Power, by one definition, is the amount of energy transferred or converted per unit of time—this is how man can control things. We [hand and crate]. However, it can also be defined as the capacity to influence the behavior of others or the course of events—in other words, exerting control over men. In George Orwell’s novel 1984 the power over mankind is controlled by the party, representing the ability of power to become authoritative, and indestructible, and even tyrannical.

In reality, the power of the government comes from people, which means that it is a sacrifice of people’s rights—in another word, freedom. As a result, two types of governments can exist, big government and limited government, or, on the extreme ends, totalitarianism and democracy. Originally, these two types of government shared a common purpose: to serve the people in a society. However, when the power in some totalitarianism countries grant unlimited wealth and benefits to its leaders, the whole concept of serving society becomes corrupted, and men become tyrants in order to seek out even more power and wealth. There are countless examples in history. For example, nearly every emperor throughout time was originally chosen by the people he would come to serve. However, as a royal family’s rule became stronger it might eventually begin to change so the government no longer served its citizens, but instead, the citizens would begin to serve the government. In these cases, often people would eventually rebel and overthrow the tyranny to establish a better government—or at least something that seemed better in the moment.

In 1984, though, these rebellions are very unlikely to happen. In the book, due to mysteriously advanced knowledge and technologies, the people’s freedom has become so oppressed that they’ve even lost the freedom of thought. The ruling party knows this well, and they use their knowledge to brainwash people in order to sustain the regime. All of the methods used by the party, such as the use of hatred to control people or refusing to allow relationships between people, are possible because the party has access to advanced technologies and knowledge of psychology. This shows that even things that should be healing or beneficial to society can be twisted and used for evil in the wrong hands.

Julia and Winston, two people who are not fully brainwashed, quickly become targets of the party’s leaders. Their relationship itself represents free well, so the party must seize and destroy it in order to stay in complete control. They do this by causing one to betray the other, similarly to how one’s own mind might betray the body when brainwashed. In the end, all the freedom they possessed will be transformed to increase the party’s power.

It can be concluded then, from the reading, that freedom and power cannot peacefully coexist. Rather, there is a negative correlation between them—when one thing diminishes, the other increases. Freedom is not free, and power is not forever.