Kim 1

Christine Kim
Professor Vana DerOhanessian
English 114B
5 May 2014
Fighting for What We Believe In
In this world, people tend to make good or bad decisions depending on what kind of
situation they are in and what kind of space they occupy in life. The space that I see commonly
in themes of social media such as books, articles, and newspapers is how authority tries to
control and manipulate peoples lives without trying to make it seem that they are abusing their
power. Orwell demonstrates this in 1984, by having a totalitarian setting where the people of
Oceania have a blank slate of mind and are compelled to live a restricted life. In the novel, 1984,
one may believe by living in an authoritative space, we are more likely to follow and listen.
However, in reality, individuals like Winston and the people of Oceania fight for their liberty by
exercising their freedom to think.
George Orwell depicts the idea that the government can control the people to the full
extent in his book, 1984, by stating that society is not allowed to have a state of mind, which
gives people a reason to rebel. The character Winston was not able to write or think about the
opinions he had about the Party in public or at his workplace because Big Brother was
watching his every move. In this space, even the coins, stamps, covers on books, banners,
wrapping of a cigarette packet, and posters had eyes pursuing what everyone was doing
(Orwell, 29). This shows the true authoritative atmosphere that the people of Oceania, the
capital, had to deal with. Which proves that they are not even allowed to live their daily lives, by
doing whatever they pleased. In that, having to satisfy the regulation of the government meant
Kim 2
that they were confined from having the opportunity to live a life that they desired. As a result of
this totalitarian space, Winston coveted the idea of being independent, which inspired him to
write down his thoughts onto a piece of paper. This indicated his response to rebel against the
superior rule. So therefore, he went to a quiet, dark space at home to continue his negative
thoughts about the Party by writing in his diary. He was freely able to formulate his thoughts on
a piece of paper without getting caught. The space of having no authority outside gave him the
ability to feel at ease, and realize he actually had a purpose in life and not waste his life serving
the Party.
In addition to Winstons actions of revolt, the author explains the potential for those who
can be part of the rebellion. Orwell states, If there is hope, wrote Winston, it lies in the Proles
(Orwell, 72). This suggests that the only people who can actually win against the Party are the
Proles, who are the people of Oceania. However, the problem with this is that even if the
majority can overthrow the government, they do not have the conscious ability to think of their
own viewpoints in life. Correspondingly, the lifestyle around the Proles does not allow them to
sense any emotions and willingness to fight for a cause because they are living in a world full of
people who think all the same thoughts, shout the same slogans, and march in perfect unity for
the Party (Orwell, 77). This makes it harder for rebels to appear out of the blue in public
because life itself is already a mechanical lifestyle. If everyone has the same routine and
thoughts, it doesnt allow them to conceive new opinions and plans for their future generations.
That is why people like Winston are significant, because he is a representation of the voice for
the rebellion. He tries to find ways to gather other rebels like him to spread the good news of
what freedom would be like. This proves that there are individuals like him that will do whatever
it takes to fight for self-government.
Kim 3
Similarly, in the article, Panopticism, Foucault shows that there is no individuality among
groups of people, and that power is shown through many different kinds of spaces. The space
demonstrated in this article conveys the message that by having no communication with other
people around us and limiting vision and social spaces, the authority figures will retain power.
Foucault discusses a prison in which, inmates do not have contact with other companions by
having a cell with sidewalls attached, which implies for a lateral invisibility for vision (3). This
guarantees order and power because it gives a disadvantage to inmates who are trying to find a
way to escape or even have a conscious thought to go against the authority because they are not
allowed to speak to anyone about their ideas. That is why there are not a lot of rebels around to
even begin with because a real subjection is born mechanically from a fictitious relation (4).
This means that people who identify themselves as being invisible already know that there is no
point of trying to go against the government because they have been exposed to the totalitarian
ways of living. This compares to the Proles in Oceania because they have no identity and live
under the same norms in their everyday lives. The idea of Panopticism is that its trying to
create a hierarchical organization by having a space of inspectors watching people live their day-
to-day lives, without going out of order. This creates a mechanism where people can just easily
follow from one another without having to make any mistakes or commit any crimes. Therefore,
the Big Brother is also like an inspector because he watches the lives of ordinary people, which
inhibit them to do whatever they want to do.
Today, the authority tries to control the peoples freedom in many different aspects; for
example, religion. According to the article, Freedom of the Church and the Authority of the
State, Koppelman declares that the needs and rights of the people are a constraint on what the
state legitimately may do (157). This displays the belief that there is a limit on how far the
Kim 4
authority can use his or her power by not affecting the rights of the people. If the government
does limit peoples freedom of religion, it will bring people to rebel, promoting religious liberty
in the society. We can see the similarities during this time and the time in Oceania on how the
government was run and what the people should have done against the Party. The Party also
wanted to take away the freedom to think and force the people to follow the procedures of a
government-like society, not allowing any independence. However, the Proles did not start to
take initiative to rebel because they did not understand the meaning of liberty and justice for their
own sake. Koppleman asserts that a state must have the capacity to ensure the happiness of its
citizens to maintain control and power. This demonstrates that members of society feel that they
are living in a safe place, which may allow people to rely on authority rather than taking care of
themselves. Nevertheless, one may disagree that life may be simpler if someone is dictating
someone elses life the right way, it does not mean that there are those who oppose this kind of
way of living and want to live a free and open-minded life.
The spaces that are present to us in life have a pronounced influence on how we live it
and what our views are. All the themes of these articles and books show that although authority
does have excessive power and control, the voice and the actions of the people are able to
subjugate the supremacy of the government. One can believe that at the end, the people are the
ones who control how they live their own lives and can influence the lives of others by spreading
the idea of freedom.




Kim 5
Works Cited
Foucault, Michel. "Discipline. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York:
Pantheon, 1977. 195-228. Print.
Koppelman, Andrew. Freedom Of The Church And The Authority Of The State. Journal Of
Contemporary Legal Issues 21.1 (2013): 145-164. Academic Search Premier. Web 22
Mar. 2014
Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.