Depending on the approach to the role of the individual in a dystopian society, there can be a few differences in the capabilities and limitations in their ability to enact change. You can have the capability to successfully be part of a group that all want change like Theodore Faron in The Children of Men. You can also be limited by having to work alone and in attempt to join a group, you are crushed similar to Winston Smith in George Orwell’s 1984. These differences also come hand in hand with the Dystopian features each society brings. The failed fertility of the human race in The Children of Men, weakens the morale of society to where those with power such as Xan can easily take over and run the government with a dictatorial style. In 1984, Society is under complete totalitarian rule with many more restrictions than the society Theo is in. Winston is very limited with what he can do because he is constantly monitored, knowledge is controlled and the population is essentially brainwashed. Theo is limited as an individual because he doesn’t have anything to offer to a dying society that could potentially save it.
Winston Smith makes an attempt to not conform to society and take a step toward change. Winston seems to be the only character with individuality until George Orwell allows him love and brings in Julia. Winston slowly gains confidence throughout the novel to make moves against Big Brother and tries to join the Brotherhood. He constantly mentions that his demise
He discovers Julia, whom he falls in love with, and she has the same beliefs as him. Together they find O'Brien-a member of the inner-party, whom-Winston believes-could overthrow "The Party" (the Government), and Big Brother: the supreme governmental leader that may be fictional or may be real, we never know. They become inner-party members but then are betrayed by O'Brien, separated from each other (that's the last we hear of Julia), and Winston is tortured, until he believes the way of the party. He finally is put through enough torture in the Ministry of Love that he gives in, and believes everything the party believes-the past is alterable, the present can change, and that 2+2=5 if they say it is so.
Winston Smith is one of the major characters in the book. He is a thirty-nine year old man who lives on one of the flats of Victory Mansions. Winston has a varicose ulcer right above his right ankle causing him to stop at each landing of the complex to rest. Winston was a man who greatly disliked the actions and ideas of Big Brother. In order to test the limits of the Party, Winston does various crimes throughout the novel.
In the novel 1984, by George Orwell, where the main character Winston Smith lives in Oceania which is a totalitarian state ruled by a party who physically and psychologically controls its citizens by using technology, slogans and by overworking them. Winston works in the Ministry of Truth where he alters historical records to fit the needs of the party. One day, Winston notices an Inner Party Member named O’Brien who seems to be an ally and claims to be a member of the Brotherhood, a group that works to overthrow the party. He also notices a dark haired girl named Julia who he thinks is his enemy but he is mistaken. Soon Winston falls in love with Julia and they begin their allegiance against the party and Big Brother. Eventually they confess to O’Brien their hatred to the party and O’Brien seems to help them reach their goal. Until they are caught and are taken to a
Winston Smith is a lesson in personal endangerment. Winston had from the beginning believed himself to be a dead man walking and he would act like it. Allusions, metaphors and foreshadowing were used to establish the idea that acting like a moment is inevitable will cause that moment. There is a famous philosophy that is used in this story “I think, therefore I am,” by Rene Descartes. It is a statement that cannot be doubted.
Orwell presents Winston as a lone creature unlike his fellow citizens due to his individuality and undying self-determination. While those around him blindly follow everything the Party orders and are brainwashed into having an irrational love for Big Brother, Winston hates the Party passionately and wants to test the limits of its power by committing countless crimes throughout the novel. Not one to foolishly believe anything said to him, Winston is extremely speculative and inquisitive, desperate to understand how and why the Party is able to exercise such absolute power in Oceania. The struggle Winston puts into attaining freedom and individuality undermines the Party’s overwhelming control.
Winston Smith is a thirdy-nine-year-old intellectual, fatalistic, frail and a thin man which is the minor member of the ruling Party in near-future London. We experience the nightmarish world that the writer envisions through his eyes. Winston is extremely pensive, curious and desperate to understand how and why the Party exercises has such absolute power in Oceania. He passionately hates the totalitarian control of his government and the Party. He has his own revolutionary dreams.He wants to test the limits of its power and he commits crimes, have an illegal love affair with Julia to get himself secretly into the anti-Party Brotherhood.
In the book 1984, the author makes me admire the character of Winston Smith. He is introduced to us as defiant towards the rules of society. Winston acted differently than everyone else who lived in his community. He had thoughts that the Party was all wrong and was feeding everyone lies about history and current events. He had trust issues towards the Party. Some other attributes Winston has is his fatalism and rebelliousness. He hates the Party, and throughout the novel, he commits various crimes in an attempt to test the Party’s power. An example of these crimes is when he wrote “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” in his journal and also his unlawful relationship with Julia. One of his biggest acts of rebellion was when he indoctrinated himself into the Brotherhood, an anti-Party group. After Winston’s interaction with O’Brien at his home, he comes to the realization that he will never be able to get out of his rebel stage and will end up dying a rebel because of his actions towards the Party. This is an important event that sets a mood for the rest of the story.
