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The merit and demerit of totalitarianism
Analysis of 1984 by George Orwell
Analysis of 1984 by George Orwell
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In 1984 written by George Orwell there are many different types of characters that play many different rolls. In 1984 George Orwell has many different major characters he uses to show the readers what it is like to live in a world of totalitarianism, he mostly shows the readers this by telling the story through Winston Smith’s thoughts. As being a reader of this book a main issue that comes to my head is, is Winston Smith actually who we thought the author made us believe who he was. A question that I had while reading this book was did Winston actually love Julia or was he in love with the fact of lusting with her. Winston Smith is the main character in this story. Winston is a 39 year- old man who is secretly against the party and has a
Arnold Mendoza Mrs.Leite H English 10-4 April 17, 2016. Dialectical Journal: 1984 by George Orwell. Entry 1: Book 1, Chapter 1; 5-20 Summary. The book is set in Airstrip One (current day London), Oceania, dated 1984. The main protagonist, Winston Smith, is introduced as a middle aged worker in the Records Department at the Ministry of Truth.
Winston Smith - The protagonist of the story. Winston Smith works as a clerk in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth, where his job is to rewrite historical documents. This involves revising newspaper articles and doctoring photographs, mostly to remove "unpersons," people who have fallen foul of the party. Because of his proximity to the mechanics of rewriting history, Winston Smith nurses doubts about the Party and its monopoly on truth.
Winston Smith is the book’s main protagonist. He 's 39 years old, and works as a records editor in the Ministry of Truth. Winston is very intelligent and thoughtful, but also rebellious and fatalistic. He fights against the Party while being aware that there is only one end result for doing
Winston Smith is a thirty-nine year old man who participates in a group of the “outer-party,” which is the lower part of the two classes. Smith works in one of the four main government buildings. This building is called the Ministry of Truth; his job is to rewrite history books so those that read them will not learn what the past used to be like. The occupation Winston is the major factor that allows him to realize that Big Brother is limiting people’s freedom. He keeps these thoughts to himself as secrets because the totalitarian party will not allow those of rebellious thoughts around. The tensions between the two grow throughout the book because the Big Brother becomes very suspicious of Winston. The Big Brother becomes so suspicious of Winston that he sends a person by the name O’Brien, to watch over him. Mr. O’Brien is a member of the “inner party,” which in this book is the upper-class. Winston doesn't know of the trap that Big Brother had set tells O’Brien of his own idea and plans. He tells Winston of a rebellious leader that has been rounding up those that want to go against the totalitarian government. But like the Big Brother had done, he set a trap and O’Brien betrayed Winston. During the story the conflict between Big Brother and Winston climaxes when Winston is caught. He is taken to some sort of bright underground prison type
Heroes in literature and history, more often than not, meet tragic ends, unless they were created by Walt Disney. These particular people are often seen as someone who is apart from the masses in morals and attempt to accomplish a higher calling for the common good. The problem with this type of hero is that they are destined for suffering.Two such characters exist in classic literature, Winston Smith of George Orwell’s 1984 and Hamlet of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.” Hamlet is the true classic tragic hero, though, because he is of noble birth, possesses high moral standards, completes the task he is given to better the world, and causes tragedy in both his life and the lives of others.
George Orwell has created two main characters that have conflicting traits: believe in the idea of love in a world where it is forbidden. Although both are secret rebels of the Party and share the same hatred for the Party’s totalitarian power, Julia and Winston display a remarkable number of differences between each other. The differences between them include their morality, their motivation towards the rebellion, and their personalities. Julia represents elements of humanity that Winston does not: survival, instincts, pure sexuality and cunning (1984 By George Orwell Character Analysis Julia). Her actions show the lack of an emotional connection to anyone, even Winston.
The main character Winston Smith was a very curious and rebelliousness individual. He wondered how and why the gove...
George Orwell guides his audience through the story with his main character, Winston Smith, while he deals with the challenges of his mind, the Party members, the Thought police, and lastly the imposing member Big Brother. The problems that Winston has falls alongside with his memory including, the past as he remembers it, while a member of the party believes in Newspeak, a way of thinking and speaking produced by the thought police and each ministry. Winston 's thoughts are dangerous considering they are seen as rebellious thoughts against Big Brother. As a result, Winston goes along with the challenges of his mind created by George Orwell, so that the readers can understand that in the end Winston will get caught.To showcase this,
The conflict between Winston and Big Brother starts from the beginning of the novel when Winston begins to keep his secret diary about Big Brother. Winston Smith is a third-nine years old man who is a member of the 'outer-party'--the lower of the two classes. Winston works for the government in one of the four main government buildings called the ministry of Truth where his job is to rewrite history books in order for people not to learn what the past used to be like. Winston's occupation is the major factor which lets him to realize that Big Brother is restricting people's freedom. However, Winston keeps his complains about Big Brother and the party for his own secret because the party will not allow anyone keeping a rebellious thought. The tension between them gets serious when Big Brother becomes suspicious of Winston. Winston is therefore watched by O'Brien, an intelligent execute at the 'Ministry of Truth', who is a member of the 'inner party'--the upper class. Without doubting Big Brother's trap, Winston shares his ideas with O'Brien. O'Brien mentions a gentleman named Emmanuel Goldstein whom he claims to know the leader of the rebels against the party. O'Brien also promises to help winston, and promises him a copy of Goldstein's book. But O'Brien betrays him as Big Brother has planned.
