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What Makes Us Humans?

Decent Essays

What makes us humans? Ask science, and we may receive a straightforward lesson on anatomy, but if we ponder the question deeper, we eventually find that it is actually a variety of intrinsic properties that define who we are as humans. In the novel “1984,” George Orwell enlightens us to what these qualities are and pushes us to decide whether the people of Oceana that lack these qualities are even human. The core characteristics of humanity as we know it are humor, imagination, spirituality, sexuality, and rebelliousness. This leads us back to Orwell’s question; do the mindless people of Oceana truly have what it takes to be human? To this, the answer is no. While jokes are told and laughs are shared by the people in “1984,” the presence of humor is still absent. The party often scripts the jokes that are told, and what laughter is existent, is simply out of obligation. True humor comes from original ideas, and by definition, is the ability to make someone laugh. Some may use this definition to say that humor does exist because people do laugh in Oceana. However, if a laugh is not genuine and is only present from fear of being punished for remaining straight faced, it certainly does not count as true laughter. Orwell gives us multiple examples of the stale, fake humor pushed onto the people of Oceana when Winston is with Stymes and Parsons, and the only jovial material shared is merely about the shortage of razorblades. (Orwell 48) From this, it is quite obvious that humor,

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