All 50 Uses of
Big Brother
in
1984 by Orwell
- BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran.
p. 2..0 (definition 1) *Big Brother = an organization that attempts to exercise total control over people and that invades their privacy to do soeditor's notes: That is the common meaning of the expression today. The expression was popularized by this novel where it references the government in the story.
- BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption said, while the dark eyes looked deep into Winston's own.
p. 2..7 (definition 1)Big Brother = an organization that attempts to exercise total control over people and that invades their privacy to do so(editor's note: This expression and definition were popularized by this book. In the book, the expression refers specifically to the government described in the story.)
- He was abusing Big Brother, he was denouncing the dictatorship of the Party, he was demanding the immediate conclusion of peace with Eurasia, he was advocating freedom of speech, freedom of the Press, freedom of assembly, freedom of thought, he was crying hysterically that the revolution had been betrayed — and all this in rapid polysyllabic speech which was a sort of parody of the habitual style of the orators of the Party, and even contained Newspeak words: more Newspeak words,…
p. 12..8 (definition 1)Big Brother = a person or organization that attempts to exercise total control over people and that invades their privacy to do so
- Thus, at one moment Winston's hatred was not turned against Goldstein at all, but, on the contrary, against Big Brother, the Party, and the Thought Police; and at such moments his heart went out to the lonely, derided heretic on the screen, sole guardian of truth and sanity in a world of lies.
p. 14..9 (definition 1)
- At those moments his secret loathing of Big Brother changed into adoration,
p. 15..1 (definition 1)
- ...Big Brother seemed to tower up, an invincible, fearless protector, standing like a rock against the hordes of Asia, and Goldstein, in spite of his isolation, his helplessness, and the doubt that hung about his very existence, seemed like some sinister enchanter, capable by the mere power of his voice of wrecking the structure of civilization.
p. 15..1 (definition 1)Big Brother = (of an) organization that attempts to exercise total control over people and that invades their privacy to do so
- Partly it was a sort of hymn to the wisdom and majesty of Big Brother, but still more it was an act of self-hypnosis, a deliberate drowning of consciousness by means of rhythmic noise.
p. 16..9 (definition 1)Big Brother = a person or organization that attempts to exercise total control over people and that invades their privacy to do so
- His pen had slid voluptuously over the smooth paper, printing in large neat capitals DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER...
p. 18..7 (definition 1)
- DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
p. 18..7 (definition 1)
- DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
p. 18..8 (definition 1)
- DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
p. 18..8 (definition 1)
- ...DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER over and over again, filling half a page.
p. 18..8 (definition 1)
- Whether he wrote DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER, or whether he refrained from writing it, made no difference.
p. 19..1 (definition 1)
- He began writing in a hurried untidy scrawl: theyll shoot me i don't care theyll shoot me in the back of the neck i dont care down with big brother they always shoot you in the back of the neck i dont care down with...
p. 19..8 (definition 1)
- ... down with big brother. He sat back in his chair, slightly ashamed of himself, and laid down the pen.
p. 19..8 (definition 1)
- DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER was written all over it, in letters almost big enough to be legible across the room.
p. 20..2 (definition 1)
- The songs, the processions, the banners, the hiking, the drilling with dummy rifles, the yelling of slogans, the worship of Big Brother — it was all a sort of glorious game to them.
p. 24..8 (definition 1)
- He went back to the table, dipped his pen, and wrote: To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone — to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone: From the age of uniformity, from the age of solitude, from the age of Big Brother, from the age of doublethink — greetings!
p. 28..2 (definition 1)
- With its grace and carelessness it seemed to annihilate a whole culture, a whole system of thought, as though Big Brother and the Party and the Thought Police could all be swept into nothingness by a single splendid movement of the arm.
p. 31..2 (definition 1)
- He tried to remember in what year he had first heard mention of Big Brother.
p. 35..9 (definition 1)
- If you're happy inside yourself, why should you get excited about Big Brother and the Three-Year Plans and the Two Minutes Hate and all the rest of their bloody rot?'
p. 133..3 (definition 1)
- To the death of Big Brother?
p. 176..9 (definition 1)
- Big Brother is infallible and all-powerful.
