Stasiland and 1984 Comparison

[ashtempleton]

Hi, so I'm obviously doing a comparison essay on Stasiland and 1984. The topic I'm trying to unpack is
      1. Whether it is 'Big Brother' watching or the Stasi monitoring, both texts show the emotional and psychological cost of surveillance states on their citizens.
I was think of framing my essay around the quote from 1984 (there is learning, there is understand, and there is acceptance) to show the different stages an individuals goes through in response to such an intense surveillance system, the biggest cost being losing your own humanity and individuality (though there are some cases, like Miriam, who naturally oppose this due to her consistent rebellion).  I originally wanted to structure my essay kinda like this:
1. Impacts interactions with other people (loss of human connection/more emotional) (Charrington/Julia Italian letters/Winston and his Wife/Parsons)
2. Impacts internal thought (more psychological/perpetual paranoia)(Syme/goldsteins book - idea of an imaginary escape as another form of monitoring people/Miriam - cant have doors etc)
3. Acceptance (selling your humanity) (Klaus/Winston/Julia/members of stasi - miriam an exception however)
But I don't quite know if that actually fits the prompt?

[S200]

-snip-

Hi, so I'm obviously doing a comparison essay on Stasiland and 1984. The topic I'm trying to unpack is
      1. Whether it is 'Big Brother' watching or the Stasi monitoring, both texts show the emotional and psychological cost of surveillance states on their citizens.
I was think of framing my essay around the quote from 1984 (there is learning, there is understand, and there is acceptance) to show the different stages an individuals goes through in response to such an intense surveillance system, the biggest cost being losing your own humanity and individuality (though there are some cases, like Miriam, who naturally oppose this due to her consistent rebellion).  I originally wanted to structure my essay kinda like this:
1. Impacts interactions with other people (loss of human connection/more emotional) (Charrington/Julia Italian letters/Winston and his Wife/Parsons)
2. Impacts internal thought (more psychological/perpetual paranoia)(Syme/goldsteins book - idea of an imaginary escape as another form of monitoring people/Miriam - cant have doors etc)
3. Acceptance (selling your humanity) (Klaus/Winston/Julia/members of stasi - miriam an exception however)
But I don't quite know if that actually fits the prompt?

Well, I haven't read Stasiland, but from what I know of 1984, and from the prompt, I'd say that your arguments are pretty good. They can all be classified under the banner of emotions and psychology, so I recon yeah, they do fit the prompt...
**Disclaimer... I don't know nought about Stasiland, so I could be well off **

[OZLexico]

You are on the right track here - remember that you should be commenting on "emotional cost" and "psychological cost." I think your use of the term "acceptance" could be changed to "submission" - there are examples in Stasiland that fit this description but there is also evidence of secret resistance to surveillance (eg Frau Paul and her husband realise they cannot escape but they help others to do so - their "acceptance" of the surveillance does not suppress their involvement in the escape network. They stop when they're arrested).  In 1984 there is also the appearance of overt submission to Ingsoc so there's a difference between what looks like Party loyalty and what the characters actually do (Winston's journal, Julia stealing the supplies from the Inner Party).     

[ashtempleton]

Yeah i need to make sure everything comes back to the costs. I like the idea of submission, fits the novels better than acceptance. Thanks!