freedom. No joy. No love. No peace. This is the world painted by George Orwell in 1984. Written in 1949, Orwell describes a quite depressing future for the world. It includes televisions that cannot be turned off and act as video cameras into each person's living quarters. Winston, the main character, lives under the control of "Big Brother", the government. Winston wants to rebel from this control and hears about a secret society that wants to usurp Big Brother. Winston beings taking risks, looking for any connection with the days before Big Brother got into power. Winston knows that the "Thought Police" will catch him soon, for they see everything, but he does not care. He can't go on without knowing the truth and progressively becomes more rebellious. Personal relationships are not allowed in Orwell's world. One day Julia, a young attractive woman, slips him an unexpected note that reads, "I love you." They arrange a meeting place, far off in the forest, and quickly find out how much each of them despises Big Brother. They fall in love, starting an affair. Their meetings are rare and dangerous; both of them know being caught is inevitable. Their rebellion comes to a climax when they meet with O'Brien, a supposed leader of the underground organization. Unfortunately, O'Brien is really a member of the "Ministry of Love". The Ministry is where people like Winston and Julia are tortured. They are taken into the Ministry and separated. Julia's story is not told, but Winston is tortured with electricity, starvation, and the threat of Room 101. O'Brien tells Winston, "Always we shall have the heretic here at our mercy, screaming with pain, broken up, contemptible-and in the end utterly penitent, saved from himself, crawling to o... ... middle of paper ... ...s immediately makes her character part of the enemy, but in truth, she is one of the most rebellious characters. As Orwell develops her personality, the reader discovers that the first impression was just a farce. Julia's outer appearance illustrates complete dedication to the party, but her true personality is really the opposite. I think Orwell portrays her this way so that the reader will wonder how many of the people are truly followers of Big Brother and how many are just acting. Seeing strong characters like Julia and Winston broken at the end of the novel leads to a feeling of utter hopelessness for the society and thankfulness that our world is not like theirs (Shmoop). Works Cited Orwell, George. 1984. London: Secker and Warburg, 1949. Shmoop Editorial Team. "Characterization in 1984." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 30 Nov 2009.
1984 is a dystopian novel set inn Airstrip One, which used to be Britian. Oceania is always at war with another superpower, and their main goal is to achieve the most power throughout their world. The main character is Winston Smith, a man who works for the party and is supposed to change history to match what the party has told him. Winston lives in a society where he is constantly listened to and watched by telescreens and microphones to make sure he is enthusiastic about hate, and to make sure he doesn’t commit any crimes. Everywhere Winston goes he always sees posters that say, “Big Brother is Watching You.” Big Brother is the party leader that may or may not be real. The official language of Oceania, the country where Airstrip one is located, is Newspeak. Newspeak is the only language in Oceania that lessens it’s words each year so that it is harder for people to commit thoughtcrime. Winston is a dedicated worker, but often thinks about rebellion against Big Brother. Winston idolizes a man named O'Brien that he thinks is part of the Brotherhood, a terrorist group who constantly sabotages the party. Winston begins to like a woman named Juli...
To start off, Orwell's sole inclusion of women who base their relationships with men exclusively on sex demonstrates Orwell's negative beliefs about women. Despite Julia's claims to love Winston, their relationship is not about “the love of one person, but the animal instinct”(132). Julia has been in similar relationships to her and Winston's “hundreds of times”(131), relationships that look only at the sexual side and never at the emotional. She refuses all of Winston's attempts to expand their relationship, having “a disconcerting habit of falling asleep”(163) whenever he persists in talking. And although Winston cares for Julia more than he cares for Katharine, Katharine also bases her relationship with Winston completely on sex. When Winston reflects on their time together, he thinks, “he could have borne living with her if it had been agreed that they remain celibate... It ...
This novel expresses multiple motifs like part one on Collectivism being the people of Oceania putting their community in the hands of a no so brotherly dictator Big Brother, or part two portraying the Romance between Winston & Julia and about how the party wanted to alter love for their greater good, and later in part three it was about fear and how it controls us. We must realize that this book could act as more of a timeline of events taking place if we carelessly give the government more control, really we are the proles Orwell was mentioning we are were the hope lies and we must make use of it.
Winston is arrested and taken to The Ministry of Love, another of the main government agencies. Here he is tortured physically by starvation and electrocution under the watch of The Party. He is manipulated physiologically by being conditioned to avoid torture by answering questions about his loyalty to The Party.
