Kim 1 Christine Kim Professor Vana DerOhanessian English 114B 2 April 2014 Fighting for What We Believe In In this

world, people tend to make good or bad decisions depending on what kind of situation they are in and what kind of space they occupy in life. The space that I see commonly in themes of social media such as books, articles, and newspapers is how authority tries to control and manipulate peoples lives without trying to make it seem that they are abusing their power. Orwell demonstrates this in 1984, by having a totalitarian setting where the people of Oceania have a blank slate of mind and are compelled to live a restricted life. One may believe by living in an authoritative space, we are more likely to follow and listen; however, in reality, there are those who will rebel and do whatever they can to fight for their freedom. George Orwell depicts the idea that the government can control the people to the full extent in his book, 1984, by stating that society is not allowed to have a state of mind, which gives people a reason to rebel. The character Winston was not able to write or think about the opinions he had about the Party in public or at his workplace because Big Brother was watching his every move. In this space, even the coins, stamps, covers on books, banners, wrapping of a cigarette packet, and posters had eyes pursuing what everyone was doing (29). This shows the true authoritative atmosphere that the people of Oceania, the capital, had to deal with. So instead, Winston rebelled by going to a quiet, dark space at home to continue his negative thoughts about the Party by writing in his diary. He was freely able to formulate his thoughts on a piece of paper without getting caught. The space of having no authority outside

Kim 2 gave him the ability to feel at ease, realize he actually had a purpose in life and not waste his life serving the Party. Furthermore, Orwell states who can potentially be in the rebellion when he quotes, If there is hope, wrote Winston, it lies in the Proles (72). This suggests that the only people who can actually win against the Party are the Proles, who are the people of Oceania. However, the problem with this is that even if the majority can overthrow the government, they do not have the conscious ability to think of their own viewpoints in life. Correspondingly, the lifestyle around the Proles does not allow them to sense any emotions and willingness to fight for a cause because they are living in a world full of people who think all the same thoughts, shout the same slogans, and march in perfect unity for the Party (77). This makes it harder for rebels to appear out of the blue in public because life itself is already a mechanical lifestyle. That is why people like Winston are significant, because he is a representation of the voice for the rebellion. He will do anything it takes to think of ideas again by trying to find others who dislike the Party. Similarly, in the article, Panopticism, Foucault shows that there is no individuality among groups of people, and that power is shown through many different kinds of spaces. The space demonstrated in this article conveys the message that by having no communication with other people around us and limiting vision and social spaces, the authority figures will retain power. Foucault discusses a prison in which, inmates do not have contact with other companions by having a cell with sidewalls attached, which implies for a lateral invisibility for vision (3). This guarantees order and power because it gives a disadvantage to inmates who are trying to find a way to escape or even have a conscious thought to go against the authority because they are not allowed to speak to anyone about their ideas. That is why there are not a lot of rebels around to even begin with because a real subjection is born mechanically from a fictitious relation (4).

Kim 3 This means that people who identify themselves as being invisible already know that there is no point of trying to go against the government because they have been exposed to the totalitarian ways of living. This compares to the Proles in Oceania because they have no identity and live under the same norms in their everyday lives. The idea of Panopticism is that its trying to create a hierarchical organization by having a space of inspectors watching people live their dayto-day lives, without going out of order. This creates a mechanism where people can just easily follow from one another without having to make any mistakes or commit any crimes. Therefore, the Big Brother is also like an inspector because he watches the lives of ordinary people, which inhibit them to do whatever they want to do. Today, the authority tries to control the peoples freedom in many different aspects; for example, religion. According to the article, Freedom of the Church and the Authority of the State, Koppelman declares that the needs and rights of the people are a constraint on what the state legitimately may do (157). This displays the belief that there is a limit on how far the authority can use his or her power by not affecting the rights of the people. If the government does limit peoples freedom of religion, it will bring people to rebel, promoting religious liberty in the society. We can see the similarities during this time and the time in Oceania on how the government was run and what the people should have done against the Party. The Party also wanted to take away the freedom to think and force the people to follow the procedures of a government-like society, not allowing any independence. However, the Proles did not start to take initiative to rebel because they did not understand the meaning of liberty and justice for their own sake. Koppleman asserts that a state must have the capacity to ensure the happiness of its citizens to maintain control and power. This demonstrates that members of society feel that they are living in a safe place, which may allow people to rely on authority rather than taking care of

Kim 4 themselves. Nevertheless, one may disagree that life may be simpler if someone is dictating someone elses life the right way, it does not mean that there are those who oppose this kind of way of living and want to live a free and open-minded life. The spaces that are present to us in life have a pronounced influence on how we live it and what our views are. All the themes of these articles and books show that although authority does have excessive power and control, the voice and the actions of the people are able to subjugate the supremacy of the government. One can believe that at the end, the people are the ones who control how they live their own lives and can influence the lives of others by spreading the idea of freedom.

Kim 5 Works Cited Foucault, Michel. "Discipline. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Pantheon, 1977. 195-228. Print. Koppelman, Andrew. Freedom Of The Church And The Authority Of The State. Journal Of Contemporary Legal Issues 21.1 (2013): 145-164. Academic Search Premier. Web 22 Mar. 2014 Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.