In the novel, 1984 by George Orwell, he describes a hero as someone who is willing to take risks; putting their life in danger. Also a hero is to conform to the true morals in overcoming the basis of inhumane actions to bring peace of everyone else. A hero should be actions and thoughts should also be selfless as well. By analyzing Winston’s character though the entire novel, by George Orwell’s description, and what I consider a hero to be as well, Winston does not meet what I would consider to be a hero. Firstly, to start things off, lets address that in a dystopian state is not much of a clear display of what, “True Heroism” is. In a community where the extent of every soul is merely greeting the fellow citizen, even then limited to …show more content…
Winston is not a leader of an opposition party, nor is he a leader of a revolutionary ring. He also is not an honorable official of any system. In reality, Winston is nothing but a nobody worker. Winston’s actions that he decides to take are also not revolutionary. They are not memorable. They are nothing but wasted energy. All of this contributes to how Un-incredible Winston is as a person. Thought-crime does not demand death, because they are considered death. Thought-Crime is the essential crime involves all of the other into itself. Since, this is the essence of the Winston's every small revolutionary action as he thinks. Winston is unable to “turn off” his brain. In the book it is demonstrated when O’Brien advises Winston at the end that he must not say that one two and another two make five but actually believe it, Winston cannot grasp that concept at all. In Winston’s mind, he feels as if it is five, and even acts as if he knows it is; however, he cannot possibly believe it because his brains fails to work as a human’s should in such a …show more content…
His actions are not helpful, and won’t aid in overthrowing the government; it is only beneficial for his own freedom…and his own peace of mind. How most heroes are charismatic, Winston, again lacks this essential quality; he is far from a person, who would rally individuals together for a cause that could benefit others; it is simply too selfless for him to do. Even when having a gut feeling about something that has is going wrong he doesn't possess any of the necessary mental capacity nor emotion to fight; until Julia comes into his life. He still becomes immature and betrays her; he cannot handle any type of pressure and defies authority; however, he is punished, then is conditioned to “love” Big Brother in the
Returning to his diary, Winston then expresses his emotions against the Party, the Thought Police and Big Brother himself; he questions the unnecessary acts by the Party and continuously asserts rebellion. Winston soon realized he had committed the crime of having an individual thought, “thoughtcrime.” The chapter ends with a knock on Winston’s door. Significant Quotes “From where Winston stood it was just possible to read, picked out on its white face in elegant lettering, the three slogans of the Party: WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (Orwell 7). “But there was a fraction of a second when their eyes met, and for as long as it took to happen Winston knew— yes, he knew!
George Orwell once offered this definition of heroism: 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.
Winston commits “thoughtcrime” leading to his arrest and questioning at the Ministry of Love, the communities jail center working with matters pertaining to war. His comrade O’Brien begins torturing him in an underground room and calls it the “learning stage”. He teaches Winston the truth about the Party and their slogan; eventually he explains that “Freedom is Slavery” is easily reversed as “Slavery is freedom. Alone- free- the human being is always defeated… if he can make complete, utter submission… [and] merge himself in the Party… then he is all-powerful and immortal” (264). The Party uses this statement to illustrate that when one acknowledges the collective will, they become free from danger and desire. Those who are surrendered to INGSOC, including O’Brien, assume that when an individual has freedom they become subjugated to their senses and emotions. Moreover, Winston continues to be starved and tortured until he appears to be nothing but skin and bones when his opinions transition to align with the governments. He now accepts everything that O’Brien has expressed to him including that he is crazy and two plus two equals five. While he thinks about what he has been taught he thinks about “How easy it all was! Only surrender, and everything else followed… he hardly knew why he had ever rebelled” (278). In a sense, Winston is now free, only in a
Winston’s method of resistance is actually taking action and doing something to solve Oceania’s problem with Big Brother’s complete control. Winston does not like that the Party can just tell you that 2+2=5 and you would actually believe it, because that means that the Party has complete influence over you, and can make you change your ideas about basic facts and truths. “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.” In other words, Freedom is the ability to know unquestionable truths, and if you have that, you can have more freedom, but if your basic knowledge is taken away, then your freedom is doomed. Winston looks for solutions, while Julia just tries to wait it out and only cares about herself. Winston at one point gets fed up with this attitude and even tells Julia that she is only a rebel from the waist down, which Julia takes as a compliment, “She thought this brilliantly witty and flung her arms round him in delight.” Julia and Winston’s perspective on resisting the party are similar at first but end up being completely different. Winston’s perspective is more compelling because his ideas can actually make an impact and change society, whereas Julia’s rebellion is
Winston’s conversion is troubling for the adherent of the existence of free will. Winston’s conversion, facially, seems to show that outside forces determines a behavior and not the self. Our actions are determined by mechanistic laws that one can manipulate to result in a specific action. In fact, Winston’s conversion to the party ideas has provided a firm arguing point for the determinist who believes all our volitions are caused by an external event and thus do not truly belong to us. In a scene between O’Brien and Winston, O’Brien shows Winston four fingers demanding Winston to tell him that there were five fingers. At first, Winston denies that there are five fingers even as O’Brien gradually turns up the dials that inflict an excessive pain on Winston. O’Brien hurts Winston so badly that Winston cannot take it anymore and exclaims, “Five, five six- in all honesty I don’t know” seemingly surrendering his free will to O’Brien replacing his own beliefs with O’Brien’s beliefs (Orwell ...
