1984 And George Orwell
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1984 is about life in a world where no personal freedoms exist. Winston the main character is a man of 39 whom is not extraordinary in either intelligence or character, but is disgusted with the world he lives in. He works in the Ministry of Truth, a place where history and the truth is rewritten to fit the partys beliefs. Winston is aware of the untruths, because he makes them true. This makes him very upset with the government of Oceania, where Big Brother, a larger than life figure, controls the people. His dissatisfaction increases to a point where he rebels against the government in small ways. Winstons first act of rebellion is buying and writing in a diary. This act is known as a thought crime and is punishable by death. A thought crime is any bad thought against the government of Oceania. Winston commits many thought crimes and becomes paranoid about being caught, which he knows is inevitable (Greenblast 113). He becomes paranoid because a young woman who is actively involved in many community groups follows him. Winston is obsessed with the past, a time before Oceania was under strict dictatorship. He goes into an antique shop and buys a shell covered in glass, which is another crime punishable by death. He sees the same woman following him. Many thoughts race through his mind “I wanted to rape you and then murder you afterwards. Two weeks ago I thought seriously of smashing your head in with a cobblestone. If you really want to know, I imagined that you had something to do with the Thought Police” (Orwell 101). The girl who was following him slipped him a note while at work. The note said, “I love you”(Orwell 90). They make plans to meet each other and carry on an illegal love affair. This love affair is another rebellion against the government. It goes on for some time. Winston rents a room where he and Julia can be secluded from the outside world. They meet a man named OBrien who indicates that he is another revolutionary. Winston and Julia go to his house to meet with him. OBrien gives than a seditious book to read. Soon after that, they are caught by the Thought Police and never see each other again. OBrien, becomes Winstons rehabilitator and torturer for the next 9 months. OBrien tortures Winston in stages.
The first two stages are to force the partys beliefs on him then learn and understand what is expected of him. In the third stage, Winston is made to face what he secretly fears most, rats eating his face. After being completely rehabilitated by OBrien, Winston now loves the establishment and the government. He is set free. Big Brother is the figurehead of a government that has total control. The Big Brother regime uses propaganda and puts fear in its citizens to keep the general population in line. “Big Brother is watching you”(Orwell 5) is just one example of many party slogans that puts fear in its citizens. Big Brother uses various ways to catch people guilty of bad thoughts “In the world of 1984 the tyrant Big Brother does employ a vast army of informers called thought police, who watch every citizen at all times for the least signs of criminal deviation which may consist simply of unorthodox thoughts”(Daley 112). Winston Smith represents Orwells view on totalitarianism. Winston rebels against the government of Oceania by starting a diary and constantly having bad thoughts against the government. “Winston knows that he is doomed from the moment he has his first heretical thought. The tensions of the novel concerns how long he can stay alive and whether it is possible for Winston to die without mentally betraying his rebellion” (Greenblast 115). Winston starts writing in a diary for two reasons. The first is that he wants to be able to remember the daily occurrences in the world. In 1984, the memory of individuals, is effectively manipulated, programmed, and controlled from the outside by the party (Kolakowski 127). People dont know what they are consciously remembering and what is told to them. “The party had invented airplanes” (Orwell 127) is just one example of the partys propaganda and false statements that change every day. The other reason for the diary is so that people in the future will be able to read what went on during Winstons time and to tell them about his daily reflections on his feelings about the party. These are the same reasons why Orwell wrote 1984. He wanted to expose a communist country (the Soviet Union).
The specific political purpose that had used Orwells sense of urgency was his desire to explode the myth of the Soviet Union as the paradigm of the socialist state. He also wanted to expose the dangers of totalitarianism, which the devaluation of objective truth, and the systematic manipulation of the common people through propaganda (Stansky 102). OBrien is an informant to Big Brother. He is not who he seems to be. He appears to Winston as a fellow conspirator, but actually becomes Winstons torturer and rehabilitator. OBrien and the party cant tolerate Winstons betrayal of the government. OBrien tells his victim: You are a flaw in the pattern, Winston. You are a stain that must be wiped outIt is intolerable that an erroneous thought should exist anywhere in the world, however secret and powerless it may be. (Daley 117) In fact, the party cant comprehend his disbelief and must change his thoughts through torture and brainwash. “You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty and then we shall fill you with ourselves” (Orwell 200). OBrien represents the core of communist or totalitarian rule, making the victims suffer by using brainwashing to control them. OBrien also tells Winston what he should feel about Big Brother when Winston is at his lowest point mentally and physically. OBriens speeches to the broken Winston Smith in the Thought Polices torture chamber represents for Orwell the core of our centurys political hideousness. Although OBrien says that power seeks power and needs no ideological excuse. He does in fact explain to his victim what this power is (Stansky 107). Julia is considered a sexual deviant in the oppressed world of 1984.
In a normal world sex is free, in 1984 its a forbidden act only allowed for reproduction purposes to keep the partys numbers constant. Julia has been sexually active since her teenage years. “She had had her first love affair when she was sixteen, with a party member of sixty” (Orwell 109). Love and sex is not allowed in this totalitarian state so Julia has to look as pure as possible so that she does not show any guilt. “You