Symbolism In George Orwell's '1984'

Jacobs made a strong argument about the body representation made by Orwell in his book, especially in the character of Winston. This seemed to be attributed to the fact that Orwell was dying when he wrote the book, so the story included his “personal failings” (Jacobs 14). Since Winston’s resistance did not win in the end, and he was overcome by Big Brother, the book seems to tell that resistance is doomed. This is especially true in the last two sentences in Orwell’s book in which he wrote, “He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother” (376). Referring to Winston’s loving of Big Brother as victory over himself was like Orwell telling the readers that minds can be broken under torture, and that this pain could make the mind think of betraying loved ones. When Winston was tortured with his greatest fear, the rats, he said, “Do it to Julia! Not me! I don’t care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones” (Orwell 362).

The lyrics of Radiohead’s 2003 single, “2+2=5” refer to both 1984 by George Orwell and the administration of President George W. Bush. In the three distinct sections of the song, we hear about a character who chooses to live in ignorance, then becomes aware of the evils of his society. In the final segment of the song, the character struggles after learning about the truth, much like Winston Smith did in Orwell’s novel. The music was written and released during the presidency of George W. Bush, whose public reputation had shifted from negative to positive in the years following his controversial election in 2000. The songwriters suggest that, just as citizens of Oceania were trained to forget about history in order to maintain their

Loneliness is something everyone experiences. However, nobody should have to go through the degree of loneliness of being unable to confide in one person. Everybody needs a person. At the start of 1984 by George Orwell, Winston is completely alone and cannot open up about his feelings towards Big Brother to anyone. He is unable to conform to his natural human nature due to a government in total control. George Orwell’s 1984 communicates the threat on society of a totalitarian government by using literary devices such as irony, foreshadowing, as well as characterization.

Every great novel needs main characters. Winston Smith, is the main protagonist of this novel. He represents the good in a world corrupt. Winston is slightly unhealthy and unattractive. He rebels in inefficient and utterly useless ways and eventually rebels fully. He is the lover to Julia. ‘...his chin nuzzled in his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind…’. Julia is the tertiary antagonist. She is the lover to Winston. She is

In 1984 Winston is described as a major, protagonist, and dynamic character. Winston is the main character in the novel, Orwell creates an atmosphere where the reader is in Winston’s mind which helps the reader to better understand him and the world of Oceania in his eyes. In the

And those who dissent will be vaporized, not only from living, but from ever existing in the first place. Giving Winston an incentive to have this conformative facade. The motif is the total control of information. Winston works in a department where he literally rewrites history to suit the needs of the party. Thereby, the party controls reality, something Winston abhors.

Orwell shows Winston’s state of mind. This passage shows a worrisome state that Winston is in. It also shows that a younger generation lacks independent thought and will do anything to show loyalty

As the book progresses we see Winston gradually growing more and more doubtful that his dystopian environment is the way things should be. He is seen searching for the truth and is always weary about what may lie ahead. Although I do not ask questions on the same grand scale as Winston, I do have a naturally inquisitive, and somewhat skeptical nature. I find myself interested in the most abstract and bizarre concepts, sometimes relating to the possibility of time travel through quantum particles, and other times something as trivial as movie trivia. Despite my desire to learn new concepts and ideas, I can often times lose interest in things I have trouble understanding. This is where I believe Winston and I share some common ground. We are both incredibly curious and at the same time held back by skepticism of the

In the beginning, Winston Smith is a middle aged worker, living his life out in what Orwell (at the time) expects the future to be like in 1984. When first meeting Winston, his actions and his thoughts don’t connect. His actions and emotions follow the ideals of The Party, expressionless and robotic, yet his thoughts scream the opposite; his mind is human. Winston is not in agreement with The Party and their communist regulations, he wishes to fight against them, for a more liberal government, however, that does not mean he is not afraid of them, “Winston kept his back turned to the telescreen. It was safer, though, as he well knew, even a back can be revealing”. (3). He did not trust himself to not give anything away to the party, fear is always present even when rebelling Because one does not come back after death.

