Healthy relationships are a crucial part of growing up and developing properly as a child into an adult. All throughout one’s life, the relationships that form with people influence individual behaviour and mentality. George Orwell’s novel, 1984, is a demonstration of how unhealthy relationships can develop when factors that are out of the control of the characters have an influence on the citizens personal lives. First off, Winston’s connection with his mother showcases how dysfunctional families living under the regime of the Party. Secondly, Winston’s relationship with Julia present the dangers and hurt that the totalitarian government brings upon the people in terms of intimate, romantic relationships. Finally, healthy and trusting friendships …show more content…
Winston only remembers small fragments of his father because the lack of influence he has on Winston’s life. Winston remembers that his father was, “Dark and thin, dressed always in neat dark clothes (Winston remembered especially the very thin soles of his father’s shoes) and wearing spectacles” (29). Because Winston only remembers minor details about his father but he does not remember having a strong connection with him but sees the impact that his disappearance has on his mother. Winston remembers that, “When his father disappeared, his mother did not show any surprise or any violent grief, but a sudden change came over her. She seemed to become completely spiritless” (161). Even though Winston is so young when his father vanishes, he can recognise that pain that his mother feels because of the loss. When the Party took his father away, Winston’s mother fell apart and was not able to care for her children properly. The removal of his father is a demonstration of how the party invades the lives of its citizens and destroys families for unknown reasons. Winston never gets any closure for the disappearance of his father and does not really think about until later on in his life. The Party brainwashes its citizens to not question what happens to the people that are important to them after they are not there …show more content…
Parsons’ family is also an example of how the Party can use its control over the people to destroy families. In Oceania, the Party uses the children as unpaid work for being part of the group called the Spies and Youth League which is similar to the Thought Police but for children. Even at such a young age, the Parsons’ children are affected by the Party in terms of family dynamic and the Parsons’ youngest daughter ends up turning in her own father for Thoughtcrime. When Winston meets Mr. Parsons in the cellar in the Ministry of Love, Mr. Parsons responds to Winston’s question about who turned him by saying, “It was my little daughter. She listened at the keyhole. Heard what I was saying, and nipped off to the patrols the very next day” (233). Mr. Parsons tries to convince himself that he will not be killed for the crime he has committed but it seems that he is not positive that he will survive. Not long after he is brought to Room 101 and it is implied that he is killed. Mr. Parsons’ daughter was obeying the law and following the rules by turning in her father but ultimately she destroyed her family. The influence that the Party has over her was enough for her to turn in her own father knowing what was going to happen to him. The control that the Party has over even the youngest citizens of Oceania is perfectly capable of having detrimental consequences on family
Readers often find themselves constantly drawn back to the topic of George Orwell’s 1984 as it follows a dystopian community which is set in a world that has been in continuous war, has no privacy by means of surveillance and has complete mind control and is known by the name of Oceania. The story follows a man by the name of Winston who possesses the features of “A smallish, frail figure… his hair very fair, his face naturally sanguine [and] his skin roughened” (Orwell 2). The novel illustrates to readers what it would be like if under complete control of the government. As a result, this book poses a couple of motifs’, For instance part one tackles “Collectivism” which means the government controls you, while part two fights with “Romance” with Winston and Julia’s sexual tension as well the alteration of love in the community, and part three struggles with “Fear” and how it can control someone physically and mentally.
