1984 Winston Character Analysis

O’Brien is determined to enhance Winston’s beliefs of the Inner Party. However, O’Brien’s motives are not to brainwash or torture Winston; instead, O’Brien is reintegrating Winston back into the mind of the society. “If you are a man, Winston, you are the last man” (295).

Winston at first hates Julia, because he believes she is spying on him and wants to report him to the Thought Police. One day, Julia gives a note to Winston saying “I love you”. They start a dangerous love affair which can get both of them killed or sent to a labor camp, but Winston and Julia don’t care because they have finally found someone who hates the Party as much as the other. O’Brien invites Winston over to his apartment to look at something work related. Winston takes this chance to confront O’Brien about the rebellion and he tells Winston that he is, in fact, part of the brotherhood and gives him a book to read about it. Right after he reads this book, the Thought police arrest him and Julia and send them to a government building called the Ministry of Love to torture

Winston started as a unique man who hated following the rules and he made a complete 180 following the events in jail. Winston came out a new man, with respect for the Party and Big Brother as well as others around him. Winston had this to say about his new life at the end of the book, “it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished.” When he said the struggle was finished he realized he was done fighting Big Brother and the Party and finally was willing to accept them.

     Winston is a miserable member of a society he hates, and is controlled and watched in every area of his life. He has no desire to go on

Other than Winston’s weak characteristic and his lack of planning, the main cause that contributes to Winston’s downfall is his indulgence. Winston lacks the ability to control himself from anything addictive in life. This personal flaw makes Winston lost in his cause to the destruction of “Big Brother”. In the novel, Winston constantly drinks and smokes to distract himself instead of focusing on a plan to take down “Big Brother”. Winston’s dream is to have a love affair: “Almost as swiftly as he had imagined it, she had torn her clothes off, and when she flung them aside it was with that same magnificent gesture by which a whole civilization seemed to be annihilated” (Book 2, Chapter 1). His illegal love affair with Julia does no good to his objective of bringing down “Big Brother”. The only result that the love affair accomplishes is Winston’s

Winston goes through emotional change throughout 1984 that changes his perspective and personality. At the beginning of the book, Winston is filled with hatred towards the Party. “They’ll shoot me in the back of the neck i dont care down with big brother they always shoot you in the back of the neck i dont care down with big brother-” (Orwell, 19). Winston’s fury towards the Party and Big Brother is evident. Through his diary entries, you can definitely tell that he harbors an intense anger towards them. So, it may seem that this trait will never change and make him always fight for it. The reader may at first think that he will never change views. But then, Winston completely changes perspective at the end of the book when he states, “He loved Big Brother.” (Orwell, 298). This keeps Winston from becoming another boring character who refuses to change his opinion which makes for an interesting book and a more complex character.

Whether it is writing in his journal, exchanging glances with O’Brien, or talking to Julia, Winston craves a “person who could be talked to” (252). Despite the extreme amount of torture that O’Brien has inflicted upon him, Winston falls in love with O’Brien’s company. Winston states that whether “O’Brien [is] a friend or enemy” (252), is irrelevant; for, all he cares about is having a source of understanding. However, in order to gain O’Brien’s will to understand, Winston must transform his views to coincide with O’Brien’s. Under this impression, Winston alters his beliefs so that “each new suggestion of O’Brien’s had filled up a patch of emptiness and become absolute truth” (258). Winston’s desire to gain to companionship of O’Brien makes him susceptible to O’Brien’s words, as everything he says “become[s] absolute truth” (258), such as the idea that “2 + 2 = 5” (35). Winston’s conforming to O’Brien’s thinking “fill[s] up a patch of emptiness” (258), and provides him with the sense of unity that he desires. With that said, once Winston subsides to the beliefs of O’Brien, and falls in love, he essentially “love[s] Big Brother” (298) because of the shared beliefs between O’Brien and the Party. Winston’s love for O’Brien is transferred to his love for Big Brother for the greater amount of unity the Party has to

Due to Winston’s age, he has some memories of what life was like before Big Brother, but Julia is young and only knows what life under the power of Big Brother is like. Also, Winston works in the Ministry of Truth, where he deletes obsolete documents, when Julia works as a mechanic for the machines in the Ministry of Truth. Therefore, Winston is more aware of all of the lies Big Brother tells the people of Oceania. Winston understands the technique of using false history, but does not understand why Big Brother thinks it is necessary. At the end of the novel, Winston is able to admit to O’Brien, “Who controls the past controls the future.

