The two protagonists differ from one another as Winston struggles to maintain his identity because of his restricted freedom, whereas Holden lacks identity as he is given too much freedom. The lack of identity essentially defines both characters also allowing the readers to sympathise with the character’s narratives. We sympathise with Holden because the amount of freedom he has, causes him to rely on an inanimate object to help him feel better, which leads to him ostracising himself from others around. In comparison to Winston, we sympathise with his character because of the issues he faces with not having freedom and a proper name which is the basis of anyone's identity. In the eyes of the government, his “freedom” is being a “slave” to the government, in which he is subjugated to Big Brother's ideology, preventing the citizens of Oceana from having any freedom.
