Surveillance In George Orwells 1984 - 1219 Words

Surveillance, or a close watch kept over someone or something for a specific purpose, features prominently in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984. The book follows Winston Smith, a middle-aged man who lives in the futuristic society of Oceania, where the government of the Party, under the leadership of Big Brother, maintains strict control of the people and prevents free thought through propaganda, censorship, and surveillance. Winston tries to think freely while evading detection and succeeds for a time in having an affair with his co-conspirator Julia, but the Party eventually captures and re-educates both of them. Surveillance has also become a controversial issue in today’s society, as Heather Kelly discusses in her article â€Å"After†¦show more content†¦The nearly ubiquitous presence of telescreens in urban Oceania creates a constant fear of scrutiny among those who secretly harbor negative thoughts against the Party, precluding most free expression of thought because of the certainty of harsh punishment. Next, Winston encounters a second type of surveillance when his neighbor Mrs Parsons’s children pretend to confront him as a traitor during his visit to their apartment. After returning home, Winston reflects: â€Å"[her children] would be watching her night and day for symptoms of unorthodoxy †¦ hardly a week passed in which the Times did not carry a paragraph describing how some eavesdropping little sneak †¦ had overheard some compromising remark and denounced his parents to the Thought Police† (26-27). The Party trains Oceanic children through organizations like the Spies to zealously obey and promote the Party and to actively watch for and report any wrongdoing, even if the offender is their parent. In this way, it twists the natural parent-child bond into a tool for surveillance, destroying the exchange of free speech within the home environment and discouraging any hope of passing the principle of f ree thought onto the next generation. Finally, Winston mentions a third form of surveillance later on when he travels to a secluded woodland to converse freely with Julia: â€Å"In general you could not assume that you wereShow MoreRelatedGovernment Surveillance And Totalitarianism In George Orwells 19841593 Words   |  7 PagesThe Correlation of Government Surveillance and Totalitarianism in 1984 During the production of 1984, author George Orwell never envisioned a tangible reality housing the society he constructed. 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