In George Orwell’s novel “1984” Oceania is under complete control of Big Brother.
The population lacks any characteristics of individualism and has no freedom in their thought or actions because they are so closely monitored by Big Brother. There are many techniques used to control the people of Oceania, such as propaganda and memory hole. The one in which seems to be the most effective is the placement of telescreens on every street, in every house and building, which are used to watch each persons every move and to deliver information to the citizens.The Party uses this tool as a way to be able to identify the supporters of the Party and the ones who are trying to rebel in some form from what Big Brother wishes.
These telescreens can catch anyone acting against the Party and there are very few places to go that are free of telescreens. They may be a invasion of privacy, but they do successfully monitor everyone and make sure there are no “wrong doers” in Big Brothers eyes. The most obvious purpose of the telescreen is to watch the citizens of Oceania. On all the posters it says “Big Brother is watching you” and with these telescreens, he really is.There are hardly any places found in this society that are free of telescreens, which means that there is nowhere to escape to in which your every move is not being monitored by the Party.
In Winston’s case they watch him and Julia by the telescreen in Mr. Charrington’s room that they are unaware of, witnessing they’re rebellious acts against the Party such as sleeping together. These screens can not only see rebellious acts but can also detect any signs of emotional rebellion by watching people’s facial expressions. It’s really simple technology but at the level that Big Brother uses it, shows to be very effective.
Big Brother utilizes this technology not only to watch the population but also to deliver messages. They show up on every telescreen to announce changes in rules, broadcast news reports which use false facts about Oceania's military status such as “Our forces in South India have won a glorious victory. ” (1984, page 35). Announcements about economic production, the national anthem, and what they call Two Minutes Hate, which is a display of Emmanuel Goldstein's wishes for freedom of speech and press, that Big Brother uses to train the citizens to disagree with.All of these announcements on the telescreens are incredibly useful for Big Brother because it is his way of basically brainwashing the people into believing what he wants them to believe but he “Ignorance is Strength”.
It’s the one method that is highly successful because the people have no choice but to watch and listen and eventually start to believe the information being presented. Another very useful attribute of the telescreens is that they are capable of picking up even the smallest of noises, so therefor hear everything that is being talked about or happening.Winston says, “You had to live- did live, from habit that became instinct – in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard” (1984, page 9). Since every word spoken is most likely being overheard at any moment, it makes it impossible for anyone to rebel against Big Brother without being caught, causing his ruling over Oceania to remain strong. The techniques used by Big Brother in 1984 can be easily compared to techniques that are being used now in our society.
One example in which has been found to be very similar is in the UK where they use CCTV, which stands for closed circuit television.They use these cameras, mostly run by private companies, to watch the population. A large number of cameras are used by the authorities much like the telescreens in 1984, to identify and capture citizens that are performing acts that they should not be doing. Although most people are against them since they are an invasion of privacy, they do seem to be useful at keeping their society safer and therefor can be proven to be very beneficial. In conclusion, although there were many techniques used to control the people of Oceania in the book “1984”, the use of telescreens was most definitely the most effective.It proves to be able to catch even some of the most intelligent rebels and never misses a moment.
This technique helps Big Brother to keep everyone in the mindset that he wants them to be in, leaving them no choice but to subject to the Party and their ways. Winston learns the hard way that no matter what you do, it is impossible to escape the watchful eyes of Big Brother. “Always the eyes watching you and the voice enveloping you, Asleep or awake, working or eating, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or in bed – no escape. ”
