Orwell, George — Nineteen eighty-four [820]

The Party prisoners were always silent and terrified, but the ordinary criminals seemed to care nothing for anybody. They yelled insults at the guards, fought back fiercely when their belongings were impounded, wrote obscene words on the floor, ate smuggled food which they produced from mysterious hiding-places in their clothes, and even shouted down the telescreen when it tried to restore order. — Orwell, George, Nineteen eighty-four, 820

Note

The contrast between the terrorized Party prisoners and the unruly ordinary criminals shows which subjects the surveillance system can actually break. The criminals’ indifference to the telescreen stands as living proof that the panoptic gaze only works on those who have already internalized it — they don’t obey, so the punishment comes but never the obedience.