REIMAGINING SURVEILLANCE AND COLONIZED MENTALITY: ANALYZING ORWELL’S 1984 THROUGH BIO-POLITICAL EXISTENTIAL LENS

Abstract

In today's world, power and surveillance significantly impact human behaviour and identity. George Orwell's 1984 paint a vivid and terrifying vision of how political control and constant surveillance affect individual freedom and existence. The goal of this study is to examine 1984 using Michel Foucault's Biopolitical Existential Theory. The objectives include investigating how biopower functions in the novel, how citizens internalize terror, and how continual surveillance and disciplinary control affect human existence. This study takes a qualitative approach, emphasizing attentive textual reading and topic analysis. The primary source is George Orwell's novel 1984, while secondary sources include scholarly articles, periodicals, and theoretical writings on bio-politics and existentialism, all of which provide support to the view. The research reveals that Oceanian individuals limit their actions out of fear of punishment and constant surveillance, rather than out of personal desire. Continuous surveillance forces people to self-censor, control their feelings, and conform to the Party's expectations. Winston's experiences demonstrate how identity, love, resistance, and human expression are systematically undermined when bio-political power has complete control over both the body and mind. In a nutshell, the study explores that 1984 exemplifies how totalitarian organizations employ bio-political tactics to limit human existence and eliminate genuine freedom.