1984 Big Brother is Watching You
Someone has always been there to tell you what to do in life. As a young child, you were told to behave properly and not to eat too many sweets. As you grew older and older, it seemed as if the responsibilities became greater and greater in number. Even as an adult, there was always an officious boss telling you what to do. There was always some higher force that bound your actions. Authority was the major theme in the novel 1984, by George Orwell. Authority was also a profound factor in Stanley Milgram's experiment conducted in 1974. It seems that authority has been around longer than any of us can remember, and it is authority that dictates the way we act. Authority is based on instinct. When we receive an order, we intuitively react and follow the command. At first, we do not think, nor contemplate the effects that come as a result of our actions. In 1984, we get a sense of a greater authority in Big Brother. Although we never come to know if Big Brother actually exists, the power and authority that this idol holds over the people is unimaginable. The people of Oceania are divided into two classes, the members of the Party and the proletariat. The Party members are like machines that do the jobs of the go
In both instances, 1984 and the Milgram experiment, we have someone going against what they believe in at the hands of authority. In 1984, Winston finds himself in a precarious situation. O'Brien wants him to picture five fingers on his hand when O'Brien is only holding up four. Winston cries out desperately as the pain increases, "I am trying to see five!" But the only way Winston can truly see five fingers is if he believes it. That means Winston would have to change his integration, or his explanation for the way the world operates. A change in integration can be devastating to one's soul. Remarks on the Psychological Appeal of Totalitarianism brings this idea to clarity, "One feels like a traitor to one's most cherished ideas." In Room 101, Winston was terrified that rats would be his fate, and he cries out, "Do it to Julia!" It is only after he has left the pain behind him that he realizes that he truly wanted the pain to inflict upon Julia. He reflects, "Perhaps you might pretend, afterwards, that it was only a trick and that you just said it to make them stop and didn't really mean it. But that isn't true. At the time when it happens you do mean it." After vowing never to part with each other, greater powers prevailed, and Winston and Julia betrayed each other in the end. Milgram's experiment was a prime example of how one can completely go against their morals for the sake of obedience to an authority. For many, applying the electrical shocks to the "learners" was a depressing and painful experience. Some felt that once the experiment had started, it became their sole responsibility to administer the shocks till the end. Jan Rensaleer, one of the few that did not continue with the experiment, felt that the experiment
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Approximate Word count = 1172
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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