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At the heart of the human experience is the desire to share stories that deepen and enrich our understanding of fundamental human tensions; between freedom and conformity. George Orwell's political satire 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' (1949) explores our ever-shifting desire between political freedom and individual authenticity and our desire for unity in the wake of state power. It is through Orwell's use of setting, characterisation and dystopian conceits that he constructs a profound and poignant image of modernity and his understanding of varying human conditions. If nothing else, 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' paints a bleak image of the destructivity of totalitarianism, that should act as a scornful warning to the detrimental effects of state power on the human experience.
The bleak dystopian narrative, in which Oceania succumbs to the Totalitarian regime of the Party, invokes the haunting tension of the manipulative political control that leads to the human experience of the desire for freedom. Orwell's construction of the dystopian setting amplifies the fears and harms of total political control. The science fiction conceits of 'memory holes… telescreens' demonstrate the surveillance technology used by the Party to monitor and diminish individual freedom, warning the reader of the government's lack of integrity in a Totalitarian society. The symbolism of The Party and Big Brother as 'some huge force… penetrating inside your skull, battering against your brain…' further expresses the enormity of governmental power, insinuating our fears of its destruction of human nature. When faced with the madness of the Party's totalitarian regime, Winston begins a radical course of conscious rebellion and declaration of his dignity, 'they'll shoot me I don’t care… down with Big Brother'. Winston's metafictional diary acts as a form of rebellion to understand his diminishing strains of liberty, voicing the crucial need of individual freedom in a conformist society. Orwell advocates this attempt to resist political conformity, and thus the human desire for freedom and dignity are signified as essential attributes to the human experience.
At the heart of the human experience is a desire for authenticity, and this desire is only deepend when limitations are placed on individual autonomy, like that in the world of 1984. , Winston Smith as a symbol of induvial anatomy is the every-man: his name holds meaning of both the heroic Winston Churchill and the tedium of the middle class. We as a responder cheer his constant attempts to chase individuality and triumph over The Party. He does this in many ways, particularly through the 'animal instinct' of sex, which had 'The force to tear the Party to pieces'. Sex embodies privacy, seclusion and uncontrollability and it is for this reason that it presents threats to the Party and must be 'abolished' (Stephen Greenblatt). The Party's regime is also jeopardized by the information contained within cultural memory and history. The party's regime is directly affiliated with Hannah Arendt's point of view on modernity and totalitarianism: that once society's link to the past is severed, complete political surrender will ensue. In 1984, Winston notices the 'memory holes' and 'palimpsest of history' which catalyst his fixation with items of historical legitimacy, particularly the coral paperweight; 'There was such depth to it… He had the feeling he could get inside it… the coral was Julia’s life and his own, fixed in a sort of eternity at the heart of the crystal..' The coral, 'fixed in eternity', destabilises the Party's totalitarian control, and is a metonymic sign for the regaining of history. While these actions do not overthrow the Party, they are a significant opportunity for Winston and Julia to fulfil their innate desire for authenticity, and this human experience is affirmed by Orwell for our modern context.
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