Descriptions of political and social context
In George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, the totalitarian society of Oceania uses various means of control to maintain total power. Orwell’s analysis of the instruments of power used by Big Brother show the ruthless attempts by a ruling Party to trample upon an individual’s rights and freedoms. In such a world, the Party makes a virtue out of using power to maintain control and any deviation from party doctrine is considered a thought crime.
Orwell draws upon examples of the Soviet communist system and aspects of Nazi Germany to highlight the oppressive political agenda in Oceania. O’Brien criticises other regimes because they were “cowards and hypocrites”. “The German Nazis and the Russian communists …. never had the courage to recognise their own motives”. O’Brien ruthlessly and candidly states that their objective is power for the sake of power. “Power is not a means, it is an end”.
George Orwell cynically depicts a totalitarian system that has been so corrupted by power that power has become its chief objective. He believes that when Governments become almighty and powerful they rule to the detriment of individuals indifferently trampling on their right to freedom. Big Brother has perfected the system of totalitarian government to such an extent that it is intent on exercising power “entirely for its own sake”. It is not interested in improving or safeguarding the lifestyle or interests of its citizens. In this regard, Big Brother is more honest than other corrupt totalitarian and fascist governments such as Nazi Germany and the Communist government in Russia that hypocritically camouflaged their motives. Persecution, torture and power all become ends in themselves.
Both Orwell and Funder explore instruments of surveillance that enable governments to control every aspect of an individual’s life. Not only do these instruments ensure total physical, but also psychological and mental control, which, for self-respecting and free-thinking individuals such as Winston in 1984 and Julia Behrend and Miriam Weber in Stasiland is an impossible reality.
The brutality of both Big Brother and the Stasi is most clearly depicted through their willingness to undermine family relationships and adopt torture methods as a means of invading the private lives of innocent civilians. In the Stasi’s case, they know how to use a “person’s distress against them” and target an individual’s vulnerabilities as a means of encouraging them to become one of the many informers (around one in six) in the DDR that ensure everyone is suspicious of each other.
The most oppressive regimes are those where the leaders become intoxicated by a pure sense of power. They idolise power for “power’s sake”; they do not show any care or concern towards the improvement of the lives of its citiznes/society. In this case, they use the tools of oppression in increasingly dangerous and insidious means.
Rebellion is impossible because of the draconian tools of oppression. Torture and especially one’s worst nightmares will always lead to capitulation.
Stasiland
Living in the GDR, despite being a democratic republic, was like “living in a dictatorship”. Everyone was subject to constant surveillance, particularly those deemed an “opponent” or “enemy”. Many of the targets were followed and required to report with the officers. “Every month or so [Miriam] would be called in to the Stasi for a chat”. They toyed with her life “like a mouse”.
Funder suggests that the Stasi are particularly insidious/egregious (bad) because they separate families, pry on loved ones and manipulate partners.
As “Faustian bargain hunters”, Funder depicts Stasi operators as people who preyed upon people’s distress and vulnerabilities. This is particularly shocking because they are not held accountable for the consequences of their deeds.
Funder depicts many of the Stasi operators in such a way as to suggest that they have brutally oppressed the people. Funder depicts them as perpetrators/oppressors, tyrants (villains) because they have trampled on citizens’ rights with impunity.
REturn to 1984/Stasiland notes