| Pub. Date | : March, 2022 |
|---|---|
| Product Name | : The IUP Journal of English Studies |
| Product Type | : Article |
| Product Code | : IJES070322 |
| Author Name | :Md Sarfaraj Nawab and Asrin Khatun |
| Availability | : YES |
| Subject/Domain | : Arts & Humanities |
| Download Format | : PDF Format |
| No. of Pages | : 11 |
George Orwell in his novel 1984, also written as Nineteen Eighty Four, has speculated about a future where one "Big Brother" will constitute the center head of a state. People in this state are purported to be continuously monitored and controlled by a 24x7 surveillance system. Such a vigilance culture is likely to drastically change the ways people behave by manipulating them to follow some dictated disciplines. This paper attempts to address and unravel the surveillance culture effectuated by a high-tech digital life where we find ourselves today. Here we argue that the instantaneous engagement of common people with social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter have made them vulnerable to surveillance politics. By drawing intuitions from the said novel, the contrapuntal study will discuss certain facts of the present time and the fictitious forebodings of the past. The study investigates how people have created multiple identities for themselves and also a bubble universe around themselves. The social media syndrome of the people of a digitized society is underscored here through a critical engagement with Orwell's seminal text, 1984.