A Happy Ending?

If you've really read my book (if you know you know), you'll know that I consider the most existentially tragic tale to be that of a happy splashy fun time called The Tale of Philbert the Fish.

Pictured: Philbert? Perhaps. Perhaps not. I dunno.

Unlike the other short stories in the book, this one was never published on the blog, so if you want to dive in deeper you'll have to get my book (oh no!). For those of you who somehow can be this deep into my blog and not already have the book, I'll give you a quick synopsis.

The story follows the adventures of the titular Philbert, who is never really taken seriously. As they return from their normal routine, they notice something changed to the habitat that he shares with a lot of other ocean life. When Philbert brings it to his co-habitants' attention, he is brushed off. Eventually, other fish confirm what Philbert said and Philbert volunteers to use his big tail to explore. After this happens, Philbert is hearalded as a hero and finally feels like they fit in.

There's a lot more alliteration and other fun writing mechanics in there, but that's the gist. But one of the things I noted about this story is that it has a happy ending in the same way as 1984.

I feel like most people forget that 1984 simultaneously has both a bleak and happy ending. If you are forgetting how the book wraps up, our protagonist (Winston) has just finished their stint in the Ministry of Love, being brutally tortured. But this is not ordinary torture as the powers that be frame the torture as something that Winston actually wanted. And the only thing that stopped the torture wasn't Winston's various breakdowns, but when he accepted that as true.

Pictured: Big Brother or something. Idk.

The second that this "clicks" for Winston is a strange moment in the book. Immediately, the torture stops and Winston is released back into society, seemingly with no strings attached. The final line of the book sees Winston going to a pro-government rally and realizing that they were no longer going through the motions and were actually enjoying themselves. And in making that realization, Winston knew he would never again be a problem for the dominant power in the book ever again as that power managed to permanently alter Winston's perception.

While horrifying to the readers of the book, this is actually a huge relief to the character themselves. They had gone from being frightened of their own shadow due to their distrust and worry of being prosecuted by the ubiquitous surveillance state to knowing that they would never really have a problem with the government ever again. Indeed, Winston now fully trusted their government to have his personal best interests in mind.

The strange thing about 1984 is that, by the end, you may be convinced that maybe post-Ministry of Love Winston is right. If we assume that the powers that be within 1984 are malicious, they certainly take needlessly complicated means to accomplish their goals. By the end of the book, it has become clear that, while Winston thought that he was carving his own path of personal rebellion, that it was all being simultaneously monitored and set-up by the government. In other words, the government was allowing Winston to explore this path. If the government is malicious, it begs the question as to what end this allowance serves. Indeed, it appears that a large degree of personal freedom was provided directly to Winston so that he could actually experience this path, take part in its logical ending, and be released from its consequences after understanding it.

Pictured: Good thing surveillance states are fictional and we aren't totally living in one!

Part of what makes this resonate is that control and power were never really issues up for debate. Sure, Winston believes that they are going to change everything, but was he ever really? Winston was but one person and truly stood no chance against the behemoth that he wanted to slay. Even in Winston's mind, his path requires the cooperation and loyalty of people who are revealed to be government agents the whole time. And instead of killing Winston, experimenting on him, or cruelly toying with him for the rest of his life (as many real-world governments do to their prisoners), 1984's government's torture actually feels motivated by love and a desire to have Winston be a member of their society who can breathe easily and feel at home.

Don't get me wrong, this is still an existentially tragic and bleak ending. Whether the government is actually benevolent is somewhat of a red herring because the end of 1984 represents the end of Winston's explorations. There is simply nothing left for the individual to explore in their world. And that is a somehow deeper tragedy than the government just being cruel for cruelness's sake.