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Losing Our Identity In George Orwell's '1984'

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Self-awareness is characterised as the “conscious knowledge of one’s own character and feelings” with our ‘self’ comprising of individual identities, thoughts, experiences, and abilities. Displaying the obliteration of self-awareness and exploitation of groupthink, George Orwell’s ‘1984’ is a dystopian novel, which presents the extreme prohibition of all individual thoughts within a monitored and clinical society. Subsequently, social behavior is controlled by a seemingly omnipotent being known as Big Brother. This pursuit for a seemingly achievable eutopia seems inconceivable and irrational, however, considering the lengths certain individuals stress to achieve what is “normal” and “in-trend”, is it possible that destroying our individual identity by losing our self-awareness is a modern day equivalent to …show more content…

Similarly, the society of ‘1984’ is manipulated to act a certain way to maintain the control of the Party. Throughout the entirety of the novel, Winston is faced with conflicting emotions towards the treatment of people and the dictatorship of Big Brother. Undoubtedly, even whilst revolting, Winston exhibits a loyal and agreeable façade towards the Party, “to dissemble your feelings, to control your face, to do what everyone else was doing, was an instinctive reaction” (pg. 19). Our identity is a projection, a visual representation of our state of mind and the influences we are subjected to. In the same manner, we are constantly reminded of the rigid philosophies created by our society and are prompted to conform; our existence is created through being defined by others. Consequently, is our identity a true representation of our ‘self’ or is our awareness used to create a person which we see suitable for this world, similarly to how Winston must hide his true feelings so as to

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Throughout history, the desire for power has resulted in wars, deaths, and corrupt regimes. Similarly, in a totalitarian government, the state dictates its citizens using propaganda and fear in order to maintain power. In the novel 1984, the nation of Oceania is ruled by a totalitarian government, known as the Party, which constantly monitors the behaviors and thoughts of the citizens. Orwell highlights the Party’s unjust government structure through the protagonist, Winston Smith, as he goes through two significant character changes. Over the course of the novel, Winston transitions from an ordinary citizen to a secret rebel and then back to a lifeless slave for the party.

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On December 16, 1773, after months of suppression of taxes, finally the people of boston, rebelled against the governing party. They had so much individualism that they were not used and they didn’t like the idea that the British were making them pay more for their tea so because of that, the people used their individuality to work together to rebel, just as Winston and Julia used their individuality to rebel against their governing party. In 1984 by George Orwell, Winston Smith, a man in his mid 40’s, lead a lonely, rebellious life, living in Oceania, until he met Julia, who he believed to be his true love. Together, they rebel against their governing power, the Party or Big Brother, but in the end, both Winston and Julia and end up getting caught.

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Eric Wills Themes Easily, the largest theme that comes through in 1984 from start to finish is psychological control is the way to a totalitarian government. By controlling the minds of the people who are in their country, they can keep everyone in check with no chance of revolution. The Party, or the main government has a motto. It goes, “Those who control the past, control the future: who controls the present controls the past.” (32).

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