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1984: The Party Has Many Slogans

1984: The Party Has Many Slogans


In George Orwell's 1984, the Party, the government of Oceania, has many
slogans. One of the sayings is "Big Brother Is Watching You". Despite the fact
that the slogan is only mentioned a few times throughout the novel, it embodies
the government that Orwell has created.
We first learn of the slogan when the setting is described on the first
page of the book. Orwell depicts, in explicit detail, the sights, sounds, and
smells of Oceania. When illustrating the hallways of Victory Mansions, Winston
Smith's and other members of the Party's apartment complex, Orwell writes:

On each landing, opposite the lift shaft, the poster
with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was
one of those pictures which are so contrived that the
eyes follow you about when you move. Big Brother Is
Watching You, the caption beneath it ran (5).

This poster shows Big Brother as having a face. Big Brother was not an
individual person so he did not have a "face". The face, however, gives Big
Brother a human quality. By doing so, the government puts itself on the same
level of humanity as the citizens that it governs. The people are supposed to
feel more comfortable with a ruling party that is just like them. The billboard
is also found on every landing and every streetcorner. The overbearing number
of posters is a way for the Party to continuously remind its citizens of its
presence and ingrain the message into the people's conscience and subconscience
minds.
"Big Brother" is another name for the Party. It's an ironic choice of
words for the Party's second name. First, the notion of a "big brother"
connotes a child's big brother. One thinks of comfort and protection, fun and
trouble, and love and other feelings when thinking of a brother. One of the
Party's goals is to rid Oceania of these emotions. Second, the brother is part
of the family unit. The...