As Winston does lose his identity and beliefs it does give some hope and optimism. Not to Winston but to the public. To the readers of Nineteen Eighty Four, George Orwell the author of this political novel wrote this novel to inform and by this grim ending he has done this. Big Brother and the party has control over everything, they control families, control language, control media and even the control of history. This creates full control over every act, thought and belief of a person. Consequently with Winston this is done so therefore Orwell’s point is made.
loss, it's to do with futility. For all he did, for all the rules he
Everyone craves rebellion at some point. It may not even be because they oppose something strongly, it may just be because they want a rush and the feeling that they are defying a cause larger than themselves. In the book 1948 by George Orwell, Winston Smith does not only just crave the feeling of defying the invasive Party and Big Brother, but he has a strong hate towards the form of government that is ruling over him. Big Brother is an overlooking force in Oceania that monitors every aspect of society. Winston works in The Ministry of Truth, where he alters history. Instead of sitting back and accepting The Party like his fellow members of Oceania, Winston makes the audacious move to rebel. Winston faces a struggle
However, it is only Mrs. Parsons, a neighbor in his apartment building, needing help with the plumbing while her husband is away. In Mrs. Parsons's apartment, Winston is tormented by the fervent Parsons children, who, being Junior Spies, accuse him of thought crime. The Junior Spies is an organization of children who monitor adults for disloyalty to the Party, and frequently succeed in catching them-Mrs. Parsons herself seems afraid of her zealous children. The children are very agitated because their mother won't let them go to a public hanging of some of the Party's political enemies in the park that evening.
Love is an emotion affecting people's everyday lives. In the book “1984,”, George Orwell introduces his readers to this idea, with a compelling portrayal of this important feeling. In Orwell’s totalitarian society of Oceania, the ruling party attempts to demolish all love for anyone except Big Brother who controls them. The affection that normally exists between individuals, in Oceania, warps to exist between individuals tortured and those torturing them. This is demonstrated by familial bonds and affection between siblings, wives, mothers, fathers and children, changing and creating an opportunity for the government to monitor its citizens. In contrast the interactions between the main character, Winston and his oppressor, O'Brien exhibit true love. Real connections between regular human beings in Oceania are virtually non existent due to actions taken by the government to destroy these bonds.
George Orwell creates a dark, depressing and pessimistic world where the government has full control over the masses in the novel 1984. The protagonist, Winston, is low-level Party member who has grown to resent the society that he lives in. Orwell portrays him as a individual that begins to lose his sanity due to the constrictions of society. There are only two possible outcomes, either he becomes more effectively assimilated or he brings about the change he desires. Winston starts a journey towards his own self-destruction. His first defiant act is the diary where he writes “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER.” But he goes further by having an affair with Julia, another party member, renting a room over Mr. Carrington’s antique shop where Winston conducts this affair with Julia, and by following O’Brien who claims to have connections with the Brotherhood, the anti-Party movement led my Emmanuel Goldstein. Winston and Julia are both eventually arrested by the Thought Police when Mr. Carrington turns out to be a undercover officer. They both eventually betray each other when O’Brien conducts torture upon them at the Ministry of Love. Orwell conveys the limitations of the individual when it comes to doing something monumental like overthrowing the established hierarchy which is seen through the futility of Winston Smith’s actions that end with his failure instead of the end of Big Brother. Winston’s goal of liberating himself turns out to be hopeless when the people he trusted end up betraying him and how he was arbitrarily manipulated. It can be perceived that Winston was in fact concerned more about his own sanity and physical well-being because he gives into Big Brother after he is tortured and becomes content to live in the society he hated so much. Winston witnesses the weakness within the prole community because of their inability to understand the Party’s workings but he himself embodies weakness by sabotaging himself by associating with all the wrong people and by simply falling into the arms of Big Brother. Orwell created a world where there is no use but to assimilate from Winston’s perspective making his struggle utterly hopeless.
Winston works for 1 of the 4 government agency’s, The Ministry of Truth. In his job he re-writes old news articles so they show that The Party has always been and will be in control. By re-writing everything in print, The Party effectively changes history. The only proof of actual history is in the minds of the people who were there. Winston realizes that there is something wrong with this, yet he doesn’t know what. The re-writing of history is all he has ever known. It is most likely Winston’s job that leads him to rebel against The Party.
