2+--+A.Z.

1984


 * __ 1984 __ anticipation guide statement. 600 words.**

__Surveillance__

Many believe that it is necessary for governments to use spying and surveillance techniques on their citizens in order to protect their security collectively, but they do not realize that in doing so, the citizens' security is being threatened anyway, by their own government. What makes the government less of a threat to its people than any extraneous (e.g. Middle Eastern) power? Citizens should be suspicious, critical, and ever-questioning of their governments. Blind nationalism instilled by fear or ignorance has caused some of the most dreadful and dystopian societies in existence. It is also the cause, or at least a catalyst of all wars. Excessive trust in government is what allows them to pry into your personal life because they think they know what is best for you. Patriotism and the ideas of manifest destiny caused expansion, which led to slavery and the genocide of the Native Americans. Nazi Germany rose from an alienated, beaten German people who rallied under promises to restore themselves to their country's former glory. Many current citizens of Russia still revere Joseph Stalin as a great, powerful leader who lead his people to economic prosperity, ignoring the deaths of 10 million farmers, minorities, and suspected treasonists. This failure to question authority leads the citizens to support ridiculous government measures to "protect" them, while actually just attempting to further the state's power and control. Absolutely no form of mass surveillance should be employed by a responsible government. The Patriot Act is unconstitutional, limiting one's freedom to express oneself and associate freely. Americans should not be punished for extreme actions taken by radical reactionaries to other unjust American policies.

Equality under the law means that punishments and legal action are standard. However, the government, and police departments funded by it, are allowed to read emails and install cameras to survey private homes and cars. To the average citizen, reading others' mail, trespassing, and spying on personal property are highly punishable offenses. This separation of freedom between subject and ruler is what leads to totalitarian governments. By their logic, it should be legal for a normal American citizen to monitor any suspicious government office, person, or document. However, try and install your own video camera or microphone in any government office or the White House, and see what happens to you. If the president did nothing wrong, he has nothing to fear. -- "I Want a Wife" by Judy Brady (1971) is an essay detailing the trials of the American housewife and arguing that gender roles should be reformed. She does this by ironically claiming she wants a wife to carry out all the tasks she is expected to perform for her husband. She is trying to expose the unfair expectations of the American woman in order to advocate more women's rights and balance gender roles.She could be encouraging the common housewife to rise up and make herself heard, or she could be convincing the American man to cut his wife some slack once in a while. -- Orwell’s purported audience is the population of post-World War II Earth. He desperately reaches out to anybody who could make a difference, anyone able to take a stand against tyranny and oppression, or dismantle their roots in nationalism and blind patriotism. The youth, the student, the worker, the thinker, indeed anyone who would not like to have their lives dictated to them by an omnipotent ruling hand, are called on to remain wary of their authority. Orwell also seeks to prevent a world enthralled in constant war, which is regularly a consequence of vigorous devotion to one’s nation. -- 1984 is fundamentally a rhetorical argument for independence and liberalism. Orwell became a socialist and anarchist-sympathizer after observing the suppression of Catalans during the Spanish Civil War, during which he was employed as a war journalist. His experience grants him credibility and merit. Having witnessed the totalitarian communist and fascist regimes of the 1930’s and 40’s, he is naturally disposed against all-powerful entities and power in the hands of the few. The most common phrase in 1984, “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU,” represents the ominous totalitarianism, manifesting the entire Ingsoc party in the face of one character. This message, this face, pummeled into the brains of the proletariat of Oceania, represents the stranglehold the government keeps on its people. What sense does it make for the minority to rule the majority? The character of Winston Smith stands for the voice of dissent, dissatisfaction, and revolution. In his journal, Winston writes a common Marxist motif: “If there was hope, it must lie in the proles, because only there in those swarming disregarded masses, 85 per cent of the population of Oceania, could the force to destroy the Party ever be generated” (40). -- 1984 is a short, concise argument warning of the evils of totalitarian governments. His purpose is to warn the common people of the dangers of complacency and ignorance of the power of authority. His rhetorical situation of the Orwellian society simply brings his concerns to extremities so that his readers may see what may lie ahead in their future if they do not stop giving endless trust to their rulers. Dogs should not be proud of their cages, and humans have evolved to the point of free thought and independence. Orwell simply hopes they will exercise that ability.
 * Rhetorical Precis**
 * Orwell's Intended Audience for 1984**
 * Orwell's Message**
 * Orwell's Purpose**