Human Vulnerability in 1984

For centuries, the fear of a cruel tyrannical society has lingered deep in the agitated minds of man. The idea that an oppressive government could threaten human individualism, freedom, and natural rights is definitely a scary concept. George Orwell illustrates this dystopian world in his novel 1984, which depicts a society where a totalitarian government has complete control over its subjects’ actions, feelings, and even thoughts. While most people are aware that Orwell’s 1984 serves as a warning against totalitarian government, many are unaware of the novel’s message regarding mankind. A critical analyst of 1984 states, “The question is… can human nature be changed in such a way that man will forget he is human?” (Fromm 2-3). In other words, could man be forced to surrender all human qualities under certain oppressive means? According to Orwell, the answer is yes. In George Orwell’s 1984, the vulnerability of humanity is exposed through his depictions of betrayal, contradictory elements, and the denial of reality. Despite the faith that the characters of 1984 put in their courage, this confidence is proven false as numerous betrayals occur in the text due to relentless torture performed by the Party, the tyrannical government in the novel. The best example of betrayal can be seen in the love relationship between the protagonist, Winston Smith, and a rebellious young woman, Julia. In Orwell’s world, love is not allowed and sex is for reproductive purposes only, so the relationship of Winston and Julia is considered a horrid crime. At first, both Winston and Julia believe that even if the Party catches the two in their love affair and tortures them for their crime, their feelings would still remain the same for each other:
‘Confession is not betrayal… only feelings matter. If they could make me stop loving – that would be the real betrayal.’
‘They can’t do that… They can make you say anything… but they can’t make you believe it. They can’t get inside you.’ (Orwell 166)
Clearly, Winston and Julia have hope in their courage; however, this confidence in human willpower is utterly misplaced. Near the end of the book, Julia and Winston are both caught in the act. It turns out that O’Brien, a man that they thought to be their ally, was actually a leader of the Party who specializes in the Ministry of Love, the department where the Party tortures rebels. Based on his experience at the Ministry of Love, O’Brien makes a point to Winston that humans can only endure so much, but there is always a specific fear that one cannot even apprehend; it is a fear that no amount of courage can overcome. “By itself… pain is not always enough. There are occasions when a human being will stand out against pain, even to the point of death. But for everyone there is something unendurable – something that cannot be contemplated. Courage and cowardice are not involved.” (Orwell 284). Fundamentally, a human’s will can be broken down through his/her most unimaginable greatest fear. One’s worst fear is embodied in Room 101, the final and most effective torture chamber. This room symbolizes the ultimate betrayal because of its ability to make any person betray another.
‘Room 101’ said the officer. The man looked frantically around at the other prisoners as though with some idea that he could put another victim in his own place… ‘That’s the one you ought to be taking, not me! ...He’s the one against the Party! …Take him, not me!’ (Orwell 237)
Despite all strength or endurance, every man is vulnerable to the terror of Room 101 and any person could betray another, even one that he/she loves. After months of torture, Winston and Julia both go through Room 101. Unlike what they believed would happen, the two betray each other and lose all love that they had previously felt. After their traumatizing experience, the two see each other on the streets and discuss the aftermath of Room 101. Julia says,”Sometimes… they threaten you with… Something you can’t stand up to… and then you say ‘don’t do it to me… do it to so-and-so.’ And perhaps you might pretend… that you just said it to make them stop and you didn’t really mean it. But that isn’t true… you do mean it… you want it to happen to the other person. All you care about is yourself… And after that you don’t feel the same toward the other person any longer.” (Orwell 292). Julia and Winston agree that they both betrayed each other, and that after reaching this betrayal, the shame, guilt, and mental trauma removes any past feelings. Humanity’s vulnerability is very clear in Winston’s and Julia’s betrayal of one another. In his analytical essay about 1984 and man, Kellner states, “After getting Smith to betray Julia (and thus violate what he had believed was his inviolable commitment to her), O’Brien explains that what motivates the Party bureaucrats …is simply to perpetuate indefinitely the bureaucrats’ own power.” (Kellner 4). Essentially, the Party is not just interested in exposing human vulnerabilities just for the sake of doing so; the Party is doing so to flaunt their power and demonstrate their ability to overcome even the most virtuous human qualities (such as Winston’s commitment). Another way that Orwell exposes the vulnerability of humans is through his characters’ acceptance of contradictory elements that do not make sense. As a critic of 1984 puts it, “…1984 defaces humanity through the concepts it imposes.” (Austin 3) A method the Party uses to break down humans’ range involves reducing the amount of language that is used, therefore, eliminating concepts such as: freedom, rebellion, or will-power. “Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Byron – they’ll exist in Newspeak versions… but actually changed into something contradictory of what they used to be. Even the literature of the Party will change. Even the slogans will change. How can you have a slogan like ‘freedom is slavery’ if the concept of freedom has been abolished… there will be no thought. Orthodoxy means not thinking – not needing to think.” (Orwell 47). Orwell implies that if humans do not know the word for a concept, how can they ever think of it? The government is taking a step further in having complete control over citizens by controlling their thoughts, which leads to their acceptance of contrary concepts. Citizens of Oceana are also taught to utilize the power of doublethink, allowing them to accept conflicting ideas. “Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. The Party intellectual knows in which direction his memories must be altered; he therefore knows that he is playing tricks with reality, but by the exercise of doublethink he also satisfies himself that reality is not violated… even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink…”( Orwell 214). The practice of doublethink comes up numerous times in the novel. It correlates to the many contradictory elements in the book. Essentially, doublethink is the reason characters in the book (except Winston) are able to accept incompatible thoughts. By creating doublethink, the Party emphasizes a world that lack essential human qualities: reason, thought, and individuality. After reducing the range of thought and promoting doublethink, the last step is for the Party to force its contradictory slogans upon the citizens of Oceana. “War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength… the Ministry of Truth… concerned itself with news, entertainment, and the fine arts; the Ministry of Peace… concerned itself with war; the Ministry of Love… maintained