Common module practice essay
Allow 45 min for this question roughly 1000 words
Thesis statement ideas Stories can accentuate humanity’s futile search for individualism and ignite new perspectives
within readers to reflect upon their own values. Orwell’s three act novel 1984 follows the
story of the societal anomaly Winston Smith as an individual pursuits memory, self
autonomy, and human connection/emotion in response to an oppressive society. Orwell
captures the individual human experience of Winston Smith for audiences to sympathise and
reconsider the pursuit of individualism within their own time. Contrasting Winston Smith,
Orwell encapsulates the collective human experience and their tendency to become
subservient to oppressive powers personified by the mysterious ‘Big Brother’, highlighting
the dangers of becoming complacent and not seeking individualism. Hence, Orwell
exacerbates the individual and collective human experience to achieve his authorial purpose
in highlighting the futile search for individualism while facing suppressions of memory,
self-autonomy and human emotion.
The human experience of the pursuit of memory is futile to both the individual and collective
as they are subjugated to oppressive powers. Orwell’s 1984 reveals the collective human
experience of becoming subjected to propaganda, making the pursuit of memory an
impossibility. This is exacerbated through the use of the party's slogan of ‘Doublethink’. Too
deep for your first point. Should start by contextualising the setting/plot- what is the shared
experience of the people of Oceania? ‘Doublethink’ is the power of holding two contradictory
beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously and accepting both of them. This can be demonstrated
within the party’s reduction of chocolate rations to then ‘increasing chocolate rations’, when
there is no change whatsoever. The collective are hence manipulated into believing the
propaganda of the party and are limited to their sense of memory due to the slogan of
doublethink. Contradictory to the collective, the societal anomaly Winston Smith desires for
the human experience of individualism through the futile pursuit of memory. Orwell
accentuates this through the consciousness of Winston: “Was he, then, alone in the
possession of memory?”. Through the utilisation of rhetorical questioning, we as readers
gain insight towards the internal questioning of Winston as an anomaly to society as he is
able to possess memory. However as the novel progresses the symbol of memory and the
beauty of the past is shattered to pieces before the eyes of Winston: “Someone had picked
up the glass paperweight from the table and smashed it to pieces on the hearthstone... How
small, thought Winston, how small it always was!”. Orwell utilises symbolism of the glass
paperweight (as a symbol of the beauty of the past) to accentuate the futility within the
temporary memory Winston possessed of the past, due to the oppressive powers of Big
Brother. Through the representation of the individual human experience of Winston and the
collective human experience, texts such as 1984 gives insights towards readers about the
dangers of oppressive powers within modern day society, encouraging them to reflect upon
their own context. Hence, the futile possession of memory is revealed by Orwell to illuminate
to readers the dangers of oppressive powers and allowing them to reconsider their own
perspectives.
The human experience of self-autonomy is suppressed by those in power and is inherently
futile as the individual and collective search for it. Orwell’s 1984 demonstrates the collective
complacency towards the suppression of self-autonomy through the party’s invasion of
cognitive thought. An example of this is evident within the “‘2 min of hate’ in which Big
Brother controls the cognitive thought of the faceless collective of the dehumanised as they
aren’t thinking critically or independently with freewill. They are described as “curiously
savage…subhuman chanting and deliberate drowning of consciousness”, this anamorphism
utilised to portray the collective as becoming animalistic towards the scapegoat Goldstien
showcases the invasion of thought and hence the suppression of self-autonomy. This can
also be seen through the motif/paradox of the novel “War is peace, Freedom is slavery,
Ignorance is strength” in which the collective are forced to believe in a paradoxical
philosophy of the party, controling their own individual thought and freewill. In contrast,
Winston Smith, a societal anomaly to the collective attempts to pursue freewill and autonomy
without realising its inherent futility within an oppressive society. As the party recognises
Winston withholding a sense of freewill: “Freedom is the freedom to say that 2+2 = 4” to then
switch his personality within room 101 “He had won the victory over himself…2+2=5”. Orwell
effectively utilises the motif of truth/fact and freedom and manipulates it to a motif of
dehumanisation 2+2=5. Hence the individual pursuit of self-autonomy is an impossibility due
to the oppressiveness of those in power. Therefore, Orwell demonstrates the dangers of
seeking self-autonomy against oppressive powers and ignites a change within readers'
perspective which allows them to reflect upon their own assumptions.
The individual search for the experience of love and connection is a futile act of rebellion
against oppressive powers while the collective struggle with the inability of experiencing any
sense of connection. Orwell’s 1984 exacerbates the control of oppressive powers to reveal
to audiences the dangers of totalitarian regimes. In doing so Orwell accentuates the inability
to find any sense of connection among the collective and resorting to meaningless acts of
connection like prostitution. “Why did it always have to be like this? Why could he not have a
woman of his own instead of these filthy scuffles at intervals of years? But a real love affair
was an almost unthinkable event”. The utilisation of a rhetorical question brings the audience
into consideration of the dehumanised collective and their inability to feel love/connection
within Orwell’s context and reflect upon their own assumptions/perspectives. The futility of
love and connection in the face of the party is represented through the individual experience
of Winston Smith. In an attempt to rebel against the party Winston temporarily shares a love
connection with Julia, however this is futile and the demeanour of Winston is completely
shifted post room 101. This futility is represented through Winston’s lament: “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”. Almost mirroring the 2 min of hate, Orwell’s utilisation of high modality reveals the
futility of Winston's love rebellion against the party to then becoming ‘one’ with the party..
Hence, through the utilisation of individual and collective human experience, 1984 acts as a
didactic warning for audiences within their perspectives of those in power, igniting new
perspectives.
Therefore, Orwell's 1984 accentuates humanity’s futile search for a sense of individualism
within a world controlled by the oppressors and allows readers to reflect upon their own
assumptions while sympathising for the collective and individual human experiences within
1984.