Individualism In George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four

George Orwell’s political parable, 1984, portrays an oppressive and dictatorial government, which thereby presents to the reader a palpable sense of danger and malevolence born out of the creation of a counter utopic totalitarian regime. Orwell’s nihilistic creation of Oceania, presents a world wherein every aspect of private and public life is abhorrently regimented and regulated by the autocratic ‘Big Brother’. The whole population at large is forced to conform to the ideals and beliefs of the tyrannical ‘party’ as a means of not only survival but also a means of being able to live an unabated existence. The party opposes all forms of individuality and

In 1984, the ultimate form of betrayal is introduced when The Party causes Winston to betray his own mind and accept their views, and love Big Brother. It the beginning, Winston stresses the importance of keeping your own thoughts, in a world where other opinions and alternate accounts of past events are being forced upon the population. Winston points out that “Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimetres inside your skull.” and thoughts like this become important to the reader, who, as Winston does, believes that they are safe in his head as a facet of his character (Orwell 29). However, the torture in the Ministry of Love gets to Winston, and he begins to lose his individual opinions. O’Brien systematically removes all rebellious thoughts in Winston’s mind, replacing them with the ideology of The Party. In doing so, it is as if they are killing a character. When Winston is released he behaves like a new character altogether, he loses the battle with himself and betrays his original opinions against The Party. In using self-betrayal to show

The social structure of George Orwell’s 1984 is based on Freud’s map of the mind and the struggles between the id, the ego and the super ego. The minds of these individuals living in this society are trained to think a certain way. Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis can be applied to Orwell’s 1984. Using Freud’s psychoanalytic approach, 1984’s main character Winston Smith is portrayed as the one who goes against the ideas of the Party. In a Freudian point of view, Winston’s character represents a mind where the id is the driving force and where the ego and superego are ill developed in the views of the Party. Freud describes the psychoanalytic process as something that is normally used to treat patients with

George Orwell’s theme in 1984 is that an omnipotent and all-seeing government is dangerous and will demean individuality as well as free will. He portrays this through Winston’s failure to rebel while showing totalitarian governments cannot be stopped after they have been completely established. He also depicts his message through the citizens’ total belief in government propaganda no matter how absurd or inconstant as well as through the international solidarity and seemingly permanent nuclear cold war.

Dreams are the key to the future. Every idea starts with a dream. And dreams about past experiences are meant to bring back old feelings and emotions. They can trigger guilt, hope, and anything in between. In the novel, 1984, by George Orwell, Winston Smith has many dreams that connect to the deep-rooted issues within Winston’s conscience. These dreams signify everything that the Party hopes to eliminate. However, they also signify Winston’s morbid future.

Here, Winston notices how ugly and useless he has become and he can’t help but cry. At this point, he feels helpless and pities himself because he no longer feels superior.

As the book progresses we see Winston gradually growing more and more doubtful that his dystopian environment is the way things should be. He is seen searching for the truth and is always weary about what may lie ahead. Although I do not ask questions on the same grand scale as Winston, I do have a naturally inquisitive, and somewhat skeptical nature. I find myself interested in the most abstract and bizarre concepts, sometimes relating to the possibility of time travel through quantum particles, and other times something as trivial as movie trivia. Despite my desire to learn new concepts and ideas, I can often times lose interest in things I have trouble understanding. This is where I believe Winston and I share some common ground. We are both incredibly curious and at the same time held back by skepticism of the

Winston cannot trust the experiences that he has because nothing else but his brain can prove that he actually went through those experiences. In this particular society, the brain is not enough to prove that something is real, because the government is powerful enough to suppress that one single memory that one may have. The government had caused the people to lose trust in their own brains, and therefore lets the powerful easily state false facts without the risk of their society doubting them. By making the people seem like they are being deceived by their own minds, they will look to the government-provided facts to reassure them what is real or

However, Winston demonstrates in Book 1 just how much is thoughts wandered and caused him to think rebellious thoughts. At this point, Winston represents the Revolutionary archetype; He is both wanting change but also cautious and practical in how change would occur. Within Book 1 Winston, theorizes that the ‘proles’ are the only ‘hope’ for a rebellion, yet he is insecure attitude leaves him to believe that this will never happen and he can never share this. Additionally, the audience is not only capable to see Winston's thirst for change yet his anxiety over being discovered. Yet being so anxious and rebellious, and insecure never stopped Winston’s hope as he dedicated his journal “To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone – to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone”.

Spies for the Party, known as the Thought Police, ensure people never think truly on their own. Orwell goes into immense detail about three of Winston’s dreams, where he provides insight about events from his past and also foreshadows his future. Winston’s dreams are the only place where he is capable of sharing his thoughts without

Winston does not accept prevalence until O'Brien claims to have no memory of the photograph existing, guiding Winston to experience the "feeling of deadly helplessness … [and questions] that lunatic dislocation in the mind [can] really happen: that [is] the thought that [defeats] him." (247) Also, Winston loses the battle with the mutability of the past, considering the fact that the torture he faces overwhelms his perspective on life. Previously, Winston recalls vivid dreams and memories of his mother and little sister while he fights against the Party's deceptive control and power. Though, following his dismissal from the Ministry of Love, "a memory [floats] into his mind … of … his mother" (295), which he quickly " [pushes] the picture out

For Winston, happiness is the freedom to think whatever he wants and not what the party wants him to think. As Winston says, “Freedom is the freedom to say two plus two makes four. Is that is grated, all else follows.” (Winston 81) In London, the city he lives in, they don’t have that much freedom and they can be put in jail if they don’t do exactly what they say. His mind is the only place where he is safe to think whatever he wants, and if he is not allowed to think for himself then everything is lost, his freedom. He also wants to believe in his own existence and not let the party dictate what is real or what is not. While in the ministry of love, Winston said to O’Brien, “I think I exist; I am conscious of my own identity. I was born and I shall die.” (259) Since the party has the power to change the past and control the mind of everybody, the party can erase Winston from existence, they can

In a community in which every move is watched and every thought is dictated by the government, hope is hard to find. Winston, however, finds hope in small forms of rebellion and takes solace in the idea that there must be others who think the way he does. This brings us to our first piece of evidence. For the duration of Book One of the novel, Winston appears to be the only person who longs for a revolt against the Party, he feels as if he’s the only one “awake”. The longer he goes standing by himself, alone with his ideals, the longer we see him doubt whether he is right to think the way he does.

Even though they were caught and give each other up, Winston never lost who he was totally and what he was fighting for due to Julia I believe. 5.) Winston is so determined in his approach to the old man because he wants to know what it was like back in the days and if it was better than it is now. Winston said that “if there was hope it lay in the proles.” So he was hoping the old man would tell him something.

In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the totalitarian government is adamant that all citizens not only follow its policies, but wholeheartedly agree with them. In order to maintain his individuality and avoid the Thought Police, Winston lies about his allegiance to the government and his beliefs and thoughts. He learns that his lies are weak and shallow after he is caught, and he eventually realizes the true power of his lies when he deceives himself. The totalitarian government Orwell presents encourages deception as a means of survival, increasing the government’s power when the citizens are eventually driven to lie to themselves. As the Party grows stronger and individuality crumbles, Orwell displays the loss of humanity as a result of a government built on deception.