law and order; and the Ministry of Plenty…was responsible for economic affairs.” (Orwell 4). Everything the government presents in its slogans is a paradox. Aside from the contradicting slogans, the Ministries’ names contradict their true nature as well. The Ministry of Truth lies to society by changing records/history; The Ministry of Peace is involved with war and military affairs; the Ministry of Love is responsible for torturing rebellious citizens; and the Ministry of Plenty’s economic policies are terrible leaving the citizens with no food or resources. Although it is obvious that the slogans and Ministries are all contradictory, most citizens’ minds have been broken down through propaganda, doublethink, and a lack of language. The fact that many citizens truly believe in the contradictory slogans proves that they have lost the capability of individual thought, a crucial component of humanity. A critic of 1984 points out in an essay, “Once it [the government] can control thought and behavior, then its power is assured and it can rule indefinitely without opposition.” (Kellner 5). The government’s power over citizens’ thoughts emphasizes the mental vulnerability in humans.
The last way that Orwell emphasizes the vulnerability of man is by illustrating the characters’ denial of reality and acceptance of the Party. The only way the Party can have enough power to force people to deny the truth is through intense torture. Readers and critics can clearly see the relationship between torture and power: “…The bureaucracy uses state terror, torture, and arbitrary murder to increase its power over its population.” (Kellner 5). During Winston’s torture, the reader witnesses not just his betrayal towards Julia, but his denying of his conscious. Winston’s denial of reality is depicted during a scene of torture while O’Brien and Winston exchange some words: ‘How many fingers Winston?’ ‘Four! Four! What else can I say? Four!’ ‘How many fingers Winston?’ ‘Five! Five! Five!’
‘No, Winston, that is no use. You are lying. You still think there are four. How many fingers please?’
‘I don’t know… You will kill me if you do that again. Four, Five, Six – in all honesty I don’t know.’
‘Better.’ (Orwell 150-152)
As Winston is being electrocuted with increasingly powerful shocks, he is forced to deny what is right in front of him – the amount of fingers that O’Brien is holding up. Throughout the book, Winston trusts his conscious over the Party’s words. This is what sets him aside from other citizens. It is the reason he is able to discern the contradictory nature of the Party’s slogans. Unfortunately, it is also why he poses a problem to the Party, which will eventually lead to his complete brainwash. In the dialogue of the torture scene, Winston clearly knows that O’Brien is holding up four fingers; however, O’Brien will not be satisfied until Winston believes that there are as many fingers as he says there are. Eventually, Winston does believe whatever O’Brien says, symbolizing his complete breakdown. A critic describes it as a “lurid melodrama bordering on a horror show depicting O’Brien’s torturing of Smith and his eventual breaking down of Smith’s will and resistance.” (Kellner 4). Complete mental control is what the Party strives for, and they can only acquire it if citizens can deny the facts. Near the end of the book, Winston realizes that O’Brien was successful in gaining complete mental control over him, and that whatever the Party says must be accepted as reality regardless of the truth. “Almost unconsciously he traced with his finger in the dust on the table: 2+2=5. ‘They can’t get inside you,’ she had said. But they could get inside you. ‘What happens to you here is forever,’ O’Brien had said. That was a true word.” (Orwell 290). Winston tracing ‘2+2=5’ represents his complete surrender to the Party. Because Winston Smith is the most rebellious character in the book, his surrender is extremely effective in emphasizing the fact that it IS possible to break through human will, and once it is broken, one can be forced to accept virtually anything - even ‘2+2=5.’ An interesting point to make regarding reality is whether reality actually exists in a world where the truth is alterable. In a response to 1984, a critic states, “The basic question which Orwell raises is whether there is any such thing as ‘truth.’ ‘Reality’ so the ruling Party holds, ‘is not external. Reality exists in the mind and nowhere else…’ If this is so, then by controlling men’s minds, the Party controls truth.” (Fromm 3). Essentially by taking away thought, humans are not capable of distinguishing reality from lies. “…In a successful manipulation of the mind the person is no longer saying the opposite of what he thinks, but he thinks the opposite of what is true…if he has surrendered his independence and integrity completely… then two and two are five… there is no longer any awareness of the discrepancy between truth and falsehood.” (Fromm 5). Fromm has completely grasped what has occurred with Winston and numerous citizens of Oceana. No matter what is true or false, the only reality exists in the mind. If the Party is brainwashing all the citizens then they have control of reality. This is a clear sign of human’s losing their independence and individualism. The ultimate symbol of surrendering humanity is at the end of the novel, when Winston accepts Big Brother, the dictator of the dystopian world, as his leader. “He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark mustache. O’ cruel needles misunderstanding! O’ stubborn, self wiled exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right. The struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.” (Orwell 297-298). Winston has been brainwashed to the point where he does not even know why he resisted the Party initially. While readers know that the reality of the situation is that Big Brother is an oppressive dictator, Winston is denying all that he knew to be true at the beginning of the book. In a way, this is a hopeless ending for readers, but at the same time, it further emphasizes the need for humanity to be protected. In conclusion, George Orwell is not only warning readers about the dangers of a totalitarian government; he is warning readers that humanity is not impervious. Today’s society takes such pride in humanity that it is often forgotten that it is still possible for one to lose his/her human qualities. This possibility is exemplified in 1984. The Party forces Winston to betray Julia. They take away citizens’ individualism, making them accept contradictory slogans/propaganda, and they traumatize Oceana’s people until the Party’s word is the only definite reality. Although the government has to go to great lengths to break down human nature, it is undeniable that the vulnerability of humanity is probable. A philosophical critic of 1984 states, “The rest of us are starting to realize that if we cannot change the world to suit human nature, our only path is to change human nature to suit the world.” (Austin 2). As seen in 1984, the dystopian society in which Winston lives causes him to change his own nature (representative of humanity as we know it today) in the end. Despite all his efforts to resist, in the end, he had changed. His humanity was destroyed. Orwell is warning readers to not take humanity for granted. Mankind must protect human nature before anything (such as the events that take place in 1984) threatens humanity. If not, one could infer that the world may suffer the same fate as Winston Smith.