Orwell utilizes Julia’s character in order to capture the attitude of the oppressed as well. Winston wonders, “Any kind of organized revolt against the Party, which was bound to be a failure, struck her as stupid. The clever thing was to break the rules and stay alive all the same” (Orwell 131). Julia has no interest in overtly fighting the Party because she believes that the rebellion would never work out in her favor. Winston goes on to think:
Julia had betrayed the Party before she met Winston by being a member of the Junior Anti-Sex League but having sex whenever she pleased. After they found out that Mr. Charrington betrayed them, Julia and Winston promised to each other that they would not betray each other no matter what happened. When Winston asked about Julia during his torturing O’Brien said “ She betrayed you, Winston. Immediately--unreservedly. I have seldom seen anyone come over to us so promptly. You would hardly recognize her if you saw her. All her rebelliousness, her deceit, her folly, her dirty-mindedness--everything has been burned out of her. It was a perfect conversion, a textbook case. (Orwell, 214)” Julia broke her promise to Winston and gave up on him before she had even gone through half the torturing he did. After Winston and Julia both got out of Ministry of Love they ran into each other and discovered that neither of them still loved each other which proved that Julia truly did betray Winston because she said “Confession is not betrayal. What you say or do doesn’t matter: only feelings matter. If they could make me stop loving you- that would be the real betrayal” (Orwell
Imagine living in a world where one’s whole life had been planned out for them by the Government; a life in which there were no surprises simply because everyday consisted of the same thing. 1984 written by George Orwell can be an archetype for this kind of world. Living in a totalitarian society, Winston Smith is a low ranked member of the ruling party in London. Winston is constantly watched by the party and had little to no privacy whatsoever. Everywhere he goes, Winston sees face of the party’s leader, called Big Brother. Winston goes through the same motions everyday, secretly hating the party and hoping that there are people around him that aren’t ignorant, but feel the same way as him. If people are ignorant and blindly follow what the
Much can happen in a matter of minutes; a man can go from thinking he is happy to thinking his life is falling apart, or can change from hating someone to loving them. These experiences sound outlandish, but they happened to Guy Montag, the main character in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and Winston Smith, the main character in George Orwell’s 1984. These two dystopian novels are about the characters discovering major problems in their societies, and then trying to fix them. Montag lives in a society where television controls people’s lives and books have become illegal. On the other hand Smith lives in Oceania, a territory led by a totalitarian regime. This regime is headed by Big Brother and is referred to as the Party. By examining Fahrenheit 451 and 1984, it is seen, not only through the dehumanized nature of society, but also through the theme of lies and manipulation that both Orwell and Bradbury wish to warn of a horrifying future society.
Julia, another member of the Outer Party is no exception. Like Winston, she abhors the policies of her government but mostly those related to laws related to sex. The backbone of her individuality lay within her sexuality. Julia stated that she lost her virginity at an early age and engaged in sexual activity with numerous men over time. Her sexuality is also a point for her weakness due to her desire to be with Winston romantically and sexually. Due to this, it puts her independence and character at stake. This is demonstrated when she agrees to meet O’Brien under with Winston under his influence. It emphasizes how attached she is to Winston and unwittingly put her independence and character at stake. However, the burden of her responsibilities as a citizen comes back to haunt her. This is demonstrated when she is captured by the Thought Police along with Winston. Both Julia and Winston realize that they shall die and this demonstrates the consequences of ignoring their responsibilities as members of the Outer Party. It also highlights how Julia attempts not commit to her duties as a member of the Outer Party due to her engaging in sex. Her independence and character is broken and turns into a delusory sense of elevated self-worth. This is evident in the change of her body shape and scar near her scalp. This indicates that like
... monitored all along. All the careful planning and discreet actions were for nothing. After the Ministry of Love, Julia and Winston cannot feel the same way about each other. Winston’s interactions with Carrington too, turn out to be all a lie. The kind old man who can remember a past without the party turns out to be a member of the thought police. O’Brien, the one person who understands Winston, tortures him and assimilates him. The fatherly figure, the friend and the love interest all turn out to be false or corrupt relationships.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a famous philosopher, once said “I prefer liberty with danger than peace with slavery.” What Rousseau means by this is that it is better to have fought for your freedom than to peacefully allow yourself to become a slave. In George Orwell’s 1984, a man name Winston Smith struggles with a society that has allowed itself to become enslaved by it’s totalitarian government, whose leader is known as “Big Brother”. Big Brother has convinced his people that to truly be safe, they must be monitored completely. The people of Oceania are entirely stripped of their freedom, and even thinking of rebelling is a crime, a “thoughtcrime”. Winston’s problems arise as he realizes he is not like most people around him, he does not like the society he is living in and wants to take down Big Brother. Winston soon meets a girl named Julia who dislikes Big Brother as well, and soon they begin to commit a wide variety of crimes together. They begin a forbidden love affair, but worry constantly about being caught. As Winston’s love for Julia grows, so does his hatred for Big Brother. Winston soon receives word that a man named O’Brien wants to see him, which excites him because Winston believes that O’Brien is a member of a secret party called The Brotherhood. The Brotherhood is the only glimpse of opposition towards Big Brother that Winston has seen. Winston and Julia go to see O’Brien and are indoctrinated into The Brotherhood. Things take a turn for the worse when Julia and Winston are snatched up and taken to a place called The Ministry of Love, where Winston finds out that O’Brien was actually a spy who tricked him into openly opposing Big Brother. Winston is then tortured until he is mentally broken and no longer attached to J...