His primary one being his curiosity; as the Party essentially holds the control of the public’s knowledge, Winston repeatedly expresses his confusion and desire to know more. Which can be seen with him questioning how we truly “know that two and two make four” (7,80) and pondering “if the mind itself is controllable…what then?”(7,80). As can be seen Winston is confused by his own knowledge, especially living in a society where freethought is considered a crime. Therefore the thirst for knowledge or more so for the freedom of it is his primary motivation. His secondary motivation is his desire to reconnect with the past. Throughout the novel, it becomes clear that Winston had a desire to reconnect with the past. Winston takes a risky measure by going into a prole pub to ask an elderly man who can “remember what it was like in the old days, before the Revolution”(8,89) for his memories. Through taking a risky action, Winston demonstrates his desperation for the past, part of this is likely rooted for his thirst for knowledge as well. Winston also has an affinity for old objects such as the paper weight or the diary he bought; which is his biggest crime of all. Lastly his third motivation was the want for individualism. Although this is not something Winston continually expresses his desires about; it is visible with his actions. For example the purchase of the diary; a place to document his inner thoughts.
“To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity” (Nelson Mandela). Throughout the novel 1984, written by George Orwell, there is a severe lack of humanity. During the course of the novel, the level of humanity is tested through the challenges Winston and Julia face in their war against the Party. In 1984, humanity has been impacted by the Party’s control over its members, its lack of control over its members, and its war against love.
The constant theme of betrayal in 1984 is being used by George Orwell to show how hopeless Winston’s struggle against the Totalitarian system is, giving the reader an idea of how bad this type of government is. The reader is introduced to this dark time and given hope in the form of the rebellious protagonist, Winston. However, the reader soon realises how hopelessly alone Winston is in his silent battle when they see that the government is against him, he has no support or allies, and that even his own mind can be turned against him. The message is clear and makes readers who live in a democracy happier with what they have.
As such, Winston leaves the Ministry of love as a drastically changed man, forged into the image of perfection in the eyes of Big Brother. The foundation of his new personality is his ability to effortlessly commit crimes at a subconscious level. Thoughts that interfere with Party views are promptly erased from Winston’s mind. “False memories” such as when “his mother was sitting opposite of him and also laughing” (309, 308) were recollections of happiness, and thus, dangerous to Party ideologies. The ability to selectively believe which memories are true and which ones are false, using Party ideals as reference, is one of the main traits of a perfect Party member.
Love is the foundation and the weakness of a totalitarian regime. For a stable totalitarian society, love between two individuals is eliminated because only a relationship between the person and the party and a love for its leader can exist. The totalitarian society depicted throughout the Orwell’s novel 1984 has created a concept of an Orwellian society. Stalin’s Soviet state can be considered Orwellian because it draws close parallels to the imaginary world of Oceania in 1984. During the twentieth century, Soviet Russia lived under Stalin’s brutal and oppressive governments, which was necessary for Stalin to retain power. In both cases, brutality and oppression led to an absence of relationships and love. This love was directed towards Stalin and Big Brother, and human beings became willing servants of their leader. The biggest threat to any totalitarian regime is love, or the lack of it. As Orwell said, they key danger to the system is “the growth of liberalism and skepticism in their own ranks” (Orwell 171). For example, in the novel it was the desire of the Party to eliminate love and sex, in order to channel this pent-up passion towards the love of Big Brother. Similarly, Stalin used propaganda and extreme nationalism to brainwash the peoples of Russia. He channeled their beliefs into a passion for Soviet ideals and a love of Stalin. In both cases, love for anything but the Party is the biggest threat to the regime. The stability of the Party and Stalin’s regime directly depended upon loyalty to the government above all else. By drawing upon the close relationships between the two Orwellian societies, we can examine just how dangerous love is to the Party.
1984, by George Orwell, explores the importance of love, independence, and responsibility making this dramatic novel an instant teen classic. A society with no individual thought or love, is a lifeless world full of desolate unity. In these nations, power runs rampant because there is one to care about each individual’s needs or wants. George Orwell slowly reveals that the “ Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power…We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the