Original artwork, not a still
Nineteen Eighty-Four (aka 1984)
The caption on the Party's posters, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)
Big Brother is watching you.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The line works because the threat is plain and personal: someone is looking, and you cannot see who. Orwell's poster face became the standard image of state surveillance. The phrase moved into everyday speech and gave its name to a long-running reality TV format, a twist the book's own Party would not have understood.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Nineteen Eighty-Four (aka 1984)Show the scene
The caption belongs to the poster Winston Smith sees on every landing of his apartment block, an enormous face whose eyes follow you as you move. The poster comes right at the start of the novel, in Part One. In the book, telescreens that can watch as well as broadcast back this up, so Party members have no privacy. One theory says Orwell took the name from a wartime correspondence-course advert that read 'Let me be your big brother'.
Sources (2)
- Nineteen Eighty-Four (Wikiquote)Part One, openingReference checked
- Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four) (Wikipedia)Lead and origins sectionReference checked
Context reviewed
