Although he is struggling to maintain his humanity, in the opening of 1984 Winston Smith reflects the dehumanizing tendencies of his society. He goes to see a violent war movie and has violent fantasies towards Julia, though he does not even know her name. After he becomes involved with her and they fall in love, he begins to truly reclaim his humanity: he has someone to protect, love and be loyal to, someone he can...
Although he is struggling to maintain his humanity, in the opening of 1984 Winston Smith reflects the dehumanizing tendencies of his society. He goes to see a violent war movie and has violent fantasies towards Julia, though he does not even know her name. After he becomes involved with her and they fall in love, he begins to truly reclaim his humanity: he has someone to protect, love and be loyal to, someone he can share time and space with in the room above Mr. Charrington's shop. In this room, he and Julia replicate normal, loving human life before the Party took over.
In the ruins of the post-apocalyptic world of The Road, it is the relationship of the father and the son and the love they share as they travel south with their shopping cart that keeps them human. When they see a group, including a pregnant woman, roasting a newborn baby on a spit, the contrast becomes clear: the father would never sacrifice the son that way, and so the two become an emblem of humanity in the dystopic dog-eat-dog world all around them.
No comments:
Post a Comment