In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, Winston the main character reflects that he is the only sane person in Oceania. Oceania is a country which has manipulated all of its civilians with techniques used in the Holocaust, the Russian Revolution, and countless others,. A few examples for this are telescreens, which in today’s society the equivalent of security cameras and The Times, government propaganda. Personally, I think Winston to be completely normal as he perceives himself. Sanity means soundness or health of mind, qualities Winston displays numerous time throughout this book.
On the other hand being sane in Oceania means something completely diverse from our everyday, normal world perception. Imagine you against a whole world’s opinion, would you be insane or the world? Obviously to fit in and be normal many people would chose themselves as being crazy. In Oceania you must follow everyone else’s ideas and beliefs. But in Winston’s case this is not true, “Being in a minority, even in a minority of one, did not make you mad” (179). This direct quote proves Winston not to be insane, just the whole world to be, and even if the odds are against him, he can outsmart them all. If all your friends jumped of a bridge, would you?
A reason for why it’s Winston against the world is non other than the influence of the infamous doublethink. This is a process used for complete and utter control over the minds of Oceania’s civilians. This is the key to why they all think alike. According to the book doublethink is “The act of simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs” (176). This process then leads to the changing of the past which ensures the happiness and devotion of the civilians to Big Brother. They change any fact that is inconvenient and doesn’t with hold the statements made in the propaganda. Destroying the past makes proving the truth impossible since The Times gets incinerated soon after read. All of this causes the innocent people to be...