“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 Party has a complete grip over all of its members’ lives. The members pretty much do not have any control over what they do, what they say, or who they can love. In fact, they are not even allowed to love. This extreme grip allows the Party to control each and every one of its members’ …show more content…
actions. They are basically slaves to the Party. This control that the Party has over its members prevents them from being human. In essence, the party’s control turns them into robots. The defining characteristics of a human are: the freedom of expression, the ability to think however he/she wants, and the freedom to love. The Party’s control over its members takes away every one of these characteristics. For example, Party members are constantly monitored to assure they do not say anything negative about the party. As Orwell describes Winston’s flat, he says “Inside the flat a fruity voice was reading out a list of figures […] voice came from an oblong metal plaque […] the instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely” (Orwell 2). The telescreens prevent anyone from expressing their opinions due to the fear of being arrested by the Party. Another characteristic is taken away through doublethink. The Party takes away the members’ ability to think however they want through doublethink. Doublethink is described as “the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it” (Orwell 80). Doublethink prevents Party members from being able to think however they want to. One day they are told to believe that 2+2=4 and then the other day they tell you that 2+2=5. Forced to believe whatever the Party wants them to believe, party members have no control over their thoughts. The last characteristic the Party takes away is the ability to love. It prevents its members from being intimate with each other and arrests them if they do not obey. All of these characteristics are snatched away from the people of Oceania and prevents them from being humans. The Party’s control over its members does not just affect their humanity; it takes away all of their humanity. They become empty shells familiar with nothing but obedience. Furthermore, the party also lacks control in some areas.
The proles are a group of people that are not really connected to the Party in anyway. They do not have any restrictions. However, the Party’s lack of control is one of the reasons the proles have committed some inhumane actions. Throughout the novel, the proles are described as people who have to fight to survive. They live in poverty and it seems like they have to fight for the things they want. Winston witnessed the proles rioting for something as simple as a household appliance. Orwell described it as “A riot! The proles are breaking loose at last! When he had reached the spot it was to see a mob of two or three hundred women crowding round the stalls of a street market […] appeared that one of the stalls had been selling tin saucepans. They were wretched, flimsy things, but cooking-pots of any kind were always difficult to get” (Orwell 70). Orwell describes their conditions as people who are struggling to stay alive. The proles are in a situation where it is basically survival of the fittest. They cannot afford to have humanity. If thought about in a certain way, the Party’s lack of control has led to the prole’s inhumanness. If the Party regulated the conditions the prole’s lived in, they might be more
humane. In addition to the multitude of actions the party frowns upon, loving someone is something that can almost certainly grant death to Party members. Winston and Julia do a good job at maintaining their humanity through their love for each other. Although it is not perfect, it still shows that they are more human than the other party members. For example, a crucial demonstration of Winston and Julia’s humanity is Julia’s confession of her love for Winston. As Orwell describes the moment Winston finds out, he says “[…] the scrap of paper on top of it. […] On it was written […] I love you. […] he could not resist reading it once again, just to make sure that the words were really there” (Orwell 108). The expression “butterflies in my stomach” would perfectly fit Winston’s case. He was beyond excited after learning that Julia loved him. On the other end, Julia admits something that someone who does not have an ounce of humanity would not be able to admit. Part of being human is being able to have emotional attachments. If Julia and Winston did not have any humanity left in them, they would not be able to have feelings for one another. Seen through their love for one another, Winston and Julia are able to maintain some sense of humanity even though the Party does everything it can to prevent it. All things considered, humanity can be summed up as a differentiation factor. Humanity is what would make every party member different. However, too much regulation by the party prevented members from expressing anything and too little regulation did not motivate proles to express anything. As an illustration, United States does a good job of regulation; it does not forestall people from expressing their opinions through too much regulation. On the other end of the spectrum, North Korea does a horrendous job at regulating; it is almost exactly like Oceania, preventing citizens from expressing themselves. Even though many people in 1984 relinquish their humanity in trepidation of the Party, there a few that are strong-willed enough to rebel.
In “1984,” Orwell uses Winston to portray a single individual’s attempt to take action against a powerful government, culminating in his failure and subjugation. His individual efforts failed tremendously due to the overarching power of the Party to control every aspect of social life in Oceania. Orwell uses Winston’s deeply seated hatred of the Party to portray his views on power and social change. Winston’s actions show that even in the direst of situations ...
It is said that 1984 is one of the greatest books ever written, a literary work that remains as transcendent as ever since its publishing date sixty-four years ago. It is a grimly realistic story crafted together by George Orwell, who takes upon particularly effective literary elements, such as the limited third-person point of view, to follow the life of Winston Smith, the average everyday, resentful civilian who attempts to fight against the seemingly omnipotent and ubiquitous powers of the Ingsoc Party. The Ingsoc Party, a totalitarian government that governs the fictional country of Oceania, holds a casket of brilliantly intelligent individuals, some of who are members of the terrifying Thought Police and the notorious Inner Party, who employ informal language against the uneducated masses of Oceania civilians. Symbolism is also a key literary element in the novel, for anything ranging from ubiquitous telescreens to the infamous Big Brother ultimately contribute to Winston’s realization of how unbreakable the power of the Ingsoc Party truly is. All throughout 1984, George Orwell exercises the elements of diction, point of view, and symbolism to bring out the novel’s theme of how futile resistance is against established totalitarian governments.
