Fenech Rachel U6A3

Both Winston Smith from George Orwell’s 1984

and Truman Burbank from Paramount’s The Truman Show are trapped in dystopian societies with limitations set by their environments, pushing both characters to retaliate for their happiness’ sake.

Rachel FenechDr. A. BrodeENG 4U27 July 2013

“There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.” -Denis Waitley

According to the Online Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a dystopia is “an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives” (Merriam-Webster).

A Dystopian Society

In The Truman Show, Truman Burbank appeared to have the ideal life. However, his entire community was a lie. The world he lived in was completely make-belief and everyone was acting in it. This made Truman’s life completely dishonest and left Truman alone with no one to trust.

To overcome these horrid realities, both Winston and Truman became determined to fight against all odds and live the lives they had imagined, no matter what it took to get there.

In 1984, Winston Smith lived in the ultimate dystopia. His life was surrounded by warfare and demoralizing politics that authorities demanded upon everyone. If the rules were ignored or disobeyed, the person would be annihilated. This gave not only Winston, but every other character in the novel a reason to fear the world they lived in.

One of the first personal limitations experienced in both 1984 and The Truman Show was forbidden love affairs. Winston experienced his first love affair since his wife Katharine in part two of 1984. It was with the “dark haired girl” who kept randomly appearing in Winston’s life. After a suspicious encounter with this lady on the streets, he received a discrete note from her in his office simply saying, “I love you”. From this point on, Winston and the dark haired girl, Julia, collectively made a desperate effort to be with one another. Almost instantly, they fell madly in love. “With Julia he felt no difficulty in talking about…[personal] things: Katharine, in any case, had long ceased to be a painful memory and become merely a distasteful one,” (Orwell: pg. 152, par. 4).

Forbidden Love Affairs:

Winston

However, the ways of life were not that simple for this couple. They knew if they were caught being together the Party would most likely annihilate them. So, they would sometimes hide in a forest when they were together and always kept quiet. This made it extremely difficult for Winston to live his life freely and be the person he wished to be with Julia.

Truman first noticed Sylvia outside on their school campus. One could definitely argue it was love at first sight. However, the creator of “The Truman Show”, Christof, did not plan on the two being with one another in his version of Truman’s life story. Alas, Christof placed every type of obstacle in Truman and Sylvia’s way so that they could not be together even if they had tried. However, one night in the library, Truman finally found a moment to speak with Sylvia. After managing to sneak off to the beach together, Sylvia shared that there were people who did not want them to be with one another. As if to prove her point, a man pretending to be her father suddenly came and took Sylvia away from Truman. Although he never saw her again, Truman still thought about Sylvia and reminisced on their times together.

Forbidden Love Affairs:

Truman

Sylvia also continued to watch Truman`s life play out on television and fought for his rights. She yelled at Christof, saying, “He's not a performer. He's a prisoner,“ (Andrew Niccol). Overall, Truman was unable to be completely happy in his life with the woman he loved.

Click to start video>>>

Another set limitation by Winston and Truman’s dystopias was the inability to travel. Winston would often turned to his subconscious for moments of relief. He had a reoccurring memory of a beautiful land where everything was tranquil and filled with awe. “In [Winston’s] waking thoughts he called it the Golden Country… Somewhere near at hand, though out of sight, there was a clear, slow-moving stream where dace were swimming in the pools under the willow trees,” (Orwell: pg. 36, par. 1). Winston constantly pictured himself in this imaginary scene with the ones he loved and would feel a sense of hope.

Dream Destinations:

Winston

The Golden Country represented Winston’s freedom which he was trying to obtain. It was his imaginary safe haven. However, he could never sincerely reach the Golden Country in reality. The Party’s ultimate powers suppressed Winston’s dreams, leaving him trapped inside his dystopian home of Oceania.

Truman dreamed of leaving his hometown. He had never stepped foot outside of the same city before. Moreover, he wanted to travel to Fiji because he was told by Sylvia’s pretend father that that was where they were heading. Speaking to his friend about the beautiful country, Truman said, “You can't get any further away before you start coming back,” (Andrew Niccol). However, since the people working behind the scenes of Truman’s life story were always watching him, they were capable of controlling the events around him so that Truman would never get the opportunity to leave. For example, they caused major traffic jams and made it appear that there were no available plane tickets to Fiji for a long time. Thus, Truman was locked in a demoralizing, dystopian society.

