In his treatise Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud makes an interesting statement about advanced society. He argues that “the price of progress in civilization is paid by the loss of happiness due to increased feelings of guilt,” to defend his argument that guilt is becoming a problem in modern cultures (Civilization 35). In George Orwell's novel 1984, the party uses Freudian concepts involving guilt, repressed instincts, and physical pain in order to control its members. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay One of the very first Freudian concepts we see in 1984 involves guilt. In Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud briefly discusses the three parts of the mind: the ego, the id, and the superego. According to Freud, the id represents a person's natural instincts and desires, for example the desire to have sex or to be a more independent being. However, Freud argues that the id is an unconscious part of the mind, so many people are unaware of these drives that they naturally have. On the other hand, the Superego is partially conscious and controls guilt. A person's superego depends on the society they live in, because society and culture determine what a person may think is right or wrong, making it easy to understand what the superego is: a conscience . The ego lies somewhere in the middle. It determines the choices you make every day by finding a compromise between id instincts and superego guilt. For all societies, Freud argues that there will be disagreements between the id and superego that the ego cannot handle, causing unhappiness for some people. However, Orwell takes this configuration even further, creating a society where there is a strong disagreement between the superego and the id. The party of 1984 creates a strong superego in its members, from a very young age. It encourages children to abstain from sex, with many even deciding to join groups like the Junior Anti-Sex League: “Indirectly, this was applied to all party members from childhood. There were even organizations like the Junior Anti-Sex League, which advocated complete celibacy for both sexes” (1984: 65). This society also encourages children to repress their identity-based desires to love and protect their family, by rewarding them for turning their family members over to the police for acts such as thought crimes, and by making them feel guilty of not having done so. However, guilt alone can only go so far. If someone decides that the party's morals are bad, that person might be breaking the rules and not be guilty enough to have reason to quit. Because of this risk, the party adds another level of control to the superego: telescreens. Telescreens were installed almost everywhere, even in homes. These devices gave the party a way to keep tabs on its members and ensure that no one gave in to rebellious instincts and desires. If someone was arrested, they were punished, depending on the severity of the crime, with torture or sometimes death: "It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were...within range of a screen of television The slightest thing could give you away, a nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of mumbling to yourself – anything that carried with it the suggestion of an abnormality, of having something to hide” (1984). 62). If that wasn't extreme enough, the party made sure people couldn't do anything..