A prophecy which came true: Being negative vs being realistic

1984 in 2015...

"George Orwell’s 1984 did not prophesy a nightmare society but, rather, warned us that fascism or Stalinism could be perfected into an irreversible and complete totalitarianism. What made the warning so powerful is that Orwell’s anti-utopia is a very plausible representation of what life would be like if a central authority were permitted to abuse technology and language to pervert the past and create an unending tyranny "(1983,p.25).

Here we are, most of us, living a life which seems to be most of the times a happy place to live. Orwell warned us about this kind of society years ago, we are slowly turning into a society in which irrelevant news are dominating our minds, where what a celebrity did is far more important than how poverty strikes our cities; nevertheless, it may arouse our interest about how people are letting the government to get into their minds, and the main reason is due to the power which media represents. We are immersed in a society where watching television is the priority number one at the moment of searching for something to spend our time, and this is the main cause of the whole problem. Television is creating an era of ignorance, where the main goal is apparently to keep us dwelling in a fake reality where pretty images are in charge of telling us how good is our society instead of informing us what is really happening. 

The problem does not stop here, nowadays media is doing exactly what Orwell wrote in 1984, the only difference is the way in which this is being done since it appears to be a “softer” way to tell us how to think, how to act and what is needed to be done in order to fit in this society, which sometimes reminds me how Enid in Ghost World is down with all the people who were pending about how to fit in social standards, she says,maybe she is not directly talking about exactly the same than 1984, nevertheless, it is a reflection of how people can actually question the system and even more important, it is a question to society about why they have to follow what they are told to follow, making me think that maybe if people could have at some point a similar opinion than Enid they would be able to form their own opinion and go beyond the fake reality shown in T.V.

What 1984 tries to explain? a negative world or a realistic world ?

It is doubtless the vast quantity of relevant situations, concepts and beliefs that can be found in 1984, also,there is a debate in which people try to explain the nature of this novel, whether it is a pesimistic novel or a realistic one. To begin with and probably the most obvious aspect which 1984 tries to explain is how totalitarianism can negatively affect our lives, showing us the idea of “dystopia” which is the counter part of “utopia”, that is to say, a reality where negative feelings reigns. In this reality we can appreciate a world where every movement is tracked by the government, where opinions are not allowed but punished. In this world the only way to survive is to follow and obey every thought which the government can have, this is because the intention of the government is to have power over every aspect and people living there, making sure to eliminate any demonstration of personal thoughts or criticism against it. They want people to believe what is shown; even if it is a completely incorrect thought the government want people to lose their ability to discern whether something is incorrect or correct. A question may arouse at this point, how the government make the people to think what the government want them to think without any objection at all? The answer is quite simple, “fear”. People are afraid of being tortured, attacked or killed by the government if they show any kind of disagreement about their methods and beliefs; therefore, they will slowly turn into a non thinking society; however, the book show us how its main character, Winston Smith will attempt to stop this system. We can appreciate how the desire of rebellion inside Winston Smith starts to grow more and more, mainly because he hated totalitarianism due to its ideals and ways of acting. Winston is a man who has strong convictions and very loyal to his beliefs; nevertheless, even with those characteristics Winston is finally broken by the government through different kind of tortures.

Some people may argue that the moment in which Winston is broken, letting their beliefs and integrity being destroyed is the most negative aspect of the novel since it represents the defeat of the possible hero who Winston intended to be; nevertheless, can we really acclaim that this is the “negative” aspect of the novel, or maybe this is the most realistic aspect of it?, does it really exist a person able to withstand the most callous tortures without leaving their beliefs behind? It is undeniable that maybe an scene with an unbroken Winston would pleased a lot of people, even if that situation ended up with a dead Winston, the feeling of “he never gave up their feelings” would be the final thought in our minds after reading the book and probably the aim of 1984 would of been more about never give up our ideals even in the most critical situations, unfortunately, things did not ended like that. It ended with a broken man who once was full of ideals and beliefs aiming to change the world where he lived, a man who was finally beaten by the government, turning him into a man without any kind of desires and opinions about society.

