According to Merriam-Webster freedom is defined as “the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action” (www.merriam-webster.com). When using the definition provided the citizens in the society portrayed in the novel 1984 are not free. Winston describes freedom in multiple ways throughout the novel he says “freedom is the freedom to say two plus two makes four. If that is granted all else follows” (pg.81) and “to die hating them, that was freedom” (pg.281). The party takes away many of the citizens rights including the right to think and form your own opinions. If anyone had a thought that was not what the party had told them and went against the party they would be committing thoughtcrime. According to Winston “thoughtcrime did not entail death, thoughtcrime is death” (pg.28). If you were caught committing thoughtcrime the thought police would come and arrest you. The thought police came at night according to Winston “it was always at night-the arrests invariably happened at night.” (pg.19). After the thought police arrested someone that person's name was removed from everything and that person no longer existed. Another way a person may get caught for committing thoughtcrime is by their own children. The party praises children who denounce their parents to the thought police if they are guilty of thoughtcrime. This is seen when Winston was talking to Parsons “Who denounced you?” said Winston “It was my little daughter”said Parsons” (pg.233). The party banned its citizens from having sex because they feared that any form of pleasure would cause the citizens to form a rebellion. In the world of 1984 the only reason you could have sex was to continue on the human race and to help the state, not for joy. Evidence of this is “The aim of the party was not merely to prevent men and women from forming loyalties which it might not be able to control. It’s real, undeclared purpose was to remove all pleasure from the sexual act” (pg.65). This is also shown when Winston’s wife Katharine said “They must, she said, produce a child if they could” (pg.67). Katharine also stated that having a child was their “duty to the party” (pg.67). In 1984 the only way the citizens could legally have sex was if they were married and “The only recognized purpose of marriage was to beget children for the service of the party” (pg.65). The only way you would receive permission to marry someone is if you were not physically attracted to them. “Permission was always refused if the couple concerned gave the impression of being physically attracted to one another” (pg.66).
The reasoning behind this may be because the party did not want anyone to form any loyalties. The party organizes everything in the society the way they want it. The way the party watches the citizens are by telescreens that are placed in all of the homes of the citizens. These telescreens watch every move that the person is making unless it is dark. The telescreens also pick up on any noise that is happening around it. The party ensures that it is nearly impossible to hide from them. Winston stated “you had to live-did live, from habit that became instinct-in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized” (pg.3). Because the citizens of Oceania are always being monitored and at the same time being brainwashed it becomes very difficult for them to recognize their natural impulse to choose to feel and to think so they accept their place in society and do what they are told to do by Big Brother and the party. Because of the repression place on the citizens of Oceania because of the party some of the citizens rebelled like Winston and Julia and some of the citizens followed all the restrictions placed on them like Katharine. At one point in the novel Winston was talking about Katharine and he said “she had not a thought in her head that was not a slogan” (pg.66). Katharine was an obedient follower of Big Brother. The citizens that rebelled against Big Brother had their natural impulses get the best of them. At one point during the two minutes hate Winston let his natural impulse of feeling describe how much he hated Big Brother and the party. Winston stated “better than before, moreover, he realized why it was that he hater her. He hated her because she was young and pretty and sexless, because he wanted to go to bed with her and would never do so, because round her sweep supple waist, which seemed to ask you to encircle it with your arm, there was only the odious scarlet sash, aggressive symbol of chastity” (pg.15). The only group of people in 1984 that had even the slightest bit of freedom were the proles.
The proles were the poor underclass, they had music and freedom. They were expected to live, work, have children, and die. The proles had music, which no other group in this novel had, this could reflect on how the proles had a culture because the government has not taken that away from them yet. The party lets the proles be because they do not matter to the government because they are not a risk for them. The government can handle them so they do not oppress the proles. This goes back to what Winston said about the proles “if there is hope, it lies in the proles” (pg.69). Repression is a very important issue in George Orwell’s novel 1984. The citizens can not follow their natural impulses because of Big Brother and the party fearing that if they did they would be a danger to their power. Overall Orwell was trying to prove that a totalitarian society does not work because there will always be someone that does not fit into the system and that a government can never fully take away a person's natural
impulses.