1984

1984 is a book written by George Owel describing the life of citizens in a country full of dictatorship, and also describing a world where everything is completed differently. It is a pretty depressing book in which we see a state controlling the language, controlling the thoughts, and even controlling the reality that we live in. The system of the country described is like a pyramid; at the top of the pyramid, there is BIG BROTHER the dictator, and after there is the inner party that represent 2% of the society, then we have the outer party where we find the ministry and where is Winston, the main character of the 6^th chapter of the book. In the bottom of the pyramid, we find the paroles and they are the poorest of the society. The most dangerous is the middle part.

Winston, the main character, is violating multiple rules like keeping a diary is considered as a thought crime, or when he fell in love and started an affair with a women named Julia, this was also a crime, because, in this system, all you love should go to BIG BROTHER, the dictator.

Now in this text, we could really notice how hard it is to live in a country ruled by a dictator. As Tunisian and Libyans students, we can really relate to this story given the fact that we lived in countries ruled by dictators controlling our thoughts, our expressions, our freedom, controlling what to say and what not to say. Before the revolution, we really felt controlled, not directly, but it was impossible to be against the system and have enough courage to speak about it loud and clear, because everyone that did got himself into trouble and was promoting himself to torture or even death.

With BIG BROTHER, it was different because they controlled your thoughts and your beliefs, and if they tell you that 2+2=5, you have to believe that even if it is not true. If you don’t believe that, you’ll be tortured until you do believe what they are telling you, and they push to the limit where you’ll betray the ones you love and the ones you cherish the most by knowing all your weaknesses and the things that will hurt you the most, making you feel like a robot and not having any reason to live for other than BIG BROTHER. Winston was a victim of that kind of torture and he betrayed Julia, his love, for this dictator.

We could never know what a person under torture would react or what he would do to protect himself, because we did not get ourselves in a situation where we had to be tortured. It is hard to feel what others felt in some situations because they are so intense. Some people would say that it was not good reason for Winston to betray his lover, because he loved her and when we love someone and when we believe in something, we should stick to it no matter what. But we could never know or feel what they felt in that situation.

Torture is not the solution, and dictatorship is done by people that are not confident about themselves, that are scared of being alone and judged that they will make you love them, respect them and change yourself for them so they can feel a little bit secure about themselves. It is not and it will never be a solution for a country, it is mostly thought of as the worst solution, because people eventually will turn on you, will realize that it was never what they wanted, and that is not best for them nor for the other generations coming.