The End

     Welcome readers, today I will be talking in depth about the meaning behind 1984, as I have finally finished the novel. This was a relatively easy read, aside from a few slow parts. 

     I was disappointed in Part Three because there wasn't as much action as I like. It was certainly mind-blowing, as the Ministry of Love's brainwashing techniques finally came into play, but the story never ventured beyond the windowless rooms within the building. Part Three begins with Winston trapped in a cell with telescreens on all four walls, keeping a constant eye on him. Various prisoners filter in and out, some being brought to interrogation, others being carried to Room 101, a place so terrible that prisoners scream "'Finish it off and let me die. Shoot me. Hang me'" before they are taken there (236). Winston stays in that cell, slowly starving, until he is finally interrogated by O'Brien. Yep, you read that right. It turns out O'Brien isn't a member of the Brotherhood, rather he is a very orthodox Party member who performs interrogations within the Ministry of Love. After Winston gets over his initial shock at seeing O'Brien in such an unusual location O'Brien explains what the rest of Winston's stay at the Ministry of Love will entail. He says "'There is learning, there is understanding, and there is acceptance'" (260). Basically, the first two stages of interrogation consist of various forms of torture to brainwash Winston into the third stage, which is accepting the Party's teachings and slogans. Winston is brainwashed by O'Brien, becoming everything he has despised, a spineless, orthodox, follower. Once the citizens have passed through the three stages they are reintegrated into society with a new job and no memory of their previous unorthodox life. 

   1984 was first published in 1949, a year that many remember as one of the first years of the Cold War. At the time communism was a relatively new concept to Americans, so many were confused about how to react to the Soviet Union's rise to power. In 1949, before the Cold War really escalated, communism wasn't a taboo idea, and many people were excited to see if a communist society could actually succeed. George Orwell wrote 1984 to educate his readers on the dangers of a totalitarian government. A totalitarian government is essentially when the government has absolute and total (hence the name) control over what its citizens do. In Oceania Big Brother presides over everyone, ensuring that his Party members follow his rules exactly. No resistance is allowed; Oceania citizens aren't even allowed to think rebellious thoughts. Unorthodox thinking is referred to as "thoughtcrime" and when you commit thoughtcrime you "are already dead," meaning that you will eventually be found out by the Thought Police and vaporized (28). Orwell included thoughtcrime to contrast an American citizen's right to free speech, a right that wasn't upheld in the Soviet Union in the 1950s. Oceania is supposed to represent the Soviet Union, and in Oceania, citizens are not allowed to freely disagree with the government. Orwell imagined the punishments that would come from thoughtcrime to help Americans see what the dangers of a totalitarian government are. Of course, 1984 may be a slightly dramatized image of a totalitarian government, as in real life there aren't people who can tell what you're thinking. However, under the communist regime of the Soviet Union people were heavily scrutinized by the government if they were suspected of disagreeing with the government. Even the title of the novel serves as a harrowing prediction of what American society could be thirty years from the publication date. When Orwell published 1984 in 1949 he hoped his readers would read the title and realize that the novel portrays a possible future society. Orwell even utilizes a third-person point of view so the reader sees everything through Winston's eyes, meaning they see all of the issues with society. Orwell decided to use this point of view so the reader could see all of the faults in a totalitarian society. 

     The theme of the novel is that absolute governmental control results in a loss of individual freedom. In Oceania Party members have almost no freedom. They can't have relationships, they can't choose their jobs, and it's unorthodox to do anything other than go to work and volunteer at the Community Center. This theme is developed through the three parts of the novel. The first and second parts provide an introduction to Oceania and show that citizens aren't allowed to do a lot of things that are allowed in America in 1949. Orwell characterizes his protagonist as rebellious in order to show how restrictive a totalitarian society is. In the first two parts of the novel Winston begins to act upon his unorthodox thoughts and actively rebel. The final part of the novel is when Winston is punished for his crimes in the Ministry of Love. Part Three serves as a warning to the reader about the dangers of a totalitarian government. Orwell walks the reader through various forms of torture to mirror what happens in the Soviet Union if you disagree with the government. The novel ends with Winston returning to society as a brainwashed individual. O'Brien convinces Winston that the Party's ideas are correct through psychological techniques and Winston changes into an orthodox citizen. This shows that no matter what you do, even if you rebel, the government will eventually crush you. 

