Examples Of Control In 1984 By George Orwell

In the book “1984” the author, George Orwell has many examples of both mental and physical ways of controlling the lower classes. Many of the methods used for control were scare tactics. The most prevalent examples of this are by holding full control of all products. This manipulation of the economy is a way of boosting public morale. Another tactic used in 1984 was the use of telescreens. Another strong way to control people was the fear of being vaporized or killed. All of these methods of were ways of controlling the psychological and physical aspects of the citizens’ lives to keep the power in the right hands.
One of the significant ways the government controlled the lower class was to withhold the necessary supplies that the people wanted …show more content…
The government would use the telescreens to make the people nervous about the government watching them. Although it is not likely the government is watching everyone at all times, the people never really knew if they were being watched. This gave the people a sense of paranoia. This was shown when Winston was doing his exercises and the women leading them said, “6079 Smith W! Yes, you. Bend lower, please! That’s better comrade. Now stand at ease, the whole squad, and watch me”(36). Another time that the telescreen played a significant role in the control of the people was when Winston was trying to look at the note from Julia. This was shown when the narrator said, “For a moment he was tempted to take it into one of the water closets and read it at once. But that would be shocking folly, as he well knew. There was no place where you could be more certain that the telescreens were watched continuously”(106). The telescreens were a suffocating of worry for the people because of the concept of thoughtcrime and the repercussions of being …show more content…
Because the government had no set rules in place, people never knew what was truly against the law. The government made standards and gave the standards names such as Thought Crimes, Double Think, and Ownlife. The concept of own life was a particularly vague concept. As the narrator stated, “There was a word for it in Newspeak: ownlife, it was called, meaning individualism and eccentricity”(82). These vague rules that could be modified at any time made the people fearful of doing anything, even being smart. The is shown when Winston says “Unquestionably Syme will be vaporized (54). The narrator later says, “He [Syme] said things that would have been better left unsaid, he read too many books, he frequented the chestnut cafe…”(55). Being too smart isn’t technically against the rules of Oceania, however it is cause to be terminated. Nitpicking rules like such as these are the reason people were fearful. People also feared vaporization because of the unknown of it. No one knew what happened when you were vaporized which made people terrified of the