Is Winston A Hero Essay

Failure, a concept most people are familiar of, often refers to the inability to perform a particular action or finish a certain task. In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the protagonist Winston Smith dreams to overthrow “The Party” and live in “the place without darkness”. However, he suffered the fate of being tortured and brainwashed eventually. Many readers perceive Winston as a tragic hero who valiantly tries but fails to rebel against the “Big Brother”. However, in fact, Winston Smith’s fate was set the moment he wrote his rebellious speech on the journal. Winston is doomed to be unsuccessful due to his weak willpower, unorganized planning style, and indulgent nature.

The two protagonists in Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 both started out somewhere, following the rules and doing what they were told, and towards the end of the book you see them change and become completely different people. In 1984, the reader experiences a nightmarish world that Orwell imagines through the eyes of the protagonist, Winston Smith. In Fahrenheit 451, the protagonist, Guy Montag is on a desperate search to find and understand his own life and purpose. These stories are set in the past tense but they both talk about what the future would or could be like.

Winston, despite his flawed nature and his cryptic thoughts, could be seen as somewhat of a hero, he got the girl, he found a flaw in the system, he attempted to join a rebellion

Heroes are important in the world whether they a make believe like Spider-man or a real hero like a policeman. They provide a future, protection, hope, and they change the world every day. In Merriam-Webster dictionary, it states that a hero “is someone who shows great courage”. While George Orwell the author of 1984 tells the reader another definition of what a hero is, Orwell states that a hero 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.” However it seem that Winston the main character of this novel wanted to go against Big Brother in the beginning of the novel, Winston however is not the hero in this novel because he doesn't seem to change anything at the end of the novel, tells O'Brien to torture Julia, and At the end of the novel

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

At the end, Winston ends up failing to rebel against the Party. But, even though he failed, Winston can still be considered a hero just based on the actions he took throughout the book. Winston showed many characteristics of a hero, such as his rebellious attitude to do what he thought was right, his courage

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.

I know what you’re thinking, “How is he so admired if he is so scared”? Well to answer your question he is only brave and strong when he or someone he loves is in danger. For example, Once he was supposed to fight an anogwanot but he didn’t what for. So he was in trouble because he couldn’t fight for no reason. So he just let the anogwanot

He is the hero of the story, but What do you think makes a hero, his loyalty or his bravery? A Hero is someone who is loyal, such as loyal to his country, his family and loyal to his god or gods.

If I could only save one character from the book in the event of a disaster, I would save Winston Smith because he is the only man who resists to the totalitarian Party. He hates and tries to change the totalitarian control, however he is caught and tortured by the Thought Police. He got hurt physically and mentally. He is frail and meagre, so he would get indelible memory to the Party and harbors revolutionary dreams eventually. However, he is intelligent man, so if I would save him, he would resist to the totalitarian regime again. He is a last hope for the future in the aloof world. Thus, I would save him from this disaster and would help to resist against the

Even at the best of times it was seldom working, and at the present the electric current was shut off… in preparation for Hate Week,” (Orwell 1). This decision exhibits that Winston knows about the upcoming event and the preparations the government is taking for it. This, combined with assumption Winston makes about how “...every sound you made was overheard… every movement scrutinized,” (Orwell 1), adds up to be a potentially dangerous man. At least, dangerous for the invasive government Winston lives under. It only takes a small group of people with a good reason to start an effective rebellion. Orwell foreshadows a change in the future, and Winston would be the perfect candidate. He has demonstrated the quality of being aware, something that can snowball quickly into traits of leadership, then

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

In the Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is a hero who displays immense courage and strength to stand up to the colonists who are threatening his community by imposing their faith and culture on them. Like any hero, Okonkwo possesses superior physical capabilities and overcomes hardship through his sheer will and determination. A hero is one “who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.” (from dictionary) Acts of heroism are those that involve not just demonstration of great physical strength, but also personal qualities that make them role models to others. Achebe’s Okonkwo is a hero, one who possesses great physical strength and courage but lives in fear of failure and weakness and reaches a tragic end because of these flaws.