Totalitarianism is one of the main themes in 1984. In WWII Europe, Oceania became the ruling power with the so called “Party” ruling everybody and have the “Big Brother” at its head. Some examples of totalitarianism is how they make people workout, they put tele-screens everywhere to monitor the peoples actions, also they refuse to allow any sexual intercourse outside of marriage. “Winston kept his back turned to the tele-screen. It was safer, though, as he well knew, even a back can be revealing” (Book 1, Chapter 1). This quote represents how fearful Winston is that he ...
As expected, the Party captures the couple and both are tortured by the Party in attempt to change their negative connotation surrounding Big Brother. Winston immediately confesses his crimes, although he still clings on to the hope and trust he has in his love for Julia which prevents him from giving into the Party’s initial torture. However, Winston does not expect the Party to be aware of the depth of his trust; it was their plan all along to capture Winston at the peak of his relationship with Julia, The Party captures Winston at that moment because they know that his trust in Julia is at an optimal level for exposure. By targeting that trust, the Party is able to stop that trust dead in their tracks and instead manipulate it towards Big Brother. Eventually, Winston follows this path and betrays Julia. The Party destroys his love by exposing his deepest fear of rats. This leads Winston to realize that his love for Julia is not all powerful and eternal since he is able to give it up so readily in order to save himself. After being released, Winston sees Julia and she describes that she betrayed him as well. She comments that in regards to the betrayal,
Once being proposed anything having to do with rebellion, Winston obviously would jump at any opportunity. The Party has banned any form of love, with the exception of love for Big Brother. Winston is handed a note that says ‘I love you.’ from a girl named Julia, who is also a rebel. This gesture led to a long standing relationship between the two, which is obviously banned by The Party. Winston felt love for Julia when he saw “something in your face...As soon as I saw you I knew you were against them.” (128) Winston sees Julia’s opposition to The Party as attractive, which leads him to see ‘something’ in her face, which is his love for her. Winston has a love for Julia, but since his feelings are banned, he now has another reason to hate The Party, being that they do not allow him to express his love for Julia. The love that Winston feels for Julia is unconditional, which is proven in The Ministry of Love when O’Brien asks, “‘Can you think of a single degradation that has not happened to you?’ Winston had stopped weeping, though the tears were still oozing out of his eyes. He looked up at O’Brien. ‘I have not betrayed Julia’ he said.” (273) Even when Winston is in the worst possible situation, his love for Julia and his loyalty towards her does not go unaccounted for at the time that he said that he had not betrayed her. Winston had not put himself before
The novel 1984, written by George Orwell, portrays views on sex and gender in an authoritative government. Oceanic government aims to maintain their power by asserting their dominance over society. This is done through outlawing sex, with the exception of reproduction of more Party members. Two characters, Winston and Julia, have sex for pleasure and also as a form of rebellion against Big Brother. The government takes them both as punishment for their sex crimes. During imprisonment, the relationship between Winston and O’Brien develops. Along with sex, gender is relevant throughout the novel. The party’s attempt at making gender a non-issue is valiant but it makes gender roles more evident in other aspects of the book. While depicting the future in 1984, George Orwell carefully analyzes sex and gender in Oceanic society through government manipulation, character rebellion, and natural human instinct.