Sigmund Freud once wrote, “Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.” This can be seen in Georg Orwell’s 1984, which depicts an all-poweul totalitarian society where the government, knowen as the Party or Big Brother, has complete control over the people. Our protagonist, Winston, despises the Party, and secretly rebels by writing his seditious thoughts in a secret diary. To rebel, he starts a covert affair with Julie, another person that also despises the party, and joins the Brotherhood, secret organization devoted to overthrowing the Party, but is later captured by the Party. At first he resists but when faced with torture, Winston immediately betrays his lover, Julia. He surrenders and accepts the Party’s rule, gaining a love for Big Brother. Ultimately, he gives up his fight for freedom and his love for Julia. Throughout the novel 1984, Orwell examines the relationship between love and freedom. In doing so, he suggests that they cannot survive in a repressive society, and attempting to fight it is a useless struggle. Towards the beginning of the novel, Orwell depicts Winston listening to the song of a thrush. He writes, “But by degrees the flood of the music drove all speculations out of [Winston’s] mind” (124). Here, Orwell uses a metaphor to emphasize that freedom of expression is found everywhere in nature. This emphasis implies that in order to be free, we have to show our yearning for freedom. So as to accomplish this, we can not be suppressed. Therefore, this passage reveals that freedom requires devotion, passion, and the absence of oppression. A lot like the longing for freedom, the nature of obtaining love also requires certain conditions. Towards the m... ... middle of paper ... ...the Big Brother can only maintain its oppressive nature if the people are supportive of it and not of other beliefs, namely love and freedom. Throughout his novel,Orwell uses striking style choices and figurative language to emphasize that in a oppressive society, neither love nor freedom can exist. Oppressive societies can only remain in power when there is an absence of these because their survival relies on the people’s loyalty to the government, not to each other. This requires that these governments repress love for love and freedom creates loyalty and trust between people. Without these two necessities, the government will be able to remain in power, and people lose their purpose of living. This reveals that in our world today, we are only able to live freely and be able to love as long as the government allows us to do so. Works Cited Orwell, George 1984
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.
Much can happen in a matter of minutes; a man can go from thinking he is happy to thinking his life is falling apart, or can change from hating someone to loving them. These experiences sound outlandish, but they happened to Guy Montag, the main character in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and Winston Smith, the main character in George Orwell’s 1984. These two dystopian novels are about the characters discovering major problems in their societies, and then trying to fix them. Montag lives in a society where television controls people’s lives and books have become illegal. On the other hand Smith lives in Oceania, a territory led by a totalitarian regime. This regime is headed by Big Brother and is referred to as the Party. By examining Fahrenheit 451 and 1984, it is seen, not only through the dehumanized nature of society, but also through the theme of lies and manipulation that both Orwell and Bradbury wish to warn of a horrifying future society.
Authors often use their works as a way to express their own opinions and ideologies. However, it is the skill of the author that determines whether these ideas are combined with the plot seamlessly, making a creative transition of ideas from the author’s mind, to the reader’s. There is no doubt that George Orwell is a masterful writer, and one of his most popular works, 1984, clearly expresses his negative views of the Totalitarian government. A common theme in the dystopian society in 1984 is betrayal: The Party is very intolerant towards any form of disloyalty, and anyone who plots against them or Big Brother will eventually either betray their own mind and accept Big Brother as their leader, or be betrayed and revealed to The Party by one of their so-called comrades. Overall, Orwell is using this constant theme of betrayal to show how alone and alienated the protagonist (Winston Smith) is in his quest against Totalitarianism, thus showing how flawed and hopeless the political system is.
...t came out, and now there are times that I believe Orwell was right. We have not been completely overrun by the government, but there are instances that we might have to fear Big Brother in our own society. Oppression is not something I have faced in my lifetime, but fear of what could be is also its own form of oppression.
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.
According to Goldstein, the Big Brother will never die and is the guise in which the Party chooses to exhibit itself to the world. Big Brother is a god under the control of the inner party.
