George Orwell 's 1984 Power Essay Example
In George Orwell's dystopian novel, 1984, power is portrayed to be desirable destruction. Winston Smith is a citizen of Oceania, a totalitarian state ruled by the Party. Big Brother serves as the Party’s face, who holds power in society by watching everyone 24/7 through telescreens and cameras that are located everywhere. Winston Smith knows to free himself he must gain power and he does so by testing their powers, keeping his values intact, and protecting Julia. Through Winston's struggle, Orwell proves to readers the dangers of totalitarian states and inspires them to take a stand against them.
Winston Smith wants to rebel before he is caught by the Thought Police. Winston knows that he is going to get captured by the Thought Police from the moment he writes “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” in his diary. So, as his way of having his last hurrays, he takes risks. The biggest risk is having an affair with Julia, a young, rebellious, party member. We learn that Julia is very sexually active, even though it is discouraged by the Party, and Winston says, “The more men you’ve had,the more I love you,” (Orwell 111). This quote shows that Winston breaks two laws: being in love and committing adultery. By forming a romantic relationship with Julia, Winston is gaining power in a sense, he has someone behind his back who also hates the party.
Winston’s hate for Big Brother is power itself. After O’Brien uses shock therapy on Winston, he genuinely starts believing in the Party. He writes 2+2=5 on a slate, which is a form of doublethink. But then he dreams about Julia and calls out her name in his sleep. As Winston is waiting for the guards to cease him, he thinks, “He must keep his hatred locked up inside him like a ball of matter which was part of himself and yet unconnected with the rest of him” (Orwell 251). Suddenly, he goes back to hatred and has a goal to die with hatred in his heart for Big Brother. The Party’s growing power over Winston vanishes. The party wants to control Winston's mind so he won’t be a martyr. Their only obstacle is Winston's hatred, which won’t allow for him to reform, which stops them from killing him and threatens the regime's power since they cannot control one person. Orwell twists hatred, a bad thing, and makes it seem so reasonable when it is directed towards Oceania, the worst place, to show how evil too much power can become.
Winston is slowly losing his mind to the Party. Winston confesses to every single crime he commited and more just to stop the torture but when O’Brian tells him it’s over he remembers Julia. Winston says, “ ‘I have not betrayed Julia,” he said…. ‘He had not stopped loving her; his feeling toward her had remained the same” (Orwell 244). Julia is the only tie to his humanity because he still feels love and O’Brian knows this. Julia is also another thing Winston has loyalty towards other than Big Brother and he yet again threatens the Party by his stubbornness. Orwell portrays love to be the conqueror of all in this scene but still subservient under power because after this scene Winston betrays Julia and completely surrenders to the Party. Thus proving to the reader that unbalanced power will be the end of humanity.
Winston was doomed from the start to fall into the traps of the Party’s undying power. Orwell foreshadows this from Winston knowing that he was going to be captured by the Thought Police in chapter 1 for writing down, “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER.” Orwell buys Winston time and he goes on an adventure of finding love, trying to make a difference by joining the Brotherhood, and not giving up on his values when he is caught. Winston does rebel against the party but they catch up to him and they know every act of rebellion he did and break his spirit, no matter how long it takes. In our free world, Winston did not do anything criminal worthy but the Party twists these humane things as dangerous. Orwell warns readers about countries that hold too much power with Winston's story because he wants them to understand how many limitations will be on their life if they don’t take a stand against the regimes.
