How does Orwell highlight the way that Big Brother and The Party strips residents in Oceania

of their humanity
using various methods of control?

George Orwell in 1984 explores how Big Brother and The Party, enforce physical and mental control to strip the
residents in Oceania of their humanity by removing their privacy, freedom, expression, and morality through
surveillance, fear, and propaganda. Orwell through imagery paints the giant poster of Big Brother with eyes that
“follow you about when you move”, and the diction of “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”, conveys a tone of
helplessness and fear to the reader, highlighting how the residents live under constant surveillance. The telescreen
placed inside the home of every Party member serves as a motif to symbolise how every sound, movement, and
facial expression is continuously scrutinised where an “expression of quiet optimism” should be worn to avoid
suspicion of unorthodoxy. The juxtaposition between Winston’s small flat and the telescreen the size of the “right-
hand wall” that “commands the whole room” emphasises to the reader that he, like the other residents in Oceania,
has absolutely no privacy due to The Party’s constant surveillance. Additionally, through the paradoxical slogan,
“FREEDOM IS SLAVERY”, Orwell demonstrates how The Party’s propaganda brainwashes the public into renouncing
their freedom. During the Two Minutes Hate, although Goldstein is “advocating [for] freedom of speech, [and]
thought”, he is labelled as the “Enemy of the People” by The Party and he is called a “traitor” and a “swine”.
Furthermore, The Party’s use of fear as a method of control is symbolised by Room 101 inside the ironically named
Ministry of Love, holding “the worst thing in the world”, which keeps Party members in line since unorthodoxy
“precedes death as surely as 99 precedes 100”. The Thought Police, a historical allusion to the Nazi secret police
Gestapo, are portrayed as the antagonists that control Winston’s freedom because he fears that they “watched
everybody all the time”. Moreover, the expression through language is eliminated by The Party with the neologism
of Newspeak, which aims to “narrow the range of thought”, achieved by deleting adjectives with “useless shades of
meaning”. With Newspeak, thoughts that challenge the philosophy of Ingsoc, labelled “thoughtcrime”, will be
“literally impossible, because there will be no words to express it”, achieving mental control over the citizens.
Additionally, the truth is manipulated by The Party with “memory holes”, which Orwell uses as a motif representing
The Party’s erasure of the past, which can be rewritten for their benefit. Fed with violence and lies, the residents of
Oceania are stripped of their morality due to the ongoing threat of war, depicted through the juxtaposition between
the “audience shouting with laughter” and the war film depicting a “little boy screaming with fright” demonstrates to
the reader their loss of morals. The simile comparing Junior Spies as “tiger cub…, man-eaters” expresses how
children are indoctrinated to lose their morals and turn against their parents. Therefore, through the eradication of
the fundamental elements of humanity, such as privacy, freedom, expression, and morality, the only emotions the
residents of Oceania have is love for Big Brother and fear of unorthodoxy.

How does George Orwell, in his novel 1984, question whether freedom and expression are fundamental to the
human experience?

