1984: Does Winston Adequately Represent Mankind? Essay

Throughout the novel 1984, it is easy for one to conclude that Winston is an adequate representation of mankind as a whole, but once one gets down to it, one finds that there are several points regarding this matter that can be easily debated upon. For instance some might possibly debate whether or not Winston would have cracked as easily as he did during the torture. Whereas others would argue that the so called human spirit that Winston mentioned to OBrien does not really exist at all, and that humans can be trained to be or do anything. Winston is indeed an adequate representation of mankind due to how he handles situations and his thought process in general, in that they truly resemble those of the everyday individual in modern society.

First of all, to address Winstons mannerisms and how they relate to those of mankind. Throughout the novel it seems as if Winston is constantly second guessing himself and for the most part just unsure of a lot of things in life and is very confused, this is a great representation of mankind in that mankind is sort of confused about life and rather hopeless, man gets caught up in daily routine so much that they seldom step back and take a look at the big picture. The big picture, being that mankind is really just a pale blue dot with nothing in the world to reassure them that they are not alone in this universe, but there are a small few who do look at the big picture. This happens in 1984 in that the general populous of Oceania seems to get sort of distracted by all their community hikes and two minutes hate that they too neglect to take a peek at what is really going on around them, but surprisingly, Winston does, making him the representative for those small few.

Secondly, the way Winston reacts to situations is very similar to the manner in which most peoples thought processes works today. For example when OBrien is using electroshock therapy to try and convince Winston that 2+2=5, the way Winston treats the situation seems very much like that of an independent thinker, in that he says I know that 2+2=4 even if you shock me how can I possibly believe otherwise. Also, mankind operates with a generally optimistic mindset which is illustrated in the book when Winston hears of rumors of an underground brotherhood, even though there is no confirmation of this so called brotherhood, Winston still does not fail to imagine an underground organization planning on rebellion to the fullest extent, whereas it would have been just as easy to pass the rumors off as false and move on with his daily business.

Third and finally, Winston is indeed an adequate representation of mankind in that in the end he ended up dead inside, the part of him that before, was what made him step back and look at the big picture was dead, and thats why it is important to put emphasis on the importance of people who do so, people like Winston are what keep societies like the one seen in 1984 from coming about. When the book 1984 was published in 1949, there were a lot of totalitarian like government styles coming about, for example Nazi Germany and the notorious Soviet Russia. That is why Winston is an outstanding representation of mankind because what Winston becomes by the end of the novel is what mankind could become if we do not continue to look at the big picture as to the world around us, if we do not continue to do that, mankind too will end up like Winston, we will all become puppets.