1984 George Orwell Identity Analysis

The novel 1984, written by George Orwell, asks whether people should hide their true identity to remain safe, or if people should live the way they wish regardless of the consequences. It may seem that if Winston had not rebelled against the party he would have been better off, but this is not true. Keeping your true feelings to yourself and living how other people want you, is torture in-of-itself. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said “imitation is suicide” and this quote is true. Every day lived like someone else and spent hiding your true self is soul-crushing death. Although The Party beat and tortured Winston, keeping his thoughts of rebellion to himself would not have made him better off. #

# Secrets often cause irrational acts. Often times

when people have secrets they tend to over-focus on trying to keep them hidden. Instead of focusing on acting natural, they put all of their energy into protecting their secret and this results in attention drawn to them. After writing in his journal, Winston felt “an almost overwhelming temptation to shout a string of filthy words at the top of his voice. Or to bang his head against the wall, to kick over the table, and hurl the inkpot through the window — to do any violent or noisy or painful thing…” (Orwell 36). # Secrets do this to people. The secrets grow and grow and worm themselves to the surface. Secrets are not content staying hidden; they like the light of day where others can view them. This makes them dangerous.
Winston’s capture by the Thought Police was guaranteed even if he kept his thoughts to himself, even if he did not write in the journal, even if he did not meet with O’Brien.

Simply holding the idea to rebel ensured Winston’s capture. Secrets can never just exist in the mind, they always cause physical manifestations. Winston states, “Your worst enemy… was your own nervous system. At any moment the tension inside you was liable to translate itself into some visible symptom” (Orwell 36). He vividly remembers walking down the street and seeing “the left side of the man’s face was suddenly contorted by a sort of spasm… it was only a twitch, a quiver, rapid as the clicking of a camera shutter, but obviously habitual” (Orwell 36). These small tics will be the cause of the man’s capture. The Thought Police use small unconscious movements to determine when people are hiding

secrets.
The Thought Police even arrested Parsons, an upright citizen and avid follower of The Party.

When Winston questions Parsons he says “Do you know how it got hold of me? In my sleep! Yes, that’s a fact… never knew I had any bad stuff in my mind at all. And then I started talking in my sleep. Do you know what they heard me saying?... ‘Down with Big Brother!’ Yes, I said that! Said it over and over again” (Orwell 135). The Party trained children to spy on their parents and then awarded the children’s courage. Parsons says his own daughter turned him in for talking in his sleep, but she most likely made up the story to gain the respect of the Thought Police. The Party did not care whether accusations were true or false. They detained anyone who seemed suspicious. Winston stood no chance of avoiding capture if the Thought Police apprehended a perfect man like

Parsons.