Free Response # 5

Philosophy Now. "Does Surveillance Make Us Better?", by Emrys Westacott.

Main argument: Surveillance does play a role in morality, and makes people "morally right."

The idea that surveillance increases the morality of a person has existed through ages, and grows stronger in our society today. When watched, chances are little that a person would commit any "wrong" act that goes against the virtues and moral standards people believe in upholding. In an article for Philosophy Now, "Does Surveillance Make Us Morally Better?", Emrys Westacott argues that there is a relationship between surveillance and morality, as most people behave better when they are being watched. Westacott's argument that surveillance makes people morally better is true, and can be seen in George Orwell's 1984, and William Golding's Lord of the Flies. Each book contains a form of surveillance which keeps the characters morally right while it is present. 

1984, by George Orwell, is a book about a society where everyone is being watched by the leader, a man who is only known as Big Brother. There are televisions everywhere, and the group in charge of the country can see the people all the time. Winston, the protagonist in the book, works for the ruling group in rewriting history according to the group's perspective. One day, Winston falls in love with Julia, a co-worker, but fears the actions of the group, since sex, love, and any other private thing is not allowed. Winston and Julia have an affair, but only in secret, away from the eyes of Big Brother. When any form of surveillance is present, Winston and Julia remain indifferent and "morally" right, but without surveillance, they continue their relationship. To escape surveillance, they get a house in the prole district, an area where the poor people live with little surveillance from the group. They eventually get caught and "worked on" so that "rebellious" ideas are removed from their minds. In the end, the couple has only attempted to escape from the "morals" and surveillance of their society to act as they want when in reality, surveillance has been all around them. They pretend to be good when watched, but do not realize that they cannot go against the morals by hiding from surveillance as it is present everywhere.

In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, surveillance took the form of civilization. When the plane carrying the school boys first crashes onto the deserted island, the boys still believe in the morals that society had instilled in them. They are civilized, and they even assign jobs and create an organized structure among themselves. A conch shell that they find calls all the boys together, and represents a government and civilization. As the book progresses, the boys slowly turn into savages, and the group is divided between the boys who still hold onto the morals of civilization and society and the boys who have lost their moralities. This division becomes less evident as one by one, the population of the boys turns into savages, whether it is due to deaths of the moral boys, or because of the transition from civilized boys to savage ones. Towards the end of the book, they have already killed two boys, and the conch shell shatters into pieces, symbolizing the end of civilization. The end shows the impact breakdown of morals without surveillance from society, when the boys burn down the entire island in their attempt to take the life of one boy who tries desperately to hold on to his morality and sanity. The transformation throughout the book signifies the role that civilization and surveillance played in the morality and sanity of the boys. Without civilization and society watching over these boys, they turn feral and savage, abandoning the ideas and virtues that society had instilled in them.

Surveillance has played a great role in upholding the morals of a society regardless of how different they may be. In 1984, the presence of surveillance keeps the people "morally right" by watching over their every move, while in Lord of the Flies, the lack of surveillance shows the decline of morals and virtues, which can be compared from the beginning and the ending of the novel. The knowledge that a person is being watched can exert pressure on that individual to follow the rules and laws of society, regardless of how twisted they maybe.  Surveillance maintains the structure and morals of a society, and even though its methods can be extreme, surveillance does create results.