Big Brother In George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four 1984

With the power hungry Party and the most acknowledged face of Big Brother watching and monitoring everybody, the story of “1984” by George Orwell expresses the utmost control over their people and have the absolute power with their country Oceania. The Party believes that Big Brother will live on forever, because of the constant removal of those who are unfaithful and the rewriting of history. However, with the example of the main character showing disobedience against the Party, there is a chance for this type of ruling to fail and be destroyed by the people. The main possible cause of the fall of Big Brother is most likely the underestimation of the power of the people.

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

Throughout the novel, Winston wanted to rebel against the government, but the fear of the thought police made him conform. The party used telescreens and other things to monitor the citizens to make sure they were not thinking for themselves. This is why Winston had to be careful in what he does because if he got caught he would have been killed. When Winston finally found people that he trusted and thought were on his side, he started to begin to do things outside of conformity. This is when the party stepped in and began to punish him with his worst fear of rats to make him conform again. Winston knew that Big Brother was not real, but he was forced to conform by being brainwashed by his

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.

In the novel, Winston is a character who lacks "hero" traits as he has more traits of an everyman than a hero. Winston is an out of shape, average man with a "varicose ulcer above his right ankle" (3). Considering the typical hero, not only does Winston lack the physical strength, he lacks the mentality as well. Throughout the novel, he consistently talks about "overthrowing the Party," but he never actually does it. Instead of overthrowing the Party, he rebels by purchasing a diary and writing sentences such as "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER" (20) and " I don’t care down with big brother they always shoot you in the back of the neck" (21). Winston chooses to write these into his diary as he is too cowardly to say this in public. As time passes, his

Winston also shows determination throughout the novel. For example, when he was caught for having an affair with Julia, he did not give up his beliefs. O’Brien tortured Winston severely for thought crime and for the fact that he was willing to join brotherhood. However, until the very end of his pain Winston still said he hated Big Brother and that he did not like what they were doing. No matter how much pain he went through, Winston stood up for what he believed and he expressed his beliefs. When O’Brien asked

Even though Winston contributed to committing acts against the government that are quite courageous, it was all in a discrete manner. Instead of engaging in an open revolt, Winston’s sexual escapades with Julia and journal entries were in secrecy and remote locations that were never repeated twice, also in the room provided by Mr.Charrington. I interpreted Winston’s approach to act in confidence from everyone around him out of the fear of the reactions of people during the two minute hate, telescreens, hidden microphones, and brainwashed, spying neighbours outing you at the first open moment to save themselves very cowardice rather than make an open revolt. The open revolt would have spoken actions of a hero, “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”. Basically even if Winston’s public revolt to get others to go against rather than conform to the Party’s laws and live in fear didn’t succeed, it would have been the effort that counts for what a hero would do to better a country, people, or even the world. The fear Winston felt and had thought of in the back of his mind that he mentioned all kept him regretting the actions he took part in.

Winston does seem to focus on his curiosity of the unknown. He is seemingly willing to do anything for it. The journal, which is a big example as his only place to vent and make a personal record that only he can see. True leaders are judged based on how they act and think publicly, and Winston is not the average scum he is surrounded by.

If he is a hero then instead of keeping quiet he would rise up and express his rebellion against the government. Instead he keeps quiet for his own selfish desires, to not get caught. He tries to keep is rebellion on the down low rather than sharing his knowledge of the government and making others aware of the truth. Not even that at the end of the novel he didn't even stick his ground, he broke, he loves big brother. Although it took him a while he still betrayed Julia, in reality he betrayed his people. Instead of continuing to resist and fight for what he believes in he said, “Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don't care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Not me! Julia! Not me!”(Orwell3; 5) To keep himself safe, this shows how weak he is. Dying while fighting against evil is true heroism rather than living a life as a coward who gave in to evil. Winston is a weakling who saw something wrong and rather than do something about it, did nothing except made a nest in their web of lies.

The culture surrounding Winston is very confined. With the telescreens watching everyone and everything, it's hard for anyone to have free thought. An example of how Big Brother can tell if a person is not thinking the way they should be, is that they can tell by facial expressions. Orwell writes "To wear an improper expression... was... a punishable offense" (54) With restrictions like this, it is hard for characters to do what they please. This effects Winston by making him act a certain way so that he can avoid being caught. However, Winston does not seem to mind being caught for some time. When Winston is writing in his journal, he writes "theyll shoot me i dont care" (20). This is just a fragment of what Winston wrote in this entry. The fact that Orwell gave Winston the trait to write with improper grammar signifies how delirious Winston is when he writes this. (make sure you put a conclusion sentence)

The first impression of Winston is a weak, worn down individual. His body was getting older, as illustrated by his limited ability when participating in the daily stretches. Orwell only explains his physical characterization in the beginning and end of the book when he is being tortured. The middle of the book is more focused on characterizing Winston's mind. The reader is constantly wondering how many rules Winston is willing to break at the risk of torture. At first is seems as though his follower-type personality will only let him risk

Even though Winston did do some bad like telling setting the rats on Julia because of his fear and suddenly loving Big Brother at the end, which most people consider hypocritical. But why not look at the positive? He repeatedly wrote “down with Big Brother”, and he went about his love affair with Julia which by the way he barely knew. He tries and see the party for what it is, and of course it certainly wasn’t any good, he thinks very much and philosophies a lot, but that certainly does not make his live better. He’s a hero because he cares about the people who he sees around him, and he tries to help them in the best way he can considering the fact that his health isn’t so good. Just imagine what he was going through it must’ve been extremely hard to mentally be going against something or someone when everyone else who surrounds supports them or the ideas that they represent.

Imagine living in a world where you could not make your own choices, or be your own person. In the novel 1984, this is exactly what happened. In a place called Oceania where there is no such thing as privacy and personal freedom (Roelofs), the main character Winston Smith, is living a strict life under the demanding party known as Big Brother. Winston decides that he wants his life back to normal and tries to rebel against the Party. Meanwhile, he is thought to be a lunatic because he is living his life how a normal person would, but everyone else is now living under what is thought to be a utopia society. Throughout the book Winston strongly disagrees with the fact that every second he is being keep under surveillance. Though at some points he believes he is being discrete, in reality someone is always watching. In 1984, George Orwell depicts the lack of privacy and loss of individualism which affects the characters and the society as a whole.

Despite Winston's passionate hatred for the Party and his desire to test the limits of the Party's power, his capacity to carry out action against the Party is burdened (i.e. lacking positive freedom) by his intense paranoia and overriding belief that he will ultimately suffer scrutiny and brutal torture for the crimes he

The most fundamental proof of Winston’s heroism is in his ability to overcome fear. At no point during Winston’s political defiance is he blind to its omens, and commemorates it with his first diary entry and the mortal premonition that: “Thoughtcrime is death”. Winston engages in the rebellion knowing it will be his untimely end, a valiant endeavor especially for someone who is markedly “afraid of death”. Instead of yielding to the fear and his inner cowardice, Winston continues his rebellion. Winston’s continuation of dissidence affirms his heroism; as one who is ready to fight for a cause not in spite of fear but