Freedom is a State of Mind

            The New York Times article Born and Raised in a North Korean Gulag deals with a little boy, Shin, who grows up in a prison camp, facing hardship and torture until his escape. Due to his conditioning from birth he feels the life he leads is the norm, and therefore does not question his existence until he hears of the outside world. However, once on the outside he feels alienated and a misfit, and often misses his old torturous life as freedom and independence comes with a price.

            This modern day true life story has many parallels with the theme and general storyline of Orwell’s 1984. Here the protagonist Winston holds no family bonds and has even betrayed his parents and sister, and turned his back on his father. This also holds true in the article. Again through the brainwashing by a totalitarian state, Winston and Shin get through their mundane controlled routine of the drudgery of daily life, without question or complaining about their pathetic excuse for a life without a soul. Until, that is a chance meeting with a person that changes their outlook and entire perspective. They go through a journey of self discovery and awakening which involves human emotions and frailties, such as love and hate, fear and joy. Both are imprisoned and shackled and are watched and monitored both physically and mentally and offer little resistance. The hold that this state of being has on both is so strong that they can never be free, even when freedom is reached. Strangely when Shin finds his way to the outside world he is unable to adjust to normal life and at times wants to return back. Psychologists tell us that this is not uncommon. Even kidnapped victims develop a bond with their tormentor and want to return. They feel as Shin would have felt strangely safe and protected in their bubble where life’s choices are simple. In the real world there are hardships of other kinds such as choices, decision making, competition, financial burdens, peer pressure. Prison life for the accustomed involves a life where you are told what to do, and is simplistic. This transition then becomes hard for the concerned person to make as they feel loyalty and a comfort level for their old life.

            Happiness is a state of being and is a neither black nor white. In the same way freedom is a subjective state of mind which does not involve shackles of the body but the shackles of the mind. No man is truly free until he has reached a state of peace, and this both Winston and Shin discover the hard way.