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George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four

Decent Essays

Orwell's definition of a hero was “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 Smith fits Orwell's description of a hero very well. Winston, while he is in full control of his mind, does fight to stop the party and help the people. From his lowly position, he isn't able to achieve much, but he also seeks the help of people higher up in the party to assist him. Eventually, because of his actions, he is captured by the party, tortured and brainwashed. That is what turns him into a Big Brother sympathizer, not any action that he takes. Looking carefully at Orwell's definition of a hero, it is apparent that Winston fits the criteria much closer than one might initially believe. The definition starts with ordinary people. Orwell did not believe that a hero necessarily needed to be someone with great power or ability; they just needed to be someone capable of doing something. Winston is a low ranking worker of the party - he ranks higher than the very poorest members of the country, the proles, but he does not really have much, if any, power on his own. He is the very definition of an ordinary person. The next part of Orwell's definition of heroism is “doing whatever they can to change social systems that do not respect human decency.” Looking at the party and the way that it rules the country of Oceania, it is obvious that the party fits the social

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