FINAL PAPER

UNDERSTAND YOURSELF

“He wondered, as he had many times wondered before, whether he himself was a lunatic. Perhaps a lunatic was a simply a minority of one. At one time it had been a sign of madness to believe that the earth goes around the sun; today, to believe that the past is unalterable. He might be alone in holding that belief, and if alone, then a lunatic. But the thought of being a lunatic did not greatly trouble him; the horror was that he might also be wrong.” (George Orwell, 1949, pg 80)1  

      There is nothing holding us to continue fighting, to continue loving or even to continue being humans so what are the reasons why we get up every day to follow the monotonous routine? This is a question I ask myself all the time, and the answer is always the same, the love I feel for my family, my friends, all the dreams I have, and all the experiences that I need to experience give me forces for another day, but when feeling something, having instincts, thinking, fighting for freedom is a crime, how the people in the book 1984 could endure such oppression? Winston passes through difficult situations in search of a purpose, finding what he really wants in his life, searching ways for changing the society and their thought, basically he try to break the schemes Imposed by the Big Brother, in all this looking-for the author from my point of view show a type of Yin-Yang in which we can determinate the position of the party and the position of the characters, we find the Apollonian that came because of Apollo and the Dionysian that came because Dionysius, the Greek characters,  in other words, the reason and the wish.

      In first instance the different actions, gestures, the way in which people dress  can say a lot about him or her, all that is natural in humans is seen by the telescreen, a smile, sneeze, a special shine in the eyes can be the cause of your dead, the terror make us do things that we never imagine to do, the party use this like an advantage,  they want to suppress the natural instincts, the sexual desire, the Dionysian part, and with all this energy accumulated they creates machines obsess with the war but not normal beings, since kids they learn how to betray the people that gave him life, party before blood, the power and the search for the total control is the real objective, not the solution of the damages that left the revolution and the capitalism, they sell the idea of that the Apollonian must govern in our minds, people walk in the street feeling that the most minimum thing is bad and like Winston express there is no mode in which we can prove that the party is wrong because they erase the past, they handle the time, people forget and they  go unpunished like in the hate week when the enemy of the war changes and anybody notice it, the life is like a monochromatic program, there are not colors, happiness, honesty, feelings are things that do not exist, lies and hate are all that the new generation know and understand, the Big Brother acts like he is the Apollonian (Apollo) all that  he say or do is right just because is him, he always have the reason, people is not considered humans, kids are not kids but spies, a clear example of this are the son and daughter of Mr. Parson politics fanatics, that is not living just breathing. “To hang on from day to day and from week to week, spinning out a present that had no future, seemed an unconquerable instinct, just as one’s lungs will always draw the next breath so long as there is air available” (George Orwell, 1949, pg 152)2      

      On the other hand the representation of the Dionysian is focus in the woman character called Julia, she always thing in the instincts, in the sexual desire, because of this she searches Winston, taking into account that the minds of both are looking for the same, change the totalitarian regime in which they live, all the meetings they have, the room over Mr. Charrington’s shop was the perfect place for being humans just for a few moments, they let that the wish take total control over their bodies, the telescreen cannot see them or hear what they are saying, all the energy is released, and for one time they have the pleasure of feeling something, that something is more that the love the rest of the people have for the party, it is a real feeling, from one moment to another the reality disappeared and Winston and Julia go to a parallel world in which they are free, the risk of being discovered make the experience most fascinating, like when they drink a glass of real coffee, the reaction that had this simple drink in Winston is unbelievable, the ability that has the mind to transport the character to his childhood because of something he just taste is amazing,  making things that are out of the law was what Julia considered a way of challenge the party, for me Julia do not take into account the magnitude of consequences this could bring, in this perspective of the book the reason (the Apollonian) pass to a second place, maybe this character know the hiding places and traps for not to be captured but for me this is not reason, just common sense because if the party discover what she and Winston are doing the most probably is that they be tortured or forced to commit suicide, in this case, the Brotherhood and O’Brien would be ruined, and the only possibility of making a change in the society would disappear, the instincts are needed in the humans but the limit have to be marked.                

