NCEA English 3.4 Writing Folio – Critical Review of Nineteen Eighty-Four

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is more than a work of fiction. It is a dire warning. Explore the means by which Orwell reaches through the decades and grabs us by the neck: What is he trying to tell us?

George Orwell’s prediction for a dystopian future in his novel, Nineteen eighty-four is nothing less than a disappointing fact. This excellent piece of writing was published in 1949 and is set in 1984 in a 3rd person perspective with his ideas of a dystopian future where the state controls the societies train of thought using security cameras to track everyones single move and having a robot type language. George Orwell alerts a warning of a dystopian future in the novel, Nineteen Eighty Four from Orwell’s example called “Telescreens.”, “Big Brother” and many more.

The telescreen in Nineteen Eighty-four is a tool used by the Party to detect instances of rebellion towards the state. The telescreen is designed to monitor every movement and hear every conversation between Party members, whether they are at home or at work with “no way of shutting it off completely”. Every unusual moment would be picked up and you would be accused of what Orwell calls thoughtcrime. It means that the people of Oceania had to consciously be aware of every movement they made. The telescreen was used in Nineteen Eighty Four as a form of power, as if George Orwell was purposely describing the use of telescreens in the book as a form of power. Giving that ability to whoever is on the other side of the screen, invading the privacy of anyone who is on the opposite end of the screen. “You had to live- did live, from habit that became instinct- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinised.” this quote was found on part 1 page 4 chapter 1 and it means that us as humans will evolve to get used to always being under surveillance even though it’s not right to remove all privacy and completely remove freedom of speech its the sad acceptance to the power of control that the state had in the novel Nineteen Eighty-four. George Orwell displayed a warning for a dystopian future in his novel, Nineteen Eighty Four as a form of the use of high power in a society in a form of a monitor known as a “Telescreen” and the real question is has his warning actually come true?

Telescreens/CCTV

In Recent society we have been slowly becoming limited with our own privacy. For example of this control of power and security, one of the biggest cities in the world. London. The Capital of England has one of the largest rates of CCTV cameras. CCTV cameras are used as security for the purpose incase something bad happens like theft and traffic monitoring. However due to these surveillance cameras we are constantly being watched by security. But is that ok? Do we trust security. Too many cases we have seen security cameras being hacked by anonymous people to stalk people gifting them that power, to gather information about the people, finding possible weaknesses to use against them. This is exactly what George Orwell was warning us about in Nineteen Eighty-Four. CCTV was made with good intentions but who is to say it won’t become what Orwell called a “telescreen”? George Orwell in his novel Nineteen eighty four is warning us to always be weary on what we say and what we do cause there could always be a CCTV camera around and seeing what we are doing. Orwell tells us we will lose our security and secrecy once society evolves. Having everyone in the governments pocket. Giving them more power against us.

Telescreens/Phones

Another device that also resembles Orwell’s warning is a device that follows us everywhere we go that we use to communicate to each other, use as news sources and play games. Our own phones is another form of “telescreen.” All phones have a camera and a microphone that can easily be hacked which shows “telescreen” aspects. We can’t turn our phone completely off as that then defeats the purpose of having them for our use, allowing an opportunity for us to be watched at all times by anyone who could hack just like the state watching through the “telescreens”. In recent times we have become so reliant on our own cellular devices, so much so that our phones now on our maps app the phone knows where you live and where you go on a weekly base. George Orwell predicted the “telescreen” back in 1949 it may not have the same name however our phones is very much capable of doing the exact same thing as the “telescreen” did in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Who is to say that your phone can’t be hacked. Once a phone is hacked in this case whoever the hacker is could take over your entire life. Founding out everything about you, where you live, who you talk to and what you’re possible scared of, taking complete control over you. George Orwell warns us from the telescreens that from all the devices around us we could be being watched and that anyone with a high ability of hacking can become a real antagonist in our own lives. Orwell somehow knew back in 1949 that society will come to a point where we have to be weary with every move we make as we will come to a point where we could all be being watched.

Big Brother/Social Media

Big Brother in Nineteen Eighty-Four was a way of giving George Orwell’s “telescreen” a face “telescreens”. It made the “telescreens” seem more scary, giving the camera a face. “Big Brother is watching you”, someone else is watching you. You have to “worship Big Brother” because he is always watching everything you do. It was through the personification of the “telescreens” that Big Brother was always there.Having the person that is your leader he controls you. you have to obey, having someone watching your every move makes you act a different way. You become conscious of every step and breath you take. Big brother was used to manipulate the mind of everyone if you did not act in the way “he” wanted you to, dulling the human train of thought. In a way social media is Big Brother in a sense that you don’t know who can truly see what you post out there on the internet, whether that would be a post for all your friends or even a simple text message. We can’t determine who is watching us on social media. Social Media, like big Brother can manipulate our thoughts. For example if a high social media source like Facebook posted about news that was happening on the other side of the world we would believe it as its the only form of news we can get and that we have heard. How can we truly trust Social Media? How George Orwell predicted BigBrother to become true in a form of social media in 1949 in that respect is nothing less than impossible. The way that social media can impact the way we look at the world Just like Big Brother. George Orwell is warning us that we can’t believe everything we believe on Social media. Just because it seems like it’s all true. You can never fully believe anything.

George Orwell’s prediction for a dystopian future in his novel, Nineteen eighty-four is nothing less than a disappointing and true fact. This excellent piece of writing was published in 1949 and is set in 1984 in a 3rd person perspective of Wilson Smith, with Orwell’s ideas of a dystopian future where the state controls the societies train of thought using security cameras known as Telescreens to track everyones single move and having a robot type language. George Orwell alerts a warning of a dystopian future in the novel, Nineteen Eighty Four from Orwell’s example called “Telescreens.” and “Big Brother” with the telescreens correlating to todays society with cirvalence cameras known as CCTV and everyone little devices known as phones which like telescreens have a camera and a microphone. With these modern outcomes of Orwells telescreens they can all be hacked and used by people for power. Orwells big brother prediction relates heavily to our own Social Media with giving the telescreen a very demanding face that looks trust worthy. Orwell taught us in this text nineteen eighty four that we can’t believe everything we see and from the telescreens he taught us that we could always be being watched.