Big Brother is Watching You.
Quote Analysis
The well-known motto of the dystopian country Orwell describes in his work have grown above the book and now embodies the tyrannic oppression and paranoid watch over someone. We see it from the very first pages and later we understand that these are not just words. Big Brother (or, more specifically, the government) is indeed watching each citizen, choosing them randomly and addressing them directly through the screens in every apartment. The screens can’t be turned off, private space is a privilege, that is affordable only for the most faithful of the government members.
“Big Brother is Watching You” isn’t about safety or responsibility. It is a threat that enforces obedience. Big Brother isn’t waiting to reward the citizens for the good work, he is a predator, waiting for them to make a mistake. This quote is a symbol of constant threat in the country where safety and privacy, even in one’s thoughts are crimes. Big Brother is watching to prevent any sparks of the personality.
The big posters that hang everywhere are just reminders. The eyes of the Big Brother are deliberately painted to look like they follow every person passing by. Being watched constantly makes people dull and depressed, as privacy and safety are some of the basic needs of every living being.
Nowadays, this phrase is using as a dire warning against tyranny of a regime when people are stripped of their privacy and their very personalities, living in constant terror that, ironically, is claimed to be established “for safety measures”.
Author: Cody Owens