Although much fear was generated as a result of the ongoing wars, one of the greatest fears for the people of Oceania was to be seen to go against Big Brother. The Party knew that the only way that they could ensure that there was constant 24-hour love for Big Brother was through surveillance. Within Airstrip One there was hardly a square metre, outside of the proletarian districts, that was not watched by Big Brother’s army of spying Party members. One of the most disturbing accounts of this constant surveillance occurred within the book during Winston’s daily ‘thirty to forty group’ aerobic exercises. Concentrating more on his daydream than the instructions from the telescreen, Winston soon became aware of his actions when from the screen an ear-piercing voice shouted
“6079 Smith W! Yes, you! Bend lower, please......That’s better comrade”. Even though perhaps thousands of thirty to forty year olds must have been participating in these exercises, it was still possible for the party to track down on Winston when he did not bend his hands down low enough. Every day there would be constant overseeing of the streets and the daily routines of the people, via the police patrol. Flying around the skies the small “bluebottle like” helicopters would swoop down besides the windows of nearly every flat in every street, peer in to check that the behaviour within was as expected and then, as quickly as they had come, they would fly away again. However, in comparison to all the abilities of the telescreens and the thought police: “The patrols did not mater, however. Only the thought police mattered”. Although every flat in every tower block was equipped with an all-seeing and all-listening telescreen, there was one further threat of surveillance – the Spies. As much so as boys today may attend scout groups or girls may participate in the girl guides, it was a mandatory duty for all school children of Oceania, who were not proles, to attend the Spies. Dressed in their blue shorts, grey shirts and red neckerchiefs these young spies fell nothing short of looking as if they were a western cowboy, and with their tracking ears and armed with catapults and stones, the children were a great threat to any “thought criminal”.
During his stay within the Ministry of Love (or ‘Miniluv’) Winston had a final conversation with a close friend of his, Mr Parsons, father to two members of the Spies. During this conversation he soon discovered how the thought police had caught Parsons. Although he was ashamed of his actions against the party, Parsons was still able to hold his head up high and announce that “It was my little daughter...She listened at the key hole...nipped off to the patrols the next day...In fact I’m proud of her”. Yet how was it possible for a father to be denounced to the Thought Police by his own daughter? How could there be such breaks in a family who had been living happily together for over seven years? Love to others had been replaced for an abundant love for Big Brother. A love that he needed to keep the people on his side.
The only feelings of love or hate that a true party member was supposed to have would be total love for Big Brother, and an incredible hate for any enemy, whether is was Eastasia or Eurasia, depending on the times. By eliminating any love between family members, Big Brother’s leading party could be sure that all available love was used towards him, so that he would be idolised and praised by all, and so that the party could gain complete control. This elimination of any feelings towards someone else apart from hate to me is the most disturbing aspect of 1984. Although family love between parent and child was easily conquered, it was far harder to eliminate love between two young adults seeking their future partner. Any act of lust towards another was seen as incorrect and so it was inevitable that enjoyment from making love would disappear as any sign of it would be considered as thoughtcrime by the Thought Police. We are able to see how there is such great separation between a couple when Winston describes his wife, Katherine, to Julia. He describes her in newspeak as “Goodthinkful”, unaware of the party’s propaganda and totally willing to do anything that was for the good of the party. He then went on to describe to Julia how Katherine only took the act of making love (and prospective new entrants for the Spies) “Our duty to the party”. The single thought of having one of the few things that you would be able to get pleasure from taken away from you and replaced as a party duty, clearly shows how the Inner-Party wanted to minimise everything. To such an extent that perhaps one day there would not be many small things that at some points came together, but instead there would only be one great idea in life – Big Brother.
This destruction of all that was unneeded in life brought one further change to the lives of all that occupied Oceania, the cut down of the English language into Newspeak. We take it for granted that we are able to express our thoughts positively as well as negatively but the aim of newspeak was to abolish all negative wording and replace it with words such as “ungood” or “doubleplusungod” as a description of the most negative accord. I find this so astonishing and disturbing that while we today are urged to express feelings freely and truthfully whereas in the Utopian world of George Orwell’s Oceania, it was a sin to do so.
To the onlooker of George Orwell’s world it seems incredible how anyone could be able to live like millions did within the book, and I too have similar feelings. Yet I would by no means outride Airstrip one for being a place within which a human could be able to live their life happily without worries. A child born in the city of London in ‘1984’ would be unconscious to any political controversy and would be brought up thinking that the respect and love for Big Brother was a normal occurrence, and he would not be wrong in thinking so. For once an alternative way of ruling has been devised and set-up any one within the system any newborn baby (or born-again Big Brother worshiper) would be unaware of such atrocious doings of the Party. And as stated on the third page of the book “Ignorance is Strength”, the ignorance of a child to the regime of Big Brother will only make him stronger, and the ignorance of the people to the Party’s action will also make the Party stronger.