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1. BothWinston 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 Fenech
Dr. A. Brode
ENG 4U
27 July 2013
“There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or
accept the responsibility for changing them.” -Denis Waitley

2. 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.

3. One of the first personal limitations
experienced in both 1984 and TheTruman
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 inWinston’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.

4. 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 ofTruman’s
life story. Alas, Christof placed every type of
obstacle inTruman 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>>>

5. Another set limitation byWinston
andTruman’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.

6. 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 thatTruman 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:
Truman
Click to start video >>>

7. Finally having enough of being
withdrawn from their freedom,
Winston andTruman 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 fueledWinston’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.

8. OnceTruman 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, butTruman 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>>>

9. 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.

10. Works Cited
Deskofbrian. “Jim Carey The Truman Show Photo.” Blog News and Opinion. The Desk of Brian, 5 Jun 2012. JPEG file. 24 July
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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>