Utopia In The Novel 1984

In the novel “1984” by George Orwell he shows readers what a negative utopia is. Winston Smith is the main character and the plot revolves around how Winston feels frustrated by the control of the party. The party has a strong control over its citizens and the use telescreens, the thought police, and the youth league to maintain their control through psychological manipulation.
The party maintains their control over citizens by using telescreen to have around-the-clock surveillance. They use the telescreens to their advantage to maintain their control. “ in the far distance a helicopter skim down between the roofs, hoovered for an instant like a bluebottle, and darted away again with the kering flight. It was the police patrol snooping into
people's windows.” (Orwell page 2) the oceanians are living under constant surveillance the technology. They can't do anything without being seen or heard. They have no privacy and they live in constant fear, because anything you do can be seen as rebellious. Another way the party uses telescreens to maintain control is by using its sensitivity to pick up a person's heart beat. “he took his scribbling pad on his knee and push back as chairs us to get as far away from the telescreen as possible. To keep your face expressionless was not difficult, and even your breathing could be controlled with an effort but you cannot control the beating of your heart and the telescreen was quite delicate enough to pick it up.” ( Orwell page 3 ) The telescreen is the main device for a round-the-clock surveillance it is so sensitive it can detect the rapid beating of a person's heart. You are not even able to think about something rebellious because it could set the telescreen off. The party uses telescreens to maintain control and order, because citizens are being watched constantly and even their heart rate is being detected they use that to maintain their control of psychological manipulation.
The party also maintains control over their citizens by using the thought police.
A way the party manipulates their citizens is by using the thought police to maintain control. “ there was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often or on what the thought police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in a wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live ー did live, from habit that became instant on the assumption that every sound you made was overheard and except in darkness every moment was scrutinized.” (Orwell page 5 ) This illustrates how there are no laws but they are still kept under strict control because they are afraid of what might happen to them. Everything you do or say is looked at very closely to see if you are planning or even thinking about rebelling. Oceanians live in fear because there is no one to trust and you cannot even feel safe in your own home. Another way the party maintains control is by eliminating desire to make all citizens give up hope. “ the sexual act, successfully performed was Rebellion. Desire was thought crime.” ( Orwell page 59 ) This shows how even desire could be perceived as a thought crime that is punished by imprisonment or death. Even the slightest sexual act is seen as a crime. If the oceanians enjoy it with that one person and they fall in love it gives them hope. The party wants the people of Oceania to be hopeless and the thought police help with that. The party controls the citizens by taking away their hope and without hope they are completely
manipulated.
The last way the party maintains psychological manipulation is by using the youth league. They maintain their control by using youth spies. “ Chasity was as deeply ingrained in them as a Party Loyalty. Be careful early conditioning, by games, and coldwater by the rubbish that was dined into the med school and in the spies and the youth league by lectures, parade, song, slogans, and martial music the natural feeling had been driven out of them.” ( Orwell page 86 ) This shows how from far as one can remember party members are suppose to show loyalty by remaining chaste. They are brainwashed to think that chastity is a way of loyalty. The party takes away the desire for love and lust which makes them give up on trying to make a change for the people they love. When they give up they give up on their hope and give in to manipulation. By using the youth league the party has spies on the adults all the time to know if there is even the slightest change in behavior. “ the children, on the other hand, were systematically turned against their parents and talk to spy on them and report their deviations. The family had become in effect an extension of the thought police. It was a device by means of which everyone could be surrounded night and day by informers who knew him intimately.” (Orwell page 133) This shows how every child is brought up to be turned against their parents. Children know and see their parents more than anyone so they are able to report even slightest change. The child parent relationship is completely gone a parent cannot see or even love their child when they are brought up to be turned against them.
To conclude, the party uses different methods of psychological manipulation to maintain their control over their citizens by using telescreen, the youth league, and the thought police they use the telescreen to maintain constant surveillance. They use the youth League to demolish the parent-child relationship and then the parents will not try to make a change for their children. Lastly, they use the thought police so people can not even retreat in their own minds.