Society Dies When Individuality Dies
Conformity plagues one’s existence and stature in today’s society. Due to government intervention in citizens’ daily lives, many writers have questioned the morality of conformity in a society by the means of control. When control becomes rampant fascist and totalitarian governments are formed, and because of the rise in fascism and totalitarianism, many people were led to conform social ideals. Therefore, George Orwell critiques conformity within society through the use of Big Brother, Proles, and Winston. Orwell explores the social impact of government through the means of Big Brother and how it affects social conformity. Big Brother is a character presented in the novel which exercises restriction and
Winston writes, “Down with the Big Brother” (Orwell 19). From the beginning of the novel readers see Winston’s extreme disgust with the government. He expresses the views that no few in the society will. Winston rebels against the government to find meaning in his life. His journey into finding individuality shows his expression of freedom which no one else expressed. As Alex McGuinnis, a professional academic writer part of the Professional Development Collection, discusses the “Allness” language used by Big Brother to control a populous and perpetuate conformity within a society. As McGuinnis states, “Allness thinking is especially dangerous because those who influence our minds most in frequently are the people who are constantly groups using allness” (108). This quotes shows how Big Brother used “Allness” language to control the people in the society. Many times Winston is critical when talking about Big Brother and to show lack of conformity and resistance towards the regime. Tyner continues to show how Winton’s small actions show resistance towards a tyrannical regime. Winston challenges all societal behavior, such as expressing his thoughts in his journal and deciding to have an affair with Julia even though facing punishment by the government. In addition, readers see that “Allness” language is used and taught to younger generations to influence them from early in development. Winston’s change and expressions were miniscule resistance towards the whole society, but it still provides an example of an individual who choices not to conform to societies standards. Orwell express how even though with miniscule resistance towards conformity cannot get rid of it without the help of an entire
Big Brother - Big Brother is the enigmatic dictator of Oceania. In the society that Orwell describes, everyone is under complete surveillance by the authorities. The people are constantly reminded of this by the phrase "Big Brother is watching you", which is the core "truth" of the propaganda system in this state. In the novel, it is unclear if Big Brother is a man or an image crafted by the Party. In a book supposedly written by the rebel Emmanuel Goldstein, it is stated that nobody has ever seen Big Brother. His function is to act as a focusing point for love, fear, and reverence.
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 is confronted with struggle throughout the entirety of George Orwell`s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Living within a totalitarian regime subsequently causes Winston to seek approaches for dealing with such abundant oppression; he finds liberation through self-awareness, understanding and ultimately rebellion. First, Winston realizes that “if you want to keep a secret you must also hide it from yourself”, alluding to the notion of thoughtcrime (162). This recognition exemplifies the complete cognizance that Winston has regarding the oppressive society displayed throughout the novel. Next, Syme states “It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words”, alluding to the idea of Newspeak (28). This statement directly correlates to Winston speaking with other party members to gain knowledge about how others feels about policies deployed by the government. This information-seeking also connects with Winston`s rebellion, as he actively searched for others to join his uprising, which is shown when Winston tells O’Brien “We want to join [The Brotherhood]” (171). Winston’s attempt to join a rebellious organization exhibits his evident desire to release his suppressed emotions. Winston devises a very methodical approach to deal with the problematic society he resides in.
The book, 1984 by George Orwell, is about the external conflict between Winston Smith and Big Brother; and the internal conflict between the two ideas, democracy and totalitarianism. Orwell wrote the novel to show society what it could become if things kept getting worse: he sensed of the expansion of communism when he wrote the novel. The conflict between democracy and totalitarianism at the year of 1945 created two characters, Winston Smith and Big Brother, in orwell's mind. Big Brother is the embodiment of all the ideals of the totalitarian party. In contrast to Big Brother, Winston Smith keeps the idea of democracy emphasizes freedom, he has to hide his own thought because the Big Brother's party will punish him by death if the party finds it out. George orwell criticizes of Big Brother's society by describing it as a dark and a gloomy place. It warns that people might believe that everyone must become slaves to the government in order to have an orderly society, but at the expense of the freedom of the people.
