Paranoia
Paranoia is caused by anxiety and fear and this concept revolves around chapter 5 in the novel 1984 by Orwell. In Winston's society, there are many situations where paranoia is seen. Paranoia is created by the government, and gives the people of Oceania a feeling that they are being watched all the time. The people of Oceania are paranoid that they will be caught if they said something wrong or conduct a thought crime, they would be caught and punished. The government use the idea of fear and paranoia to control the people and make them not dare to express their feelings so that they would not spread their negative impacts of the government or spread their ideas of rebelling if they had any.
In the novel, Parson mentions that his daughter caught a thought criminal. Even though it is not proven or confirmed whether he is a criminal or not, he is taken away by the Thought Police. This shows that a suspicious act could also get the people into trouble and this would make the people paranoid of every action they make and everything they say. People would also tend to keep their thoughts to themselves because of their fear of getting into trouble. Another example is how Syme is suspects Winston of being a thought criminal. Winston hated going to the hanging of prisoners and he could be accused for hating it, which explained why Winston was acting weird throughout the chapter.
The message that Orwell is trying to send is probably the fact that a totalitarian dictatorship governs its people through fear and paranoia. The government would punish anyone who acts suspicious or disagrees with the government. In reality or a proper government, the government should only be able to punish a person if the person commits a crime, not punish a person with an opinion of his own. It is clearly shown the the people is oppressed in doing anything and thinking anything and the only thing they could do is listen to the orders given to them without questioning why they have to do it. The people are simply robots that work for the government as they are programmed to do.
I do agree with you that paranoia comes from the feeling of fear and that in the book, Big Brother is trying to create so much fear to control the people. The anxiety that is created among the people keeps the Big Brother in power. I also think that your views are influenced by the government we our raised in, since in thailand we support freedom and rights, but if we were in a totalitarian government you might think a "proper" government is different from what you wrote.
ReplyDeleteI really like your response to the paranoia presented in this chapter. I feel that you've chosen good examples to talk about in your writing and this shows that you understand the text thoroughly. Your ideas on how the government control people through fear and paranoia is outstanding. In fact, I agree that the purpose of Thought Police is to make people fear of their actions and this makes them keep every ideas and thoughts to themselves. Your analysis of this chapter shows that you understand both the government and the public living in 1984. You grasped the main points presented.
ReplyDelete"The government use the idea of fear and paranoia to control the people" I really like and agree to what you said. The government is really smart using fear as a factor causing the people to become paranoia which is ignorant in rebelling. At the end i like how you contrast people to a robots that are programmed to work for the government. You did a great job overall in presenting the ideas and concepts of paranoia in this chapter!
ReplyDelete