The Human Experience Matrix for 1984 

The  key  human  experience  to  explore  in  1984  is  how  characters  respond  to  the  power  and  oppression  wielded  by  the  Party.  You  need  to 
consider  the  consequences  of  this  duality  on  the  individual  and  collective.  Personal  stories  (individual  experience)  is  in  conflict  with  collective 
experiences  (The  Party’s  building  of  a  grand  narrative)  within  Oceania.  For  example,  Winston’s  personal  values conflict with INSOC’s totalising 
power.  Collective  experience in the text is one of orthodoxy to the totalitarian state which rules through oppression in order to maintain power at 
all costs. 

Orwell  represents  the  individual  and  collective  experience  of  submitting  to  oppression  and  power  which  results  in  the  loss  of  individual 
freedoms. 

Some  of  these  freedoms  include  inability  to  express  divergent  views  or  to  love  and  have  autonomy  over  our lives. Orwell's didactic message is 
the  importance  of  protecting  our  personal  liberties.  Engaging  with  Winston’s  tragic  downfall  and  his  ultimate  submission to Big Brother serves 
to deepen our understanding of both the importance of resisting oppressive regimes and telling our own stories. 

​Matrix instruction 

The above matrix will form a crucial part of your deconstruction of the text. Remember this isn’t a close study of a text. This is a study of a 
particular concept, the human experience. On the left hand column highlighted in yellow are some of the key ideas we will be focusing on 
throughout the module. Each one of these key ideas relates back to the twin concepts of power and oppression. Make sure you find at least 3 
examples for each highlighted idea as we work through the text. It is your responsibility to complete the matrix at home after we have discussed 
an example in class. This matrix will form the basis for an essay plan later in the term.  

 
  
Exploration of key  Character’s  Aptly chosen  Insight into human  How are these  How does Orwell 
human  perspective of  textual references  behaviour and  ideas represented  challenge our 
experiences in  experiences:  motivation:  by Orwell?  assumptions to 
relation to:     view the world 
Human qualities 
   differently and 
Emotions  Linked to context 
   Anomalies  ignite new ideas? 
   Inconsistencies 
Overarching    
Paradoxes 
Oppression 

& 

Power 

Technology                

  
Identity / autonomy                
/ dehumanisation  
  

Destruction of                
history and 
language    

  
 Consciousness and                
Rebellion 
  

Relationships, sex                
and intimacy 

  
Key Ideas 

The Dangers of Totalitarianism, oppression and power 

1984 is a political novel written with the purpose of warning readers in the West of the dangers of totalitarian government. Having witnessed 
firsthand the horrific lengths to which totalitarian governments in Spain and Russia would go in order to sustain and increase their power, Orwell 
designed 1984 to sound the alarm in Western nations still unsure about how to approach the rise of communism. In 1949, the Cold War had not 
yet escalated, many American intellectuals supported communism and the USSR was a key ally in WW2 against Nazi Germany, and the state 
of diplomacy between democratic and communist nations was highly ambiguous. In the American press, the Soviet Union was often portrayed 
as a great moral experiment. Orwell, however, was deeply disturbed by the widespread cruelties and oppressions he observed in communist 
countries, and seems to have been particularly concerned by the role of technology in enabling oppressive governments to monitor and control 
their citizens. 

In 1984, Orwell portrays the perfect totalitarian society, the most extreme realization imaginable of a modern-day government with absolute 
power. The title of the novel was meant to indicate to its readers in 1949 that the story represented a real possibility for the near future: if 
totalitarianism were not opposed, the title suggested, some variation of the world described in the novel could become a reality in only thirty-five 
years. Orwell portrays a state in which the government monitors and controls every aspect of human life to the extent that even having a 
disloyal thought is against the law. As the novel progresses, the timidly rebellious Winston Smith sets out to challenge the limits of the Party’s 
power, only to discover that its ability to control and enslave its subjects dwarfs even his most paranoid conceptions of its reach as the reader 
comes to understand through Winston’s eyes. 

Destruction of history and language 

The Party controls every source of information, managing and rewriting the content of all newspapers and histories for its own ends. The Party 
does not allow individuals to keep records of their past, such as photographs or documents. As a result, memories become fuzzy and unreliable, 
and citizens become perfectly willing to believe whatever the Party tells them. By controlling the present, the Party is able to manipulate the 
past. And in controlling the past, the Party can justify all of its actions in the present. 

In many ways, Orwell's novel reads like a history book. 1984 warns readers that the Oceania universe will be the future, if people fail to learn the 
lessons revealed by major historical events and figures such as WWI, WWII, Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini (to cite examples from Western and 
Eastern Europe). The Party understood the power of history. A citizenry educated to understand history would not allow the Party to survive. 
Thus, the Party eliminated nearly everyone who remembered the past before Big Brother, creating a new, post-Big Brother history, then 
manipulated history through the Ministry of Truth so much that it was impossible to ever know what was happening or what had really 
happened. 

