Who Is Winston Smith A Hero

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

He is an ordinary man prone to nervousness, anxiety, paranoia, and fear like most of us. He is not naturally gifted with uncommon valor. He overcomes his weaknesses and acts courageously despite a natural lack of courage. His actions, seemingly trivial at first glance, are acts of courage when viewed in the context of his universe. His choices represent a rebellion against an evil force that surrounds him physically and psychologically. He does not suppress his awareness; he embraces it. He chooses the path of freedom, of action and thought in a world where such a choice guarantees unimaginable physical and emotional anguish. At the conclusion of 1984, the man who betrays his lover Julia and is filled with overwhelming love for “Big Brother” is no longer Winston Smith. He is simply a mindless physical reminder of the man he once was, created by torture and behavior modification that no human is capable of withstanding. His physical and psychological inabilities to resist extreme pain and anguish do not make him a failure. They simply make him

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.

His morals are also part of what defines him as a hero. He is constantly surrounded by people who only care about themselves and nobody else. That is not how Winston is though, he genuinely cares about others around him, and the human race as a whole, and that also is a good quality of a hero.

While interrogating Winston, O’Brien tells him, “[Julia] betrayed you Winston. You would hardly recognize her if you saw her. All her rebelliousness, her deceit, her folly, her dirty-mindedness – everything has been burned out of her” (272). Through systematic torture, Big Brother was able to change everything Julia believes in and who she is as a person. When placed in Room 101 and faced with his greatest fear, rats, Winston exclaims, “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!” (289). Winston loved Julia, but has been tortured and broken to the point where he is willing to betray her to save himself. As Winston looks up at a picture of Big Brother on a telescreen, he feels happy and safe and acknowledges that “he loved Big Brother” (300). Winston once passionately loved Julia and hated Big Brother, but torture has changed him to accept and love everything the Party says and

He knew he was doomed to be detained for his rebellious acts and he accepted it. When he reached his cell he expected to be tortured. While being detained he learned that O’Brien, the man he plotted to rebel with was working for the party. O’Brien tortured Winston for not believing in Big Brother and prohibiting him from controlling his thoughts and memories. “He felt the smash of truncheons on his elbows and iron-shod boots on his shins; he saw himself grovelling on the floor, screaming for mercy through broken teeth. He hardly thought of Julia. He could not fix his mind on her. He loved her and would not betray her; but that was only a fact, known as he knew the rules of arithmetic.” O’Brien was trying to break Winston but because of his prior knowledge and being aware that he was going to be beaten and tortured he held

In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a hero is defined as a person who is admired for achievements and noble qualities. This definition shows how Winston is not a hero. Although Winston did have the correct mindset in rebelling against the Party, he holds so hard onto the idea of rebelling that he agrees to harm others in order to have it. O’Brien asks, “To commit acts of sabotage which may cause the death of hundreds of innocent people?” (Orwell 152). And to this, Winston says yes. Also, Winston gives up Julia when he is faced with his worst fear, which is rats. This shows how he is selfish and unwilling to overcome his fear for someone he loves: “Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don’t care what you do to her. Tear her face

A hero is a person who believes that their enemy is not inherently malevolent, but also has wit and bravery. Benjamin Church is that hero, he was an Englishman who went from leading a small group of men to leading an army. Church was brave, when he gets hurt he risks his life for the sake of the mission. After a little while he returned to battle for the sake of the army even though he was not fully recovered, and when he left war to be with his family he went back. Church also had compassion, when an Englishmen enslaved or killed an innocent Indian he would get mad because he believes that not all Indians are malevolent. Thirdly Church had wit, his ideas of building an army is what won the war for Plymouth and saved key alliances for building

A hero is someone who is recognized as determined, patient, and most of all, courageous. In I Am Legend by Richard Matheson , Robert Neville is the last man standing after a vampire plague hits and erases the human race. He does whatever possible everyday to try and stay alive, and investigates to try and figure out the cause of the plague, and maybe find hope for the future. In 1984 by George Orwell, Winston Smith is one of the last people in Oceania that isn’t brainwashed by the tyrannical government they are under. He rebels against the government by writing in his diary and having a secret relationship with a woman by the name of Julia. Between

Winston poesses many qualities of a heroic figure. The main one being that he has the power to think for himself, especially in the society he lives in where critical thought is a crime. Winston is also not only defying/trying to overthrow big brother for his own enjoyment but for the good of Oceania. He has realized that the way his society lives and functions is not the was it used to be or is supposed to be. What makes him a heroic figure is, he not only cares for himself but he also believes that Oceania as a whole deserves better.

I do not mean his death, which is an occurrence of little significance when compared to the events that precede his departure from life. As the State imprisons him and Julia for treason, Winston glows with a hope that he has been able to break out of the system, as being a part of the Brotherhood as allowed him to taste freedom and that was an act of defiance far greater than any militant struggle yet in Room No 101, Winston is slowly, methodically broken down, physically, mentally, and emotionally. O’ Brien comes out of the dark, reveals his true self, maintains that Goldstein was just a fabrication of the State as a valve for public emotion, convinces Winston that “ 2+2=5”. This systematic and almost machine like deconstruction of the human psyche and body is terrifying to witness, as a proof of the power of the State, what Foucault would term as “biopower”. The body of Winston and his mind becomes the arena where the State displays its greatest strength: the power of Room 101 to alter the very consciousness of individuals, to make them believe in constructs they know are false and finally the submission through consent to a system they detest. The final line of the text are Winston’s own thoughts “ He loved Big Brother” which are in such contrast with is earlier private thoughts “ Down with Big Brother”. It is this change wrought by the hands of the State that is of significance in the story. Forcing an individual towards an act that he consciously resists is a common thread in authoritarian regime but having the power to make his commit such an act by inducing consent in his consciousness towards it is the true test of a complete authority. Big Brother is that authority and Winston represents the human populace susceptible to such an

Oliver Cromwell, one of England's greatest military commanders brought England closer than ever to a democracy. He was the lord protector of England for close to five years, before he passed away. Oliver Cromwell was a hero because he fought for the rights of commoners, brought England closer to a democracy, and overthrew a tyrant.

When someone says protagonist, what does one usually think of? Generally, the words ‘good guy’ and ‘hero’ come to mind first, but are those words used correctly? Is the protagonist really a hero? In George Orwell’s 1984 and Philip k. Dick’s Minority Report, two different protagonists who commit ‘hero-like’ acts are shown. These acts on outside seem like they are benefiting the greater good, when in reality they help almost no one. The side effects of their actions are avoided to make the protagonists seem more worthy and stronger in the readers eyes, but it does nutmeat that they do not still exist. At a glance, 1984 is a dystopian about a man named Winston, the protagonist, who lives in a country called Oceania. It follows him through his