Work Cited

Austin, Colin. "Critical Essay #1." Thesis. University of Southern California, 2012. Www-sfc.usc.edu. University of Southern California. Web. 9 Nov. 2012

Fromm, Erich. "Afterword to George Orwell 's 1984." 1984. New York, NY: Signet Classic, 1961. N. pag. Web. 9 Nov. 2012.

Kellner, Douglas. "From 1984 to One-Dimensional Man: Critical Reflections on Orwell and Marcuse." Diss. University of California Los Angeles, 1983. University of Southern California. Web. 9 Nov. 2012.

Orwell, George. 1984. New York, NY: Signet Classic, 1961. Print.

Cited: Austin, Colin. "Critical Essay #1." Thesis. University of Southern California, 2012. Www-sfc.usc.edu. University of Southern California. Web. 9 Nov. 2012 Fromm, Erich. "Afterword to George Orwell 's 1984." 1984. New York, NY: Signet Classic, 1961. N. pag. Web. 9 Nov. 2012. Kellner, Douglas. "From 1984 to One-Dimensional Man: Critical Reflections on Orwell and Marcuse." Diss. University of California Los Angeles, 1983. University of Southern California. Web. 9 Nov. 2012. Orwell, George. 1984. New York, NY: Signet Classic, 1961. Print.