“Determinism is perfectly compatible with the idea that we are essentially free.” To what extent does Orwell present individual actions as predetermined by social factors in “1984”? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"?Get the original essayDeterminism is the belief that "all events are ultimately determined by causes considered to be outside the will." In Orwell's "1984", the protagonist's actions are clearly influenced by social factors such as Winston's Outer Party membership, his emotions, state propaganda, and Newspeak. As Marx, the philosopher who created Marxism, proposed in “The Poverty of Philosophy” (1847), “men are not free to choose their productive forces”, these forces are “acquired”. The opinions and actions of the protagonist, Winston Smith, towards other social classes are primarily determined by his own social position as a member of the Outer Party. In chapter 1.7, Winston uses negative vocabulary when he talks about “proles” in a positive way. He considers that the proletarians are the only “force to destroy the party”; a positive reflection on the power of the proletariat and its unconscious capacity to bring about change within the repressive society of Oceania. However, along the same lines, Winston calls them “teeming…masses” and compares the proletarians to a “horse that chases away flies.” The animal imagery conveyed by such language betrays Winston's belief that he is free in his mind to rebel and rebel. oppose the party. He describes proletarians through dehumanizing metaphors, which suggest to the reader that Smith looks down on his fellow man, emphasizing how his views on the lower social class are determined due to his own social background as a member of the outer social class. Party. Marx often refers to a "class struggle" between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, represented by Inner Party members like Winston. Winston unknowingly perpetuates determinism while being subject to it by reinforcing the class divisions that subjugate and alienate proletarians; he continues the Party's policy of considering proletarians as "natural inferiors" who must "work and reproduce" like animals. In "1984", an individual's emotions act as a deterministic force that controls and influences their actions. The protagonist is influenced by his love for Julia, because before falling in love, he committed small, insignificant acts of rebellion. In Chapter 1.1, Winston has committed a “thought crime” by writing in a diary, while at the beginning of his affair with Julia, his subversive acts of rebellion become more and more dangerous. Love is used as a deterministic device that encourages Winston to choose to participate in acts of rebellion. Orwell states in Chapter 2.1 that after receiving Julia's note, the "desire to stay alive" had overcome Winston. This “desire to stay alive” is a simple consequence of emotion, meaning that even though Winston freely chose to rebel, love influenced his free will and thus predetermined his rebellious action. On top of that, Winston professes his hatred of the State to O'Brien in chapter 2.8 even though he doesn't really know him and is part of the Brotherhood; “We are the enemies of the party. We do not believe in the principles of Ingsoc. We are thought criminals. » This admission only accentuates the degree of effect that Winston's love for Julia had on his character. His speechemphasizes the pronoun "we", which means that Winston and Julia are rebelling collectively, their willingness to rebel being interdependent on each other. Once they are separated and tortured, they no longer choose to participate in the rebellion against the oppressive state and accept Big Brother and the Party. In Chapter 3.5, threatened with torture using rats, Winston begs O'Brien to "do it to Julia!" I don't care what you do to him. You could say that this proves that, to some extent, Winston has some control over his life since he chooses to betray Julia in order to protect himself. However, one could argue that Winston betrays Julia as a result of his torture which transforms his emotions of love into those of love for Big Brother. As O'Brien informs Winston in Chapter 3.4, "it's not enough to obey Big Brother: you have to love him." Love inspires naivety and subversive behavior in Winston, proving that he is not truly in control of his own actions. Winston's actions are also predetermined by the influence of the state through propaganda. The Party's totalitarian leader, "Big Brother", is used as a propaganda tool to control and instill obedience in the citizens of Oceania, influencing their actions and determining their decisions. Big Brother is used as a means of ensuring mass obedience and loyalty to the state, the most notable example being the maxim "Big Brother is watching you". In Chapter 1.1, "Big Brother's dark eyes looked deep into Winston's." This personification reinforces the fact that, although to the reader it appears that "Big Brother" is simply a metaphorical figurehead, from the protagonist's point of view, Big Brother is as human as he is. Time is also manipulated and restructured by the Party. Early in the novel, Winston engages in thoughtcrime in Chapter 1.3, refuting the party's claim that they "invented airplanes" because "he remembered airplanes from his earliest childhood." However, towards the end of the novel, his rebellious and subversive nature is suppressed by O'Brien, as his memories conflict with the "official" interpretation of history provided by the Oceanic government. Literary forms “are determined by political circumstances” according to Marxism and are an ideological reflection of the real world. They examine and report on what it means to live within the context of a specific ideology. Marxist philosopher Althusser posits that literature "has a special relationship with ideology," but in "1984" Orwell appears to criticize the USSR's totalitarian communist state of the late 1940s, especially considering that Big Brother is 'modeled on Stalin'. During Stalin's totalitarian rule over the USSR, he too altered the narrative of past events to align with the interpretation of history that benefited his image, in the same way that the party alters time and the story throughout Chapter 1. For example, Leon Trotsky, a prominent member of the left-wing opposition, was removed from all photographs with Lenin and Stalin after criticizing Stalin's leadership. Some might criticize Orwell for not having written a more nuanced critique of the communist state, including from a Marxist point of view since, according to Engels, "the more the author's opinions remain hidden, the better the work of art ". However, Orwell's description of the communist state only serves to highlight the deterministic nature of society in 1984, as propaganda influences and changes beliefs. The authoritarian state in 1984 created the language, known as “Newspeak,” in order to “make all other ways of thinking impossible.” Thus, the Party controls the free will of the people by.