It is ironic that Winston worked in the Ministry of Truth, changing historical facts to suit the Party. In a small way, Winston contributed to the 
collective amnesia that plagued Oceania, maintained order, and secured his own powerlessness. However, had Winston not worked in the 
Ministry of Truth, he would not have obtained the proof he needed to validate his subconscious and unconscious misgivings about the Party. In 
fact, had it not been for several articles about past rebels that crossed his desk, Winston's internal rage would never have solidified into 
outward rebellion. It is also telling that Winston commits his first act of rebellion by writing in a diary. The act of recording his present 
circumstances constituted extreme disloyalty to the Party because Winston was actually documenting history. Totalitarian rulers throughout 
history, including Hitler and Stalin), destroyed books and exterminated journalists and intellectuals because they understood the power of 
documentation and history. While Orwell clearly shows that history is mutable, he also proves that this type of mutation leads to the death of 
culture and freedom of thought. 

One of Orwell’s most important messages in 1984 is that language is of central importance to human thought because it structures and limits 
the ideas that individuals are capable of formulating and expressing. If control of language were centralized in a political agency, Orwell 
proposes, such an agency could possibly alter the very structure of language to make it impossible to even conceive of disobedient or 
rebellious thoughts, because there would be no words with which to think them. This idea manifests itself in the language of Newspeak, which 
the Party has introduced to replace English. The Party is constantly refining and perfecting Newspeak, with the ultimate goal that no one will be 
capable of conceptualizing anything that might question the Party’s absolute power. 

Relationships, sex and intimacy 

In order to remain all-powerful, the Party destroys loyalty between people: co-workers, friends, even family members. Children are encouraged 
to betray their parents to the state if they suspect them of Thoughtcrimes (thinking something that goes against the Party line). 

The Party has outlawed sex for pleasure and reduced marriage to an arrangement between a man and woman that exists only for procreation. 
Sexual urges must be repressed for fear they will lead to love, human connection, and personal loyalty, all of which threaten the Party. Winston 
believes that love like the love he and Julia share will eventually destroy the Party, but he underestimates the Party’s ability to destroy that love 
and loyalty. Winston and Julia both give in to torture and betray each other. When they are released, their love and loyalty to each other have 
been destroyed. 

Because the Party can easily detect Thoughtcrimes, people always act as if they are completely loyal to the Party. No one trusts anyone else 
completely. Winston makes fatal mistakes when he trusts O’Brien and Charrington, both of whom betray him. His misjudgment is almost 
understandable, given the subtle cues both give him to indicate that they are fellow subversives. But as it turns out they are deliberately setting 
a trap for him and Julia. In the end, no one can be trusted. 

Consciousness and Rebellion 

In totalitarian Oceania, it seems as if everyone is slavishly devoted to Big Brother and believes everything the government tells them. However, 
as we can understand from Winston’s thoughts, all is not as it seems. Some people secretly feel and believe differently from how they behave; 
of course, they are extremely careful not to betray themselves. Moreover, the Party is in control of all information and revises history, even 
yesterday’s history, to reflect their current version of events. Winston is very much aware of this, because it is his job in the inaccurately named 
Ministry of Truth to change the records of history. He cannot ignore what he remembers: Oceania was at war with Eurasia and allied with 
Eastasia yesterday, and not vice versa. If anyone else remembers differently, they certainly won’t say so. 

Only the old man, a powerless prole who lives on the street, speaks about what really happened in the past, but in short and irrelevant snippets 
about his personal experiences. It is Winston’s need to reconcile what he knows with the Party’s version of reality that leads to his downfall. The 
Party cannot allow people to have a perception of reality that is different from theirs. As Winston writes in his diary, “Freedom is the freedom to 
say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.” 

Technology 
By means of telescreens and hidden microphones across the city, the Party is able to monitor its members almost all of the time. Additionally, 
the Party employs complicated mechanisms (1984 was written in the era before computers) to exert large-scale control on economic 
production and sources of information, and fearsome machinery to inflict torture upon those it deems enemies. 1984 reveals that technology, 
which is generally perceived as working toward moral good, can also facilitate the most diabolical evil. 
 
Identity and autonomy  
While the Party’s primary tool for manipulating the populace is the control of history, they also control independence and identity. For example, 
the basic traits of establishing one’s identity are unavailable to Winston and the other citizens of Oceania. Winston does not know how old he is. 
He does not know whether he is married or not. He does not know whether his mother is alive or dead. None of his childhood memories are 
reliable, because he has no photos or documents to help him sort real memories from imagined ones. Instead of being unique individuals with 
specific, identifying details, every member of the Outer Party is identical. All Party members wear the same clothing, smoke the same brand of 
cigarettes, drink the same brand of gin, and so forth. As such, forming a sense of individual identity is not only psychologically challenging, but 
logistically difficult. 
 
Most of Winston’s significant decisions can be interpreted as attempts to build a sense of identity. His decision to purchase a diary and begin 
recording his thoughts is an attempt to create memory and history. His decision to purchase the paperweight is driven by a desire to have 
something of his own that represents a time before the Party. Winston’s sexual relationship with Julia and their decision to rent an apartment 
where they can spend time together represent dangerous crimes in the world of 1984. In deciding to pursue a relationship with Julia, Winston 
asserts his independence and further establishes his identity as an individual who resists the Party’s control. Ultimately, though, Winston’s 
attempts to maintain his independence and create a unique identity are no match for the Party. Winston’s experiences in the Ministry of Love 
represent the complete disassembly and destruction of all aspects of his individuality. When he is returned to society he has lost all 
independence and uniqueness, and has become part of the Party’s faceless collective.