants.

Telescreens facilitate 24-hour surveillance of the public place in both the fictional world of Orwell and the ideal world of Americans. Everywhere in America, there are monitors spying the private lives of citizens. Each movement made, words spoken, facial expressions made and even involuntary reaction is assessed using the screens to detect thought-crimes. The notion is in accordance to the watchful eye of Big Brother. NSA analysts can easily access browsing histories and telephone calls of criminal suspects after 9/11. Drones fly around to spy personal lives as well. People cannot establish places where data is being collected about them, but they are aware that it is being collected. Presently, the government can track a person’s life through Facebook and Instagram and twitter likes and dislikes. Nonetheless, the government has hackers that track private computers to seek information. Nonetheless, there are surveillance cameras everywhere to monitor daily lives of various

In Conclusion, George Orwell’s dystopian vision of the future is a perfect metaphor the modern America. The novel revealed the totalitarian leadership whereby there is a destruction of humanity without touching on humankind. The cautionary tale reflects on the government domination on citizens that is ordinarily associated with anxiety, cruelty, and hatred. The Party presides over the existence of the citizens by embracing surveillance of people’s lives and controlling each of their moves. The subjugated citizens are programmed to accept ideologies without questions, regardless of their incorrectness. Besides, acceptance, the citizens are made to believe in unreal facts. For example, while working in the Ministry of truth as a history editor, Winston senses hypocrisy that surrounds the truth but he cannot do anything about it. With the use of scare tactics, the American electorate has been manipulated to believe that to be increasingly willing to give up its rights to privacy because they fear terrorism. Most of the people have surrendered to the idea that those that have nothing to hide do not need to hide anything. However, they do not understand that idea of monitoring personal lives subjects every citizen to the level of a suspect. Unless a person decides to spend live outside the country, it the government must have information about him or her stored in a secret place. With the help of media, Big Brother fabricates falsifies and manipulates minds in accordance with the government agenda in place. Therefore, despite that the USA is not autocratic; most of the facts presented by George Orwell are evident in the society.

Works Cited

Beale, Lewis. "We're living '1984' today." 3 August 2013. CNN. Web. 21 May 2017. http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/03/opinion/beale-1984-now/

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World Revisted. n.d, 1958. Print

Miller, Patrick D. "What the shadow knows: An interview with John A. Sanford." The Sun 137 (1990).Print. https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/rrt_psyc504/readings/what%20shadow%20knows.pdf

Orwell, George."Big Brother is Watching You" (2013). Print https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=uyr8BAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=george+orwell+1984&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwif-aXUhoLUAhXFPY8KHSb_CZ8Q6AEIJjAB#v=onepage&q=george%20orwell%201984&f=false