Part Two, Section 10
In the final free statement he says aloud to himself and to Julia before the Thought Police emerge and arrest him, Winston says the following: "We are the Dead."
As you know, this line appears in "In Flanders Field" which is arguably the most famous poem from World War I, and it's hard to believe Orwell (born 1903) could have been unfamilar with it. In the actual year 1984, David Bowie released an album entitled Diamond Dogs, with several songs related to the book 1984 including one entitled "We Are the Dead." Click here to listen and here to see the lyrics. In 2008, heavy metal New Zealand band Antagonist A.D. recorded their own song called "We Are the Dead."
From Flanders to Orwell to Bowie to New Zealand, what is it about this simple four word statement? What does it mean? Why does it continue to resonate throughout the twentieth century? Why does it still hold the power that it does?
13 comments:
I believe that "We are the Dead" signifies the inevitable death or worse-than-death state that will soon be brought about. Winston, knowing that because of the "crimes" they have committed, and because of the things they know about the government, they have been condemned, and they "are the dead."
I believe this continued to resonate throughout the 20th century because it was extremely relevant to the conflict of political regimes and the authoritarian regimes of the 20th century. Trotsky is a good example of this: he was a higher-up, living the good life, then deemed as a traitor to Russia. Knowing what he knew about the intricacies of the Russian government and the crimes he committed, he "was the Dead."
I believe that it still holds the power that it does because of the existence today of the authoritarian regimes around the world. As authoritarian regimes and coercive governments continue to persecute anyone "against the government", this term will continue to hold merit.
I also think that everyone living in societies such as Big Brother's in 1984 or Stalin's Russia are "the Dead"; they just haven't (hadn't) realized it yet. The lives that they lead are so inconsequential and meaningless to the government that they "are the Dead."
To somewhat counter what Calvin said about the people living in Big Brother and Stalin’s societies (1984 and Russia) it is not that they are meaningless to the government that makes them dead. They are the dead because they fully believe the government and have not done anything about it. They are dead because they have no free thoughts. They “are the” mentally “Dead.” I do think that they are the dead, though.
Winston, however, says it as a man with free thought, proving that the people who fight in any way against the government and its propaganda are physically dead. In Stalin’s Russia, they were killed if they were any threat to Stalin. So there are two types of dead: the people, who do nothing, and the people who fight. It just ends up as a different type of dead.
The statement holds power because it can be said by any group who loses power completely. People use it to show that they have lost hope in their cause or even themselves. When you realize what you’re doing is worthless, and that’s been your life, it is like being dead, empty, a shell. Saying “We are the Living” is the opposite, and no one says it. No one bothers, because it would show you have hope or a reason to live. Being dead is like being the holder of a purposeless mission, a hologram of a goal.
In a somewhat more positive aspect, I believe the statement "We are the Dead" implies the acceptance of one's mortality and the realization that the purpose one is fighting for is more valuable than life. Winston proclaims the statement after becoming completely aware that he will die soon; but he is willing to sacrifice his life to defend the ultimate truth, that two and two do make four. Winston is quite convinced that he will see no change in his lifetime, but yet he continues to fight for this change, for the future.
In 1984 and "Flanders Fields", Orwell and McCrae use "We are the Dead" to evoke a sense of empowerment and duty: the duty of the future to defend and spread this everlasting cause. "To you from failing hands we throw / The torch; be yours to hold it high." "We are the Dead" is such a powerful statement because in its simplicity there lies a belief that there is a purpose larger than life itself (at least in the ways that Orwell and McCrae use it).
While I disagree with Calvin on this subject, I completely agree with Michelle's and Emily's response to the prompt. Adding to what Michelle said, the statement "we are the dead" is indeed a statement made to signify the coming end to life, and the acceptance of that ending. Winston exclaimed this statement because he knew that his views differed with Big Brother's. Because of that, Winston made the statement regarding his soon physical disappearance from the world. However, as Emily stated to brilliantly, the phrase should not be used for Winston's mental ideas. As, Winston is not dead at all in the mental sense of things, in face, he is most definitely alive. The only people who are dead, as previously stated are the people that follow the government blindly. In the material realm, yes, the phrase "we are the dead" applies to Winston and Julia, but in the mental realm, "we are the living" most certainly applies to the two characters.
I believe this statement resonates throughout the twentieth century because, as Calvin stated, there is always going to be the people or groups of people who have ideals and policies different from those holding power, thereby making them "the dead."
The reason as to why the statement has the power it does is that, as Michelle stated so excellently, it invokes a sense of higher power. Being a unique person enough to exclaim "we are the dead" is a very promising thing. Not only are you becoming the focus of attention, but you are also a rare kind in most cases. While it may seem a bit cynical to use this reasoning, it seems that the statement hold power for simple personal gains, believing that you are better than others for your different ideals.
I think that "we are the dead" is such a powerful statement for the very reason that it can be interpreted in a multitude of ways. On one level, it is the death of submitting oneself to the wills of the government, to Big Brother, to the master plan, as it were. It is the realization that one's life is inconsequential, that you are being manipulated to follow the cult of personality in the most destructive and demeaning of ways. That you are only one more follower to the agenda.
