1984 Literary Critisism
George Orwell creates a society in his novel 1984 in which decency, individuality, and consciousness have all been abolished to obtain a utopia. Utopia in this sense means "an imaginary political and social system in which relationships between individuals and the state are perfectly adjusted." Orwell believed that in order to achieve this perfect society, the state must use a "completely unlimited use of torture and brainwashing." (Fromm, 261) However, Orwell's intention of writing the novel was not to show the reader what the society of his time might become, but rather to give a warning that humans should resist and become conscious of the totalitarian states that governed his world. George Orwell's aim was to provide society with an answer to the question as stated by Erich Fromm, "Can human nature be changed in such a way that man will forget his longing for freedom, for dignity, for integrity, for love--that is to say, can man forget he is human?" (260) The world of 1984 can be compared to a world run by machines. Orwell purveys to the reader that through oppression, cruelty and torture, brainwashing, and elimination of man's inmost desires man can be made "unhuman."
Human existence, in this sense, is stated by Erich Fromm when he says,"The Old Testament philosophy of history assumes that man grows and unfolds in history and eventually becomes what he potentially is. The tormentor's speech re-programs Winston's mind so that it suites the Party. In this way, George Orwell proves that men can be made to forget that they are human and that with it, they become more and more like machines. In order to achieve an old Buddhist virtue, "nothing in excess," the Party is at a constant war. In this way, humans were made to be robots because the Party could "program" truth and reality into humans' minds and make them believe whatever they wanted them to. Another technique the Party uses to make a person "unhuman" is through propaganda and brainwashing. The tormentor, O'Brien, inflicted so much bodily pain unto Winston that he was willing to accept anything to stop it. This took over all forms of decency. People, like robots, are born to serve their masters, the Party. Society is kept at having things only to a minimum so as to create equality while not raising the standard of living. " (345) Organized riots by the Party, such as those during Hate Week, replaced love for one another with hate your enemy. By forcing Winston to let go of all of his emotions and thoughts, the Party completed its final step in making a human "unhuman. One aim of the Party is to replace all of man's inmost desires of love, decency, and consciousness with its own ideas. The Party's attempt to oppress its people is the attempt to control the society and prevent them from rebellion or rise in power. With continuous pain and continuous questioning, O'Brien successfully wiped out all of Winston's memory and implanted the Party's ideas that he would not previously accept.
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