“The rest or the social structure consists of an inner party, the outer party, and then the proletarians, who form the majority, 85% of the people. The stratification of Oceania typifies the social set up in most of the dictatorial establishments where the leader and some few members of the ruling class are extremely privileged and the rest languish in sheer lack and a difficult life” (Icke, Macmillan and Orwell 13). Of most interest are the organs of governance in this state. They consist of the police, who enforce the surveillance and ensure that wherever one goes, the government is omnipresent. The presence of the law enforcers everywhere is the basis of the predicaments of Winston and Julia, who are lovers.
Every part of life is regimented and controlled, but the only crime is ‘thought crime’: independent thinking and individualism. Big Brother is the figurehead of the Inner Party, and throughout the book, it is heavily implied that he may not really exist. The people are divided into Inner Party members, who control the government, Outer Party members, who make up the middle class, and Proletarians, or Proles, who make up the uneducated lower class. He utilizes strong but vague descriptions of the world around Winston to hint at the state of the world without directly saying it. He describes a bright cold day, which seems to perfectly depict the world's bleak state in a sort of indirect way (Orwell, 1948).
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.
There are many characters in the novel 1984. These characters all rebel in separate and distinctive ways from each other. In George Owell’s not so sanguine vision of the year 1984 from his standpoint in 1949, he tells of a dreary future of what the world was becoming. In this future, no one has the right to anything, including free speech, freedom of press or even freedom of thought. Even the details like the history of the known world are changed by a corrupt and ever growing political party, which is managed and run by un-emotional and odious officials. From Julia, who rebels by purely simple, sexual acts, to Winston, who dreams to overthrow the party; all the characters have their own personal way of dealing with the oppression.
Through different experiences, beliefs, values and ideas, individuals can evolve identity through human nature, in society and critical life experiences. Human nature is elucidated dystopically in the works of George Orwell’s novel, 1984, and James McTeigue’s visual, V for Vendetta, which represent divergent societies, bound by totalitarian oppression and degrading human constructs. Published in 1948 by George Orwell, 1984 is a novel set in a future society, scarred by eternal war, ubiquitous government surveillance, controlled history and tyrannical manipulation by the superstate. Winston Smith, a diligent Outer Party member, inconspicuously rebels against the English socialist, ‘Ingsoc’ Party and despot leader, ‘Big Brother’, by regaining
The Party is controlling and manipulating the language to try to make it completely pure ¬– clear of any rebellious or disobedient words. This way, all the citizens will be ignorant because they will have no words to express themselves. They will not be capable of conceptualizing anything that could question the Party’s totalitarian power. The Party will therefore be able to keep absolute strength and power.
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.
In the novel 1984, Orwell produced a social critique on totalitarianism and a future dystopia that made the world pause and think about our past, present and future. When reading this novel we all must take the time to think of the possibility that Orwell's world could come to pass. Orwell presents the concepts of power, marginalization, and resistance through physical, psychological, sexual and political control of the people of Oceania. The reader experiences the emotional ride through the eyes of Winston Smith, who was born into the oppressive life under the rule of Ingsoc. Readers are encouraged through Winston to adopt a negative opinion on the idea of communist rule and the inherent dangers of totalitarianism. The psychological manipulation and physical control are explored through Winston's journey, and with Winston's resistance and ultimate downfall, the reader is able to fully appreciate O'Briens reasoning, "Power is not a means, it is an end."
The Party is a totalitarian government. Neither the Outer Party nor the proles (proletariat) have any influence on the direction of their country or the rules that govern their lives. The Inner Party manipulates the media and infiltrates citizens' private lives to gain complete control over every aspect of human existence, including love and sex. When the propaganda, deprivation, and rigid guidelines
The Party Controls the Conditions of Human Psychology 3. The Party Controls god. How The Party Controls Reality? How does the party control history? How does it affect the future?
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.
What does it mean to be human? Is it the millions of cells that you’re composed of? Or is it something more? In George Orwell’s book 1984, through the use of his protagonist, Orwell looks at what it really means to be human. In a world that is built on destruction and manipulation, Orwell takes a look at how a totalitarian government affects humankind and a person’s ability to stay “human”.
What does it mean to be human? Is it the millions of cells that you’re composed of, or is it something more? In George Orwell’s book 1984, through the use of his protagonist, Orwell looks at what it really means to be human. In a world that is built on destruction and manipulation, Orwell takes a look at how a totalitarian government affects humankind and a person’s ability to stay “human”.