1984 and Equilibrium - Battle for Individual Freedom

Through his failure, Orwell portrays the dangers of a disunited society for the individual. Even though Winston willingly chose to oppose the Party and offered his life towards the eradication of his oppressors, his sacrifice proved futile without communal support to usurp the tyrannical regime. Despite the common suffering the people endured, their fear of the individual torment each would suffer motivated them to submit to the government. In Winston, Orwell highlights the frailty of an individual person in comparison to a mob. When imprisoned at the Ministry of Love, Winston’s will crumbled under torture and he even offered the life of the one individual he had earlier seemed hesitant to sacrifice, Julia. Hence, Orwell illustrates the need for a united social front for individuals to change the society in which they live in. Otherwise, self-preservation shall remain dominant within each individual, leaving them vulnerable to continuous manipulation through propaganda.

The Proletarian woman is a symbol of fertility which makes Winston ponders over how his lover, Julia will never bare children and so defying the Party which Winston loves the fact that Julia has no capacity to complete her ‘duty’ as she is ‘corrupt to the bone’ and has the desire to tear the party to pieces. We wonder about her real personality whether she is so ‘corrupt’ to change her whole nature to manipulate men. She could be the link that captures the depths of Winston’s mind to rebel against the party. Unknown to Orwell, Julia

Each of the ministries under the party are titled the opposite of what should be expected. This tactic is used by the party to make the people of Oceania obey Big Brother in a sort of twisted way. Each of the ministries holds a contradictory motive behind it. For example the Ministry of Peace deals with war. However, it is the Ministry of Love that really was “the really frightening one”(4). Winston, who would later find out, ascertained that inside the Ministry of Love was “delicate instruments that” would gradually wear someone down “by sleeplessness and solitude and persistent questioning” (167). When one typically thinks of love, you never paint a picture in your mind of torture or cruelty. It’s obvious that the Ministry of Love uses cruelty to fulfill the wishes of Big Brother and for that reason it’s a place of torture. Winston Smith is unfortunately not careful enough with who he’s surrounded himself with during his daily life. This just goes to prove that no one is safe under Big Brother and so Winston’s so called “friend”,O’Brien, takes Winston as a hostage to the Ministry of Love. At the Ministry of Love Winston faces multiple hardships. Once Winston Smith is captured he is tortured by his biggest nightmare and he eventually surrenders to Big Brother’s

As Orwell continues Winston’s physical torture, he develops psychological manipulation in Winston as he causes Winston 's pain based on his thoughts and actions, as seen when “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.”(Orwell 244), causing Winston to begin agreeing with the Party’s ideals to stop the pain. As Winston’s torture continues, O’Brien claims “I have it in my power to inflict pain on you at any moment and to whatever degree I choose”(Orwell 245). This causes Winston to believe that O’Brien controls the pain, causing Winston to love O’Brien, as he can stop the pain. Throughout the process it is explained that there are three steps to the psychological manipulation project the government uses, and as O’Brien explains, “There is learning, there is understanding, and there is acceptance”(Orwell 260). With this, Orwell makes it obvious to the audience what he is doing, by using physical control to create psychological control.

The main character in George Orwell’s 1948 novel, 1984, Winston Smith can be seen as many things. To some, he may be a hero, but to others he is a coward and a fool. Throughout the novel, Winston’s characteristics are explored, and readers are shown the reasoning behind Winston’s twisted mind. It is evident that although Winston thinks he had control over his own mind and body, this is an imagined factor. The world of 1984 is one of a totalitarian society, where no one can be trusted, and no one is safe, Winston being the primary example of one who trusted thoughtlessly.

O’Brien tortures Winston, making him doubt himself and his ability to remember changes in the party then eventually breaking him. Firstly O’Brien shows to Winston that he could harm him and make him suffer for as long as he wanted by simply turning a lever, then he tells him he is ‘mentally deranged’ and that he is curing him by making him suffer. After O’Brien makes Winston suffer for days or weeks or even months or years he takes him to room 101. Here Winston is exposed to his biggest fear. Rats. This is where all the inmates at the Ministry of Love were finally broken.

