What Came To Power In George Orwell's 1984

Manipulative powers were a constant recurrence in 1984. The Party used many methods to manipulate people into submissiveness, one being repression of privacy. There were cameras placed everywhere; streets, homes, bedrooms, which the Party used to spy on the population, and there was never any true privacy. The beginning of this book shows that the main character opposes the Party’s rules when he finds an alcove within his apartment excluding peering eyes where he writes in a journal, something he is not allowed to own, memories of the past, his thoughts, and subconsciously writes “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER.” “He discovered that while he sat helplessly musing, he had also been writing, as though by automatic action … printing in large neat capitals, DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER, over and over again filling half a page” (Orwell 20). Even the fact that he is writing is a clear violation of Big Brother’s rules, confirming his willingness to disobey the Party.

Most concepts in this novel are terrifying even in thought, as freedom was extinct, as were meaningful lives. The brash elimination of all natural emotion and the limiting of individualism is something that broke these civilians down, unable to cope with existential crises, if they even experienced any. The aspect of keeping information from the citizens like the past, and the language, restricted the people's consciousness and idleness to formulate their own thoughts, which further helped the Party stay in power. Winston Smith refused to conform to these rules, but the Party eventually broke his spirit and made him submit. The Party, absurdly, had no reason for operating this way, other than doing it for power, ultimate power of the minds of millions. This novel seems very far from our reality in its ideas, but truthfully, similarities which are often overlooked can link our society to that of