1984 Paper Essay Research Paper Dan MeachenLack — страница 2

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turned off. In principle, a Party member has no extra time and is never alone, except in bed. It is assumed that when he is not working, eating, or sleeping, he would take part in some kind of public recreation. To do anything that suggested solitude, even to go for a walk by himself, has always been slightly dangerous. People are not allowed to be alone, and are not allowed to make friends with anybody. They are not free to socialize with whomever they please. Everything they do has to be regulated and controlled. People are not allowed to be spontaneous and just get up and take a road trip. When Winston goes to visit the Proles, his one fear is, “The patrols might stop you if you happened to run into them. May I see your papers, comrade? What are you doing here? What time did

you leave from work? Is this your usual way home?”(Winston, Pg.71) There is no rule against walking home an unusual route, but Winston doesn’t want the Thought Police to hear about his journey to the Proles. The Thought Police are larger than life. Everybody fears them, because they know that there is no way to get around them. The populace of Oceania loses their identity as soon as they are born. Winston Smith, an Outer Party member, attempts to regain his lost identity by rebelling against the Party. He tries in vain to join the infamous Brotherhood, the underground association against the Inner Party and its nonexistent leader, Big Brother. When Winston is captured, he is forced to reform with physical and psychological torture. In the process of reforming, Winston loses

his identity to the Party again, and when he is finally released, he joins the unquestioning, mindless population of Oceania. The perfect citizen of Oceania is an imbecile that has been brainwashed exclusively with Party slogans, and is capable of believing everything the Party says. O’Brien said it best, “We may be obliged to give him a new identity. His face, his movements, the shape of his hands, the color of his hair-even his voice would be different.” (O’Brien, Pg. 143) Somebody could switch identities like that, and no one would notice. A result of the brainwashing is that people do not understand material goods. There is no variation in lifestyles. The citizens are even numbered. Each person has its own specific number, much like a prisoner. The reason they use

numbers in prison is to hinder people from individualism, fearing that they might get an idea to try and escape. This is the reason the citizens have numbers in 1984. George Orwell did it on purpose to show how the society of Oceania is much like a prison. Everybody has a number, does the same activities, eats the same food, wears the same uniform, and has the same type of daily life. Nobody is distinctly different from another. Everyone is stuck being the same. Ultimately, the Party cannot allow variations of their power to exist. To relinquish control of any part of an individual is to relinquish all control over the individual. The brutality of the Party leads to absolute devotion or absolute rebellion. The object of Oceania is a society of apathetic people who will serve

without question or thought. The society destroys humanity. When the Party takes away their subjects’ emotions, freedom and identity, the people are at loss to do anything. They do not know how to get their humanity back. The citizens are only physically alive. Our humanity is what makes us human. The fact that we have emotions, freedom and identity separates us from the animals. When Winston fights for his humanity and loses, he is changed into something less than human. 1984 is a warning to us to uphold our humanity and also to make sure that we live in a sound society. We cannot let what happens in 1984 happen to us.