1984

1984

The political atmosphere is very gloomy in the opening pages of 1984. People’s basic rights seem to be taken away from them, such as the freedom to speak, the freedom of privacy, even the freedom to think. The government, or at least ‘the Party’, is very keen on controlling her citizens. Posters can be seen that says ‘BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU’, giving people a very constrained feeling. It is interesting to note that there is a kind of police that wants to control your thoughts. The ‘Thought Police’ are ‘…snooping into people’s windows’. It seems that the police had the right to know what you were doing. Your privacy is also taken always from you, as there are cameras that monitor every movement of you in your own home.

The government might be a totalitarian government, as they offer to tackle economic problems with three year plans. Another clue is that the government has almost total control over her people, another characteristic of a totalitarian government. The last hint is that there is only one party that dominates the whole Government— referred as ‘The Party’.

The political slogans are very interesting as they say things which are controversial to what we believe in. ‘War is Peace’, ‘Freedom is Slavery’ and ‘Ignorance is Strength’. The slogans do not make sense. In other words, the government might be trying to brainwash her people in believing these nonsense.

The government wanted to force law and order into people’s life, so they create different ministries to keep London in peace. In Newspeak, their names are minitrue, minipax, miniluv, and miniplenty. There is a hint of irony here that suggests that the government is not providing enough for her people. The security that surrounds the building of the ministries are very heavy, which suggest that the government does not welcome anyone to go in or to make any suggestions or enquiries.