The Pursuit Of Humanity Under Totalitarianism In Nineteen Eighty-Four

George Orwell has won the world-wide fame for his political allegories and is hailed as one of the most important writers and thinkers in the 20th century. In his short-lived literary career, he created plentiful works, leaving precious spiritual legacy for the literary realm.Nineteen Eight-Four is Orwell's representative allegorical work and is regarded as one of the three greatest anti-utopian works. Through rich imagination, Orwell describes a rather depressing and horrible totalitarian world-Oceania, where the Inner Party, under the leadership of Big Brother, chases absolute power and plunges the whole country into a totalitarian state. Under such a totalitarian system, people's living space is closely observed. Ubiquitous surveillance deprives the people of their freedom and restricts their natural development. Power produces knowledge. Historical truth can be twisted by the power of the Party. Language becomes a political tool to restrict people's heretical mind. Doublethink becomes a way of thinking, which twists one's knowledge about reality. In the world of Oceania, people are emotionally repressed. Love, except the love for Big Brother, is not allowed to exist. The pursuit of power in an extreme way results in the devastation of humanity. Winston, though a common man, resists bravely and courageously with independent thoughts. In such a depressingly political state, he strives for physical and mental freedom actively; he seeks truth in the historical past and the twisted present; he pursues true love in such an emotionally bleak world. Focusing on the major character Winston, this thesis attempts to probe into the theme of humanity in Nineteen Eighty-Four with the help of Michael Foucault's power theories and Freud's interpretation of dreams. The body of this thesis explains how Winston seeks freedom, truth and love under such great political oppression. Winston's physical, psychological, intellectual and emotional need for human nature shows the essential need of a normal person, and the development of a normal society. Through the description of Winston's life, Orwell reveals the essence of the totalitarian political system, which tends to twist and kill humanity. He warns people to be cautious of the danger of the totalitarian system that potentially exists in reality and in the future. Though the novel ends with the tragic death of Winston, his defiance is valuable. Winston's pursuit of humanity under the totalitarianism guides people to see the pursuit of brightness through darkness, the choice of hope over desperation and the examination of their society through warnings, thus ending the novel with strong realistic meanings.