Manipulation in 1984 by George Orwell Essay Sample

When the word ‘manipulation’ comes to mind, the first thing that people think of is someone or something tricking you into doing something that you were not aware of, or being somehow forced to change your mindset on something, and that is completely correct. Manipulation can come in many different forms, and appear in many different situations, with the most common being in relationships. Whether it is your partner, family members, or even yourself, people use manipulation to get exactly what they want, with either very little, or too much convincing. In the novel Nineteen-Eighty-Four,  it was shown in extremely detailed and specific ways on how manipulation was portrayed. Throughout the book, the readers follow the main character Winston Smith as he tries to balance out his government duties, and his illegal relationship with a girl named Julia. Although relationships are frown upon, especially at this position, it was shown just how manipulation can change your perspective on someone so easily. To contrast, the short story “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” follows an American family, and a very selfish grandmother. The Grandmother convinces her family to take a dangerous detour, to go sightseeing which ends up being their ultimate doom. Although both stories portray manipulation uniquely, they both portray the themes of psychological manipulation, and physical manipulation very well.

To start, psychological manipulation was shown very obviously in the novel Nineteen-Eighty-Four, not just by auditory prompts, but visual as well. Throughout the book, a huge theme was propaganda, and the communism group “Big Brother” used propaganda to manipulate the citizens' mindsets on what they believed. Whether or not what they believed was viewed as correct, the corrupt government made sure it was the only mindset that was available to have. Propaganda was shown on television, posters, and even on cigarette packets, to make the citizens brainwashed to listen to what exactly ‘Big Brother’  On page 15, as he walked into his apartment, he noticed what was on his television, “As Winston enters his apartment at the beginning of the novel, he hears a voice coming from the telescreen. Like the image of Big Brother, telescreens are everywhere in Oceania. While Winston’s description of these screens brings to mind a television, the fact that citizens cannot turn them off shows that the telescreens are yet another form of control.” Not only was Big Brother forcing their ideas on everyone, but the law that the citizens were not able to ignore the propaganda is complete manipulation. Constant propaganda about the economy and the war front are designed to make failures of the Party seem like successes. Another example of psychological manipulation in a visual manipulation prompt would be the ubiquitous posters that are posted absolutely everywhere in the city. Posters depicting Big Brother's face with the slogan 'BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU’ are a constant reminder that authorities are scrutinizing your thoughts and actions. This adapts psychological manipulation in a more fear, or emotional way. The citizens are forced to act a certain way out of fear, and not because that is what they want to do.

To compare, psychological manipulation was shown in the short story “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”, but not in the more common visual way, but in more auditory. The Grandma, whose name was not mentioned, did not enjoy it when she did not get her way. She believed that she did everything for the sake of her grandchildren, but she always uses that as an excuse, and always mentioned how she does not have “much time left” with them. She constantly used psychological manipulation throughout the story, but the main way she used it was when she begged, convinced, and made her family feel bad for not going where she wanted to. On page 3, the grandmother said, “Do you guys just not like me? Do you guys not want me to be happy? I only have a few years left at most, and I just want us to be happy as a family.” Clearly, she used auditory psychological manipulation, and attempted to wring out her family's emotions, so she could get exactly what she wanted, and go on that detour. Throughout the story, the grandmother did not just use her auditory manipulation on her family members, but also on the misfit who they were presented with on the detour. The grandmother apparently knew the criminal, and when she knew the criminal was armed, and dangerous, she tried to reminisce on the memories they had to get the misfit to calm down. She made him feel bad for his actions, and even mentioned god in the manipulation attempt. On page 5, during the conversation between the misfit and the grandmother, the grandmother said “You aren’t like this. Do you remember when you were a little boy? How sweet you were in the Sunday school classroom? Don’t you?” This was a clear and obvious attempt of psychological manipulation, and although perhaps it was used for good, she still attempted to manipulate him.

To continue with the trend of manipulation, the second form of manipulation that was used was physical manipulation. In the novel Nineteen-Eighty-Four, physical manipulation was used so prominently, that in almost every page of the book you turned, it was an example. The party, “Big Brother '' not only used visual and auditory manipulation tactics, but they would place physical objects around the city to manipulate the citizens into acting a certain way. The more bold example of physical manipulation was the 24/7 surveillance throughout the city. The citizens can see the cameras, and therefore, again out of fear, will act a different way because of it. The invasion of privacy through the telescreen's constant surveillance forces people to self-regulate and comply with orthodox standards of behavior (or die). On page 133, as an attempt to overthrow the Big Brother organization, Winston tried to be sneaky and enter the facility but then realised the cameras were everywhere. “Just when I tried to lose big brother, I noticed all the cameras on me. There was no escape, I was always being watched.” The organization gives no privacy, and when the citizens have the mindset that they are always being watched, they become manipulated, and act completely differently. Another example of psychological manipulation being portrayed in a physical form is the Jr. Spies program in the ‘Big Brother’ organization. The organization preys on the younger audience, hence why they developed the Jr. Spies program. The Party undermines families by brainwashing children to spy on their parents and report any suspected disloyalty to the Party. The party introduces a “club like” system that gets children involved early in the party's efforts. On page 83, the Jr. Spies program is introduced and is incredible on how manipulation was used to “snitch out” your own parents. “Nearly all children nowadays are horrible. What was worst of all was that by means of such organizations as the Spies they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages, and yet this produced in them no tendency whatsoever to rebel against the discipline of the Party. On the contrary, they adored the Party and everything connected with it.” 

Compared with the same theme, physical manipulation, it was shown in the short story “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” not as many prominent examples are shown in the short story, but for the grandma to achieve what she wanted, she had to implement physical manipulation to get it. Throughout the short story several tactics and attempts were used, but the one main one was when she popped the tires on the car for the road trip, so she could ultimately force her family to take the detour. She manipulated the family into thinking that the car ran over a nail, which she in the end did it herself. On page 3 she mentioned how she did it. “The plan was perfect; the nail was in place and so was the tire. The spare tire was nowhere to be found as well.” She even went so far as to hide the spare tire so she could get what she wanted. She was indeed a wicked, manipulative person.

To conclude the comparison, it is clear that both stories showed very rich examples of both the psychological manipulation, whether it was visual or auditory, and the physical manipulation. Although they both portrayed and included these themes, both stories showed them differently, and included different examples to help explain them. To further conclude, and wrap up the thesis, it was shown very prominently just how far someone goes to achieve what they want, not just by wringing out the emotions, but even costing potential harm to themselves.