Set in a dystopian society where deceit is common amongst the population, George Orwell's 1984 is an investigation of the concept of truth. Since its publication in 1949, the novel has been consistently referenced to throughout history in response to dictating leaders and power-thirsty politicians. Its popularity is a result of readers identifying themselves with the main protagonist, Winston Smith and his rebellion against the totalitarian government. The Party's recreation of reality, Winston's struggle with authenticity and his eventual submission to the Party's ideology contributes to the novel's exploration of truth. The dictatorial society of Oceania within 1984 brings to question the plausibility of objective truth and whether through …show more content…
Responsible for the rectification of history, the Records Department initiates the doubt of the concept of objectivity. The employees are to participate in doublethink; to believe in multiple contradictory statements at once. In response to his work, the protagonist exclaims, “I understand HOW: I do not understand WHY”. This display of confusion represents Winston's, along with the other employees' failure to understand the Party’s need for the falsification of records. Their strict control over the past enables them to dictate what is considered as truth; shaping it into whatever suits their doctrine. Nevertheless, the alteration of history contributes towards placing a doubtful light on objectivity; although perhaps the objective truth is, in fact, a collection of subjective truths. Orwell expressed Winston’s change in the statement, “It was like swimming against a current … then deciding to turn round …show more content…
The Party’s exploitation of subjective truth, that being Winston’s fear of rats, in Room 101 acted as the catalyst which coaxed him towards the end of his rebellion. He abandoned the only uncontrolled aspect of his life; his relationship and bond to Julia. His betrayal is signified through the pleas, "Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don't care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Julia! Not me!" The situation is an exploration into his last moments of personal subjectivity; his desperation is prevalent before the eventual submission to The Party. This example of a failed rebellion, presents the consequences of torture coupled with a weak mentality and the extent the party go to in order to reinforce their ideology. Although on the other hand, perhaps the separation between Winston and Julia also contributed towards the failure of his rebellion as her presence may have been able to encourage him. Through the exploitation of pain and fear, the Party is able to disrupt the bonds between people as a means to keep their doctrine alive. The government targets and tortures people separately to ultimately remove any trace of their desire for rebellion. In the following statement Julia expresses the harsh truths of what the Party was able to drive them to, despite their established relationship prior to their arrest. Julia
He purchased a small journal from a shop and began to write in it out of view of the telescreen in his house, which allows anything in front of it to potentially be seen or heard. At first he had some difficulties as he could only manage to write jumbles of some of his memories, but then he began to write things like “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER (Orwell, page 18).” He later had an encounter with one of his fellow coworkers, O’Brien, which got him thinking that there might be others out in the world who see things the way he does, including O’Brien himself. Winston eventually decides that his diary will become a sort of letter to O’Brien, and to a future or past where things might have been different. In these diary entries he wrote things such as, “To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone—to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone…(Orwell, page 28).” This refers to how citizens think and act the same and previous events are not written as they happened, but altered to Big Brother’s benefit. He also wrote, “Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death (Orwell, page 28).” This can be further explained by Winston’s previous thought, “The consequences of every act are included in the act itself (Orwell, page 28).” Winston
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.
Book One uncovered how the government attempted to restrict any kind of expression to gain absolute control, but there are still strains of people who were unwilling to be subordinate to it’s power, such as Winston. Im the first few chapters, Winston, an seemingly ordinary worker in the Records Department took his first step of rebellion by writing in a diary. Just this simple act of writing your thoughts into a book could be dangerous, because it would generate individual thoughts. It was very true too as seen in this quote “ His pen had slid voluptuously over the smooth paper, printing in large neat capitals- DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER ” Unknowingly, he had written this down, and this was a thoughtcrime of high caliber. Even if he had tried to stop himself, his inner thoughts couldn’t help but want to defy the government. The party had destroyed all records of the past and altered...
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.
While the alienated Winston speaks to Julia, he conveys that, “If there is hope, it lies in the proles.” (Orwell 91). Despite conventional beliefs, Winston’s defiant self believes in freedom. Winston concludes this due to his infatuation with Julia. Despite the fact that Julia complies with Winston, she shows her stance against Big Brother in a higher rebellious way. Julia further on concedes to Winston that she has committed sexual infractions “scores” of times. Both of these characters, although peculiar, bear the same
In this current age, people are given many freedoms and options from where they want to work, to the clothing they can wear. However, with the rapid advancements in technology, privacy is becoming more and more scarce and of concern as many companies track the searching data of users of the internet. In the same way, this is very much one of the ideas that 1984, a dystopian novel written by George Orwell wanted to address. Within the dystopian, totalitarianistic society featured in the novel, critical thought and the individual identities of citizens are suppressed through the alteration of history, lack of nutrition provided to the citizens of the society, and limitations placed on the family unit. Consequently, this quest for total power
Julia is a prime example as to how she is denied her own femininity. As a more experienced political rebel than Winston, Julia longs to express how she feels as a woman. On one outing in which she hides away with Winston, unsuspecting of the fact that they were being secretly monitored, she spritzes herself with perfume and applies makeup. There is a lack of skill, clearly evident by her face, which further emphasizes that for most of her life, she was denied having such things that are traditionally viewed to be ways that women express themselves. The censorship of her femininity shows the bondage of those being oppressed by the Party. Despite the fact that Julia claims she will do her best to find a real dress in order to become a true woman, she never receives the chance. She is captured by the Thought Police along with Winston before she is able to do
In 1984, The government controls the citizens of Oceania by the use of telescreens and by revising the past. The protagonist, Winston Smith, says, “And if all the others accepted the lie which the Party imposed - if all records told the same tale - then the lie passed into history and became the truth.
