"On each landing, opposite the lift shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran (5)."
-Orwell shows the reader that Winston is always being watched no matter where he goes. The poster of Big Brother makes it look like the eyes are always following the watcher of it, which will make anyone feel guilty and act in certain ways. Orwell uses the poster of Big Brother to symbolize the power that the government has over the people in the novel. Big Brother also may be a reference to Uncle Sam, who was a fictional character used by the American government to recruit people for the army during past wars in history. Millions of posters of Uncle Sam were all over the U.S during World War II, which was around the time 1984 was written. Big Brother is a personification of Oceana's government, which is the same for Uncle Sam within the American government. Orwell may have seen Uncle Sam as a way that the government manipulated people in the U.S. into doing things, which is what Big Brother is used for in 1984. Orwell also uses a family term, brother, which is parallel to the family term, Uncle, that the American government came up with for their personification.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Sam
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