Similarities Between 1984 And The Truman Show

Nearly two and a half centuries ago, the American Revolutionary war was waged over an idea that is still even contested about in today's society. That provocative idea is called freedom. It sparked the colonial revolt in the thirteen colonies and it split the the United States in two during the American Civil War. As well as being involved with war, the idea of free will has also been at the center of the entertainment business, especially with these titles: The Truman Show and the novel 1984. Both of these titles are centered around the concept of freedom, except each has a different outcome. In The Truman Show, the protagonist (Jim Carrey) is able to make his own choice to obtain free will. However, in the book 1984, the protagonist is unable

to acquire free will. Despite these different conclusions, the question still remains: Do the people that inhabit this world have freedom, or is it a hoax? Ultimately, the people that live in today's society are free to do what they wish and that freedom could never be taken away, which is illustrated by the actions of Truman in The Truman show, Winston’s choice to retaliate against the party, and by humanity's will to be free.
Initially, Truman Burbank was enjoying life in the town called Seahaven until he suddenly discovered that he was being watched by millions of people across the globe. With this discovery, he decided to leave Seahaven in pursuit of a real life. As a result of this, the ending scene of the movie depicts Truman standing before an exit of the TV studio when suddenly Kristof’s voice erupts over a loudspeaker trying to convince Truman to stay. With the audience in suspense, Truman replied with none other than “Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!”(Truman Show, Amazon Prime). At that moment, he had freedom to choose to stay or leave, and he elected to leave. Now he did not have free will to leave just by asking however, he did have enough freedom to leave unnoticed. In comparison with today's world, he did not have any liberties that individuals take for granted nowadays, yet he did have enough free will to forcefully leave under his own actions. This proves that the people of today's society will always have free will. It is just a matter of what modern day society will do to retain it or get it back like Truman.
Similarly, the novel 1984 resembles the The Truman Show even though the ending is far from a happily ever after.

To illustrate, the ending of 1984 is supposed to be an example of what can happen if government gets too much control. Specifically, the book's conclusion portrays Winston Smith sitting in a café thinking about his time in the Ministry of Love where he was tortured for rebelling against the party. Winston revolted against the government for several reasons, but the main one lies with his hate for the party. No one else influenced him to do this, therefore Winston had total control over his actions. As an example of this, Winston stated that “We are enemies of the party” (Orwell, 170). This means that he openly hates the party and wishes to defy them. This statement proves that he wanted to and had the freedom to make the choice to defy them, although his decision did get him killed. Despite the possible repercussions, he still went through with it because he had free will to do it; it was not until the party discovered him did he lose his free will. To put this into perspective with today's society, if the United States removed all the rights that Americans have now, then it would not stop people from defying the government’s actions of removing free will. Individuals will still break the new laws to keep their liberties, no matter the consequences. Therefore, today’s society will never lose its free will as long as there are people willing to keep

it.
If history has taught mankind anything, it is that man desires freedom and it will do anything in its power to possess it. One of the most famous examples of obtaining free will is the American Revolutionary War. This war inspired millions of people all over the planet to follow in the footsteps of America. Since then, uprisings and civil wars have resulted with new democratic states in almost every country in the world. This can all be traced back to an excerpt written in the Declaration of Independence, “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness”(Jefferson, ushistory.org). This statement proves that even when government takes away people’s liberties, the people will always have a right to take action to get them back. Therefore, humanity will always have the freedom to revolt against governments to keep their freedom. It is just a matter of how much risk someone wants to take. So at the end of the day, the modern day society will always have free will but it may come at a cost.
In conclusion, the people of today's society will undoubtedly always have free will due to the actions of individuals like Truman Burbank and Winston Smith as wells as mankind's undying will to be free. The actions of these two characters have proved that even when free will is under attack, there is always another path that can be taken to reclaim that freedom. Truman’s and Winston’s actions perfectly exhibit this; they have shown that free will is never lost, because both of them rebelled against the higher authority in order to procure freedom. This demonstrates that liberty is never truly lost because steps can always be taken to get independence. Furthermore, the desire to have free will has brilliantly been displayed throughout the history of mankind, an example of this can be seen when the thirteen colonies fought for independence against Great Britain. Consequently, the Revolutionary War established the human right to revolt against any destructive government. Therefore, if freedom is ever taken away, then it can always be taken back with force. So the day when free will is lost, is the day when humanity perishes.