Famous philanthropist Stephen Hawking once stated, “We are all different. There is no such thing as a standard or run-of-the-mill human being, but we share the same human spirit.” In the world of George Orwell’s 1984, this shared human spirit is abused, neglected, and utterly destroyed. This is most apparent when O’Brien deconstructs the argument of Winston and, in turn, tears down his human spirit. While Winston clings to a persistent hope of the failure of The Party, O’Brien uses logos and pathos strategies to methodically tear apart this belief. This maniacal argument for The Party, the strong imagery involved in the interrogation, and the mental collapse of Winston produce one of the most thought-provoking, saddening, and terrifying scenes in 1984.

Another crime that Winston committed leading to more alienation was his affair with Julia. Having sexual relationships with another person was frowned upon by the “Party”. This was not an actually law, but these values were encouraged by the anti-sex league. The “Party” believed that having sexual relations would develop feelings, which were seen to be illegal. Winston did have a hatred for the opposite sex, “He disliked nearly all women, and especially the young and pretty ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers-out of unorthodoxy.” (Orwell) Winston was attracted to Julia who was an exception to his hatred and they ended up rebelling against the “Party’s” value. Because of their secret relationship, he started to develop feelings for Julia, which causes him to become even more alienated. Another factor that didn’t help was the fact that the complete surveillance of life prevented them from having a private life, “With that development, the totalization of surveillance of Party members, not

People hear about political issues all over the news and form their own opinions on them, but are they really deciding beliefs for themselves or are they just believing whatever the media tells them? Because of the modern day media biased, many people do not think independently, even when they think they are. They merely believe the lies the media feeds them and do not research the matter themselves to get an accurate idea of what is truly going on and how the control of information will impact the world around them. Because of people’s tendency to accept any piece of information that gets shoved down their throats, the US is slowly digging itself into the same government-controlled, no-freedom world as in the book 1984 by George Orwell.

Totalitarianism, derived from a society which proceeds without cautiousness towards governmental power, can induce many limitations among citizens and every aspect of their lives including individualism. In George Orwell’s 1984, the artificiality of the dystopian country influenced the protagonist of the novel, Winston Smith, to try and deceive the government in any way possible. Winston and many others view individuality as immensely important, but a large challenge to achieve due to the diminished hope evident in dystopia. Hope is prominent among Winston in his actions towards the totalitarian government, referred to as Big Brother, throughout the novel. From the beginning of the novel when readers are introduced to a dismal setting to

Winston Smith is a typical example of vertebrae in the spine of any society. Hard working and keeps a rigid structure by absorbing impact, filling the spaces with his unknown desires. The bending of laws to avoid self-destruction in constant pressure from society and government. The idea of having every thought controlled, monitored and limited to what the elite deem as a necessary compromise to maintain peace and order in Oceania or any other Utopia in a general sense. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of their own choosing, to understand the concept is the true hell for Winston.

“They could lay bare in the utmost detail everything that you had done or said or thought; but the inner heart, whose workings were mysterious even to yourself remained impregnable (Orwell, 174.)” There are some citizens who realize that the inner heart and innate essence of the society members are the only things that aren’t able to be damaged by the Party. In the novel, 1984, by George Orwell, the protagonist, Winston Smith, is one of the few citizens who knows it is difficult yet crucial and possible to “stay human,” by preserving the fundamental traits of humanity and resisting the Party’s abuse of those characteristics.

Dystopia: a society characterized by human misery and oppression. A Dystopian world is controlled by a government that can do no wrong. They weed out the individuals and groups that have the thought or intend to commit their lives to “dethroning” the ruler; Big Brother. The government will do anything to protect their way of life. They will go to the extremes of changing the past to control the future. In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the citizens live in a definitive dystopian world where the government forces the comrades to fit Big Brother’s purpose.

Despite Winston's passionate hatred for the Party and his desire to test the limits of the Party's power, his capacity to carry out action against the Party is burdened (i.e. lacking positive freedom) by his intense paranoia and overriding belief that he will ultimately suffer scrutiny and brutal torture for the crimes he

The threats and pressures from the totalitarian government he lives under drive Winston to deceive those around him as an act of self-preservation. Early in the novel, Winston pretends to wholeheartedly agree with everyone around him during the Ten Minutes Hate. He yells and screams to give the appearance that he is compliant with the Party’s guidelines and principles, but inwardly he questions the existence of Goldstein and the rebels and wonders if they are truly as evil as the Party claims. Winston can sense that he is different from the others and he does not want to fall into robotic submission, so he uses his contradictory thoughts as a sort of quiet rebellion. He values his individuality and personal