Control

The theme of control is prevalent throughout the entire novel, 1984. Every aspect of the citizen’s lives in Oceania is controlled and suppressed. The Party goes so far as to try and control the thoughts of the masses and employs multiple tactics to do just that. To make matters worse they are not just being controlled by outside forces, they are also controlling every aspect of their own humanity and expression. Secrecy and suspicion runs so high and the Party takes people at will with made up allegations and forced confessions that every move, every look, every connection with another human is scrutinized and highly controlled. Stepping out of line means forced labor or death. The first aspect of control that is apparent is the propaganda photos of “Big Brother is Watching You” That is the only decoration in a very gray, concrete world. The citizens cannot choose where they live, who they marry, their jobs. They cannot have individual expression such as writing a diary because free thought is dangerous. Their words are controlled and they are required to use Newspeak, they are required to participate in hate rallies, and they don’t dare even sit near a possible defector. Society is gaslighted publicly all the time and The Party changes history to keep it in line with the political happening of the day. Every single move and facial expression is always watched. What is being broadcast is strategically created to incite fear, persuade the citizens about a specific agenda or feed them lies. The control by the ruling party is so absolute that they can go beyond all morals and decency and torture people to death for a minor infraction.  They stamp out any semblance of rebellion or free thought through excessive means, and they deny people their humanity by taking away their ability to experience love. The ruling Party is beyond fixing and can never be considered wrong they have completely lost their humanity. People are only allowed to be married and have children if the government approves of it so most remain single except for the large growing lower class, the Proles. They even go so far as to suggest artificially making babies and raising them in institutions. This is more than a person can take, being denied human warmth and love, expression and even their own thoughts. The biggest piece of control comes in the ending when O’Brien convinces Winston that 2+2=5 and he then questions himself so deeply that he can never get back to his previous self. His spirit is broken, he becomes totally brainwashed and he is rewarded for his obedience.

Karma

I found the end of 1984 to be very strange. Winston has now drunk the kool-aid and is fully apathetic. He has replaced his love for Julia with a love for Big Brother and he is in a better job where he barely works, gets paid more money and can get away with a few liberties but his soul is completely broken. He’s purposeless, has no dreams, no wild fantasies, no spirit of rebellion or questioning authority, no ability to form thoughts and expression outside of what he is being fed by the Inner Party. Julia’s spirit and zeal for life is also broken but the reader does not know if she I better off in any way. In the beginning of the book Julia admits to having multiple love affairs and that a man killed himself rather than get caught. She continues to take huge risks by pursuing these relationships and doesn't care about getting caught because she seems to escape any punishment. The end of the story seems to me as a reckoning or karma that has come to call. Julia and Winston are punished but after Winston turns Julia in his life gets much better and hers, presumably, much worse.

Rebellion and Free Will

This story obviously took a huge amount of inspiration from both the fascist regimes of the 20th century but also the tactics and intense control of the communist party. The city looks like the block houses behind the iron curtain, dull, lifeless and depressing. With the citizens being under so much control it’s hard to imagine the impulse not to rebel. Fear and hate are so intense and the amount of physical and psychological control so extreme that it creates an overall society that is easier to control. But expression and love are basic aspects of being a human. Emotions and free will, free thought is something that cannot be brainwashed out of someone.  The Party does not want anyone to look at themselves in that way; they can only be mindless followers of whatever the Party says. But still the human spirit remains, and the dream of a better world becomes something to hold onto very tightly in such an environment and something worth rebelling against.