Other than Winston’s weak characteristic and his lack of planning, the main cause that contributes to Winston’s downfall is his indulgence. Winston lacks the ability to control himself from anything addictive in life. This personal flaw makes Winston lost in his cause to the destruction of “Big Brother”. In the novel, Winston constantly drinks and smokes to distract himself instead of focusing on a plan to take down “Big Brother”. Winston’s dream is to have a love affair: “Almost as swiftly as he had imagined it, she had torn her clothes off, and when she flung them aside it was with that same magnificent gesture by which a whole civilization seemed to be annihilated” (Book 2, Chapter 1). His illegal love affair with Julia does no good to his objective of bringing down “Big Brother”. The only result that the love affair accomplishes is Winston’s
Winston Smith, a middle-aged man who works as a records editor in Records Department at the Ministry of Truth, is the novel 's protagonist. He is the character that the reader most identifies with, and the reader sees the world from his point of view. Winston is a kind of innocent in a world gone wrong, and it is through him that the reader is able to understand and feel the suffering that exists in the totalitarian society of Oceania. As a secretly rebellious free thinker, Winston challenges the societal norms placed in the story by the antagonistic government, known as the Party. Orwell wants the reader to be intrigued when vivid descriptions of advanced technology, such as telescreens and hidden microphones, are included in the text providing the feeling of familiarity and pleasure. On the contrary, constant mentions of the tyrannical rule of Big Brother keeps the reader anxious about what will happen to Winston. Furthermore, the Party, the omnipresent ruling system in Oceania, uses several techniques in order to control the minds of the citizens. By exploiting the need to fit in through the use of the Anti-Sex League, the Party is able to suppress resistance to new ideas. The Party also destroyed the ability of citizens to evaluate logically by eliminating any privacy through the form of telescreen surveillance. Finally, through the
The main character in George Orwell’s book 1984 is a thirty-nine year old man with the name of Winston Smith. Winston Smith creates thought crimes, he also has anti-Party views. The story “1984” tells about all of Winston Smith’s struggles. In an effort to avoid being monitored, Winston physically conforms to society, however mentally he does just the opposite. Winston is a thin, frail and intellectual thirty-nine year old. Winston hates totalitarian control and enforced repression that are characteristics of his government. Winston hates being watched by Big Brother. He always has revolutionary dreams, he feels like he would be protected. Julia is Winston’s lover, a beautiful dark- haired girl working in the
A dystopian society is one with restricted freedom, whose values are worshipped by citizens who live in fear of surveillance or punishment. In 1984 by George Orwell, the protagonist lives in a futuristic world, controlled by big brother and the inner party over aspects of human life. In Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Jr, the fear of egalitarian policies, and the dangers of equality take over. In The Purge by James DeMonaco, the citizens relief to self-regulate violence and to protect themselves and their family from the protagonist. All dystopian literature shares similar characteristics, winston which is the protagonist in 1984, he lives in a society where the government takes over and tries to brainwash the citizens making them believe they live in a illusion of a perfect world. Winston is depicted and physically ill, but strong enough not to give in. “Who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past.” (Orwell 12). George Bergeron is the protagonist in Harrison Bergeron, the government makes him wear a radio, which broadcasts noise over these radios to interrupt the thoughts of smart people like George. ‘’Screams and barking cries of consternation came from the television set’’ (Vonnegut 2). Sergeant was the protagonist in the purge, he risked his life by saving others life for a night of horror. The Purge, Harrison Bergeron, and 1984 were all based off government, society where there is limiting and controlling the population. ‘’We
Winston’s life is replete with misery and pain, but has been give brief moments of happiness and love by Orwell to create a sense of hope for Winston, and subsequently, hope for a future free of the imprisonment of totalitarianism, although Orwell makes clear throughout the novel that there is no happy ending. Totalitarianism does not allow the possibility of such an ending to thrive in the minds of people; If Winston were to escape this fate, Orwell’s definition of totalitarianism and everything that encompasses it would have been lost. Orwell has written the book in a way that the readers become so attached with Winstons character that he gains a form of individuality that can only be given by the reader. Winston is a symbol of the values democracy, love, peace, freedom, and decency which are found within a civilized society. When the character of Winston is destroyed, these values and connection to the reader are also destroyed with him as Winston Smith is a representation of the struggle faced between bad and good in every aspect of
The story began by introducing the main character Winston Smith. Winston worked for the government, rewriting the history of Oceania to make Big Brother seem all-powerful. This showed the extreme measures Big Brother went to so that it would not be overthrown. Winston disagreed with the government, but kept his feelings hidden to escape persecution from the thought police. Since Winston was keeping his dissatisfaction from everyone, he was very paranoid. He judged everyone as if they were a spy waiting to catch him and take him to prison. Although odd, Winston symbolized the good left in a society where there was not much good.
In his novel 1984, George Orwell portrays a perfectly dystopian society: an all-powerful government, its repressed people, and the detailed mechanisms that allow these two vastly different groups to take place and interact as they do. The book serves as a caution of what would happen if people succumbed to the chains forced on or offered to them by the mighty. Methods similar to the ones used by the government in 1984 to hold on to leadership of the state are also being used by the 2016 presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, in their election efforts. These said devices are purposed primarily to improve their image to the public, because it is these images that the public will use to decide who to vote for. A multitude of strategies are brought into play in this game of perception--from scapegoats to slogans and everything in between--by both the fictitious 1984 authorities and the very real presidential nominees.
“Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state” (Chomsky 17). Propaganda is an arsenal used to deceive innocent civilians, a method of mental dominance and cultural preeminence. Governmental control is often reliant on various factors, propaganda being the most conniving tactic. This tactic can be observed in most communist, dictatorship, and totalitarian governments; all of which are political bodies wherein the government constantly demands supreme authority. Civilian indoctrination or propaganda is the sword that can pierce through the principles of freedom, rights, and democracy. Yet the sword is also the ammunition, the driving force for ethnocentrism, ignorance, and domination. 1984, by George Orwell, pictured in the dystopian city of London in Oceania, follows the rebellious and perplexing life of Winston Smith. Orwell’s works are often expositions of controversial propaganda, and 1984 is no anomaly, following the chronicles of Smith’s vulnerability to the propaganda of the Big Brother and the Party. The unscrupulous radicalization of youth, deployment of calculating contrivances that violate mental parameters, and employment of indelible expressions are all forms of the ubiquitous propaganda that plagues the lives of the civilians in the Party-led Oceania. Privacy is often encroached using propaganda, however, this tactic can be a violation into tangible and metaphysical space, a violation that transforms the mental state and mere