Control and Manipulation of Big Brother
Nineteen eighty-four by George Orwell, is a one of a kind novel with amazing themes. In George Orwell’s 1984, the main character, Winston Smith battles with brutality in Oceania, a world where everyone is being belittled and looked closely by the Inner Party. Though, Winston tries to defy the power of Big Brother, in the end, the party “breaks” him apart and changes his perception of Big Brother; he accepts the party wholeheartedly and has learnt to love Big Brother. Not only does he change physically but also psychologically. There are many themes highlighted in George Orwell’s 1984. Control and manipulation is a common theme that is highly presented in this book. The Party uses in one word: fear. They use the Two Minute Hate which serves as a channel of anger that an individual might feel towards their lack of control on their own world not against the Party but against the party’s enemies. Orwell uses technology, psychological manipulation and brainwashing multiple people to do their bidding.
This totalitarian government uses distinct methods of controlling the people of this dystopian country. They control what the population do and think. The people essentially has little to no power whatsoever. Big Brother’s power relies on the four ministries: Ministry of Love which is torture, Ministry of Truth which uses propaganda, Ministry of Plenty who controls the rations and the Ministry of Peace which concerns the wages in war. The party easily withholds all the information ad history which then forces the people to believe everything what they are telling them. Most of the people in this place has little to education at all, making them clueless and foolish. The government maintains their power by constantly providing them overwhelming information and showing them misleading propaganda. While they are being brainwashed, they lose focus and their memories start to fade. Their minds are purposely filled with false information and deceitful records. Mid way to the book, the main protagonist, Winston Smith, finally realizes what the Party’s goal is. The main mission the inner party sets out is to weaken the society’s memory in order for to make them incapable of going against or challenging what the party says. A quote said by Winston, “it was as though some huge force were pressing down upon you- something that penetrated inside your skull, battering against your brain, frightening you out of your beliefs, persuading you, almost, to deny the evidence of your senses.” (Orwell, 81) The party also forces them to believe that “two and two made five” (Orwell,81). It is inevitable, it did not matter what the outer people says, it was what the position of the government and they demanded it. As O’Brien tells Winston, “The party seeks power for its own sake.” (Orwell, 266) The party does not care of the well-being of others but only for themselves.
Technology is another method the inner party uses to stay on top of the population. People, today, can search up basically anything online; past, present or future. Most of the public assume anything they find online is true. In today’s world, people are now being photograph or being observed everywhere. The inner party uses telescreens and microphones to look over each and every single person in the city. The world of 1984 is a place where everyone should stay away from and the last place that anyone would want to live in. A world where the government constantly watches their every single move and peers know all information about them. Without the constant telescreens, microphones and computer, the party would be powerless. The use of cameras and microphones makes it almost impossible for any person to have any type of privacy. The inner party invades the only privacy the people have left. They use the knowledge and information they find and use it against the individual to make them comply to what they are enforcing. No one knows which cameras or microphones are on and listening to their conversation.
Another prominent theme in this novel is psychological manipulation. This manipulation method uses their social power to alter a person’s perception or attitude towards things through trickery and deceitful methods. The point is making the person believe to what he or she is being told. One of the main tactics the government uses is showing over and over again the same slogan, “Big Brother is watching you.” (Orwell, 4) this term refers to the inner party’s supervision of the people with cameras and listening devices. When people hear this slogan too many times, they slowly become anti-individualistic. Big Brother represents a dictatorial authority looking into people’s lives. The inner party uses Big Brother as an illusion, letting all of the people know that nowhere is safe and that you can never trust anyone but themselves. The people are living in constant paranoia and in fear of the harsh punishment if they break even just one of the rules. There are grim consequences to those who break the law either physical or psychological torture. Through torture and torment, Big Brother works their way into the minds of the innocent people.
Some of the people are unknowingly being followed by the police. The community knows that they are watched by the authorities which makes them reluctant to show their true emotions and feelings as they might be punished. They hesitate to place their trust to anyone even their own families because in this city, no one can be trusted at all. The government goes through extreme measures to make sure everything in the city is in their control and nothing goes wrong.
In addition to other factors, brainwashing, especially children, was one of the common technique used by the inner party. They are trying to make them believe that everything the party is doing is wonderful and that they can rely on the party all the time. They are trying to convince the people that Big Brother is amazing and that they should love and devout themselves, only to the party. The government is quite brilliant, they start with the young ones and try to get them to be on their side, making them into devoted little party members. Just like the children of the Hitler generation, taking the children when they are still young and impressionable, and then filling them up with propaganda that they perceive is true. The government is “stealing” the children’s identity and brought up. The kids are only given a limited amount of freedom, the party uses them as pawns in their little game. They fool the children and initially “force” them to do their bidding. The change the way the children are thinking, to decide what is wrong and is right; and basically, telling them how to act in society. Through how many years of manipulation, the children even come to the point of betraying their own parents to the thought police.
The Ministry of Truth is a vital component in which the government controls all of the people. They have all power regulating what happened in the past. Winston explains in the first few chapters, “… if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. ‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the present controls the past’… ‘Reality control’, they called it: in Newspeak, ‘doublethink’ (Orwell, 35). This slogan is a critical example of the Party’s method of using made up history to break down the minds of the people. The government knows the way the people think, they know how to change the direction their memories to be altered. They know how reality works and how to make a false illusion for every fool in Oceania.
Nineteen Eighty-Four is a dystopian book written by George Orwell. The way the government keeps control over the people is through fear and manipulation. Big Brother, the face of the party, the head of the Inner party, is in ultimate control over the entire nation. However, the author does not confirm is actual existence, the people still fear this “leader”. Also, with the constant surveillance of everyone through the Thought police, no one is safe. Another way the party controls them is through the power of technology, with the use of microphones and cameras, the Inner Party can see and hear what each person is doing. Then there is the way of which they turn people and families against each other; their own children betraying their parents and turning them in to the police. The inner party knows how the mind works, they can operate the whole population into becoming one of their puppet. By using all these forms of control, Big Brother’s party can run the city of Oceania, not only using physical force, but also fear itself.