Authority’ Manipulation Erasing IndividualityAuthority’ Manipulation Erasing IndividualityAuthoritys Manipulation Erasing IndividualityAuthoritys Manipulation; Erasing IndividualityNumerous authors have been interested in whether personal individuality and its development are influenced or even damaged by social order, norms and government. George Orwell and Harold Pinter are among these active defenders of human liberty, who express their protest against the oppressing power of governmental structures through their literally pieces. Both authors are interested in the degradation of human personality due to the destructive force of government and society. Orwells novel “Nineteen-Eighty Four” and Pinters play “The Birthday Party” illustrate how society or any directed organization run on its own pace different from that of man (Gillen 86).Consequentially, there comes a moment, when denial or sacrifice of some or even all personal characteristics is necessary in order to continue living (Gillen 86). Both works emphasize on the matter in which individuality is overshadowed by social institutions and denied complexity as the price of existing within the given society (Gillen 86). The authors imply this idea by general themes and motifs. They use the image of the rebellious individual and his idealized past, the image of the grinding authority and the means it uses to control the reality like language, physical power and mental manipulation. In the end of the two literary pieces, further supporting their point, Orwell and Pinter emphasize on the downfall of the protagonist.
Orwell and Pinter use the image of the rebellious personage, who refuses to fit in his society by following the socially accepted norms, in order to illustrate that there is no place for personal individuality. In both works the protagonists are analogues characters with fairly similar problems and ideas. They themselves have their own understanding about the world and living in an overcontroled reality that does not accept difference, makes them feel like outcasts who are left misunderstood (Edelman). Consequently, they both dream of a different and perhaps better world. On one hand in George Orwells Nineteen-Eighty Four, Winston Smith- the protagonist- lives in a world managed primarily by The Party, Big Brother and The Thought Police institution. These governmental structures harshly oppress the individual and his thinking. every single one conducts of life are set forward by them and any disobedience to the rules is severely punished. Every single action is monitored by the government and each aspect of human life is controlled to such extent that even having disloyal thoughts is considered a crime (Oxley). An example that illustrates that overreaching control of the Party is when Winstons neighbor has expressed an idea which slightly conflicts the principles of The Party. The consequence of this unintentional act is that his own children turn him in to the government. Thus Orwell presents the enormous outflanking of the governmental power that can hides even in peoples most private sphere, namely the family. Consequently, this simple man who had not caused harm to anyone is severely punished and the government makes him disappear as if he has never existed, which has been the faith of many people within this utilitarian state. Living in such harshly control reality presupposes that one should be obedient and loyal (Woodcock). However, Winston is neither of both. The timidly rebellious Mrs. Smith sets out to challenge the limits of the Partys power and even dares to question the mere existence of Big Brother, thus defining himself as an outsider.(Mulvihill 183)
On the other hand in The Birthday Party Harold Pinter presents to the reader his protagonist named Stanley. Similarly to Winston Smith, Stanley lives in a reality that does not accept him as he is and wants to modify his personality. However, unlike Winstons world, in Stanleys reality the governments legislation appears much more liberal and the power that controls the individuals is not entirely laws restrictions. Nevertheless, it is something as powerful as them- social acceptance, opinion and expectations. Stanley subsists in a world where all individuals around him are trapped into their presupposed social roles (Hynes). However, Stanley refuses to fit in social role. Thus labeling himself a rebel who does not care what he is expected to be and
[1] Stanley is not fully accepted by them as a man- and he is given a name- he gets a name in his subconscious. It’s been shown by the protagonist, a white man with a shaved head, he has a deep dislike of white people. To this, Stanley is shown to be just like a normal person who knows that they are only different but they have different desires. Stanley is seen expressing this disapproval after the time he was murdered by a black man and is told of this in time when he and Pinter become close friends. His life was different so he felt no pain, he came along as a kind of a normal person, but he’s been so different since that time that he is being questioned by a white man and his words have become so negative (he had to go through the back door of a black office on the wrong side of town but his friends would just leave and that’s how he felt that night) his body was in a different place. He also is not comfortable about his body, even for this time, so he is killed in an accident. Stanley tells a white man about his past and how he decided to come to know that he wanted to follow in the footsteps of other people but then was made to feel sorry for Stanley, to the point where there should be no apology for any act that has taken place. Though he tries to act normal, despite it coming to his eyes we are still afraid from the idea that this young man will kill himself, something that can cause a lot of pain in Stanley.[2] Stanley has been shown to still hold regrets about his body during this time, and even after that time his sense of self is still in the same place that he was at that time the whole time. He goes to meet a white man and he gives him money to buy a new home with him- as a result of that white man’s actions, he is able to change back a little to the person he was before. There had not been any other black people that looked like his before- thus the decision made to get him that black man was still his own decision- but there are other white people who are more similar in the same way as well- as a few of them Stanley has not come across that he is in a normal place but he does notice that his body is shaking from when he was before. He also hears from a group of people who claim that they were killed by him- as well as a few other white people who are being persecuted by the black community. Stanley expresses his disappointment that no one remembers them. Instead, he’s got to change and he says that that white people are just as good as him.[3]
Fate
Stanley, a young man living in a fictional world , becomes a human for the first time. He meets the man called Winston Smith- and gets on a bike. At the same time having to put up with the black man who tried to attack him he’s seen his family as being better with respect