George Orwell creates a dark, depressing and pessimistic world where the government has full control over the masses in the novel 1984. The protagonist, Winston, is low-level Party member who has grown to resent the society that he lives in. Orwell portrays him as a individual that begins to lose his sanity due to the constrictions of society. There are only two possible outcomes, either he becomes more effectively assimilated or he brings about the change he desires. Winston starts a journey towards his own self-destruction. His first defiant act is the diary where he writes “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER.” But he goes further by having an affair with Julia, another party member, renting a room over Mr. Carrington’s antique shop where Winston conducts this affair with Julia, and by following O’Brien who claims to have connections with the Brotherhood, the anti-Party movement led my Emmanuel Goldstein. Winston and Julia are both eventually arrested by the Thought Police when Mr. Carrington turns out to be a undercover officer. They both eventually betray each other when O’Brien conducts torture upon them at the Ministry of Love. Orwell conveys the limitations of the individual when it comes to doing something monumental like overthrowing the established hierarchy which is seen through the futility of Winston Smith’s actions that end with his failure instead of the end of Big Brother. Winston’s goal of liberating himself turns out to be hopeless when the people he trusted end up betraying him and how he was arbitrarily manipulated. It can be perceived that Winston was in fact concerned more about his own sanity and physical well-being because he gives into Big Brother after he is tortured and becomes content to live in the society he hated so much. Winston witnesses the weakness within the prole community because of their inability to understand the Party’s workings but he himself embodies weakness by sabotaging himself by associating with all the wrong people and by simply falling into the arms of Big Brother. Orwell created a world where there is no use but to assimilate from Winston’s perspective making his struggle utterly hopeless.
If we lived in a world of ever-changing lies and were penalized for taking part in our own human instinct and emotion, we would become internally numb. In 1984, Winston Smith opposing Big Brother along with the society he lives in results in many moral and ethical conflicts for himself and who he surrounds himself with. Winston is constantly trying to decide if the problem is within himself, or the world he lives in. These conflicts include the danger of independent thought, the morality of revolting, and the ethical implications that come with his love interest, Julia.
Given that George Orwell’s occupation was a English novelist, journalist, and critic his opinion that totalitarianism is wrong is not surprising because as a kid growing up in India and England he was brought up as a socialist. In 1984, Winston starts to look at his own life and the job that he has to help realize that what he is doing is wrong. He also tries to remember what is was like before Big Brother and he remembers his parents and he doesn’t know how they disappeared. Winston also starts a journal to keep track of all the dreams and thoughts he has. Furthermore in 1984, Julia knows that Big Brother is controlling the public so in her way of rebelling she has sex. One of the rules by Big Brother is that people are not allowed to have kids or any type of relationship unless permitted by the government. Julia knows that there is not much she can do to change the future but as she examines her own life she comes closer and closer to the truth. Winston and Julia looked at their own lives to help figure out that Big Brother was controlling the public. They did this by looking at their everyday lives, like the constant playing propaganda for Big Brother, the forced hate meetings, morning exercises by the telescreen. These all contributed to them checking their chains and finding
Orwell used individualism as an antidote for totalitarianism. He portrayed a society where the power of the governing `Party' only gives "the individual [...] power in so far as he ceases to be an individual." The Party views individualism as a disease, as a malfunction in the individual's mind to control their memory and thought impulses - a failure "in humility, in self-discipline." 1984 is told from the perspective of Winston Smith, a Party member who works in the Ministry of Truth; he is neither a particularly heroic character, nor is he blessed with any extraordinary traits, so why would Orwell choose such an average man to be his protagonist? Winston possesses a personality, he has preferences, he esteems history and recognises its malleability in the hands of the Party (which is the ...
George Orwell’s 1984 has a constant theme of hopelessness, often portrayed as the relationship between Winston Smith and Julia. But could it be possible that this is a one sided relationship? Throughout the novel Julia re-states that she loves Winston, but she actually loves one thing and one thing only about Winston. She is attracted to Winston because he is against the party. The simple truth is that Julia does not love Winston, she loves the notion of rebelling. It is evident that Julia does not love Winston because, the very base of their relationship is based off the concept of being against Big Brother, they do not share the same views on how to go against the party, and towards the end of the book, she sold him
Winston, out main character, is the protagonist. He is old, about fifty or more years old. He has a mature, but childish mindset. He knows the Party runs everything. "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU"(3). Julia is another important character, she is young, and beautiful. She has a mature mindset. She is one hundred percent against the Party. She loves Winston. "We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness”(27). O’Brien is a Party member who is trying to expose Julia and Winston. He is the