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Throughout history, man has been inexorably drawn to seek the truth. Explorers, scientists, political revolutionaries, and many other people have sought truth in their world, even though they were eventually destroyed by it. This is the case in the novel 1984, by George Orwell. A man named Winston Smith struggles against an ultra-repressive superstate ruled by a faceless tyrant named Big Brother. He struggles to overcome this society and live however he pleases, but in the end he is destroyed. In this novel, one of the author’s main points was, “the falsification of history. ‘Truth will prevail, when no one cares if it prevail or not’”(Wain 229). Therefore, the theme man always seeks the truth is supported by the initiation, outcast, the battle between good and evil, and the fall archetypes. Winston’s demonstration of the initiation archetype, which is brought about by Winston’s desire of truth, allows him to finally see through Big Brother’s numerous lies. Winston’s first step into his new perception was taken in a hidden alcove in his home. “The thing that he was about to do was open a diary. This was not illegal, but it was reasonably certain that it would be punished by death”(9), and into this diary he would record his life so that posterity could learn the truth of their existence. Before Winston opened the diary, he was just another party member who would live a life of total insignificance. However, when he opens the diary, he shows a rebirth and enters his life as a true human being. The fact that Winston risks death to preserve the truth for future generations shows how man is always drawn to the truth. Winston experiences another epiphany during a broadcast of the Two-Minute Hate. Winston realizes that the chanting “was an act of self-hypnosis, a deliberate drowning of consciousness by means of rhythmic noise”(18).
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