1984 #3

“It struck him that in moments of crisis one is never fighting against an external enemy but always against one’s own body” (pg. 102). Internal struggle is a major theme in this novel. Winston fights against himself to hold back from Big Brother. He fights for what he knows is right, but eventually is tortured into the opposite. Orwell shows how the human body “freezes into inertia at exactly the moment when a special effort is needed.” No matter how much the body can struggle it eventually will cave in. The fight is to hold off as long as possible, making every effort against the desire to give up, which comes from within.