The Student Room Group
Competition - post a photo you've taken of nature >>
Competition - post a photo you've taken of nature >>
Competition - post a photo you've taken of nature >>

'1984', 'The Handsmaid Tale', and Identity

hi!

just really keen, and sorta need, to hear your opinions on whether you think characters are able to maintain their sense of identity in either of the novels? i'm thinking nay
I've only read Nineteen Eighty Four, but yeah, the whole point of the novel is about how the regime strips away identity. Wilson is one of the few to actually have an identity from the start of the novel, but every facet of his personality, from his "love" for Julia, his spirit of resistance, his job (that he actually enjoys), to his little diary that he keeps, is destroyed.

You could also argue that Wilson didn't really have much of an identity in the first place, everything he is coming from his overwhelming desire to resist Big Brother which in itself is a side effect of the totalitarian rule. It's pretty clearly stated that his love for Julia is more just the thrill of doing something rebellious and her completely opposite personality to his wife, he doesn't actually like Julia as a person (Indeed, his misogyny from the beginning of the novel is never really resolved, so maybe he can't ever love a woman). His diary is just a method for him to make his rebellious thoughts more tangible, more material. (Isn't Julia kinda the same thing?). Everything he is and does is either for or in spite of the New World Order.
Original post by lunaa.lovegood
hi!

just really keen, and sorta need, to hear your opinions on whether you think characters are able to maintain their sense of identity in either of the novels? i'm thinking nay


I've only read Handmaid's Tale.

You can definitely see how Ofgled tries to maintain her sense of identity through memory and remembrance of her past. Throughout the novel, she's constantly looks back at her adolescence, her marriage to her husband, her role as a wife, as a mother, and as a daughter. Not to mention, as a best friend. However, the interesting thing about her is that we get a sense of maybe it's not so good to emember about your past life because you so desperately want that back, you start to lose sight of your current role, which as we see for other characters has some nasty effects.

On the other hand, it is a good thing because by maintaining her identity, she can keep her sanity. I don't think however she was able to maintain it, otherwise she wouldn't of wanted to get out of that place to find her old life. Do you see what I mean? If she already had a sense of identity, then she wouldn't of needed to leave the place. She only left because she wanted to sought out her previous identity, prior to that island.

So in terms of that, I don't think she was able to maintain it. Throughout the novel, she slowly began to lose her memory of her husband and child and what it was to feel love again. That was part of her identity in terms of being compassionate and loving. She also cannot maintain her identity because she does everything in her power to find her best friend so she can cling onto her life she lived previously. She would not of needed to do this, if she was confident in her identity.

That's what I can get out of reading it during the summer just gone.
Reply 3
Avatar for sw651
sw651
3
Original post by lunaa.lovegood
hi!

just really keen, and sorta need, to hear your opinions on whether you think characters are able to maintain their sense of identity in either of the novels? i'm thinking nay


I studied both so I should be able to help.

In 1984, Winston is determined to keep this sense of independence from the party, yet he is still compliant, so in some respects he is still part of the system, notably at the end of the novel he loses that sense of self. When compared to Julia who has lost that identity, she only rebels in order to get that sexual satisfaction, and she does lose her identity.

In The Handmaids Tale, "she" does not lose her identity at all, she is constantly rebelling throughout the whole story, right up until the ambiguous ending.

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you