OPPapers.com

1984: Government's Attempt To Control The Mind And Bodies Of Its Citiz

1984: Government's Attempt to Control The Mind and Bodies of Its Citizens

The novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is an American classic which
explores the human mind when it comes to power, corruption, control, and the
ultimate utopian society. Orwell indirectly proposes that power given to the
government will ultimately become corrupt and they will attempt to force all to
conform to their one set standard. He also sets forth the idea that the
corrupted government will attempt to destroy any and all mental and physical
opposition to their beliefs, thus eliminating any opportunity for achieving an
utopian society.
The novel shows how the government attempts to control the minds and bodies
of it citizens, such as Winston Smith who does not subscribe to their beliefs,
through a variety of methods. The first obvious example arises with the large
posters with the caption of "Big Brother is Watching You" (page 5). These are
the first pieces of evidence that the government is watching over its people.
Shortly afterwards we learn of the "Thought Police", who "snoop in on
conversations, always watching your every move, controlling the minds and
thoughts of the people." (page 6). To the corrupted government, physical
control is not good enough, however. The only way to completely eliminate
physical opposition is to first eliminate any mental opposition. The government
is trying to control our minds, as it says "thought crime does not entail death;
thought crime is death." (page 27). Later in the novel the government tries
even more drastic methods of control. Big Brother's predictions in the Times
are changed. The government is lying about production figures (pages 35-37).
Even later in the novel, Syme's name was left out on the Chess Committee list.
He then essentially vanishes as though he had never truly existed (page 122).
Though the methods and activities of the government seem rather extreme in
Orwell's novel, they may not be entirely too...