1984 Free Will Analysis

Free Will in a Totalitarian Society

Imagine living in a society where every word and every action is tracked by the government. Where thinking is a crime punishable by death. Where fear is used as a way to keep its members in check. What has just been described is the reality of the novel 1984. 1984 follows Winston, an everyday man who works within the government he resents. He is not like the other people who reside in Oceania, he is aware of the corruption and hypocrisy of The Party and Big Brother. Throughout the novel he is so concerned with acting against The Party’s Wishes that eventually he is caught by the thought police and becomes the man he so resents. In George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four the author uses setting and characterization

In Oceania sex for pleasure and not for the sole purpose of reproduction is illegal. "Sexual intercourse was to be looked on as a slightly disgusting minor operation, like having an enema." (Orwell 69). The Party ingrains it in the people’s head that sex is bad and disgusting, despite it being a very natural part of humans. Striking down this natural desire prevents people acting truly how they were meant to be, the people have no free will in how they act. This causes a lot of frustration within Winston until he finally meets a women. Winston continues to rebel against The Party anyway he can when he finds Julia, a sexually active women who is both part of the system and capable of corrupting those within the party, Winston finds hope as he believes that The Party can be taken over, that it is not a lost cause (Parascandola). Winston considers sex the ultimate form of rebellion, and before finding Julia he believes there is no hope in overthrowing the Party. Sexual desire is a natural part of humans that can be awaken that it will be easy to destroy the idea of sexual puritanism, and all the other beliefs eventually. These destructions of these ideas could led to the destruction of the totalitarian system and the revival of free will. The animal nature of our body is considered free, it can be caged by governments but once

At the very end after the torture he endures from The Party and O’Brien he finally breaks, this is the last line Winston speaks before the novel ends , stating “He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother” (Orwell 311). This quote shows that Winston no longer thinks independently, he thinks how society wants him to think, how The Party wants her to think. He resented Big Brother in the beginning of the novel, this drastic change in opinion is not Winston’s own thoughts, it is the product of hours upon hours of torture. He lost his free will both mentally and physically. Winston’s path towards free will is cut short when he is caught by the thought police when the movement of his memories and discovery of the past stops (Phillips).The thought police are unable to stop Winston when he’s in movement and discovering new things. But once he feels he knows enough already that’s when they catch him. To exercise free will one must keep striving to learn the truth and never settle. After being caught he is put through the mind games of The Party which leads to the metaphorical betrayal of Julia in the Room 101 shows the love he lost for Julia, and his complicity in the government’s oppression. (Carpentier). His betrayal of Julia is exactly what the Party wants him to do, cut all emotion ties with Julia, and for Big