p. 208..2 (definition 1)
- Big Brother is the guise in which the Party chooses to exhibit itself to the world.
p. 208..4 (definition 1)
- Oceanic society rests ultimately on the belief that Big Brother is omnipotent and that the Party is infallible.
p. 212..4 (definition 1)
- But since in reality Big Brother is not omnipotent and the party is not infallible, there is need for an unwearying, moment-to-moment flexibility in the treatment of facts.
p. 212..5 (definition 1)
- Down with Big Brother!
p. 233..6 (definition 1)
- There was nothing left in them except sorrow for what they had done, and love of Big Brother.
p. 255..9 (definition 1)
- Big Brother is the embodiment of the Party.
p. 259..6 (definition 1)
- In that sense, does Big Brother exist?
p. 260..0 (definition 1)
- Will Big Brother ever die?
p. 260..1 (definition 1)
- There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother.
p. 267..6 (definition 1)
- He thought of Big Brother.
p. 281..9 (definition 1)
- What were his true feelings towards Big Brother?
p. 281..9 (definition 1)
- Tell me, Winston — and remember, no lies: you know that I am always able to detect a lie — tell me, what are your true feelings towards Big Brother?
p. 282..5 (definition 1)
- You must love Big Brother.
p. 282..6 (definition 1)
- BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption said.
p. 287..5 (definition 1)
- He loved Big Brother.
p. 298..9 (definition 1)
Uses with a very common or rare meaning:
- Goldstein was the renegade and backslider who once, long ago (how long ago, nobody quite remembered), had been one of the leading figures of the Party, almost on a level with Big Brother himself, and then had engaged in counter-revolutionary activities, had been condemned to death, and had mysteriously escaped and disappeared.†
p. 12..0 (definition 2)
- But in the same moment, drawing a deep sigh of relief from everybody, the hostile figure melted into the face of Big Brother, black-haired, black-moustachio'd, full of power and mysterious calm, and so vast that it almost filled up the screen.†
p. 15..9 (definition 2)
- Nobody heard what Big Brother was saying.†
p. 16..1 (definition 2)
- Then the face of Big Brother faded away again,†
p. 16..2 (definition 2)
- But the face of Big Brother seemed to persist for several seconds on the screen, as though the impact that it had made on everyone's eyeballs was too vivid to wear off immediately.†
p. 16..3 (definition 2)
- On the walls were scarlet banners of the Youth League and the Spies, and a full-sized poster of Big Brother.†
p. 21..4 (definition 2)
- There, too, in tiny clear lettering, the same slogans were inscribed, and on the other face of the coin the head of Big Brother.†
p. 27..1 (definition 2)
- In the Party histories, of course, Big Brother figured as the leader and guardian of the Revolution since its very earliest days.†
p. 36..1 (definition 2)
- For example, it appeared from The Times of the seventeenth of March that Big Brother, in his speech of the previous day, had predicted that the South Indian front would remain quiet but that a Eurasian offensive would shortly be launched in North Africa.†
p. 38..8 (definition 2)
- It was therefore necessary to rewrite a paragraph of Big Brother's speech, in such a way as to make him predict the thing that had actually happened.†
p. 38..9 (definition 2)
- A number of The Times which might, because of changes in political alignment, or mistaken prophecies uttered by Big Brother, have been rewritten a dozen times still stood on the files bearing its original date, and no other copy existed to contradict it.†
p. 40..6 (definition 2)
- It ran: times 3.12.83 reporting bb dayorder doubleplusungood refs unpersons rewrite fullwise upsub antefiling In Oldspeak (or standard English) this might be rendered: The reporting of Big Brother's Order for the Day in The Times of December 3rd 1983 is extremely unsatisfactory and makes references to non-existent persons.†
p. 44..2 (definition 2)
Definitions:
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(1) (Big Brother) a person or organization that attempts to exercise total control over people and that invades their privacy to do so(editor's note: This expression and definition were popularized by this book. In the book, the expression refers specifically to the government described in the story.)
-
(2) (meaning too common or rare to warrant focus) More commonly, when not capitalized, big brother generally refers to an older or larger brother.