The beginning to 1984, as Seamus previously wrote, has been fairly slow albeit very interesting and peculiar. Essentially George Orwell has, through the actions of the main character Winston and the descriptions of his environment, painted the picture for the dystopian society that the book will occur in. As we have discussed in our classes, the authors of dystopian novels usually extenuate and input certain characteristics of their own modern day society whether social, political or economic. George Orwell creates a setting where the government is all-seeing and extremely powerful, limiting many of the basic liberties that we take for granted in our lives. The government is lead by propaganda that decrees "Big Brother Is Watching", which is supposed to deter anyone from defecting or rebelling from Oceania. The powerful nature of the government is shown through the sequence of events of when Winston writes in a journal; something that had previously been banned by the government and would be considered as a major offense to the ideals of the society. He is initially extremely frightened by the idea, but at the same time is exhilarated by an act that seems so mundane and simple to us. I find it extremely interesting that George Orwell wrote this book so long ago, but that it reflects some of the issues that have manifested in our society today. With the emerging importance of technology in the lives of so many, the government is able to monitor and track people without their consent or knowledge. Personally, this sounds a lot like the what Oceania experiences in this novel, although it's citizens know they are being watch at all times because things have gotten so out of control. I am looking forward to reading more and connecting parallels to the U.S. today.
Until next time my fellow peers, fans and others,
Ben
Until next time my fellow peers, fans and others,
Ben
Senor Benito,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog post about 1984 (I don't know how to do underlining in a comment). I think what you mentioned about "Big Brother Is Watching" is especially true today. Recently, two major bills have been proposed in the Senate, known as CISPA and SOPA, both which were targeted to restricting online anonymity. The more recent one, CISPA (Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act), was shot down in the Senate yesterday. If passed, it would have allowed the government to access your online accounts if suspected of a crime.
In many ways, I believe this is extremely similar to the concept that "Big Brother Is Watching." For example, if an Internet user was asking questions about how to build a bomb, the government could easily crack down on the individual and identify him or her. However, there does seem to be one or two differences between what you describe occurring in Oceania and what happens in the US. The US claims to be using the information for the betterment of society, while it seems that Oceania wants to use the information to ensure the complacency of all.
Something I'd like to add here is that the use of the telescreens likely started out as a reasonable safety measure that was eventually taken too far by a corrupt government because that is how something like that would happen if it were ever to happen in our society. Any blatant violation of rights like that couldn't happen overnight and would need to stem from something that is justifiable. For instance, a security camera overlooking the sidewalk of the finish line of the boston marathon captured the perpetrators on film and helped to bring them to justice. Maybe the government sees how helpful they were and sets up more security cameras overlooking cities and other highly populated areas. At that point, we are already one step closer to an environment where our lives are constantly being monitored. I'm not saying that anything like this will happen any time soon and I'm not expecting it to, but it makes "1984" seem a little more grounded.
ReplyDeleteIt's true, Alex, that these measures all have roots in reasonable protective measures to keep citizens safe. In the UK and other parts of the world, surveillance is a more widely accepted premise and citizens readily allow themselves to be watched, a small price to pay for their security. In the US, we see this as an invasion of our rights, which is a very "American" perspective. I wonder, though, how we can prevent surveillance for protection from becoming surveillance for persecution.
ReplyDeleteI think that there is an interesting theme connection between many dystopian novels, the idea that the government is always watching. I think this is clearly an issue that most people have always feared so it constantly manifests itself in dystopian societies. Just as in 1984 "Big Brother is always watching" in the Handmaid's Tale the citizens fear any sort of disobedience because "the eyes," the spies of the government, could be hidden anywhere at any time, watching for rebellion. Similarly, in the Hunger Games Katniss, Peta, and the rest of the tributes are being televised at all times, thus they must be cautious of their actions. Sometimes Katniss is able to use this to her advantage playing up he love with Peta to gain sponsors, but at other times she struggles to hide her fear and pain to remain strong for the audience. No matter how reasonable government intrusion may be, as Alex mentioned it helped to solve the marathon bombing scandal, many people are very fearful of it and consider it to be wrong.
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