Dystopian novels are written to reflect the fears a population has about its government, and they are successful because they capture that fright and display what can happen if it is ignored. George Orwell wrote 1984 with this fear of government in mind and used it to portray his opinion of the current government discretely. Along with fear, dystopian novels have many other elements that make them characteristic of their genre. The dystopian society in Orwell’s novel became an achievement because he utilized a large devastated city, a shattered family system, life in fear, a theme of oppression, and a lone hero. Orwell’s novel begins with a horrid description of the living conditions of his main character, Winston.
Such sentiments alarm the audience of the government’s ability exert such extreme measure over the people, and eliminating language as a form of expression. The punishment for thoughtcrime, the reprimand for thoughts about rebellion, invaded the sovereignty of privacy to stamp out dissent at the source. Citizens had to live in “the assumption that every sound...was overheard” and “every movement scrutinized” (3). The concept of entering into one’s mind terrifies the audience as unspoken basic rights now seem a privilege. Through controlling individuals in talk and thought, the government diminishes all forms of individuality to prevent rebellion. By exploring Winston’s enjoyment for his occupation of altering the data of past events, Orwell reveals the enormity of the faux portrayal of improvement rather than the actual account of events to the, leading to and subjugation of people through government control of all elements of history. Winston’s “greatest pleasure in life was in his work,” (43) changing previous publications to match the situation at
Winston is aware of the situation that he has placed himself in, and the inevitable consequences that are to follow. In contrast to Winston, Julia remains optimistic about the perseverance of their affair. While speaking to Julia, Winston says, “‘I hate purity, I hate goodness! I don't want any virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones”’ (120). Voicing his detest for goodness and purity appears to be negative, but it actually represents the immense desire Winston has for individuality and realism in the world. Citizens are rarely capable of genuine emotion in Oceania, and even their private thoughts are monitored by the Thought Police. Since meeting Julia, “he had moved from thoughts to words, and now words to actions” (183). Winston is becoming increasingly convinced that he will make a change in his society. At this point, he considers his progress towards rebellion a success, and this influences him to continue pushing his
Julia is a beautiful woman with dark hair, a face full of freckles, and she moves with athletic grace. Nevertheless, Winston does not only betray the Party, but his inner feelings about Julia. In the story, Winston at first does not like Julia due to the way she carries herself. Whereas, later in this novel, Winston meets her in the hallway and she falls giving him a note that says, “I love you” (Orwell 14). While, Winston and Julia are together and in love this betrays their government and their role in society. Additionally, Winston and Julia rebel against the Party, but with completely different motives, reasoning, and inspiration. Winston’s rebellious nature and betrayal is due to the hope that one day the Party will no longer have control over Oceania. To emphasize, Julia rebels and betrays the Party because she just feels like rebelling against the party and Julia’s betrayal and rebellion consist of her committing any act of disobedience. Also, While these two keep meeting up O’Brien (One of Winston's Co-Workers) Invites them over. “Without any warning except a slight movement of O'Brien's hand, a wave of pain flooded his body. It was a frightening pain, because he could not see what was happening, and he had the feeling that some mortal injury was being done to him. He did not know whether the thing was really happening, or whether the effect was electrically produced; but his body was being wrenched out of shape, the joints were being slowly torn apart” (Orwell 43). O’Brien did not want Julia and Winston’s company, he actually invited them to his house so they would be captured by the Thought Police. Nevertheless, this love stories betrayal continues because after they get caught by the Thought Police Julia and Winston are sent to Room 101. Essentially, Winston and Julia are left without any recollection of their relationship because the thought police brainwashed
...he views of the Party. "Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don't care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Not me! Julia! Not me!" (Part 3, Chapter 5). Winston’s mind is considered cured the moment that he turns on the one person her truly loves.
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.
Within the story’s exposition, the reader learns that Winston had always “felt deeply drawn to [O’Brien]” out of sheer “hope that O’Brien’s political orthodoxy was not perfect” (Orwell 12). Winston received no tangible evidence of O’Brien being an unorthodox member of The Party, yet Winston groundlessly felt as though O’Brien could be trusted based solely on his own desires for validation in his own unconventional behavior. On the other hand is Winston’s ingrained response to detest Julia due to her sex and age. Orwell establishes Winston as a misogynist as he “…disliked nearly all women…” and further strengthens this notion through Winston’s immediate aversion to Julia “…from the very first moment of seeing her” (Orwell 11). Despite acknowledging the underlying vindication for his misogynistic behavior toward Julia being because he was barred from becoming intimate with her, Winston’s immediate attitude of distaste toward her proved false as the two become affectionate toward one another. As a result, Winston’s first impression of Julia was confirmed to be mistaken and irrational; Combined with his unsound predilection for O’Brien, Winston displays animalistic traits on a personal level within The