The Last Bit of Hope. The Analysis of 1984 Essay Example

The human soul is connected to the human spirit, having a single glimpse of hope can make both shine and thrive, having a greater chance if one has the will and power to stick with their own mindset. The only issue is when one does not have the opportunity to have a mind of their own, such as Winston. Having hope throughout the entire novel, but sadly did not have the will, nor the power; not only because he was not capable but because his opportunity was taken away. In 1984, George Orwell introduces a miserable, desolate, and cynical atmosphere. The government creates an oppressive society with complete dominance over the people by taking all wealth, knowledge, and feelings away.

The Party knows that the only way to maintain control is to dissect the human consciousness and disconnect the mind from the body; they do this by keeping the citizens ignorant, without studies and comprehension. The government manages to take away anything that makes a person a human being, taking one’s identity, and deciding whether or not one exists. Leaving Winston without the want to accomplish his goals, or rebel against The Party. By the government effectively removing all meaning to life, and desensitizing the human consciousness, there is no way for Winston to overcome the tyranny and do what is morally right for the human spirit. 

Winston attempts to rebel several times by buying the diary, going to the prole district, or hiding from the telescreen. Overall, Winston does not have the force or the will to beat the authoritarian government when The Party has successfully removed power from individuality. Having taken even the slightest peace of information such as language and deducting it to the most minimal context there is: “Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller… In fact, there will be no thought, as we understand it now” (52-53). Minimalizing the range of thought and keeping people ignorant leaves them with no basic knowledge. This gives the government complete power over the population.

As The Party slogans state, “Ignorance is strength”, reducing language to basic terms, not allowing the people to express freely giving them no chance to rebel. During his fist rebellion in the novel, Winston anxiously opens the book with intentions of writing in it, knowing he is being watched and always listened to, “Winston kept his back turned to the telescreen. It was safer, though, as he well knew, even a back can be revealing” (3). The party having complete surveillance over everyone, allows them to watch every move the citizens make. If anything is considered treason to The Party there are serious consequences. This helps The Party’s cause, keeping everyone in place. The power the government holds over the citizens, removes any independence knowing there are consequences for their actions. 

By possessing so much control over society and the individual, Winston cannot overcome the oppressive government since he is been stripped away of any choice or free will. When O’Brien breaks down Winston and gets him to believe in the party propaganda, O’Brien says to him, “Make that the starting point of your thoughts… That the starting choice for mankind lay between freedom and happiness, and that, for the great bulk of mankind, happiness was better” (262). O’Brien fills Winston’s head with what he wants him to belief, and because of the circumstances Winston is undergoing, he blindly obliges and starts to let go of his own beliefs. This again re-assures The Party their techniques are working. This also re-enforces, “In the face of pain there are no heroes” (234). Winston no longer endures the torture and gives up; This allows The Party to take over while Winston is broken down and becomes a puppet of The Party. This government not only take his will, and choice, but by doing this they also take away his beliefs and strips Winston of his identity as well.

Winston’s mind does not connect with the body. All he knows is taken away, his knowledge has been “altered” left with no awareness whatsoever. He loses not only his identity, but the self-preservation he has been holding; leaving him no way to stand up for his beliefs. When Winston is facing torture in room 101, and he is submitting to the third face which is acceptance, O’Brien puts a cage full of rats on Winston’s head and Winston yells out, “Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don't care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Not me! Julia! Not me!” (286).

After The Party takes his beliefs away, and inputs theirs on to him, he becomes a brand new person, he does not care about Julia any longer, nor care for rebellion, leaving no trace of what he used to belief in. Almost as if he has put all his knowledge and recollection into the memory hole: “When one knew that any document was due for destruction, or even when one saw a scrap of waste paper lying about, it was an automatic action to lift the flap of the nearest memory hole and drop it in” (37) Winston’s recollection of knowledge and past, all his memories he is slowly recollecting, including the glimpse memory of his mom, that gave him the slightest bit of hope, was gone and changed to new memories. The rehabilitation The Party performs on him works, they changed all he has been slowly fighting for 7 years, in matter of time. By doing this The Party leaves him with nothing else to fight for, not even a speck of dust. 

Winston’s beliefs are gone and so is everything he knows and cares about. When Winston’s loved ones and all he has an attachment to is removed from him he undergoes a lot of pain. Winston and Julia get caught in, “old Charrington shop” when Mr. Charrington unmasks himself, someone also destroys Winston’s own little world he preserves, “Someone had picked up the glass paperweight from the table and smashed it to pieces on the hearthstone” (223). This  also foreshadows how he breaks at the end, no matter how strong he thinks he is. He is left without motivation to overcome a totalitarian government. His comments of how the salvation of humanity depends on the proles, somehow turns into dust, non-existent; suddenly nothing seems to matter, his love for Julia is now gone.

She is someone that he is willing to build a life with, but no longer so: “He wished that they were a married couple of ten years' standing. He wished that he were walking through the streets with her just as they were doing now but openly and without fear, talking of trivialities and buying odds and ends for the household. He wished above all that they had some place where they could be alone together without feeling the obligation to make love every time they met” (139) Winston has these odd feelings, he wants her, he needs her, but now she doesn't even matter to him. He does not have someone or anything to fight for any longer, his motivation is shattered just like the glass paperweight. It is once in for all at an endpoint, where nothing mattered, its almost as if he had never existed. 

Having left Winston without a purpose to fight for what he beliefs in, he is stripped of himself, no longer the man that he wants to be, no longer the man making a difference. Exposed to the oppression of the government, he cannot withstand it, and withdraws. This lets The Party win. The destruction of individuality shows one’s true self, as Winston does. A person proves to act selfishly for the better and happiness of the individual, leaving anyone on the side, not caring for anyone else but themselves. This selfish act occurs through human nature, and the willingness to protect oneself.