Privacy

            Privacy is something that is highly valued in present society. People in modern societies like the United States will protest against the government when the smallest amount of their privacy has been breached. When things are hidden in the small print or people are not directly told what can and cannot be done, society will also revolt because it considers actions such as those to also be breaches of privacy. The average person in society today also doesn’t understand the vast array of information that is public property such as Facebook posts, search history, emails, and even texts messages. Overall, when it comes to the issue of privacy, society does not like it when the privilege of privacy is taken away.

            In 1984, there is little to no privacy at all for the main characters or anyone in that society for that matter. The telescreens are mounted everywhere for surveillance of every single thing that anyone and everyone does at all times of the day and night. On occasion, the inner party members on the other side of the screen will respond or react to something that the outer party member does where the telescreen is actually located. This shows that the people of Oceana really are being watched at all times and that nothing they do or say will go unseen or unheard; every action made is scrutinized by the inner party and is determined to be appropriate, not appropriate, or an attack against the government if it is bad enough. There is a group that is much worse than the telescreens though, and they are called the thought police. The telescreens can only arrest someone if they either make a physical motion or say something to give them away; with the telescreens, if a party member is good enough at hiding their emotions, they can get away with thought crimes. The thought police on the other hand can. The thought police are a specially trained group of individuals that can find the minutest detail wrong in someone’s behavior and find a way to get the suspect to give out incriminating information. With the telescreens and the thought police, a person’s actions, voices, and thoughts are not safe; there is no privacy in Oceana.

            In The Truman Show, every aspect of Truman’s life was being watched, nothing was private. The cameras were on Truman for the entirety of his life, nothing he did was private. While Truman might have thought that he had his privacy when he was in his own home, he didn’t even in the slightest. His entire life from the moment of his birth to the moment that he stepped out of the manmade dome, his life was for the world to see every single thing that he did live on television. His thoughts also weren’t private. The reason for this is that if he told anyone, whether that be his parents, or his friends, or his girlfriend, those thoughts were now public knowledge because the cameras were everywhere and captured everything. His drive to work wasn’t even private; the crew would give directions to the actors as he was turning down any given street. Finally, once Truman came to the realization that his privacy and his life as a whole was being taken from him, he summoned all of his strength and left.