      These two positions represent a problem, for understanding a little bit more about what this mean I present the following example, Winston talks about the proles or the lower class of London, one day he came to the conclusion that they are the only ones that can be considered as humans, this is because the privilege of privacy, the right of having children and to feel in love with someone, they are humans, with mistakes, conflicts, feelings, maybe they cannot buy expensive and thin things however they have the most beautiful gift, the equilibrium, in other words, the party do not control the proles but they are present in their lives, the reason, the Apollonian (we can say that this is the 50 percent), then appears the feelings,  the sexual desire, intangible things, the wish, the Dionysian ( what is missing for completing the 100 percent) this balance is the real power of the proles, their souls, minds, and bodies are in peace, they do not have accumulated energy or terror about the telescreen, they have a real reason for get up every day to follow the routine, for me this is the genuine searching of Winston, it could be that this character did not realize that this is his real objective because he is so focused on destroying the party that what his heart really wants is hide until this point of the book and like he said “But if there was hope, it lay in the proles. You had to cling on that. When you put it in words it sounded reasonable; it was when you looked at the human beings passing you on the pavement that it became an act of faith.” (George Orwell, 1949,pg 86)3  sometimes people judge just because the appearance and superficial things but inside they know that  they criticize, and are envious because of what the other person has, this can be a reason that is affecting Winston to understand the real thing he want for his life, for the society, for Julia, and for his future.
 
      The Ying-Yang is about stability like I already say, what would happen if the Brotherhood, O’Brien, Julia and Winston destroy the party? Basically the chaos will govern, people would go crazy; taking into account that the humans always need an authority to rule and to decide things, all the days we can see this in our society and in the society of the text, we are accustomed to following a structure a model, it is a need for us to have something or someone telling us what to do or what not to do, so if there is not an authority what we can expect is the mess and the instability, like in the Hate week where everybody is senseless,  another important question is what would happen if Julia died? From my point Winston will commit suicide because she is the only reason that helps him to get out of the monotony, that brings happiness to a world where it is not allowed,  not only the consequence is for the main character but for the humanity in general, all is related, I mean when we have a party there are revolutionaries, companies, stores, one thing is dependent of the other, Julia in this case represent all the people that is fighting against the regime, for comprehend better my point we can say for instance people have children, they go to school, to the university, work or are owners of a business, then they have children and the cycle is repeated with some variations, the same pass in the politics what I  want to came with this is that is impossible to be dominated by the Dionysian or by the Apollonian, like the symbol of the Yin-Yang we need both to have peace, In the black side that I determine like the wish we have a little white circle that I determined like the reason, in the white side we have a little black circle, this is the perfect way of showing that everything in excess is bad we need control and steadiness, if the humans instincts govern there will be nothing that differentiate us from the animals and if the reason governs there will be nothing that differentiate us from the robots or machines, destroying the party is not the solution but let them do whatever they want neither, the characters of the novel are being influenced greatly by Dionysius which will take them to make a great mistake, when they were with  O’Brien they said that does not matter the price to pay even if it was their own life, or killing innocent people that work in the ministry, all count if they destroy the party, the method and the strategies to make this process do not take into account the future consequences of this revolution, they need to reason, the only thing that they are doing is being like the “enemy”, full of hate, looking for something that they want but that they are not sure that the others want the same, they do not have a good plan, what is going to happen with all the people that work in the party and that need the money for eating? Yes, maybe the government washes the brain of everybody but we need to consider first all the possible solutions that do not take us to the war, and that take each member of the community to an agreement but that are the last possibility in the mind of Winston.    

      In conclusion for changing the others and for changing the society first we need to be at peace with ourselves, understanding the Dionysian and the Apollonian and the important of having a balance between them, accepting the change just like it is, not with terror, “It’s one thing they can’t do. They can make you say anything-anything-but they can’t make you believe it. They can’t get inside you.” (George Orwell, 1949, pg 166)4 you cannot help someone that does not want to be helped, you cannot change a society that is not prepared for the change, O’Brien, Julia and Winston are letting the judgment to be clouded by banal things, they are forgetting the details and a revolution is not going to be the reality, knowing yourself and your environment is the real key for the triumph they are looking for.    

Bibliography:

The concept ( Apollonian and Dionysian ) was taken from Friedrich Nietzsche
1. From novel 1984, George Orwell, 1949. Editorial Signet Classics.
2. See reference #1.
3. See reference #1
4. See reference #1