You might find it useful to re-read the first chapter of
this excellent and terrifying novel to identify when the Thought Police appear and what
we are told about them. Winston at first understates how terrifying they are by
completely dismissing the fear of police patrols snooping in through windows into
people's lives. He says in response to this that "Only the Thought Police mattered."
This clearly shows the way that the Thought Police have a special place in terms of the
fear that they can instill.
Let us examine what the next
paragraph goes on to say about the Thought Police and their invasiveness into everyone's
life:
How
often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was
guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any
rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live--did live,
from habit that became instinct--in the assumption that every sound you made was
overheard, and, except in darkness, every moment
scrutinised.
It is these
facts that makes the Thought Police so terrifying to Winston: You never know when they
can listen and look in through the telescreens that are everywhere. They can follow one
particular indivdual or they might just check in on you every now and again. However,
you have no idea of knowing whether what you are doing and saying right now is being
spied upon. We can only imagine the sense of unease and nervousness that Winston and all
citizens of Big Brother suffered as a result.
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