First 1984 Reading Journal

Throughout Part One of 1984, Orwell reinforces that Winston's world is a dystopia because of its constant surveillance, its supposed equality, and the forced love shown for Big Brother or the Party.

By using telescreens, posters of Big Brother saying, " Big Brother is watching you!"or the Thought Police, Winston is constantly watched.The quote, "Any sound that Winston made...would be picked up by [the telescreen]; moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision...he could be seen as well as heard,"not only encompasses the telescreens that watch Winston, but also the posters that he describes as constantly watching him and the girl from the fiction department who is supposedly following him as a member of the Thought Police. The three main forms of surveillance are actually, to a certain extent, one in the same because of their same purpose, to frighten the population into conformity.

The "equality" in 1984 is not actual equality in a normal sense. They see equality in a literal form; for example, the overalls, which all the Party members wear are seen as equality. However, there isn't equality in social class because there are the three main social classes: Inner Party, Outer Party, and the proles. Each social class lives a radically different lifestyles with the first two classes sacrificing their individual rights to privacy while the proles have relative freedom. Winston thinks he is followed by the Thought Police showing that Party members are held to a high standard and must sacrifice their rights for the good of the Party.

Before the Revolution and the Party, individuals in English society lived normal lives with relationship and religion with government interference. After, however, the ideals lost during the Revolution were channeled toward love for Big Brother. Orwell references this love indirectly through the two minutes hate. The quote, "At those moments his secret loathing of Big Brother turned into adoration, and Big Brother seemed to tower up...against the hordes of Asia..."reflects Winston's belief that the two minutes hate changes people's opinions of Big Brother into forced happiness and "adoration" for the man who has ruined their lives.