So I've been thinking about 1984, and there are some things about it that I'd like to talk about but they don't really fit into the class discussions, so hooray for blogs.
One thing in particular is O'Brian. Does he read minds, or is he just amazingly good at deductive reasoning? Or, even more disturbing than mind reading, does he create Winston's thoughts? There are several instances in the book where O'Brian knows things that he could not possibly deduct. And Winston's amazingly accurate dreams can't be pure chance. I understand that writers use dreams as foreshadowing but this was just so BLATANT it felt like the dreams were sent to him. O'Brian DID say that he picked Winston out for the purpose of creating a "face to stomp on". I think Winston would not have had the capacity for rebellious thoughts if O'Brian hadn't chosen him. I don't know, it just seems like O'Brian KNOWS too much for Winston to have independent thought.
If Big Brother can control the language, and thus completely eliminate the ability to have rebellious thoughts, it seems likely that Big Brother is equally capable of *bestowing* the ability to have rebellious thoughts. Since their culture NEEDS rebells as a source of pleasure, something to squash, i would think that much of Big Brother's time is spent creating criminals. Talk about ultimate power. They don't just crush their enemies, they make them specifically for the purpose of converting and killing them. I think at this point in the party's rule, individuals no longer have the ability to rebel without the help of Big Brother. In essence, Man has become God. In a parallelism to Christianity, Big Brother gives individuals the ability to think and rebel against him so that they are able to love Big Brother of their own free will. The difference is that Big Brother's "end" isn't that you love, the "end" is that Big Brother gets to exercise power. Because really if you have absolute power, you no longer need to flex your power. Once you win it's pretty much over, unless you constantly create and squash your own enemies. I guess we already knew all this, but I didn't fully realize to what extent the inner party goes to create enemies. It took 7 years to get Winston to the point where he was really rebelling. I think O'Brian and co. spent a lot of time planting idea's in Winston's head. maybe like in Brave New World they used the telescreen to whisper anti-propaganda in his sleep. I think Winston is really nothing more than a figment of O'Brian's imagination. But because O'Brian is god, Winston is real. Or something.
So this is a ridiculously long post, but I can't stop thinking about it. Does Winston even have free will? If free will is about freedom of thought, then he most certainly doesn't. You can't have freedom of thought with the thought police. And if free will is spiritual, and they've newspeak-ed God out of reality, free will doesn't exist there either.
To me, the scariest thing about this book is not the torture or the thought police or Big Brother. It's the fact that there is no evil mastermind behind it all laughing at how evil he is. If there was, and the guy who ran it all knew he was evil, then good would still exist, at least in the hypothetical. But 1984 doesn't have an evil mastermind running the system. There is only The System, and nothing else. At one point O'Brian says that the Universe is only as old as man, because if man doesn't exist then there is no one to perceive the Universe. Likewise, if no one exists out side the party, to witness the party, then life ceases to exists. Through out the book Winston states over and over that "we are the dead". In this book, mankind writes itself out of existence, and there's not even anyone there to witness it. And I don't think the proles are going to save anyone.
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Wow. Just wow. Anna, you've blown my mind. Excellent post.
ReplyDeleteI kinda got the same feeling with O'Brien. Although, it did seem that he didn't really know what Winston meant when he mentioned the place where there is no darkness (atleast from what I remember). Still, he did seem to guess Winston's every thought EXACTLY when it happened. Winston would think something and O'Brien would stop his pacing and tell Winston what thought just went through his own mind. Seven years is an awful lot of time to waste just to squash one insignificant citizen. Perhaps the Thought Police is bored and has nothing better to do than create their own victims (however I like your free will scenario much better). Maybe what Winston thought about the mind was wrong all the time. Maybe the Party DOES, in fact, control their minds in such a subtle way as to make the victim believe he is rebelling. I don't think I can really add much else to your post (it's so good), except that the proles WILL never save anyone. O'Brien touches on that subject during the "renewing" of Winston's mind. The proles will never revolt because they do not know they are being oppressed. Just like BNW, the proles accept their fate. And no one from the Party will ever lead them in a revolt, because all rebels are reconditioned to love BB, no matter what. It seems that the Party has infinite control over everything and will truly exist for all time.
Oh, and I love your Christianity parallel. Spot on (in a twisted evil kind of way).
To me, Anna, the scary thing is how insightful and well-phrased this blog post is. Bravo! I have nothing to add or take away. You presented your case, supported your assumptions, and came up with a great conclusion.
ReplyDeleteMr. B
Well okay. When Mr. Bruno can't do anything to this crazy blog o' crazy conclusions, I know I can't do jack squat.
ReplyDeleteBut that doesn't mean I won't try!
...
...All I can think of is how "we are all dead" reminds me of The Dead. But I can't do much with that right now.
I also like how the fantastical creation of a fantastical creator makes the creation an actuality. It's like a math equation with negatives. Or a sentence with double negatives.
Alright, I'm done trying to fully comprehend what you're throwing at us, dear. I'll knaw on this one for a few more weeks, JUST SO YOU KNOW.
Anna sure does live up to her award that Mr. Bruno gave her! I see now that all the talk I have been hearing about this post was not just hype! Anyways, it is insane to think about that the Party is creating its own dissidents solely for the purpose of destroying them. After all, the constant breaking of rebels is good for maintaining the level of fear the Party propels on its society. I do wonder, however, say, if the Party is not implanting ideas into its citizesn to destroy them, would people ever come up with the rebellious thoughts on their own? I am kind of leaning toward the belief that people like Winston would rise up on their own, but that is just because I am an optimist and I like to believe uplifting things about stories sometimes, haha. Anyways, interesting things to think about, thanks Anna.
ReplyDeleteI think that with any oppressive governments there will always be enemies, always be people who at one time or another at least think, if not speak, against the state. I don't think it is possible for there to be a single society that will satisfy everyone, and 1984 doesn't even come close. I think that the Party doesn't have to create enemies, they just need to push these dissidents to being all out rebels. You don't need to activly speak or act out against the state to be its enemy, you just have to hate them. Often times totalitarian governments have their enemies that are just too afraid to act. I think this is where the Party does its work, to goad the dissidents into open rebelion.
ReplyDelete