In the beginning of the movie we see a self-doubting and nervous man that does not enjoy living his life. However, he tries to think by himself and writes down his thoughts in a notebook. He writes down thoughts about the society and the government, the things he thinks is wrong or unfair. In the beginning Winston is also suspicious of people. One example of that

Charrington's spare room, Winston undergoes a process of "philosophical cleansing" and re-education against which he valiantly, but unsuccessfully fights. Discuss Winston's "capitulation" at the hands of O'Brien. How is Winston brought to "love Big Brother?" In sacrificing Julia, how has Winston, in essence, signaled his own end?

O’Brien’s relationship with Winston provides him a much-needed justification for his thoughts, and even after revealing himself to be a thought police, the respect from Winston is unwavered. From the first chapters of the novel, it is clear that Winston desires O’Briens justification. When Winston and O’Brien meet eyes for the first time, Winston says that he “ was thinking the same thing as himself. An unmistakable message had passed. “. Even though brief, the eye contact with O'Brien right after experiencing the 2-minute hate speaks more than

After Winston is caught with Julia, he knew he would be dealt mental and physical torment, but never thought it would work. He had the belief that he would be able to fight the influence and ultimately win the war against the Party. This is not at all how things turned out. The Party was able to get into Winston’s head to the extent that, “he did see them… He saw five fingers, and there was no deformity… But there had been a moment…when two and two could have been three as easily as five.” (267). This was only the beginning of Winston’s conformity, meaning everything went downhill from that point. The party won in taking all pleasures away from Winston. Everything that connected Winston and Julia was completely terminated by the Party. Winston thought he could keep his relationship forever, yet all relationships are eventually destroyed by the Party’s influence. Life could not be more hopeless for Winston after all that time locked up. Becoming more and more dependent on the Party’s materials. Winston knew by the end that, “The [gin] grew not less but more horrible with every mouthful he drank. But it had become the element he swam in. It was his life, his death, and his resurrection.” (304). The gin provided by the Party is the only way Winston could keeping going. He could not sleep or wake up, that is to say he could not exist on his own without the gin every day. Yet, the

Unlike the typical heroes of past stories, such as Odysseus from The Odyssey or Harry Potter, Winston is flawed and plain, similar to many modern anti-heroes. The author, George Orwell, created a character that seemed relatable to the readers, and was not “dehumanized” with extraordinary gifts or pure perfection. Winston “..was thirty-nine, and had a varicose ulcer above his right ankle.” (1) Winston Smith did not have any special features. He was not

In the beginning of the book, Winston inwardly believes that Julia is an amateur spy or a member of the thought police. during the two minute hey, let's and thinks that “her [Julia’s] real object had been to listen to him and make sure whether he was shouting loudly enough.” (Orwell, 61) Winston also said, “I wanted to rape you[Julia] and then murder you”(orwell 120) Winston questioning Juliet's true intentions show his distrust for her and him wanting to rape and murder her shows how Winston has a strong hate for Julia. Winston's view of Julia also shifts. This is exemplified when with his having a mental breakdown at the end of the book. He screams, “Julia! Julia! Julia, my love! Julia!" (orwell, 280) Not only did this outcry show his love for Julia, it also put Winston in great danger, Winston questioned how much time he had added to his servitude with that show emotion. The shows another major change in Winston character. He goes from being very suspicious of Juliet the risking a lot just to call for her. This perspective shifts shows how much Winston changed during the book, he is crying out for someone he said he wanted to rape and kill earlier in the

Lastly, when O’Brien came in contact with Winston, he asked about Big Brother and asked to join their party. “We believe that there is some kind of conspiracy, some/ kind of secret organization working against the Party, and/ that you are involved in it. We want to join it and work for/ it. “(177) In this quotation, Winston clearly exposes the fact that he is against Big Brother and he wants to join O’Brien’s group, and that he doesn’t care about the fact that O’Brien may be just pretending to be an ally, or the fact that even thinking of going against Big Brother can kill him. This clearly shows how brave Winston is compared to all the other people in Oceania who have yet to dare such a thing.