1984 Winston A Hero Analysis

George Orwell’s definition of heroism is this: “ordinary people doing whatever they can to change social systems that do not respect human decency, even with the knowledge that they can’t possibly succeed.” In his novel, 1984, George Orwell writes about Winston Smith. Winston is a 39year old man living in a world with a totalitarian government state in which the ruling person has total power for its own sake over the people.. Winston is one of very few people that go against the government. Winston is a lower-level society member that has grown to despise the government. The way the author portrays Winston makes it seem as though Winston loses his sanity throughout the course of the book. In the story there are only two possible outcomes, either Winston will becomes effectively assimilated or he finally brings the change that he envisions. In my opinion, Winston is a hero.

Winston is taken to Room 101, a room where anyone who goes against the Party is taken to face their biggest fear. Winston’s just so happens to be rats. After O’Brien places a cage full of rats on Winston’s head, he pleads for O’Brien to do this to Julia instead. This is what O’Brien wanted, Winston to give up Julia. It shows that Winston’s spirit is broken. At the end of this story, Winston is released into the outside world and meets Julia again, but feels nothing for her. He has learned to love Big Brother and accept the Party completely. In my opinion, Winston is a hero by the definition of George Orwell. Again, the definition that Orwell gives is, “ordinary people doing whatever they can to change social systems that do not respect human decency, even with the knowledge that they can’t possibly succeed.” Throughout the book, Winston Smith tried his best to be himself instead of molding into what the Party wanted him to be. He cracked at the end, after some major torture, but a lot of other heroes have cracked as