1984 Telescreens Used to Instill Fear into the Citizens

Scott Summey Kasell 1st

Terrifying Telescreens

“War is Peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” 1984 is a novel used as a warning to show what would happen to citizens if governments gained too much power. The Party uses different techniques to control every facet of life of the its citizens, or slaves. The citizens are much too afraid to revolt against the tyrannical government, because of the constant eye of the Party. The telescreens are used by the Party to instill fear into the citizens of Oceania.

First, while Winston is doing his jerks one morning, he is confronted about not doing them correctly. He is directly spoken to through the telescreen and told that any man his age should be able to stretch better than he is. Winston’s mind was wandering about Julia and his many thought crimes until he is spoken to, and then immediately everything on his mind drops, and all he can think about is, “Never show dismay. Never show resentment. A single flicker of the eyes could give you away.” (37). Winston instantaneously becomes afraid that he is doomed, because they know he is thinking thoughts contrary to those of the Party. Through the constant eye of the telescreen, Winston is immediately terrified at any thought he may have in regards to thought crimes, or Julia.

Also when Winston writes his first thought crime in his journal, he instantaneously feels as though he is dead. He feels that he will be seen through the telescreen and feels that he is surely to be caught and killed. Through this constant eye Winston feels that he is doomed from the second he writes this little indiscrepancy. He immediately thinks that he is caught when he hears a knock at the door, “Already. He sat as still as a mouse, in the futile hope that whoever it was might go away after a single attempt. But no, the knocking repeated. The worst thing of all would be to delay. His heart was thumping like a drum...” (20). The Party puts a telescreen in his room at his house, so he cannot even feel safe to think at home. He feels threatened to even think rebellious thoughts, let alone to actually go out and rebel against the government. Through the use of the telescreen, he is constantly reminded of being caught, and fears the constant watching eye of the telescreen.

Thirdly When Winston and Julia go to O’Brien’s to look at the newest version of the Newspeak dictionary, O’Brien turns the telescreen off, and immediately Winston feels like he can say anything. Winston exclaims, “You can turn it off!” (173). Every fear of the Party’s eye immediately vanishes when the screen is turned off. The screen represents all that is frightening and once turned off the thought of fear is eliminated (to a degree). Every thought that Winston has held in is spilled without the fear of O’Brien or man. Winston speaks for Julia and himself saying, “We are enemies of the Party. We disbelieve in the principles of Ingsoc. We are thought criminals. We are also adulterers.” (174). The fact that the constant eye through the telescreens of “Big Brother” is gone, or at least thought to be, eliminates the thought of being afraid making Winston feel invincible.

Another important point is that the lack of a telescreen in the room above Charrington’s shop, is where the fear of being seen stops for Julia and Winston. They immediately feel safe inside the room, because it lacks Big Brother’s eye or so they think. Every indecency hidden so well by them is immediately brought out, without thought of someone walking in or even noticing. It is their perfect world where there is no Big Brother, or fear of death because of their affair. Everything that they always want to say to each other but are too afraid to is immediately said without thinking. Due to the lack of a telescreen in the room, they feel no fear of being caught once they are in the room, and feel that they may express whatever feelings they want as though there is no Big Brother at all.

Also the fact that Winston did not think twice about renting the room also goes to show how much fear the telescreens bring to the citizens of Oceania. He trusts Mr. Charrington who he barely knew enough to rent a room from him, without worrying about the fact that he may be in fact a member of the Thought Police. The fact that the room did not have a screen clouds his judgement, allowing him to make such a fatal mistake. The Party not only uses these telescreens to instill fear into their citizens, but also to make them feel completely safe when one does not appear to be present. This immediate comfort shows the extent that the Party uses these telescreens to frighten their citizens.

Julia is a very active party member in the sense that she is a member of the anti-sex league and participates