Dream Destinations:

TrumanClick to start video >>>

Finally having enough of being withdrawn from their freedom, Winston and Truman began to fight back. Winston’s fight for freedom began with making the conscious decision to log his thoughts in a kept diary. This act was a huge wrongdoing in the eyes of the Party and ultimately proved that Winston was daring enough to challenge his authorities. Although it frightened him at first, this mere action only fueled Winston’s self empowerment to be apart of something greater.

The Fight for Freedom:

Winston

However, Winston’s biggest move to put a stop to the miserable world he lived in was joining an alliance with O’Brien. O’Brien claimed to be apart of a society that tried to overthrow the Party. Here, Winston proved he was willing to risk everything for his happiness. O’Brien asked, “‘You are prepared to cheat, to forge, to blackmail, to corrupt the minds of children…to do anything…to cause demoralisation and weaken the power of the Party?’” (Orwell: pg. 199, par.12). To all of these factors, Winston wholeheartedly agreed. Winston was clearly willing to do and give up anything to escape his dystopia even if it meant putting himself and others at risk.

Once Truman discovers his entire life has been fixed and aired on live television, it is clear that he wants nothing else but to escape. Not knowing what exactly Cristof will do to him, Truman runs away in the middle of the night. By doing so, he is losing everything he once knew including his friends, his wife and his job. Not only that, but Truman must cross his biggest fear since childhood- going on the water. This risk proved just how badly Truman wanted to leave his dystopia and find a happier place to spend his lifetime.

The Fight for Freedom:

Truman

During a storm and while facing his greatest fear, Truman shouted to Cristof and the rest of the production company, “Come on, is that the best you can do? You're gonna have to kill me!” (Andrew Niccol).

Click to start video>>>

In conclusion, both Winston Smith and Truman Burbank rebelled to destroy their dystopian societies after living unhappily in their restricted worlds. They knew that by doing so they were putting everything on the line. However, if one valued his potential freedom far more than he worried about getting caught, it would be well worth it to take a risk and the find peace and joy he dreamed of. It is important that one is not afraid to make such bold steps to live the life he has imagined, for if he does not, he will never know what he would have been missing out on.

Works Cited

Deskofbrian. “Jim Carey The Truman Show Photo.” Blog News and Opinion. The Desk of Brian, 5 Jun

2012. JPEG file. 24 July 2013. <http://deskofbrian.com/2012/06/more-and-more-suffering-from-truman-

show-delusion-thinking-they-are-on-reality- show/jim-carey-the-truman-show-photo/>

“Dystopia.” Online Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, n.d. Web. 24 July 2013.

<http://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/dystopia>

Niccol, Andrew. “The Truman Show (1998) movie script.” Screenplays for You. Screenplays for You, n.d. Web.

25 July 2013. <http://sfy.ru/?script=truman_show>

Niccol, Andrew M. “The Truman Show.” Daily Script. Daily Script, n.d. Web. 25 July 2013.

<http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/the-truman-show_shooting.html>

Wainyman. “1984 – Big Brother is Watching.” Deviantart.com. DeviantART, n.d. JPEG file. 24 July 2013.

<http://wainyman.deviantart.com/art/1984-Big-Brother-Is-Watching-39434164>

Waitley, Denise. “Conditions Quotes.” BrainyQuote. Bookrags Media Network, n.d. Web. 25 July 2013.

<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/conditions.html>

Orwell, George. 1984. London: Penguin Group, 1949. Print.

Purdue Online The Writing Lab. The OWL at Purdue, n.d. Web. 27 July 2013.

<http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/>

The Truman Show. Dir. Weir, Peter. Perf. Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich. Paramount Pictures, 1998.

Film.

“The Truman Show.” IMDb. IMDb.com, Inc., n.d. Web. 25 July 2013. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120382/?

ref_=fn_al_tt_1>