Winston Doomed to Fail?
A Character Doomed to Fail Failure, a concept most people are familiar of, often refers to the inability to perform a particular action or finish a certain task. In the novel 1 984 by George Orwell, the protagonist Winston Smith dreams to overthrow “The Party” and live In “the place without darkness”. However, he suffered the fate of being tortured and brainwashed eventually. Many readers perceive Winston as a tragic hero who valiantly tries but fails to rebel against the “Big Brother”.
However, in fact, Winston Smith’s fate was set the moment he wrote his rebellious speech on the journal. Winston is doomed to be unsuccessful due to his weak willpower, unrecognized planning style, and indulgent nature. Winston is a weak and contemptible person in nature; hence his downfall is inevitable. In a research essay composed by University of Chicago students entitled, “Firm Willpower”, the authors claim that “self-control is a battle that involves strengthening willpower to withstand immediate pain or resist immediate pleasure” (Iris 1).
Therefore, they state that the amount of physical pain one can stand Is directly affected by an individual’s willpower. The fact that Winston cannot tan physical pain at all proves that he Is a weak coward who cannot achieve anything. When the thought police finally get to Winston, his reaction Is “one thing alone matter(s): to keep still, to keep still and not give them an excuse to hit you! ” (Book 2, Chapter 10) Instead of thinking of a plan to escape or to rescue his lover Julia, Winston sticks to the thought of avoiding getting hit.
His inner thoughts reveal that he himself is a weak and contemptible man with no physical courage at all. Moreover, Winston shallow and weak personality can be further exemplified when e is under torture in the Ministry of Love. Winston proclaims: “Of pain you could wish only one thing: that it should stop. Nothing in the world was so bad as physical pain. In the face of pain there were no heroes, no heroes, he thought over and over as he writhed on the floor, clutching uselessly at his disabled left arm” (Book 3, Chapter 2).
Winston not only cannot stand one blow, but also thinks that everybody else Is Like him. Winston cowardly action towards torture proves that he Is a man with a weak will and lack courage required. In comparison, “Big Brothers is made up tit thousands of thought police and inner Party members who can torture thought criminals all day to break their will. Confronting such powerful enemy, Winston, a weak man who cannot stand any physical pain, really does not stand a chance. In 1984, Winston always wants to overthrow the party but has no realistic plan in doing so.
In the first book. Winston sneaks inside an ordinary shop and buys a journal. However, neither buying the Journal nor writing on the Journal contributes to the downfall of “Big Brother”. Winston simply writes on the journal to express his anger towards “Big Brother”, but in nature, such action only Increases the chance of getting caught. Through Winston actions, we can conclude that he is not an organized person and has no plans against “Big Brother”. HIS rebellious acts are only to satisfy his emotions. In addition, Winston also takes unnecessary risks In his rebellious journey.
In Book 1, Orwell states: “But there was a fraction of a second KNEW! -? that O’Brien was thinking the same thing as himself”. Even though Winston had only one look of O’Brien, he is determined that O’Brien can be trusted even Hough there is no evidence that O’Brien is wroth trusting. This action proves that although Winston is desperate in bringing down the “Big Brother”, he has no viable plan other than to trust complete strangers. He has proven himself to be a disorganized individual who has rebellious nature.
In contrast, the “Big Brother” runs a totalitarian society and is highly organized. In researcher Michael Lindsay dissertation “Contradictions in a Totalitarian Society’, he mentions that “in a totalitarian society, there is no question of policy, no room for disagreement, no alternatives; governments only need to administers the maintenance of the ideology’ (Michael 1). In order for the “Big Brother” to maintain this ideology, the ruler needs to have highly organized system and individuals to follow each and every task.
In the novel, Ocean’s society has reached the level of brainwashing. In order for anyone to conquer such a vast and complicated system, the individual will need a highly-organized plan and a sophisticated mind to carry through. Winston possesses neither of these traits; therefore he was doomed to fail. Other than Winston weak characteristic and his lack of planning, the main cause that contributes to Winston downfall is his indulgence. Winston lacks the ability to control himself from anything addictive in life.
This personal flaw makes Winston lost in his cause to the destruction of “Big Brother”. In the novel, Winston constantly drinks and smokes to distract himself instead of focusing on a plan to take down “Big Brother”. Winston dream is to have a love affair: “Almost as swiftly as he had imagined it, she had torn her clothes off, and when she flung them aside it was with hat same magnificent gesture by which a whole civilization seemed to be annihilated” (Book 2, Chapter 1).
His illegal love affair with Julia does no good to his objective of bringing down “Big Brother”. The only result that the love affair accomplishes is Winston lust for women and his sexual desires. Winston cannot resist women, wine and his bad, compulsive habits. These actions prove that Winston is an indulgent man instead of a persistent one. According to PhD student Roy F. Bandmaster’s dissertation “The Strength Model of Self-control”, “self – control is a entrap function of the self and an important key to success in life” (Roy 2).
Winston constantly gets distracted by the outside world and cannot restrain himself from his own desires. Without his ability to control himself, Winston dream of changing the world is a lost course from the beginning. In the novel 1984, Winston Smith’s goal of overthrowing the totalitarian society is doomed to fail because of this protagonist’s lack of courage, unrecognized planning system, and indulgence. George Rowel’s characterization of Winston failure is exemplified further through the dangers of a totalitarian society.
