1984 Essay

Wouldn’t everyone want to live their life without being told lies? In the novel, 1984, everyone is subject to the lies of the government and they have to live in a controlled environment. The main character, along with so many more, have to live according to the Party’s rules and are not allowed to have any independence whatsoever. Each person that is manipulated would turn into a mindless drone if the world was taught to believe something that incorrect. Through psychological scare tactics and the creation of new invention, George Orwell presents a theme that no person should be manipulated by any other individual in any society because it leads to the destruction of one’s individuality and free expression.

With psychological scare tactics, the Party threatens the public and they send out people to spy on whomever they want. Through threats, the Party attempts to make people cautious and frightful. For instance, there are posters all over Oceania with a caption that reads “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” (pg. 5). In another part of the novel, the Party tries to make people say what they want them to say and admit to doing a crime they really did not do, like in this instance: “they can make you say anything” (pg. 137). These two quotes show that through scare tactics, the public is losing their free expression to do what they want to do and say what they fell like to say since they are manipulated into thinking that someone is always watching their every move and that the Party has all control over them to make them say whatever the party wants them to say. Then, the Party also sends out spies which make the public think that all their words and actions and actions will be turned against them. For example, the party tries to undermine family structure, like with parson, by inducting children into an organization called the Junior Spies. Additionally, the closest male friend to Winston, O’Brien, knew everything about Winston and then sold Winston out to the Party, due to one of the instances in which O’Brien “remembers [Winston] writing in [his] diary” (pg. 213) These occurrences demonstrate that no one in 1984 can trust another individual since the Party chooses to spy on everyone, so not a single person can carry out their own individuality because there the threat of being caught by a close person in one’s life that is manipulative enough to rat their own friends and family out to the Party. By administering psychological scare tactics, the sense of living a normal life comes to an end since people are manipulated into thinking that they are always under the supervision of someone.

Through advances in technology, new inventions appear and manipulate the public as well, but the government controls the public anyway. The party attempts to sway the public’s thoughts through new inventions.