Anahi Diaz

03/08/17

English 4

1984 is a novel written by George Orwell in 1948 about a dystopian society. This society

is called Oceania and is controlled by Big Brother and the party. This isn't your regular

government, see this society is watched by Big Brother. They watch every move you make, and

they listen to every word you say. Nothing can escape BIg Brother! When this novel was

published many people believed that this is what the future would be like, that our government

would pretty much spy on us. They weren't very wrong, since now in 2017 many people know

that the government can tap into their phones and listen to what one another says. The novel

1984 is still relevant in today's society. This book may serve as a warning of what the future may

hold for us humans, he wants us not to be blind of what is happening around us. Its incredible

how scary parts of this novel are and even scarier that the government shows some similar

features of the party.

Orwell uses this novel to try and warn people of what may occur to this world. He uses

the main character in the novel Winston to try and get his message across his readers. Winston

does not necessarily listen and follow the rules because he knows the truth. He knows that Big

Brother along with the party alternates the past and the present. He does not stay blind to the

words that are said and the rules he should follow. Winston takes a stand throughout the book

until the end. He falls for the words of the party and he turns blind to the truth. He gazed up at

the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath
the dark mustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn But it was all right,

everything was alright, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved

the Big Brother(Orwell 297). This is how the book ends, these are Winston's last words. He

gave in, he started to believe that the bad guy was the good guy. He was just like everyone else,

blind.

There is various reason Orwell argues this. This world it is terrible, there is no privacy.

He feared this world, he feared the consequences. Orwell states on page 6 He had given a quick

glance...then had slipped inside and bought the book for two dollars fifty...The thing he was

about to do was to open a diary. This was not illegal (nothing was illegal, since there were no

longer any laws), but if detected it was reasonably certain that it would be punished by death, or

at least by twenty-five years in a forced-labor camp. This quote explains how Winston bout a

journal and even though this journal was empty he could still be punished with something as

extreme as death. You were not able to do the simplest thing as think for yourself or you would

be committing a crime, for this they had thought police. You could not do/have things such as:

have sexual relationships, friends, think, have an opinion, and general privacy. If you did not

follow the rules set or if you did not listen to Big Brother you would be tortured until you learned

to accept reality and Big Brother. You hate him. Good. Then the time has come for you to take

the last step. You must love Big Brother. It is not enough to obey him; you must love

him(Orwell 282). This is what O'Brien tells Winston before they take him to room 101, where

they proceed to try and torture him to confess his love to Big brother. Before this they had asked

Winston his feelings towards Big Brother, where Winston confesses that he hates him.
 Orwell's argument is indeed still relevant to today for many more reasons then you would

believe so. As many people are aware, the government has the power to invade information that

is on your smartphone. They can track and monitor your phone calls along with your text

messages. They say they do this to try and lower terrorist attacks and also use it for less major

things such as tracking a drug dealer and etc. In one revelation that may especially trouble the

tech world if confirmed, WikiLeaks said that the C.I.A. and allied intelligence services have

managed to compromise both Apple and Android smartphones, allowing their officers to bypass

the encryption on popular services such as Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram. According to

WikiLeaks, government hackers can penetrate smartphones and collect audio and message

traffic before encryption is

applied.(https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/world/europe/wikileaks-cia-hacking.html?_r=0

). This is summing a bit of what was leaked. See what was leaked said that the government can

watch you through things like your phones and now even your smart tvs. This is similar to 1984s

telescreens.

In conclusion this shows how 1984 still connects to the present 2017. Orwell was trying

to warn the public of the ability the government can have over people. He wanted to show us that

with enough power they can take over; that they can control everything from what we think to

what we are allowed to do and who we are allowed to love. He used 1984 as a warning signal to

what the future will hold.