One reason for Winston's rebellion, and eventual downfall, is his knowledge that the party will ultimately capture and punish him. With constant surveillance of Party members, any sign of disloyalty could lead to an arrest; even a tiny facial twitch. As soon as he writes Down with BB' in his diary, Winston is positive that the Thought police will quickly capture him for committing thought crime. With this wisdom, he allows himself to take unnecessary risks, such as trusting O'Brien and renting the room in Mr. charington's shop to host his secret relationship with Julia. Because he has no doubt that he will be caught no matter what he does, he continues to rebel, and brings his own struggle to an end.
The protagonists in stories are often portrayed as heroic and not like everyone else. The author of 1984, George Orwell, did so in a rather unusual way. His definition of heroism 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. This definition is already a bit different to what most people would think. Hero’s are mostly seen as people with superpowers who cannot be defeated or - - - -influenced by higher, external powers. Winston Smith, the protagonist of the story, struggles to embody the characteristics of a true hero while dealing with Big Brother and the Party.. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Throughout the book he tries to overcome the government, but in his heart, he knows he has no hope of thriving because “…was already dead” for committing ThoughtCrime and involving himself in acts worthy of death (Orwell 36). All of his character traits combined lead him to his ultimate death. His attraction to beauty makes him keep hold of objects and things considered suspicious, his rebelliousness causes him break nearly all of society’s rules, and his curiosity steers him toward people and places that eventually causes the Winston torture he endures in Ministry of Love. Winston could have had some false hope of a better world where he could get away from all of the harsh rules and regulations of the Party, but in reality, his personality traits dragged him through a life already pre-written and stamped with an early
Winston Smith is a member of an unchanging machine and as a result is subject to the atrocities that this society entails. Now, Winston throughout the course of the novel chose to defy the party of Ingsoc and because of trying to stand up to the atrocities, he was devoured promptly by the beast of the Party who has the Big Brother as its figurehead. In the face of this totalitarian rule, it is better to dissent in silence and ignore the atrocities that happen around you. Winston Smith decided to forego the path most traveled by and as a result all the difference to his life. Winston eventually suffered a metaphorical or literal death when that bullet entered in his brain and Winston won victory over himself. While the tangibility of that bullet creates some debate, there can be no debate to the fact that had Winston had not expressed his rebellious thoughts he would have led a natural, albeit, unfulfilling life. I believe that Winston Smith would have been ultimately better off dissenting in silent and keeping his treasonous thoughts to himself in order to avoid the fate of those who oppose Big
As defined earlier hero is someone who stands up for what they believe in and Winston keeps his secrecy. Julia helps with this and although they share their own opinion in there private meetings, they do not share their own opinion publicly. Throughout the story they continue to hide from the party thinking they are safe. A hero would not hide from the Party, instead, they would stand up for what they believe in. Winston does not do this and maintains his silence, which is not a characteristic of a
Winston works for 1 of the 4 government agency’s, The Ministry of Truth. In his job he re-writes old news articles so they show that The Party has always been and will be in control. By re-writing everything in print, The Party effectively changes history. The only proof of actual history is in the minds of the people who were there. Winston realizes that there is something wrong with this, yet he doesn’t know what. The re-writing of history is all he has ever known. It is most likely Winston’s job that leads him to rebel against The Party.
The people of Oceania are divided into two classes, the members of the Party and the proletariat. The Party members are like machines that do the jobs of the government. In this world, never has anyone thought any different of his or her place in society. Due to this authority that attempts to control the human train of thought, paranoia among the people became common. Nobody would talk to each other. Bonds between one another were broken, and it was never thought to be any different than before. To hold on to what makes you human - emotions and the ability to speak freely - was considered a crime against Big Brother. Of course, with authority comes punishment. To break from traditional views essentially asks for some form of retribution. For Winston, this resulted
he is a man with a tragic flaw. Winston's fatalism, selfishness and isolation ultimately lead him to his
The foundation of his new personality is his ability to effortlessly commit crimestop at a subconscious level. Thoughts that interfere with Party views are promptly erased from Winston’s mind. “False memories” such as when “his mother was sitting opposite of him and also laughing” (309, 308) were recollections of happiness, and thus, dangerous to Party ideologies. The ability to selectively believe which memories are true and which ones are false, using Party ideals as reference, is one of the main traits of a perfect Party member. Additionally, Winston’s primal feelings of lust and compassion are completely abolished, evidenced by his final encounter with Julia. Clearly, Winston no longer feels any love towards Julia, for when they meet again “He did not attempt to kiss her, nor did they speak.” (305) Furthermore, any thought of sex cause Winston’s “flesh [to freeze] with horror” (304). His inability to love or feel sexual desire renders him less likely to revolt against the Party, which makes him an ideal Party member. Finally, his unquestionable love for Big Brother is ultimately what makes him “perfect” from the Party’s perspective. Winston’s feeling of contempt towards Big Brother is completely altered into admiration and respect: “He looked up again at the portrait of Big Brother. The colossus that bestrode the world!” (310) Winston
George Orwell uses Winston to represent truth in a deceptive world in his novel 1984. In Oceania, Big Brother is the omnipotent and all powerful leader. Everything the government dictates is unquestionably true, regardless of prior knowledge. Even thinking of ideas that go against Big Brother’s regime, or thoughtcrime, is punishable by death. Winston serves as the dystopian hero, longing for freedom and change. Orwell uses Winston to emphasize the importance of individual freedoms, as they give us the ability to fulfillingly lead our respective lives.