Although Orwell’s novel is usually considered to be a rumination on what could be, it is much more accurate to classify 1984 as an accurate prediction of our current reality. Particularly the themes of thoughtcrime and constant surveillance in the book augment the clandestine use of such practices in our modern world.
A common refrain when it comes to totalitarian rule is “it could never happen here.” America looked at Germany’s death camps with disgust from a false moral high ground. It would only be decades until we would be imprisoning Japanese and Japanese-American people in internment camps. The fact of the matter is that “it” very well could happen here. The problem is that we think we know how “it” is going to present itself. Totalitarianism rarely manifests the same way twice. Orwell writes, “You had to live––did live, form habit that became instinct––in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized” (3). Since the mass proliferation of pocket computers, government surveillance has increased tenfold. Every keystroke leaves a trace of where we were and where we are going. Texts, emails, phone calls, anything we do through technology is monitored, flagged and categorized. Those who are the most “high up” in the tech industry have infamously said that they do not allow their children to have social media accounts, and very few allow their children access to the very iPhones which their parents helped to create. What is more, practices that first seemed conspiratorial––such as placing a piece of paper over one’s computer camera to obstruct the view––are now commonplace. Indeed Orwell’s novel is often cited as a reason for taking these measures––“big brother is watching.”
The theme of thoughtcrime parallels the events detailed by Whittaker Chambers during his trial. Although Chambers had long since disaffiliated from the Communist Party, he was still considered an enemy of America. It was not only he who was on trial, but his ideology, his beliefs and his thoughts. Totalitarianism, as its name suggests, strives to exert total control over the individual. Even Winston’s facial expression of forced, quiet optimism is proof of this. Nothing is intimate, nothing is sacred.
A third feature that Orwell’s fictitious city has with our modern reality is the juxtaposition of squalor and technology. Winston wonders to himself whether or not London had always had the heaps of rubble, bomb sites and decaying infrastructure that it currently does. However, within each citizen’s home, is this massive, surveying tele-screen. Another stark image is the Ministry of Truth rising above all of the aforementioned destruction. Although equity is at the heart of communist theory, very rarely is this goal actualized. Hunger and poor living conditions are not rare occurrences under totalitarian regimes. In the case of East Germany, the Berlin Wall was a physical boundary keeping those living in East Germany from escaping communism. Generally, if a government is preventing its people from leaving, it is an indication of discontent within. Communism, in practice, fails.