On another level, perhaps it IS to say that the mere physicality of life is meaningless in relation to the cause at hand, to the progressive agenda, to the moral authority. Perhaps it is to say that "we are the dead" but, really, we are only dead in the most physical of forms, that we live on in the aftermath of what we have achieved.
Regardless, it is powerful because it is ominous. It is either great or it is tragic, but, either way, it is complete.
Because I will not be responding to any of the above comments (read: I am better than all of you), my views on all of your views (except Kelsey's) can be summed up by the first four sentences of Steven's comment. Hooray.
Like all great quotes, putting a comma after, "We are the dead," and then adding a short phrase containing an expletive makes it so much better. Why say, "We are the dead," when you can say, "We are the dead, and to be honest I really don't give a [expletive]" (you can add a whole host of other expletive phrases to change the meaning if you so choose, but I will be focusing on this one exactly).
No, Winston is not having an existential crisis. He is, instead, commenting on how at this point in time, death is inevitable, and he wouldn't do anything to change that. The life he was living before getting caught up in hiding from the monitor, keeping an illegal diary, falling in love, and generally being a leather-jacket-rebel had so little meaning comparatively. He's finally achieved meaning, and therefore reached some sort of pseudo-nirvana state.
Winston also goes ahead and brushes off the Thought Police, who really are only effective based on the fear that they command. Who's scared of the Thought Police when they've accomplished all they've wanted to accomplish (coincidental, because he then gets nabbed and really puts his whole awkward-situation-with-death to the test)?
In short, Winston is a total badass and defies Oceania. Go Winston, go!
Why does this appeal to people? Because everyone likes to defy the power. Shoot, you could practically establish an entire country and culture based on being "mavericks" and fighting the "big guys." (See what I did there?) The romantic ideal of being the guy/gal who stands up and becomes a martyr is so prevalent throughout human culture that it's no surprise that, "we are the dead," is so catchy.
I believe that death is something we all fear. Something mutual that we fear either consciously or unconsciously. The phrase 'we are the dead' seems to be really powerful as it is direct. But more importantly, it is directed towards everyone. Everyone is familiar with these phrases. However, death does not necessarily mean the physical death in which a person ceases to live. Death could be the inability to control yourself-your freedom taken away. Death is the lack of a vital part of your life, something that makes up your life. Death is also so tangible yet intangible. We are the dead could mean so many things, yet people always seem to be familiar with it, because they know it is inevitable and they do not know what shape it will take. Really, what difference will it have: physical death or the deprivation of free will and self control? Even if physical state is alive, it is not something you own anymore.
I too agree with Steven, Emily, and Michelle in that "We are the Dead," is a quote which indeed has to meanings: a literal and more abstract one. On one hand, Winston has just come to his "catharsis" in a greek sense in that he realized that at the very moment when the soldiers barged in and caught him right handed, his life and Julia's would soon come to an end. Now fortunately this was not the case, but this quote's power goes far beyond than just a simple metaphor for having the freedom of thought, speech, and overall liberties that come with being a citizen striped away from one leaves nothing less but an empty shell. I believe that in that very moment, Winston saw the future before his very eyes: a mindless and dead place. I appreciate what Michelle said on looking at the positive side of this scenario for although Winston and probably many other citizens of Oceania are going to struggle, time will come for hope to emerge as a great factor in finally ending this quote, "We are the dead."
I feel that "We Are the Dead" is both a paradoxical statement and an obviously true one. Someone (let's say Winston, for the sake of canon) utters "We are the dead;" yet they cannot be the dead because they are alive in their utterance. I agree with both Calvin and Michelle that the statement is an acceptance of the state that will be inevitably forced upon the speaker. It has become a fact of life, that they have already accepted that soon they will lie beneath the ground.
Of course this can be applied to the WWI trenches as seen in Flander's Field, but as Emily points out this is relavent to Communist Russia, as well as Nazi Germany. The Jews living in the Lodz ghetto were the dead, as the purpose of life other than to serve and die were stripped from them. That inevitability in almost all dictatorial societies of "we are going to die" is inescapable.
"We are the dead" holds the power that it does due to the carpe diem quality. Before he said this he goes on how the proles would be the future once they gain consciousness. Regardless whether they participate or not in fighting the regime they are called the dead due to the fact they don't conform to the government's ideas. So in essence, he's saying you might as well participate in toppling the regime instead of doing nothing since in either case you are considered dead. As others have mentioned, another way to view this is that Winston says this as a way to show that he doesn't regret all the actions against big brother he has done with Julia. However this mends with the carpe diem idea in that they lived shortly but lived it instead of lived longly but not in the way they wanted to.
Not only does, "We the Dead" signify a message from WWI fighters, it can also refer to the inevitable fact that humans will one day be the dead. More specifically however, this statement can be seen in revolutionary movements around the world.
All around the middle-east, revolutionists understand that they are fighting against their unjust governments, and in cases like Libya, understand that they might soon become the dead for committing a "crime" I believe this was used in Flanders Field as a scare tactic/motivational statement to gather as many troops possible because no matter what, death is inevitable
One factual error in the OP: David Bowie's album Diamond Dogs came out in 1974, not 1984 (though it had a song on it called "1984").
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