Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four)

Big Brother
First appearance	Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)
Created by	George Orwell
In-universe information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Leader of Oceania

Big Brother is a character and symbol in George Orwell's dystopian 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. He is ostensibly the leader of Oceania, a totalitarian state wherein the ruling party, Ingsoc, wields total power "for its own sake" over the inhabitants.

The ubiquitous slogan "Big Brother is watching you" serves as a constant reminder that Party members are not entitled to privacy. They are subject to constant surveillance to ensure their ideological purity. This is primarily through omnipresent telescreens that provide two-way video communication and constantly blare propaganda.

This close surveillance does not extend to the "proles", who constitute the majority of Oceanic society. They are viewed as inferior beings whose ideas and opinions simply don't matter because they lack both the intelligence and conviction to recognize and assert their latent political power. (In British English, "prole" is an abbreviation of proletarian. It is often derogatory.^[1])

"Big Brother" has become a synecdoche for abuse of government power, particularly in respect to civil liberties, often specifically related to mass surveillance and a lack of choice in society.^[2]