1984's main character is Winston Smith, a man who doubts the ethics of the over powering tyrannical government that rules Oceania, one of three superstates in the world of 1984. Big Brother, the given to the government in the book, has developed its own language, is at constant war with the other two superstates, and watches its citizens at all times. The book starts off with Winston slowly figuring out that Big Brother is not exactly what it seems and in this society thinking for yourself has become punishable by death. As Winston's rebellion progresses he begins to wonder if life has always been this way or if life had once consisted of a government which allowed people to think for themselves and be individuals. He could not remember very well as to what life was like before Big Brother came into existence, only bits as pieces of his childhood could be recollected, but nothing to establish any solid evidence of there ever being another type of government other that Big Brother. Oceania, Eastasia, and Eurasia are the three battling superstates. Each has an identical government, one that is at a never-ending war with each other in order to gain complete power over the people that live there. They did this by using methods developed by past dictators such as Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler. Big Brother manipulates its citizens into making them think the way that they want them to think. However, instead of only using brainwashing techniques, Big Brother also uses Newspeak and telescreens. Newspeak is the official language of Oceania, it was created with its only intention of abolishing all unorthodox thought, for example, the word bad is replaced by the word "ungood.' The telescreens watch all of the people that are allowed to be educated, at all times, watching for any action, word, or possible thought that could be unorthodox. These two Orwell inventions were foretelling that we see the equivalent of Newspeak every day in present day society when we are "politically correct.
