As Dalai Lama, a head of state and spiritual leader of Tibet once said, “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.
”. In The Island, the inhabitants are not physically human, and are fighting to stay alive. Meanwhile, in 1984, the inhabitants are physically human but the characteristics that make them human are being taken away from them. In both 1984 and The Island, the ultimate goal of the ruling parties is to dehumanize their inhabitants; thus the question of what it means to be human becomes a frequent theme in the two texts.Both the inhabitants in George Orwell’s 1984 and Michael Bay’s The Island face continuous pressure from the ruling parties in their respective societies to abandon their humanity; however, the two texts define humanity and dehumanize their citizens in different ways.
Winston and Lincoln, being the protagonists throughout the play are the two prime characters fighting for humanity. The protagonists in the two texts are comparable in that they care deeply for humanity, but Lincoln and Winston differ greatly in how they define what it means to be human.In the two texts, majority of the society have already been stripped of their humanity, however few individuals stand as rebels, and are determined to find ways to save humanity. Winston lives in a society where the inner party, a central governing body, has dehumanized a majority of the inhabitants.
However Winston is one of the last whose goal is not primarily to survive, but rather to preserve humanity. This is apparent when Winston is speaking with Julia, a companion of his, about the difference between being human and staying alive.He states, “It's not so much staying alive, it's staying human that's important. What counts is that we don't betray each other. ”. (Orwell, ADD PAGE NUMBER) By this the reader can see that Winston’s goal is to have human characteristics and even if he were to die, he should die a dignified human.
Contrarily, while in 1984 the characters are physically human, but losing their human attributes, in The Island the characters are not physically human, but trying to preserve their humanity. In addition, while both protagonists are trying to fight for humanity, their definition of humanity contrasts significantly.In 1984, since the inhabitants are physically human, humanity is defined as having human characteristics. On the contrary, inhabitants in The Island are clones; thus they lack the physical element of humanity. In Lincoln’s opinion, in order to be human you must be alive.
This is evident when Lincoln says, “I just want to live. I don’t care how” (Bay). In the society of the Island, the inhabitants do not realize that they physically are not human, and the main struggle is not to regain human characteristics, but rather to stay alive – that is humanity to them.Consequently, the texts are similar in that both protagonists are compassionate about maintaining their humanity, the definition of humanity differs in the two texts. Moreover, in the two texts, the goal of the ruling party is to dehumanize all its inhabitants, however, the two societies differ in how they strip human beings of their most human attributes. Both ruling parties deprive inhabitants of individual thought by forcing them to follow a single leader.
In the case of The Island, the ultimate goal of the people is to get to the Island, and all inhabitants will do anything to reach this goal.Furthermore, when the Island is spoken of, it is made out to be a special place for special people in order to engage people and force them to want to go to the Island. This is shown when the announcement is made from the lottery of who will be the prized winner of going to the Island, the G-d like figure will appear on a screen and say “You’re special. You have a very special purpose in life. You’ve been chosen.
The Island awaits you” (Bay). Likewise, in 1984 the inner party demands that all follow the Godly figure, that being Big Brother.Big Brother is portrayed in 1984 to be an omnipresent, benevolent figure that all inhabitants of Oceania should follow. Big Brother is viewed in a very positive light, every leading figure has allegiance to Big Brother and will tell all who disagree with them that they are incorrect and must love him. During a conversation between O’Brien and Winston, O’Brien is trying to reach Winston’s feelings and discover why he rebels.
“O'Brien: What are your feelings towards Big Brother? Winston Smith: I hate him. O'Brien: You must love him. It is not enough to obey him. You must love him. ”In addition to brainwashing its inhabitants to follow the ruler in their respective societies, the ruling parties will physically go into its inhabitant’s brain in order to change their thoughts.
As indicated earlier, the goal of the ruling party in The Island is to make all of its inhabitants share the same goal - to go to the Island. Lincoln has bad dreams concerning the Island, which he sees in a negative rather than positive light. In his dreams Lincoln is on a boat to the Island, but he drowns. Being that having a single rebel in a society could potentially destroy it, the government takes action on this issue to change Lincoln’s mind on his view of the Island.Dr.
Merrick places computer chips into Lincoln’s brain, these chips activate a picture of Dr. Merrick into Lincoln’s dangerous dream about the Island, and repeatedly saying to him “you want to go to the Island”. On the other hand, where physical humanity stands in the society, differs in the texts. In the Island, the inhabitants are not physically human, but clones; and unlike in 1984, are physically dehumanized. This is expressed when McCord is speaking to Lincoln and tells him, “You're not real. You're copies of people out here in the world.
“ (Bay).Antipodal to The Island, the citizens of Oceania in 1984 are physically human, however they are being stripped of their humane characteristics. The inner party brainwashes the citizens of Oceania in order to dehumanize them. For instance, the Parsons children are willing to tell on their parents if they disobey the inner party, and the inner party’s makes all the people think that two and two is five. Most importantly, through the slogans used in 1984, the inner party allows a person to believe contrary ideas at the same time willingly through “doublethink”, which weakens the independence and strength of individual minds.The inner party uses the slogan “WAR IS PEACE.
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (Orwell, 6) in order to keep the power of the authoritarian regime, and by doing so dehumanizes its inhabitants. In 1984, humanity still exists but if the humanity is to be attained, it must be fought for. Whereas in the Island, the inhabitants are already dehumanized, and the only thing they must fight for is their life. On the whole, the theme of humanity is continuously used throughout the two texts The Island and 1984.
In the two texts, the definitive goal of the ruling parties is to dehumanize their inhabitants.However, there are two different views of what ‘dehumanizing’ really means. The inhabitants in The Island are not physically human; whereas in 1984 they are physically human but the characteristics, which make them human, are being taken away. In today’s society, dehumanization is prominent in media. We scrutinize everything they do and when they do not live up to our expectations, we are disappointed and outraged.
Celebrities are not treated like people and we set high standards, and expect them to be perfect which no one is - it is not human.