“Somewhere or other she was suffering perhaps far worse than he. She might be screaming with pain at this moment. He thought: 'If I could save Julia by doubling my own pain, would I do it? Yes, I would.' But that was merely an intellectual decision, taken because he knew that he ought to take it. He did not feel it. In this place you could not feel anything, except pain and foreknowledge of pain. Besides, was it possible, when you were actually suffering it, to wish for any reason that your own pain should increase? But that question was not answerable yet” (1984,p.194).

 Ask yourself, if you were in the same situation which Winston Smith faced, a situation where tortures concerning physical and psychological pain were the main source of punishment; would you really stayed strong until the end, refusing even when death would be the consequence to give up your ideals and beliefs?, would you consider the idea of sacrificing yourself in order to protect something or somebody? probably a lot of people would say yes, of course since they are not living by themselves that situation; however, the novel offer us a way to feel the same way that Winston felt during the torture, being attacked by his most personal fears. I strongly believe that this is the aim of the novel, to show us how reality is and how even the toughest person can be broken.

The death of a human, the rise of a “hero”

In 1984 it can be observed how even with the burning desire of facing the system our protagonist, Winston Smith, failed in a shocking way, turning his convictions into nothing; however, in Moore’s work, V for Vendetta, we can appreciate how “V”, who is the hero/villain, made his way to face the system. There is a question which has to be made, why in 1984 we can appreciate a complete failure of  Winston Smith at his attempt to face the system whereas in V for Vendetta it can be appreciated that “V” is able to face ir for a period of time (even if he is killed at the end)? The purpose of both characters was the same,in fact, they shared the same feeling which has to do with a internal feeling of hate about people since they were not brave enought to stay strong and  face the system; nevertheless, even when they have that similarity the way they acted was totally different. 

On the one hand, Winston Smith faced the system at first inside his mind, thinking about the different aspects in which the government was wrong and eventually how to rebel and make a change in the system. Winston Smith never came to directly face the system, probably since he was caught before any kind of action was performed. Also, his main idea would probably been to gather together a lot of people who shared his thoughts about the system and then face the problem; however, people failed to follow Smith's ideals and people who were close to him turned to be the system itself.


 On the other hand, “V” acted by his own, facing the problem by himself without any kind of mercy against the people involved in the system. It seems that “V” was able to face the government for a while, causing a lot of troubles to it, but at what cost? “V”, in his desire of vengeance against the system, decided to do whatever it takes in order to fulfill his bloody desire of vengeance, leaving behind any option of communicative situation, and even when people did not follow him , probably because of fear, he never stopped his vengance against the system. “V” was convinced that the only way to stop and face the system was to kill their one by one, in fact, there is a moment in which he seems to leave his old conception of justice behind, adopting a new one : "Very well. So you stand revealed at last,you are no longer my justice, you are his justice now, you have bedded another. Well, two can play at that game"




Does the end justify the means? Can “V” be considered as a hero even when his notion of justice was actually killing people? Is it necessary to leave behind our sense of mercy or humanity and turn into a bloody killer in order to change things? Are you a bad person if you kill bad people? A plethora of ethic and moral aspects can be appreciated here; however, it cannot be denied than maybe and probably more important, even more than trying to explain if “V” is a hero or not is the fact that “V” is somebody who carries the dreams and opinions of the people who cannot actually express them mainly because they are afraid of what the system can do against them. “V” is the living voice of the one who cannot say a word; “V” is the representation of what the system has created in people’s heart, a desire of destroying once for all this entity which forces them to live in an era of pain and injustice.

References

Howe, Irving. 1984 Revisited: Totalitarianism in Our Century. New York: Harper Row, 1983.

Orwell, G. (1983). 1984. New York; The New American Library, Inc.

Moore, A & Lloyd. D. (1988). V for Vendetta; DC Comics.