Orwell highlights how freedom and expression are fundamental to the human experience through personal
rebellions under a totalitarian rule. Orwell presents Winston’s rebellious act of possessing the coral paperweight
which serves as a motif for his desire to understand the past, where he questions if “life was better before the
revolution” when there was no government to limit his freedom. Winston acknowledges his future is doomed as he
is “intentionally stepping nearer to [his] grave” by renting a private room and joining The Brotherhood, which
demonstrates that life is not worth living without freedom. Moreover, by characterising Parsons as a loyal Party
member who “would never be vaporised” by the Thought Police, Orwell reveals his subconscious desire through
dialogue when he ironically chants “down with Big Brother” in his sleep. This denouncement exhibits how even
under intense mental control enforced by The Party, the mind longs for the freedom to express itself, as it is
fundamental to the human experience. Orwell utilises Winston’s diary as a motif for the expression of his private
thoughts and reveals Winston’s desire to express his hatred for The Party, even though these are forbidden as
“thoughtcrimes”. Moreover, Orwell utilises the singing prole lady as a symbol for freedom of expression to suggest
her expression through singing allows her to be “perfectly content” with her life despite her “inexhaustible” chores.
Her character is juxtaposed to Outer Party members like Winston who cannot express themselves because of The
Party’s control, which makes Winston envy her freedom to sing and have children while from he and Julia “no child
will ever come”, as well as her apparent happiness despite being a low-class prole who is viewed “like [an] animal”
and treated as the “disregarded mass”. Furthermore, the fundamental need for freedom and expression is
highlighted in Winston’s personal axiom where he believes that “freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two
make four, if that is granted, all else follows”. After Winston is arrested, Orwell utilises a metaphor to reveal
Winston’s intentions to “keep his hatred [for Big Brother]” hidden inside of him like a “cyst” since “they can’t get
inside of you”. A simile is used to portray how before he is shot, “hatred would fill him like an enormous roaring
flame” so when he “dies hating them, that [is] freedom”, portraying to the reader that even in dire circumstances,
the mind will always seek freedom. However, Winston succumbs to The Party’s indoctrination, which evidences The
Party’s ability to piece together the human mind “in new shapes of [their] choosing”. After Winston is released after
being “re-educated” in the Ministry of Love, his desire for freedom has been eradicated and he is now a “fixture in
the Chestnut Tree” and relies on gin to “revive him every morning”. Orwell characterises Winston at the end as a
shell of his previous self and shows the reader how freedom and expression are linked, arguing that without either,
life becomes meaningless and empty.

1984 has recently experienced a resurgence, in what ways is Orwell’s novel more relevant to readers now than
ever before?

George Orwell’s 1984 has recently experienced a resurgence due to its increasing relevance to current global, social,
and political events. Orwell examines the political control of an authoritarian government, class division through
restricting resources, the misuse of technology as a means of surveillance, and the spread of misinformation that can
induce fear. Orwell presents The Party, which brainwashes its residents into “the worship of Big Brother” who is The
Party’s leader. Similarly, totalitarian governments such as North Korea idolise their leaders as a method of control,
where they are portrayed with God-like qualities so that the citizens see them as a “saviour” which allows them to
be content with their otherwise unfulfilled lives. In the novel, the exposition of Goldstein’s book confirms The Party’s
purposeful class division of the “High, Middle, and Low” so that the High can “safeguard its position” above the
Middle and Low. Orwell uses Goldstein’s book as to allude to Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto, which aims to
eradicate the class division present in capitalist nations. The dire effects of capitalism can be seen in the United
States since there is limited class mobility due to the lack of resources such as public healthcare or quality education
that is needed to ascend classes, allowing the reader to draw a connection to the similar way that the proles are kept
poor in Oceania.

In addition, the use and misuse of technology as a means of surveillance is another way in which 1984 is more
relevant to readers today. In Oceania, surveillance of its citizens is achieved through a telescreen, so that a Party
member’s “every movement [is] scrutinised”. Unlike the telescreens that are involuntarily placed inside the homes
of Party members, modern technology including mobile phones and laptops are secretly used as surveillance tools
that feed information to large organisations. Through monitoring the user’s location, audio and online activity, the
data collected are analysed with artificial intelligence to reveal their movement, religion, wealth, political
preference, and other private information, which is exploited for target marketing and promoting political views.
This shows that true privacy cannot be achieved like Orwell predicted, allowing the reader to draw a connection
between technological advances and the greater ability to surveil the population.

Moreover, The Party maintains power through propaganda that convinces the residents in Oceania are “better off
now than… before the Revolution”. Similar propaganda was seen when China claimed that their method of enforcing
strict nation-wide lockdowns to control the spread of COVID-19 was superior to the actions taken by other nations,
while it completely restricted the movement and freedom of its citizens. However, through propaganda, like the
residents of Oceania, they were convinced that their lives are superior and are deceived into giving up their freedom.
Through 1984, Orwell warns the reader of the dangers of the extreme control and power of a totalitarian regime so
that freedom should not be taken for granted.