Hi there, this is my English Advanced essay, if you could look over it that would be amazing!
Qu. Storytelling hints at human imperfection. “Where there is perfection, there is no story to tell.” Ben Okri. Use the above statement as a starting point to consider how stories about human experiences can challenge assumptions and ignite new ideas.
Storytelling can be a valuable opportunity for responders to ignite new ideas about the way individuality influences the human experience, and thus is integral to form personal identity. In the world around us, imperfection promotes the discovery of a unique sense of self that, when we lack thereof, disables us to human emotions, individual qualities and independence. The struggle to attain imperfection is consequently explored throughout George Orwell’s 1984, a dystopian novel written in 1948 to satirize the conformist, authoritarian government system inflicted by Hitler and Stalin during World War 2. Hence, Orwell challenges the audience to consider a new perspective in relation to how achieving human perfection limits one’s ability to freely think, develop personal relationships and behave independent of society's regimes. Ultimately, for contemporary responders, these explorations of the collective and individual identities can evolve personal and social assumptions of particular lives and cultures.
Stories that forge social perfection allow responders to consider how the vigorous nature of totalitarian regimes can ruthlessly limit an individual’s freedom to think. In 1984, Orwell skilfully criticises the Party’s autocratic leadership by establishing three of the Party policies, one of which, “Ignorance is Strength,” portrays the motivation of totalitarian regimes- to limit unfavourable opinions and instill a collective mentality, enabling overarching power. Orwell portrays the Party’s relentless pursuit of power through their demand for social perfection. This is evident in Syme’s meaningful yet ironic expression “It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words” whereby Orwell emphasises the complete erosion of individuality through a character who has been conformed to the idea that language should be restricted. The irony is that language can be beautiful because it allows humans to express emotion yet the Party have brainwashed it’s “comrades”, through instilling fear that words are imperfection and must be controlled to achieve absolute loyalty. The Party’s palpable desire for power and perfection, is also portrayed after leader of the Party, O’Brien, ruthlessly tortures Winston in an attempt to conform his thoughts to those of the Party. Indeed, Orwell utilises O’Brien as a tool to satirise totalitarian regimes, as employed in the anaphora ““He was the tormentor, he was the protector, he was the inquisitor, he was the friend,” whereby O’Brien’s paradoxical nature is purposefully deceptive to enforce conformity and thus enhance their power through being both an ally and an enemy. When Winston absurdly declares that “2+2= 5” Orwell symbolises the notion that Winston has been successfully brainwashed by the Party and therefore represents the abolition of Winston’s social independence and his flaws that form his personal identity. As a result, contemporary responders can become more appreciative of their democratic environment after reading about the detrimental impacts totalitarian regimes have upon an individual’s opportunity to express unique thought processes and consequently, form a unique sense of self.
Furthermore, storytelling that hints at imperfection skillfully demonstrates how individuals can grow and develop through personal relationships as a result of their free and liberated society. Contrastingly, Orwell’s 1984, effectively warns contemporary responders, living under democratic regimes, about totalitarian governments which he observed during World War Two as detrimental to personal relationships because they promote absolute loyalty to the Party over connections between individuals. In 1984, Orwell criticizes almost every aspect of an individual’s personal identity, including their memory “To begin with, he did not know with any certainty that this was the year 1984”, to emphasise feelings of disposition and disconnection under autocratic leadership. Evidently, Orwell’s employment of anaphora, explored through the repetition of the negative in “But in the future there will be no wives and no friends...There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party” highlights the Party’s intention to achieve perfection through enforcing their own social ideals and governing all relationships so that divergent perspectives are eliminated. Here, the Party’s motivation to destroy individual human connection, emphasises how totalitarian governments limit individual happiness and sense of community, enforcing political loyalty to the Party. Orwell demonstrates the development of romantic relationship between Julia and Winston in which Julia challenges to express his individuality, as seen in “....” Yet, after being tormented by rats during a key moment of tension, the pleading tone in “Do it to Julia. I don’t care what you do to her…. Not me! Julia. Not me!” establishes how the Party have reasserted its control over Winston’s human experience. Indeed, in a desperate quest for societal perfection by demanding political loyalty, the Party strip Winston’s private and personal expression of love and loyalty to Julia, to reshape his identity in their motivations. Ultimately, it is through Orwell’s subversion of futile relationships that readers can reflect upon how relationships are paramount in a liberated society to attain a unique sense of self, away from the pressures of societal perfection.
Additionally, a unique sense of self can be jeopardised when behavioural freedom is lost, as, through strict political regimes with technological controls, individuals lose their capacity for independence and privacy. Orwell’s 1984 provides contemporary responders with an exploration into the authoritarian regime used by Stalin in WW2 and demonstrates the capacity for these regimes to use technology to totally restrict social activities and freedoms, as through 1984, comrades face vapourisation for disobedience. This is essentially represented through the Party’s utilisation of intensive surveillance, symbolised through the propaganda poster “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.” Here, Orwell satirises autocratic regimes to demonstrate that when one’s private lifestyle is constantly monitored, personal motivations cannot be publicly acted out. Thus, Winston is unable to destroy the Party, as exaggerated within his private journal through the capitalised, repeated phrase “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER.” Evidently, Orwell contrasts the Party’s ability to enforce social perfection with Winston’s limited power as, as an individual he can not withstand the power of the regime and actively create change, as ‘the last man standing.’ This level of power and control is further exemplified when comrades are indoctrinated to conform with telescreen statistics which, in particular, regularly change the chocolate rations by making the comrades commit doublethink. The chocolate motif in the telescreen announcement whereby Big Brother, after raising the chocolate ration claims “...the ration was to be REDUCED to twenty grammes a week” provokes readers to consider the unlimited ability of the Party to alter perceptions of reality. Indeed, it may shed light upon the way social media uses its algorithm to target individuals with consumerist ideologies and socialise them into sharing, commenting and liking human behaviours that legitimize the power of these corporations to control the collective. Ultimately, contemporary responders can consider the way limited behavioural freedom, inflicted under autocratic leadership, drives individuals to lose their unique human qualities and, thus, can challenge our assumptions by making us question our own individual freedom within the context of a modern technological era.
Therefore, without liberated societies our imperfection fails to flourish, which results in a story about individuals who struggle to find meaning in a society that values power over human freedoms. Indeed, governments that manipulate people through propaganda and instillation of fear will negatively jeopardise the expression of personal thoughts, creation of new meaningful relationships and unique identities amongst individual behaviours. Thus, contemporary readers can deepen and critically enhance their understanding about the ruthless nature of these regimes whilst also questioning the increasingly overt control of democratic societies that retain data about our digital footprint.