Similarities Between George Orwell And 1984

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In a society heavily controlled by fate or a restricting government, some individuals possess the courage to fight against these forces. Curious about the truth and fearful of his fate, Winston and Oedipus respectively attempt to exercise their freewill to beat the norms. Throughout world history, there has always been an emphasis on freedom of thought, speech, and action. However, both George Orwell and Sophocles portray the failure of this important right to do good as they explore Winston and Oedipus's determination to exercise freewill and their ultimate downfall. To Winston, freewill is equivalent to acting against the Party; becoming an anti-revolutionary gives him answers to the truth and can bring back a life similar to that …show more content…

Although he fought hard as an anti-revolutionary using freewill, Winston is ultimately brainwashed to revert him back to cultural norms. In a society where “men are infinitely malleable” (Orwell 269) by the Party, freewill is powerless. While tortured and interrogated, Winston constantly replies with incorrect answers in order to express his right to freedom of speech, thought, and action against the Party. With each answer, the needle increased higher and “pain flowed into Winston’s body” (Orwell 251). Orwell’s intense diction used to describe Room 101 and the pain Winston endured emphasizes the immense obstacles one’s freewill must overcome in order to take control over forces like the Party. Furthermore, the scene portrays freedom’s gradual waning in power as the obstacles became more challenging and obstructive. When Winston first states that four fingers is five, the Party had prevailed and freewill had surrendered to its power. The torture Winston faces portrays the idea that man can never have freewill in societies like these where a strong force controls all. Oedipus also comes to the realization that fate is a strong power than freewill. During his search of the truth behind his family lineage, he only arrives at his fate: knowing that he had already killed his father and married his mother. Upon realization, Oedipus shouts, “‘My voice is hurled far on a dark wind/What has God done to me?’” (Sophocles 71). His voice, or freewill, had left at that moment and he is surrounded by his fate. By first questioning God immediately after he uncovers the truth, Sophocles suggests that Oedipus accepts the idea that God had not only caused him to complete the prophecy, but had also encouraged him to discover more about his family. What Oedipus

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