     Winston has always talked about being vaporized as punishment for his rulebreaking, and before Part Three I always took this to mean that Winston would be killed. Vaporization is actually when unorthodox citizens go into the Ministry of Love and come out as brainwashed orthodox people. Their old identity is wiped from history, and a new one is created when they complete the three stages at the Ministry of Love. O'Brien actually tells Winston "'You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty, and then we shall fill you with ourselves'" (257). The government is so controlling in Oceania that Party members don't even have the freedom to have an individual identity. O'Brien says "we shall fill you with ourselves," meaning that once someone goes into the Ministry of Love they will come out as just another orthodox Party member whose ideas are carbon copies of those of Big Brother. Those who don't pay a visit to the Ministry of Love during their lifetime are already orthodox, meaning they are already the submissive citizens that the Party wants. 

     1984 is very similar to some other dystopian novels I have read. One novel it is pretty similar to is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. A major similarity between the two is the stigma surrounding sex. In both 1984 and Brave New World sex is almost meaningless, albeit for different reasons. In 1984 sex has no place in society, as the Party disapproves of it and doesn't permit intercourse among Party members. In Brave New World sex is merely for recreation and it occurs so often that it has no meaning. Another large similarity between the two novels is their slogans. The slogan of the Party in 1984 is "war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength" (16). The slogan of the World State in Brave New World is "Community, Identity, Stability." Both slogans contain a certain element of irony. In 1984 Oceania is constantly at war so they are never really at peace. Not a single person in Oceania is free because they don't have the freedom to choose their job, spouse, or what they want to do with their free time. They are slaves to Oceania, but this isn't due to their possession of freedom, rather it is due to their lack of freedom. Many citizens of Oceania also don't understand how manipulated they are, meaning they aren't mentally strong enough to see how ignorant they are. In Brave New World there are social castes, so the society is constantly divided, meaning there isn't any sense of community. Identity within the World State is also discouraged because looking or acting different labels someone a social outcast. Finally, stability is ironic because everyone in the World State relies on a drug called soma to keep a stable mental state. As you can see, 1984 and Brave New World have some similarities that show the dangers of a society with too much governmental control and too little individual power.

     I liked 1984 because Orwell appeals to his audience very well. Rather than just straight-up lecturing American citizens on the dangers of a totalitarian government, Orwell spins a story so intriguing and dramatic that his readers can't put the book down. Instead, they devour the pages detailing the horrific problems that come with an oppressive government. There also is a certain amount of drama to 1984, as the issues in the Soviet Union weren't quite as drastic as Orwell made them out to be. However, I learned to appreciate Orwell's writing style because every word he writes has a purpose. He dramatizes the story in order to strike a certain amount of fear into American hearts to warn them against a totalitarian or communist government. 1984 serves as a warning to Americans in 1949 of a future that could be similar to the world in 1984. Orwell also pays close attention to detail, painting the Victory Mansions that Winston lives in as "...rotting nineteenth-century houses, their sides shored up with balks of timber, their windows patched up with cardboard and their roofs with corrugated iron, their crazy garden walls sagging in all directions" (3). Orwell uses this imagery to make the reader feel disgusted at the idea of living in a society similar to Oceania's. It's just clever little details like the imagery above that made 1984 such an enjoyable read. I think that the novel also has some relevance in the world today, as we Americans must ensure that the government is never given too much power. After reading 1984 I am certainly one for keeping the government in check! 

     Thank you for reading my blog and check back soon for my final post!

Citation(s)

            Orwell, George. 1984. Signet Classics, 1977.