Through the majority of the book Winston thinks independently and breaks the norms of society despite the dangers involved. He has a rebellious spirit and devotes much of his time to discreetly disrespecting Big Brother through his thoughts and actions. However, after his intense interrogation and torture in the Ministry of Love, all of this fighting spirit is lost. The reader sees Winston sitting alone in the cafe for disgraced ex-Party members in a sort of hypnotic state. Instead of keeping the loyalty that he had for his morals and for Julia, he is thinking of being “back in the Ministry of Love, with everything forgiven, his soul white as snow… confessing everything, implicating everybody” (Orwell, 375).

Winston’s life is replete with misery and pain, but has been give brief moments of happiness and love by Orwell to create a sense of hope for Winston, and subsequently, hope for a future free of the imprisonment of totalitarianism, although Orwell makes clear throughout the novel that there is no happy ending. Totalitarianism does not allow the possibility of such an ending to thrive in the minds of people; If Winston were to escape this fate, Orwell’s definition of totalitarianism and everything that encompasses it would have been lost. Orwell has written the book in a way that the readers become so attached with Winstons character that he gains a form of individuality that can only be given by the reader. Winston is a symbol of the values democracy, love, peace, freedom, and decency which are found within a civilized society. When the character of Winston is destroyed, these values and connection to the reader are also destroyed with him as Winston Smith is a representation of the struggle faced between bad and good in every aspect of

Telescreens are the most important and visible symbol of the party which they use to monitoring its subjects. The telescreen is a propaganda tool which is used by the party to get into people’s heads and control them. Not does it only control people it also monitors everyone’s actions and speech completely controlling every aspects of human existence. The telescreens also symbolize how the government abuses technology for its own good and there is no escaping from it.

Most of the population consisted of proles, people who lived in poverty. Even Winston’s apartment complex was not in decent condition. “The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats...It was no use trying the lift. Even at the best of times it was seldom working.” (1) There was also constant surveillance through telescreens and the Thought Police. Oceania was ruled by the Party, and through his job, Winston caught a glimpse of the Party’s corruption. His job was to rewrite history where it favored the Party and Big Brother’s words. Winston began to grow a sense of hatred towards the Party as time passed, and his rebellious desires grew along with it. One of his first acts of thoughtcrime was purchasing a diary and writing in it. Another major crime he committed was having a love affair with Julia. In contrast to a hero’s conformity, Winston was quite a rebel. However, one of his greatest flaws was his continuous paranoia every time he committed thoughtcrime. Once he wrote in his diary, Winston figured that “He was already dead.” (28) He believed that his capture was inevitable, and was fearing it day by day. When he arrived at the rendezvous he and Julia agreed upon, Winston questioned the privacy of the clearing in the woods. “There were no telescreens, of course, but there was always the danger of concealed microphones by which your voice might be picked up and recognized..” (117) Winston was a rebel who was not on the right side on

I drew Winston, hand in hand with Julia, walking down a hallway. The hallway intentionally lacks colour and is drawn to appear white and spotless as described in the quote, “The passage down which he led them was softly carpeted, with cream paper walls and white wainscoting, all exquisitely clean”. I added a thought bubble above Winston to signify him remembering only contaminated, grimy hallways, “Winston could not remember ever to have seen a passageway whose walls were not grimy from the contact of human bodies”. The endlessness of the hallway, and the minuscule size of Winston and Julia signify the fear in them in this part of the chapter. What they were facing was unknown and scary, and they couldn’t be sure how it would end, they must

First, the reader sees expressions of dissatisfaction from Winston toward his life as “a feeling that [he] had been cheated of something that [he] had a right to”. This implies that he believes he deserves and has some right to more than his environment has to offer him (Orwell 60). He proceeds to later describe his sense of entitlement as a “…mute protest in [his] own bones,” as well as, “the instinctive feeling that the conditions [he] lived in were intolerable…” (Orwell 73). With the establishment of an avaricious mindset, the reader is provided with a rationale for certain incidences, particularly those in which he physically displays