Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four)
Big Brother is a fictional character in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. He is the enigmatic dictator of Oceania, a totalitarian state taken to its utmost logical consequence – where the ruling Party wields total power for its own sake over the inhabitants.
In the society that Orwell describes, everyone is under complete surveillance by the authorities, mainly by telescreens. The people are constantly reminded of this by the phrase "Big Brother is watching you", which is the core "truth" of the propaganda system in this state.
Since the publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four, the term "Big Brother" has entered the lexicon as a synonym for abuse of government power, particularly in respect to civil liberties, often specifically related to mass surveillance.
Read more about Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four): Purported Origins, Legacy
Famous quotes containing the words big and/or brother:
“Remembering the Strait of Belle Isle or
some northerly harbor of Labrador,
before he became a schoolteacher
a great-uncle painted a big picture.”
—Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979)
“A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.”
—Bible: Hebrew Proverbs, 18:19.