Individualism in the Totalitarian State

This study is one attempt in the exploration of the individual's fate in the context the totalitarian state where one is systematically exploited and victimized both physically and psychologically. In this state, the ruling party imposes various laws upon its individuals in a structural way, abandoning them in a dehumanized condition. Still, the study shows how the individual always has the opportunity to reverse the order of the given master/slave dialect so as to become the master over him/herself in the state. Social-psychology and existential-deconstruction are the ground upon which the analysis of the two given situations stands: Michel Foucault's theory of power/knowledge is worked through in the attempt to depict how the individual is dehumanized in Ayn Rand's Anthem, while Friedrich Nietzsche's theory of the overman is the proposed means for the individual to emancipate and recover his/her freedom as it is illustrated in George Orwell's 1984. The study is concluded with the proposition that: It is up to the individual to be free in the life s/he leads. There is no excuse for anyone, as it is always his/her own choice to become who s/he wants to be.

Autorentext

Ahmad Mohammad Alqudah is an MA holder of English Literature & Criticism from Yarmouk University in Jordan. His research interests include Political Philosophy, Social Psychology, and Deconstruction. He is currently a journalist at Qatar TV.

Klappentext

This study is one attempt in the exploration of the individual's fate in the context the totalitarian state where one is systematically exploited and victimized both physically and psychologically. In this state, the ruling party imposes various laws upon its individuals in a structural way, abandoning them in a dehumanized condition. Still, the study shows how the individual always has the opportunity to reverse the order of the given master/slave dialect so as to become the master over him/herself in the state. Social-psychology and existential-deconstruction are the ground upon which the analysis of the two given situations stands: Michel Foucault's theory of power/knowledge is worked through in the attempt to depict how the individual is dehumanized in Ayn Rand's Anthem, while Friedrich Nietzsche's theory of the overman is the proposed means for the individual to emancipate and recover his/her freedom as it is illustrated in George Orwell's 1984. The study is concluded with the proposition that: It is up to the individual to be free in the life s/he leads. There is no excuse for anyone, as it is always his/her own choice to become who s/he wants to be.