Kelvin Kong 3/24/13

Professor McGovern Science Fiction

Phony or Truth

Big Brother and Emmanuel Goldstein do not exist in the novel, 1984. They are mere

products of the totalitarian government design to maintain the party’s dominant power over the

residents of Oceania. Big Brother is a symbol of the party. It uses Big Brother character as a law

enforcer, and provider to intimate, rule and inspires loyalty. Emmanuel Goldstein is the leader of

the rebellion. He is use as a scapegoat, and spy by the party to ensure the citizens’ loyalty to the

party’s ideals. In essence, both of them serve the interests of the party.

In the torture cell, Winston asks O’Brien if Big Brother truly exist. O’Brien answers “Of

course he exists. The party exists. Big Brother is the embodiment of the party.”(Orwell, Book

Three, Chapter 2). O’Brien tells Winston that he exists as an embodiment of the party, and will

continue to exist as long the party exists. This quote gives us a hint that Big Brother is likely a

merely propaganda, because O’Brien refuses to answer if Big Brother exist as a person or not. If

there is no harm to tell if Big Brother exists or not, then he will probably have revealed the truth

to Winston. After Winston repeats the question several times, O’Brien responses “You do not

exist/ it is of no importance. He exists/ Of course not. How could he die?”(Orwell, Book Three,

Chapter 2). O’Brien uses doublethink to tell Winston Big Brother does exist and does not exist.

All these illogical answers are use to manipulate Winston psychologically by saying that Big

Brother does exist as an embodiment of the party, but it can never die. Doublethink is the ability

to hold two contradictory ideas in one’s mind at the same time. This technique allows O’Brien to

break down Winston’s capacity of individual thoughts, so that Winston will believe everything

O’Brien tells him even when there is information that counters to what O’Brien says. O’Brien

makes up all those excuses to hide the truth, or he doesn’t know the truth himself. He thinks it is
unimportant whether Big Brother truly exist or not. Winston has to follow the party’s ideals

regardless of Big Brother’s existence.

The party names Big Brother and Emmanuel Goldstein for their positions on purpose. It

is not simply a coincidence that the leader of the party’s name is Big Brother. These names

sound extremely suspicious. The reason for Big Brother’s given name is most likely because he

represents trust, protection, and admiration. He is like a big brother that you feel safe with and

look up to, but fear at the same time. Big brother is not truly a character; he is a metaphor for

power the party has over the citizens of Oceania, and represents the party’s ideals. Citizens were

told Big Brother loves them and takes care of them, so citizens will have enormous trust over

him. In reality, the corrupt and selfish members of the party use Big Brother as an illusion to gain

unlimited power and special privileges The party posts posters are all over Oceania saying “BIG

BRTOHER IS WATCHING YOU” (Orwell, Book one, Chapter 1). This popular slogan is just

one way to intimate people from rebelling. There is not really a person named Big Brother that

monitors every citizen through telescreens every single day. It’s impossible for a human being to

monitor an entire population every second at the same time. The party might have hired an

intimating-looking male model for the posters. The word, “Big Brother” has more influence than

any other characters, slogans, or technology over citizens of Oceania. The party will have much

less power over the people without Big Brother.

The Brotherhood, and Emmanuel Goldstein are also totalitarian constructs create by the

party. Emmanuel Goldstein has a traditional Jewish name. Jewish people have often been

scapegoats for a long period in the European history. The party is trying to imply that the

Brotherhood and Emmanuel Goldstein are scapegoats for citizens to channel their frustrations
on. It blames the problems citizens suffering from on Goldstein and Brotherhood. The party has

no fear for Goldstein, because it does not exist. If the rebellion truly exist, then the party might

not degrade it so openly and harsh. The party does not benefit from intimating the Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood will only retaliate with more force. Julia suggests the Brotherhood is not real

when she is having conservation with Winston before Winston and Julia meet O’Brien. “The

tales about Goldstein and his underground army, she said, were simply a lot of rubbish which the

party has invented for its own purpose.” (Orwell, Book Two, chapter 5) Julia says she always

better than everyone at shouting insults at Goldstein during the two minutes hate, yet she has no

idea who Goldstein is and the doctrines of him. Rests of the population that are not party

members probably don’t have a slightest clue who Goldstein is and doctrines of him as well. If

citizens don’t even know who they are going up against, I don’t think there will even be a

rebellion at the first place. Why would the citizens even think of rebellion when they don’t even

know the meaning of it? The words such as, “Independence”, “Freedom” and “Rebellion” don’t

even exist in their dictionaries. Even for people like Julia that might have some clue of the truth

is too afraid to form a rebellion. The party is invincible to them. It is out of their imagination to

rebel against the party. The major evidence that prove Emmanuel Goldstein does not exist is

when Winston asks O’Brien if he read Goldstein’s book. O’Brien says “I wrote it. That is to say.

I collaborated in writing it. No book is produced individually as you know.”(Orwell, Book

Three, Chapter 3) O’Brien says the book is a conspiracy. He tricks Winston to think the book is

written by Goldstein. The book is actually written by him, and possible other party members to

test Winston’s loyalty to the party’s doctrines. If O’Brien is telling the truth, that means

Goldstein is most likely a set up too. He can be just another fictional character create by the party

to destroy any possible rebellion. O’Brien emphasizes that no book is written by an individual,
so Goldstein cannot have write the book when the party is in control without getting caught. If

Goldstein is real, and he cannot even write a book to express his thoughts, then there is no way to

for him to inspire people to start a rebellion effectively.

The party is able to create such powerful illusions to deceive citizens shows us how much

control it has over people. It is willing to do all measures to achieve its own ends. Even if

citizens are able to find out Big Brother and Goldstein do not exist; it is not going to make any

differences. They do not have the knowledge to understand the purpose behind this scheme,

especially the ones born after the party is form. Goldstein and Big Brother are just major

components of manipulation invent by the party. I doubt there are other social structures similar

to them invent for the purpose to control the mass public.

 Kong 5

Word Cited

Orwell, George, and Erich Fromm. 1984: A Novel. Orlando, Florida: Plume, 1983.

Print.