The Garden of Wilde Flowers

Idea vs. humanity; which prevails?

                In both novels, 1984 and V for Vendetta, the protagonist is presented as someone who wants to rebel against his government. Both novels are adapted in London, where its citizens live under a totalitarian government. However, just one of these two character, V, wins his fight by paying a high price, his life.

            Even though, Winston and V understood how wrong things went in their societies and they both faced totalitarian regimes, they did not follow the same goals.

                On the one hand, in the 1984, the Party tries to destroy any sense of identity or expression of self-individuality. Everyone in the city lives in the same types of apartments, eats the same food and wears the same clothes, thus, there is no space for uniqueness in here. However, deep inside some people, as Winston, still exists feelings, oppressed and in silent, but they are present anyway.  That is why, Winston fights for the remain of his humanity, thus, he decides to keep a diary. In this diary he can express freely all his reflections, fears, critics and hopes. This type of thoughts were considered as a crime and were punished with torture by the Thought Police.

                On the other hand, V’s battle is triggered as a revenge against the Norsefire party, which has taken control of the government and the city, by using the fear as its most powerful weapon. Moreover, when V tells everyone “[...] truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty you need only look into a mirror” (Moore, 1988), he wanted people to understand that their fear and self-oppression are the things that empower the Leader, he says to Evey “people should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people” (Moore, 1988). Moreover, through these conventions is how V becomes an ideal, he is no longer a man, he is the embodiment of the ideas of the man he might used to be and the ideas of a lot of citizen at the city.

                Both characters must go through a hard path in order to attain their ambitious, nevertheless, although V dies defending his ideal, Winston is the one who was really defeated, even when he survives, he loses his fight at the precise moment he surrenders under O’Brien’s torture.

                But what makes Winston to lose his fight? I daresay that it is his own eagerness to preserve his humanity what made his vulnerable. In addition to that, having an identity means to owe fears, which can used against oneself. In this way, O’Brien took Winston to the limit, he knew that “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” (Orwell, 1949, p.359). Thus, O’Brien makes use of Winston’s fears to torture him and to finally break him. In the room 101, he utilizes the worst thing in the world to Winston, “in [his] case […] the worst thing in the world happens to be rats” (Orwell, 1949, p.358). This is how, the protagonist loses his dignity, and by consequence, his last piece of humanity. He betrayed himself and Julia when he begged for Julia to receive the terrible fate of being eaten by rats. After all, he survived, the body, but this mind and the thoughts that used to make him who he was were lost.

                In contrast, in spite of his death, V was victorious in his fight due to the fact that he was not a prisoner of his body anymore. V, as it was mentioned before, was the representation of something bigger, he was the embodiment of an idea, the idea of freedom and “ideas do not bleed, they do not feel pain, they do not love [while] a man can fail. He can be caught, he can be killed and forgotten, but 400 years later, an idea can still change the world” (Orwell, 1949, pp. 168). Moreover, at the end of V for Vendetta, it can be seen as his legacy remains and transcends in Evey, who apparently becomes the successor of V.

                Yet, it could be argued why Evey is not broken after the torture that actually V maked her pass through? Well, let me tell you that she was indeed broken. After the psychological and physical suffering that she experimented, she lost a large part of her humanity and with this, she also lost her fears. “Evey is released from her physical prison, from the prison of home, and from the prison of identity” (Greenblatt, 2009). Nonetheless, the whole point of this was that, to flee her from her humanity, but not from her integrity as Winston. That is why, V leaves the Valeries lettle, for Evey to find it, this played a crucial role on keeping Evey’s morale straight, making her to understand that “our integrity sells for so little, but it is all we really have. It is the very last inch of us, but within that inch, we are free.” (Moore, 1988).  All this process that Evey overcame flee her, so as she can make her own decisions without the influence of V or the authorities. Finally, “adversity turns Evey from a girl who has no courage to stand for what she believes in to a person who inhibits traits of bravery. She becomes the change she never thought she could be” (Pearson, 2013).

                When we compare how Winston and V faced and gave end to their battles of living in such oppressing societies, we can reflect about how difficult is to define an identity and costs that this identity can mean.

                In consequence, the belief of our own identity could be questioned. Are we really sure that what we say is our identity is unique? Currently, all over the world, global media has a strong influence on people’s lifestyles and on their choices thanks the subconscious control fulfilled through advertisements and propaganda. Thus, it could be implied that we just live an illusion of freedom, but indeed our choices have been already taken by a reduce number of people in power, who decide what we have to believe about what we are and need. Added to that, the idea of actual critical thinking would be also an illusion, just as in 1984, we just are part of The Two Minutes of Hate, we are just allowed to critic what we are told to. That is to say, we are not really free to point out those things that deserved to be mentioned, for instance, spotlighting the toxicity of the meal of global fat-food chains, however, nobody really wants to know. The same people who ask for transparency are the one who plug their ears when the voice of the truth telling them how things really are.

            To recapitulate, what did, for me, V’s plan more successful? It was the lack of identity, which allowed his ideas to become his identity and he preserved his integrity, his most remarkable principle, by being faithful to these convictions, no matter the price. While, Winston who was broken the moment he betrayed his love for Julia. He left his fears to destroy his integrity and all what he was.

            These two novels show us how hard could be to take a stand in the current society, firstly, because we must be sure that those choices that we have taken are really of our own and not just the repetition of others’ speeches, and secondly, due to the fact that society will make the path towards your ambition very difficult to walk. This will probably be a lonely path or with the company of just a few, but you do not have to allow those who fear or those who want to keep you oppressed to stop you; do not leave them to break your spirit, even if they makes face your deepest fears; and if it is necessary, remember that your body can be a prison, a physical one, but you can turn it into the embodiment of your idea and as V said “ideas are bulletproof” and “we are told to remember the idea, not the man”(Moore, 1988).

Referencias

Greenblatt, J. (2009). I for Integrity: (Inter)Subjectivities and Sidekicks in Alan Moore's V for Vendetta and Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Return. Interdiciplinary comics studies.

Moore, A. (1988). V for Vendetta.

Orwell, G. (1949). 1984.

Pearson, L. B. (2013). How Evey’s identity is shaped by adversity.