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Examples Of Free Will In George Orwell's '1984'

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“’ Orthodoxy means not thinking---not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.’” (page 53), Syme said to Winston in George Orwell’s book, 1984. Now this may not sum the whole book up but it explains a lot. 1984 is about a dystopian society, Big Brother and The Party controls everyone and everything. Winston Smith, the main character, soon realizes that what he has learned about his society is all-fake, they have been lied to and hypnotized for decades. Winston and the others have no free will and no self-owned thoughts.(erase) In 1984, George Orwell shows the struggle and fight for freedom, self-will, and most importantly free will.(aren’t they the same thing) In order for Winston and any other person to gain what they value, they must sacrifice something else, and that’s what happened in 1984. Give examples of the things they sacrificed but don’t go into detail about them. Winston values the truth and honesty. You can see that in this book when he digs up secrets and talks to the proles to find out the truth about Oceania and what really happened and what the government is hiding. If you dig a little deeper you see that it’s not the truth and honesty that he desires and values the most, but it’s in fact his free will. He wants his own thoughts, to think, feel …show more content…

In 1984, that’s a huge deal considering it’s against the law to do so. Winston also talked, thought and went against the government in multiple ways, from writing his thoughts and dreams in a journal, to falling for Julia, and uncovering Oceania’s dirty secrets. Throughout the book you’ll see that Winston gains friends who soon will either die or betray him. Mr. Charrington and O’Brien were his two closest besides Julia. The two men were spying on him and turned him in. Winston got caught. Winston was thinking, speaking, writing and dreaming freely and even though he knew he was going to get caught he continued to do so

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Throughout the story, Winston commits various “thoughtcrimes”, which are punishable by death, against “Big Brother” in order to escape its tyranny. We see the things he commits these crimes with, specifically with his diary and Julia, to be what he cherishes most. At the start of the book, Winston’s first “thoughtcrime” was writing in his diary. In this society, expressing thought is against the law and

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Winston wants to learn and understand why the party exercises total control over Oceania, like they do. Winston doesn’t like how the party does what it wants too just to keep people under there control. For example, the Party changes history to how they want people to know it, not to what actually happened. He rebels against the Party by committing several crimes

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Winston’s explanation of the Party and these beliefs illustrates the corruption they experience for they are unable to think for themselves and are forced to accept whatever they are told to believe. Orwell uses diction to convey a theme of totalitarianism

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Winston knew that his time would come when the thought police would finally catch him. He knew this since he committed thoughtcrime by writing in his journal and he didn’t like big brother. Knowing this information, he tried to eventually pry deep into the secrets of his world and stand out. However, this just ended up making him meet someone that eventually would be the person who tortured him. All this would happen because he was different and he couldn’t be himself or have a different personality than the rest.

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A crime which Winston is fully aware of committing, he wrote, "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER." (1:1:36) Winston, knowing the consequences, he continued on, "It was not by making yourself heard but by staying sane that you carried on the human heritage." (1:2:37) He then wrote to an audience hoping his thoughts would be passed on someday, “To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free…from the age of Big Brother, from the age of doublethink-greetings!”

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The Civil Rights Act was passed on July 2nd, 1964, 31 years earlier a holocaust of Semitic people had begun; both of these events share one thing in common, their origin from discriminatory hatred and prejudice. The 1920s and the emergence of the American Dream were precursors of these two events, expressing an escalating tension towards Jewish and African-American people. A simple fact that arises from this time period was that the white Christian male was viewed as superior to any other race, sex, or religion. During the 1930s, the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was released, stemming from this ideology. Furthermore, the Roaring 20s was used as a catalyst for the spread of white supremacy, as shown in The Great Gatsby through

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With this act of rebellion against the oppressive system of Oceania, Winston showcases his courage because he does all of this to aid him in his journey towards uncovering the truth of the past. Next, there is the selflessness that Winston possesses. For this specific quality, it is shown most prominently when Winston gets into a disagreement with Julia on their goals for their rebellion. During this argument, Winston firmly states that the reason for his desire to obtain and keep incriminating records of the Party’s lies is so that they can be left behind, thereby allowing for “‘the next generations [to] carry on where [they] leave off’” (196). From this, Winston demonstrates how unselfish he is because, rather than worrying about himself – like Julia – he wants actual change and progress to come as a result of his rebellion.

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At the beginning of the novel, Winston made it prominent that he dissented Big Brother and his party’s idea. He wrote in his diary, in Book 1 Chapter 1, “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER…” (Orwell 18). This shows that Winston dissented his country’s government and was willing to rebel for he knew deep inside that

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Winston’s realization of the Party’s morally wrong actions gets him to start rebelling against him. The first instance of a rebellion is when he purchases a diary from a store, which is prohibited. He secretly writes down any anti-Party suspicions, knowing that he is going to get captured for it. In the first act of 1984, Winston continues to write in his diary.

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“It might be twenty-four hours since he had eaten, it might be thirty-six. He still did not know, probably never would know, whether it had been morning or evening when they arrested him” (Orwell 225). After being arrested with Julia in Mr. Charrington’s rented room, Winston was most likely blindfolded and taken to the Ministry of Love. Since Winston had no clue where he was or what time it was, there was no indication of when he would leave, contributing to a feeling of hopelessness.

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In the end, after the struggle, pain, and torture he has been through, he submits to the ideals he fought against. A complete switch is demonstrated by Winston’s behavior, which leads us to believe his free will was tampered with. The story was never meant to show how

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In this book they talk about some capabilities of Big Brother. “Winston kept his back to the telescreen … it was over though , as he well knew even a back can be revealing.” They surveillance members of the organization 24/7, so Any little move they made was known. Winston’s job was to change the past. “Who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past”.

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Winston is defiant and rebels against Big Brother and the Party through various illegal actions. After purchasing an empty diary, he continuously wrote “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” when the telescreens were out of view (Orwell 21). This simple thought is considered to be a severe crime where Winston lives because it is direct disapproval towards the Party. Winston feels as if Big Brother is controlling every aspect of his life, so this rebellious action allows for him to vent his frustration.

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Imagine if you were living in a nation where you must live by the rules and if you do not follow the rules, you will be executed. The upsetting part about that is we do live in a world where nations like North Korea do follow the ways similarly to what Winston in living in. The book 1984 has a fair share of moments where the reader follows Winston’s story and comes across some moments where George Orwell writes interesting points where the reader has to pause and re-read the powerful writing George Orwell has created. What is also interesting is 1984 can be related to the world today. The topics that George Orwell makes a reader look at more than once is the quote “War is peace”, the government in the story, and the betrayal in the end and

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Throughout 1984, Winston is forced to confront a society which rejects the central tenets of humanity and independent thought, and which presides over society through the dissemination of propaganda. Orwell’s novel explores the dangers of totalitarian government and absolute control and is a prophetic tale of power and control that must be heeded in modern times. Totalitarianism is employed to grant absolute power to the Party and ensure the deference of the

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