Reading Response: 1984 by George Orwell

Reading Response:

1984 by George Orwell

     The story of 1984, by George Orwell, takes place after the second World War, as a vision of a nightmarish “negative utopia”. Winston Smith, the weak and inept protagonist, struggles through the orderly pace and routine of his life, scraping through on the measly portions that the Party gives out. The Party is the government in this time, which has complete control over its people. Winston finally has a chance to defy the Party when he meets a woman named Julia and says to her that “the more men you've had, the more I love you.” (pg.125) Although Winston believes that he is making a change by defying the Party's “Anti-Sex” belief, he does not realize that just being with Julia is useless and selfish – inevitably, he would be caught by the Thought Police and sucked back into the illusional safety of the embrace of the Inner Party and Big Brother. Through this, we see that, no matter what, the ones with complete power over the life of the people come out the victors.

     The main object of power in the text is Big Brother, the supposed leader of Oceania. It is unknown whether Big Brother is an actual being or just an image on a poster. He represents the “safety and hope” for the people of London. This symbol is supported by the fact that an older brother would protect and look out for his younger sibling(s). This would give the people a false sense of security, as they are forced to believe and think that Big Brother would take care of them. One of the slogans for the Big Brother posters is “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” (pg. 2). This could possibly mean that Big Brother is watching to make sure his people are't harmed, but the more likely situation is that he is watching them for a wrong movement, a slip of expression, anything that could alert the Thought Police of a rebellion. This gives Winston a feeling of forced submission, as he feels trapped inside of himself during the Two Minutes Hate. If I were Winston, not being able to express my thoughts or emotions makes me feel frustrated, as if I were being strangled by a boa constrictor, with no way out, until the pressure and lack of room to breathe finally killed me. Early in the text, Winston “...had set his features into the expression of quiet optimism...”(pg. 5) in front of the telescreen. This goes to show that even one tiny twitch of the eye or mouth, any expression other than the one stated above, would result in an arrest or worse.

     Arresting is another way that the people are kept under the control of the Party and Big Brother. The low-class commoners, known rudely as “proles”, and the members of the Outer Party do not know much about what lies beyond their little world, and no one who had been arrested was ever the same or appeared again. They would have been “vaporized”. For example, one of Winston's friends, Syme, was “...too intelligent. He [saw] too clearly and [spoke] too plainly. The Party does not like such people. One day he will disappear.”(pg 53) Inevitably, Syme did vanish. All records of him were erased. Everyone forgot about him. Everyone except Winston, who was aware this would happen. In order for the Party to retain complete control over its people, it had to crush all threats under its foot like a bug, no matter how big or small. One way the Party did this was to capture the suspects and mentally break them. The Party needed proof of even a minor suspect, first.

     No matter what, the citizens of Oceania were always being observed, watched, and listened to. Not even in one's home were they alone or had privacy. This was due to all the telescreens and microphones set everywhere, even in the least suspicious place. Winston and Julia were lured into a trap the same way, suspecting nothing of the strange little shop where Winston bought his diary. At the end, Winston and Julia were arrested by the store owner, Mr. Charrington, who was actually a member of the Thought Police. After Winston was captured, he was constantly watched by telescreens everywhere, and tortured to no ed. He found out that the man he thought was his ally, O'Brien, worked for the Ministry of Love – which actually tortured the captives inside – and was the ultimate factor in Winston's demise. Through the telescreens everywhere, O'Brien knew how to wear Winston down and break his will, even knowing what was in his dreams. “ 'Do you remember,' said O'Brien, 'the moment of panic that used to occur in your dreams? There was a wall of blackness in front of you, and a roaring sound in your ears. There was something terrible on the other side of the wall. You knew that you knew what it was, but you dared not drag it into the open. It was the rats on the other side of the wall.' ” (pg. 284) There was no escape for Winston or Julia, because the selfish instinct to survive made them betray each other. This urge to survive was indeed what broke Winston's promise promise to the “Brotherhood”. Winston wasn't selfless, and O'Brien knew that. O'Brien used this to his advantage and manipulated Winston by extracting his weakness.

     Through all these forms of threats, the Party exercised its power over the people, robbing them of their intellectuality and emotions. People with minds have choices, can make decisions. People without minds blindly follow whatever takes command and rules them, becoming solely dependent on that one authority, no matter what they do. The term “doublethink” in Newspeak is used by the Party to manipulate the floundering people and make them believe that their economy is flourishing. The Party maintains their grasp on the people like so, crushing anything in their path. Thus, if they rule the mind, they rule the lives, they rule forever more.