Staying True to Yourself

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Recommended: Importance of political socialization to political behaviour

Losing who one really is, is very easy when one is constantly being manipulated and tricked into believing false facts. In George Orwell’s 1984, the whole mission the party is trying to accomplish is to gain complete and total control over its people. They will do whatever needed to fulfill this goal. Everything from changing records in books to threatening them with flesh hungry rats. There are many ways to gain control over somebody’s mind and body and Big Brother does a very good job at it. Most people in Oceania will do whatever Big Brother or the party says. If people do not listen they are punished in such horrible ways; eventually they just agree to what the party says. Winston does not agree with what the party is doing and secretly retaliates against them in certain ways. He does this because it makes him feel alive and feel things the party says he should not. Naturally feeling something you should not makes you feel emotions you do not typically feel. That is a feeling some humans crave and strive for. Winston would be a perfect example of this. Throughout the book you learn more about him and why he does the things he does toward the party. Also you learn why the party tries to control the normal life styles and thoughts of its people. This all would be relatable to one’s government today. The people of today are so consumed with just the lives they live, that one does not know what is going on around them. People do not know what is really going on with the government. Some just listen to what it has to stay and obey whatever is said. Some things the government does and tells one to do is not always the right thing to do. People are so caught up in stuff that concerns or effects just oneself. That one does not know wh... ... middle of paper ... ... much to handle. They manipulate his brain into thinking they are good. He does not love Big Brother like he did Julia though. That is a love that is forbidden. The love for her was real. The love he feels for Big Brother is more an acceptance of the life he has to live. It is also more of a forced love that he has to just deal with because he obeys the party. Winston is just another domino being placed for the party. Eventually the party will have enough power to send a domino effect and accomplish whatever they please too. He lost himself in what he was forced to believe (Orwell 297-298). Works Cited Khouri, Nadia. "Reaction and Nihilism: The Political Genealogy of Orwell's 1984." Science Fiction Studies (1985): 136-147. Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Signet Classics, 1949. Roelofs, H. Mark. "George Orwell's Obscured Utopia." Religion & Literature (1987): 11-33.

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