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Winston's Dreams In 1984

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“No one who had once fallen into the hands of the Thought Police ever escaped in the end. They were corpses waiting to be sent back to the grave” (Orwell 76). In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, Winston Smith’s dreams play an enormous role in the book. In his world, the government, referred to as the Party, holds enormous power over its people. The Party utilizes telescreens to watch everything everyone does at all times. Spies for the Party, known as the Thought Police, ensure people never think truly on their own. Orwell goes into immense detail about three of Winston’s dreams, where he provides insight about events from his past and also foreshadows his future. Winston’s dreams are the only place where he is capable of sharing his thoughts without …show more content…

Only in his dreams is Winston able to think freely; these dreams precipitate his rebellion against the party. One of the first dreams Winston has occurs seven years before the book’s current time. Even after seven years having gone by Winston can still recall the dream as if he dreamed it the night before. Winston describes this dream as, “He had dreamed that he was walking through a pitch-dark room. And someone sitting beside him had said as he passed: ‘We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.’ It was said very quietly, almost casually -- a statement, not a command” (Orwell 25). It is not until later when Winston realizes the significance of the words spoken to him in the dream. Seven years later the words finally begin to make an impression on him. Winston discovers that the man who spoke to

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