“Freedom is Slavery.” This is what the characters in the book “1984” by George Orwell are brainwashed to believe. The sophomore honors ELA classes participated in a game last week to experience a glimpse of what the characters in the book had to deal with on a daily basis.
In the book, the main character Winston is a low ranking member of the ruling party in London. The Party is the government of Oceania and they watch the citizens everywhere they go including their homes using telescreens which are like surveillance cameras. The Thought Police also watch over everything to make sure there is no rebellion being brought up against the Party. The Thought Police are secret, unknown people who detect thoughtcrime, political and personal thoughts against the Party.
In the game that the HELA 10 students are playing they have the Thought Police as well. The students who are Thought Police are kept secret, looking out for people who could be breaking the rules of the game. They must keep a detailed record of who breaks what rule and all of the details about it. Unless the citizen can prove innocent then the Thought Police could make up anything they wanted if they chose to.
In the book, The Party prohibits free thought, sex, and expression of individuality, so Winston purchased a diary to write all of his illegal thoughts in. While at work, Winston meets a girl named Julia who slides him a note saying “I love you”. He was skeptical of Julia at first because the Thought Police makes you paranoid and feel like you can’t trust anyone.
One of the teachers who planned the game for students was HELA 10 teacher Bretley Laramore. When talking about the events in the book, Laramore said “it [The Party] takes away any free will, if you will.” The game is a less extreme model of the book, but it took away some simple norms that the students were accustomed to such as physical contact of any kind, having food or beverage outside of the lunchroom and choices on what to do with their free time.
There are few cultures or societies today that go to these extremes, but there are places where certain things, such as negatively speaking about the government, are not allowed.
The game limits and enforces rules that each HELA 10 student must abide by. If a student fails to abide by the rules, the Thought Police must report that to Big Brother. Big Brother is the supreme ruler and head of The Party. In the game, Thought Police and all outer party members also must abide by the given rules, so they can remain undetected. If a member of either the Thought Police or outer party gets detected they must write a 750 word response paper. If they aren’t caught then their response only has to be 250 words.
In the book, if members of The Party are caught breaking the laws, they are essentially erased from existence. They disappear along with all evidence that they were ever alive. There are less harsh punishments, but all are still pretty extreme.
In the end of the book, Winston is arrested for having a secret affair with Julia, as well as for being against Big Brother. While in captivity, the government is attempting to brainwash him into being on The Party’s side. Winston holds strong until he is taken to the dreaded Room 101. No one knows what goes on in Room 101, all they know is that people who come out of there are very different from how they went in. In Room 101 they use Winston’s biggest fear against him to force him to do what they want. He ends up breaking, and becoming exactly who they want him to be.
Students who participated in the game felt it was stressful because they were constantly having to look over their shoulder. Everyone who played the game, including the Thought Police and outer party were paranoid of being caught. Some students said they wouldn’t report people, but then turned around and did it anyway. The game created a lot of mistrust between people because of the betrayal that happened during it. It divided friends and created situations for betrayal to arise because students were turning on other students to report them. Ultimately, the game gave a good simulation of the book. It wasn’t as extreme, but it was inconvenient enough to create some small issues for the students.