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Asa Tichilasuntron
English 114B
Professor Altman
May 5, 2014
Our Space Their Watch
To what extend should a government dictate and have surveillance on their citizens
lives? In the novel 1984 written by George Orwell, the author writes about an extreme
totalitarian society where the government has compete control of everything and everyone in
there society with the use of a telescreen. The main character Winston Smith works for the
Ministry of Truth and he is trying to get rebellious and a taste of freedom with the help of a
private space he created to avoid the telescreen. The telescreen is in everyone house and work
which Big Brother can see what everyone is doing in their house and can control the people and
tell them what to watch. The government in 1984 and in our world are similar where they can
control people at work and home. At work they control what people do and what they do and
have a close eye on each person, in our world the government keeps an eye on us with taxes and
paperwork. At home they can control what we see and our thoughts with the telescreen and in
our world media controls what we are able to watch and can twist stories. All of these similaries
in our worlds does not mean we are close to being a totalitarian, these spaces just have
government influence and help society be safe. Therefore, having government dictate and
surveillance on their citizens is necessary to a certain extent to keep the peace, their space at
home and work all have their own standards that is unspoken to keep the world running
smoothly.
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Working for the Ministries is like working for a CIA but a lot of people work in
Ministries to help the government or Big Brother. There are four Ministries and they are
government buildings that have specific function they serve to help Oceania run as they see fit.
In the Ministry of truth where Winston works at they have a dress code to distinguish that he
works for the party, which are blue overalls. In the office there is a giant telescreen that can
watch everyone in the office, so not much talking happens in the office unless it is about how
great Big Brother is. This space changes Winston views on the opposite gender and disliking
women and he does not know anyone from work, he can only recognize them. This work space
is not just watching his every move and his contribution to making people ignorant by changing
history, it also affects how he sees others of opposite sex and how cautious he is around them.
These quotes from 1984 say, Winston was just taking his place in one of the middle rows when
two people whom he knew by sight, but had never spoken to, came unexpectedly into the room.
and He disliked nearly all women, and especially the young and pretty ones. This space shows
us that Winston is afraid to talk to anyone on his floor even after working for many years
because Big Brother is always watching. This is taking it to the extreme when it comes to
dictating and surveying the office, where people do not know each other well and not trusting
each other and being afraid of messing up and getting vaporized. The fear of not being able to
trust anymore demonstrates how much power and influence the government has on their people,
where people want to turn in people to improve their territory.
In our world we have the option of choosing a career and have freedom to do as they
please of course to a limit. Many offices have camera watching their employees but it is for
safety and for their records. The government does not control every business and some even have
some control on the government. While working people usually have to get to know there co-
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workers or have a professional relationships to keep the office running smoothly. This work
space is usually a professional space where people keep on task and get task down and have to be
mindful that they are being watched by their bosses. Employees working in offices are usually
not afraid of being vaporized, but are afraid of losing their jobs. In this space the government
has little control over your actions but people still have to mindful that they are being watched
and cannot do anything that could be criminal.
The telescreen did more than just watch the people, it also controlled what the people
watched. From military channel to pig iron to Two-Minute Hate. The telescreen govern what
everyone did all the time. There was no private spaces to themselves and no individuality
allowed to the people. With telescreen in the private space they technically owned, changed the
people where they had develop a second nature of always being watch. Winston states this 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 scrutinized. Not being about to
feel safe or express themselves in their own homes is a dull and oppressive life to live. Humans
are not dogs or robots to control and do the bidding of an unknown figure, they are social
creatures that are all different and are all capable of having the intelligence to make their own
decisions. Therefore the government control exceeds to an extreme level where the people
cannot fully live their lives in peace.
There is a high chance that in every America house hold has at least one television and
the occupants watch it. The Statistic of Americans that have at least one television is 99% and
the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day according to TV and health
research written by Norman Herr, Ph.D. from Csun.edu. The government can control what we
watch and what we know with the help of the media. The media shows the public what they want
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to them to know and can change or have influence on the views. In their private space, the
American people can be and do whatever they please in their own space but, it has some
controlling influences. Like in recent news, on most mainstream news channels all they could be
talking about was Justin Bieber instead of the chaos in the Ukraine. The media does not want the
people to see the chaos in other countries and distracts the public with celebrity drama. Even
though the government does not have direct power of the media, the media helps the government
keep the peace with the stories they air on Television. The government although does not control
them in their private space, they can influence them can distract from negative events that could
cause problems in the country.
The comparison between our world and 1984 shows that government watch and rules is
necessary for their society to follow the standards and keep the peace. Although in 1984 their
government is much more extreme than ours, they are doing the same as our world because they
are trying to keep the peace within their society. A governments function should be to help
establish standards for certain spaces and keep their people safe. People should be about to feel
free and safe knowing that they are being watched by helpful eyes and are to do as they please in
their own space and follow the rules in other spaces.