Compare And Contrast Winston Smith

1984

The term hero is one that has different meaning for different people. In a traditional literary sense, hero is most often associated with the designation, epic hero. An epic hero typically exhibits traits that common people do not. Winston Smith, the protagonist, in the George Orwell novel 1984, exhibits many of the typically accepted epic hero traits. Living under the control of a totalitarian regime, where even thoughts are monitored, Winston Smith feels compelled to be a man of action against his oppressors in ways that will surely end poorly. In the dystopian setting of Oceania, readers travel Winton’s journey with him, sharing his triumphs and his failures until the surprising conclusion of the story is reached.
“Big Brother

He was about to meet Julia, a problem and a hope all at the same time for Winston. He found her beautiful and enticing, she tempting him with a note “I love you” (108). This entire potential clandestine ‘relationship’ worries Winston, but she tempts him enough that he overcomes his fears of her being a spy and they engage in a forbidden sexual relationship. Julia unlike Winston is not interested in the wide spread uprising against the party. She likes to outsmart them, they plan meetings and have conversations, all of which are strictly forbidden but Winston longs for her, she is a temptation he cannot resist. She and Winston have many conversations about the Party; Winston is elated to know Julia has had other sexual encounters with other members of the Party. It seems to invigorate him that others are not willing to tow the Party line of denying themselves pleasure. The entire affair has brought a new found energy to Winston and his hatred of Big Brother. Julia still plays the game of the Party, volunteering her time to various causes and attending various events. Julia being much younger was still somewhat naive to the way things were, at the end of a long conversation regarding Winston’s wife, he turns to Julia and says “We are the dead” (135). “We are not dead yet!” (136) said Julia prosaically. It was painfully clear that mentally they were in different places, but physically they were drawn to each

He displays courage, values honor, battles demons (The Party), is a man of action, invites problems, encounters a woman who tempts him, and makes a decent into darkness. Winston Smith is a hero by Orwell’s definition: he is also a hero by epic hero standards. While he did not attain his goal of change, he did in fact live his life with uncommon courage and valor and those attributes are admirable in any person, and in 1984 they are most admirable in Winston Smith. The life of Winston Smith, in Oceana, takes the reader on an odyssey of emotion, has the reader rooting for Winston and Julie and in the end provides a way to understand that it was predestined to end