Another interesting characteristic I noticed about the book, was the fact that he only revealed to the reader the full names of only three characters in the book. The book features the main character, Winston Smith, who is a man in his late 30's and a member of the 'outer party' - the lower of the two classes. Winston Smith works for the government in one of the four main government buildings called the Ministry of Truth where his job is to rewrite history books in order for people not to learn what the past used to be like (the slogan of 'the party' is "who controls the past, controls the future."). As the book is beginning, Winston begins to contemplate setting himself against Big Brother and the Party, but of course is reluctant, knowing that even thinking about such a thing could easily result in his death. The three sentences sum up what the party stands for, and they are:
In the novel 1984, George Orwell predicts the world’s future, when human rights, such as freedom of speech, do not exist anymore. Everyone has to obey the government. The government controls its citizens’ lives. No one speaks up against the government yet because they do not even have a chance to make up a thought about it. The government dominates the citizens’ thoughts by using technologies and the thought polices to make sure no one will have any thoughts, that is against the government. George Orwell wrote:“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows,” (Orwell.2.7.69) the government tries to control Winston knowledge and change it to fit into the purpose of the Party. To Winston, O’Brien said: “Whatever the Party holds to be truth is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party.” (Orwell.3.2.205). As a citizen, no one get to look at or tal...
In 1984, George Orwell explores the many facets of a negative utopia. Orwell seems to focus on the measures that the government takes to maintain a public of plebeians who have no personality or identity and believe that they are not unique individuals, but instead are part of a greater senseless mob of people who constantly work for a hostile and oppressive government which is involved in incessant wars. These people are taught to love. They then learn to fear their government because they believe all of the propaganda that is constantly instilled into their minds. They willing follow their government without contest for the duration of their meaningless lives. The government controls all forms of the media (thus denying the people the basic right of free speech) and use it to personify the government (known as “big brother”) .The government therefore seems omnipotent, or all knowing and always correct. Forecasts are changed from one week to the next always proving the government was correct. As was mentioned before, many of the rights that present day Westerners take for gran...
In 1984, George Orwell presents an overly controlled society that is run by Big Brother. The protagonist, Winston, attempts to “stay human” in the face of a dehumanizing, totalitarian regime. Big Brother possesses so much control over these people that even the most natural thoughts such as love and sex are considered taboo and are punishable. Big Brother has taken this society and turned each individual against one another. Parents distrust their own offspring, husband and wife turn on one another, and some people turn on their own selves entirely. The people of Oceania become brainwashed by Big Brother. Punishment for any uprising rebellions is punishable harshly.
‘“I had no money, I was weak, I was ugly, I was unpopular, I had a chronic cough, I was cowardly, I smelt…. The conviction that it was not possible for me to be a success went deep enough to influence my life’” (qtd. in “George Orwell”, 13). George Orwell is one of the most anthologized authors ever. He wrote numerous novels, essays, and critical writings. His work is believed strongly to be largely autobiographical because a lot of his real life has influenced his writing. Orwell’s works are greatly political. They are full of satire of the political wrong doings that he saw in the world at that time, and at the time what Orwell saw was the fallacies in the struggle for control and power in governments over the governed. Power is an interesting word in the English language; it has so many different meanings. Power in some cases can just mean energy. Like the power need to light up a house or the power needed to move a truck. However in this case, the word “power” takes on a darker more menacing connotation. Orwell’s definition of power is the possession of control or command over others; the political control of every aspect of a person’s life. Orwell writes about this theme on numerous occasions. Of these occasions there are a few works that stand out that best exemplifies the theme: Animal Farm, 1984, and “Shooting and Elephant.” It is in these stories that a recurring theme reveals itself. Power corrupts the people who wield it and strive to keep it strives to keep its subjects powerless. George Orwell, through his works, paints a concept of how the powerful can have rule over the powerless through the control of language and subsequently to control of thought.
George Orwell stated, “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”() The government is able to control how each and every
... He states that his motivation for writing is not mainly dominated by political purposes, but because of sheer egoism, aesthetic enthusiasm, and historical impulse. However, Orwell realizes that having a political purpose, such as his position against totalitarianism, helps bring life to his books. This essay emphasizes that Orwell had goals of becoming well known for his work.
... Winston and Julia were searching for this freedom. Orwell wants the reader to see the disadvantages and the lack of liberty given to the people in the totalitarian society. He wants the reader to see what's going to happen to the freedom of a common man.
At the end of the novel, Orwell describes Winston as a cured patient who has over come his metal disease. “He had won the victory over himself: he loved Big Brother” (Part 3, Chapter 6). Both Freud and Orwell break down the components of a person’s mind in the same way. Orwell’s character, Winston, depicts the different parts of the human mind so described by Freud. In Orwell’s 1984, he uncovers the same components of a human mind as seen by Freud, the instinctual drive of the id, the perceptions and actions of the ego, and the censorship imposed by the morality of the superego.