DOI: 10.47743/jss-2025-71-4–20

Faculty of Law, "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iași.

Abstract: The novel 1984, written by George Orwell, brings to the forefront a bleak hypothesis of a dystopian future, encompassing the harmful consequences of totalitarianism. Thus, human rights end up being suppressed, the individual reduced to silence. The right to freedom of expression is enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on December 10, 1948, overlapping with the period during which Orwell’s novel was written and published. Winston Smith, the 39-year-old main character, works at the Ministry of Truth, tasked with altering all information that does not align with the Party’s ideals – something utterly absurd, given that from the very beginning of the novel we learn that he keeps a journal in which he records his most hidden thoughts. His journal carries a dual meaning: on the one hand, it represents his way of revolting against a dictatorial system; on the other hand, it is the only means that keeps him connected to his true feelings. It is precisely the violation of the right to freedom of expression that triggers Winston Smith’s inner crisis, a conflict that remains visible throughout the novel. As a result, the protagonist sinks deeper and deeper into a dense uncertainty, his fears – stirred by the political control exercised over the people – becoming the source of his downfall. Winston Smith’s alienation is caused both by the instruments of political repression and by the atmosphere of insecurity that fuels his suspicions. In this way, fear manages to seize the human being, becoming one of the essential elements of the terror instilled in citizens by the totalitarian regime. Therefore, the suppression of the right to free expression not only diminishes the human being but outright annihilates it. In such a dystopian world, the individual becomes a lone pawn on a chessboard, one that can only be moved forward, never backward, standing on the front line and always exposed to sacrifice.

Keywords: totalitarianism, freedom of expression, political repression, alienation.

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