The Absurd Pursuit Of Freedom

George Orwell is a prominent writer in contemporary English literature. He isgenerally considered to be a literary giant and a political predictor for his foresight.His work Nineteen Eighty-Four written in1948stirred the English literary world.Since then, he has established his inimitable reputation in the history of Englishliterature.George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is a novel about totalitarianism, in whichthe author profoundly reflects the political crisis in the twentieth century andadvocates the importance of rationalism．Set in “Oceania” in the future，NineteenEighty-Four tells of the story about Winston Smith, a representative of individuals ofreason, who suffers comprehensive repressions in the totalitarian society．Theindividuals of reason reflect social reality and criticize the fact that the ruling ways oftotalitarian society deprive the freedom of the citizens，deny the pluralistic value anddistort the human nature． Nineteen Eighty-Four shows that the totalitarianismenslaves the people at the deeper level．The only way to walk out of it is to developand expand rationality．Based on Sartre’s existentialism and Hannah Arendt’s opinionin her the Origin of Totalitarianism, this thesis aims at exploring the protagonist’sprogresses of freedom pursuit from the state of being-in-itself to the state ofbeing-for-itself and to the absurd ending.This thesis is composed of an introduction, three body chapters and a conclusion.The first part, introduction, illustrates some major concerns and theories ofexistentialism and the existentialist tendency of George Orwell’s experience. Chapterone presents the state of being-in-itself of the protagonist under the rulingtotalitarianism from aspects of the repression under the political organization and therepression in social life. This chapter reveals that an average citizen whose body istortured and thought is blunted under the ruling of totalitarianism. Chapter twoanalyzes the occurrence of Free Will and rebellion and revolution under the state ofbeing-for-itself from the aspect of the being-for-itself existence in theself-consciousness. Chapter three discusses the absurdity of freedom pursuit from the aspect that the protagonist’s destiny of Free Will and rebellion and revolution. Thelast part probes into the freedom pursuit in the modern society form themicro-perspective to the macro-perspective, and reconsideres the essence of humanand the value of man. It reveals that George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four has theeffect of caution in modern society. And it also reveals his humanistic concern aboutthe fate of the mankind, the development of society and the eternal faith in menthrough the form of novel.