Conformity is an entity that occurs in the lives of the ordinary; an infinite precedent and inner machination of the enigma people call human nature. Consensus from hordes of people and authority influence independent thoughts, actions, and consciousness, a fundamental social mistake that consequently leads to stripped individuality and ultimately orthodoxy. In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, all plebeians’ voices are spoken as one and are universal. The plebeians display no debate or disagreement and are easily moved by the speeches of Brutus and Antony. In George Orwell’s 1984, the proletarians are all content; they have no need to rebel. Winston, the protagonist, is desperate to guard the ‘spirit of humanity’ while withholding his will to seek truth, yet he falters and joins the majority that will continue to maintain class hierarchy. Both, works delve into the instinct of human beings and the power of social pressures, showing that many will adopt views and beliefs even without realization, ultimately giving up one’s own individuality and free thinking. The fickle love of the plebeians in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and the ignorance of the proletarians in George Orwell’s 1984 portray conformity through the majority’s natural instinct to follow authority.
Big Brother and modern day government have been able to control its citizens through surveillance equipment, and fear all for a little more power. There is much to learn from such an undesirable form of society, much like the one of Oceania in 1984. Examining Big Brother government closely, alarming connections can be made to real-world government actions in the United States and the cruel world within Orwell's book.
The books main themes include language as mind control and psychological and physical intimidation and manipulation. In the book, the people live in a city which is very out of the ordinary and also overseen by a charismatic leader, Big Brother. This society, portrayed by George Orwell has all the elements of a cult-like and totalist society.
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.
Orwell attended a small preparatory school on the south coast of Bengal, where he felt out of place because the others in the school were much better off than he was. Because of the way he viewed the world thro...
Party members in Oceanic society are constantly reminded of their government’s omnipotence through propaganda. The most common of which is the portrait of Big Brother, which is meant to assert fear into the viewer. Orwell successfully translates this mood through his language when describing this portrait, saying that it was “something that penetrated inside your skull, battering against your brain, frightening you out of your beliefs, persuading you, almost, to deny the evidence of your senses” (Orwell). By carefully choosing his words, the reader became more aware of how a simple picture can incite panic in a citizen of Oceanic society. He also changes the point of view to the second person, causing the reader to feel the emotion directed at themselves. This writing alone makes the reader understand how Winston’s seemingly obvious position in society is obscured by the complexity of his situation. By studying this passage, a reader will begin to understand the manipulation and confusion that a totalitarian government can cause, destroying the sanity of its people until they have no choice but to obey. Winston even admits that despite all the claims he could make against his governments validity, the government could be right. He know he does not have the mental ability to figure everything out on his own, so it was inevitable for him to eventually
The book itself starts off with this sense of criminalizing individual thought. Winston is rejected for thinking differently and not adoring Big Brother, so Big Brother ‘taught’ him how to think right. Part of the convincing was not only through violent punishment but this sort of band-wagoning use of conforming and that ‘it’s better to be like everyone else’! Even the ‘happy’ conformists however experienced this sort of constant fear of punishment that convinces them to conform. In the book it clearly states that the ‘Party’ ‘knew better than to think bad things about Big Brother cause they knew Big Brother wouldn’t like that’. What
Identity, in today’s society, is often taken for granted. We have the ability to be anything we wish to be and act in any way we wish to act, but in the 1984 novel by George Orwell, identity is not taken for granted because it does not exist at all. Winston Smith, the narrator, lives in a dystopian society based on the idea of totalitarian government rule. This government is known as Big Brother. In order for Big Brother to stay in power, a few things are necessary: identity cannot exist; everything and everyone must be uniform; the past must be controlled in order to regulate the present; and the people must constantly be practicing the ideas of Newspeak and Doublethink, a form of control the government holds over the people.
The recent surge of popularity of the far-right political parties in Europe interestingly contrasts with the democratic left-wing views present in North America. Different extremist governments have abridged citizens’ basic human rights such as freedom and privacy throughout the course of history. In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, Big Brother indirectly impacts the story through his reign over the Party, an extremist authoritarian regime. His symbolic omnipresence affects literary elements such as theme and the development of other characters.
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.
Born in India and raised in England, George Orwell was exposed to various events during his lifetime that would immensely impact himself and his literary techniques. As a child, Orwell obviously had a strong potential in the world of literacy and in return, received the King’s scholarship to a boy’s prep school. Upon completion of school, he joined the Indian Imperial Army but deferred in 1927 because of his undeniable hatred for authority (George 2). The time spent at school and in the army were key events in his life because they assisted the formation of opinions that he would later write about in tremendous detail. Based on unpleasant experiences with strong authority, Orwell’s articles commonly elaborat...