Symbolism In George Orwell's '1984'

Winston conceptualizes the inescapable desire to be free through the diary he kept where “The first step had been a secret, involuntary thought; the second had been the opening of the diary. [Winston] had moved from thoughts to words, and now from words to actions” (Orwell 160). Unfortunately, the very people Winston conspired with turned out to be government agents.

Orwell develops the psychological fear of a human mind created from the image of the Party. Introducing the dilemma of the Winston – a character who wishes to escape the confinement in the society where he lives in; also trying the pursue his own individuality of thought. The dominance of the Party holds every individual to be in a continuous state of obedience. However, Orwell focuses on Winston’s

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.

Throughout the novel, Winston wanted to rebel against the government, but the fear of the thought police made him conform. The party used telescreens and other things to monitor the citizens to make sure they were not thinking for themselves. This is why Winston had to be careful in what he does because if he got caught he would have been killed. When Winston finally found people that he trusted and thought were on his side, he started to begin to do things outside of conformity. This is when the party stepped in and began to punish him with his worst fear of rats to make him conform again. Winston knew that Big Brother was not real, but he was forced to conform by being brainwashed by his

Winston was not only compared to a sack of potatoes, but was also said to be “as shameless as an animal” (263). This was due to his behavior after being punished so much that he would roll around the floor agonizing in pain. All of those torturing tactics caused him to confess to real and imaginary crimes. This results in readers feeling extremely sorry for the proceedings that were occurring. Orwell explains, “He became simply a mouth that uttered, a hand that signed whatever was demanded of him” (265). This was referring to how Winston had taken too much damage and was capable of agreeing or doing anything that the thought police told him to do. He wanted to make them stop completely, it was horrific how he would confess to anything in order to make them stop hurting

The novel “1984” by George Orwell exemplifies the issues of a government with overwhelming control of the people. This government controls the reality of all of their citizens by rewriting the past, instilling fear, and through manipulation. This is an astounding story because of the realistic qualities that are present throughout the text about an extreme regulatory government and its effects. This society is overwhelming consumed with the constructed reality that was taught to them by Big Brother. George Orwell brings significant aspects to the novel like the complexity of relationships during a rebellion and The Party’s obsession with power. The main character Winston struggles throughout the story trying to stay human through literature, self-expression and his individuality. The party uses human’s tendencies, weaknesses, and strengths in order to dehumanize their citizens to gain control over them.

For this, Orwell uses juxtaposition in 1984 to highlight the dissimilarity between Winston's own reality and Big Brother's reality. In a conversation with O'Brien talking to Winston, O'Brien stats, "'You are a flaw in the pattern, Winston. You are a stain that must be wiped out." (Orwell 147). This quote itself shows how controlling and messed up the society that they live in is. With Big Brother being so mind controlling and Winston being a free thinker- Winston has no chance to have it his own way while living within this

Orwell establishes Winston’s character. At this point in the story, Winston recognizes that is was insane to become hostile with The Party alone. He writes out Party slogans to convince himself that The Party is always right. This allows the reader to see that Winston is trying to become a believer in The Party but cannot escape is own independent

The main character in George Orwell’s 1948 novel, 1984, Winston Smith can be seen as many things. To some, he may be a hero, but to others he is a coward and a fool. Throughout the novel, Winston’s characteristics are explored, and readers are shown the reasoning behind Winston’s twisted mind. It is evident that although Winston thinks he had control over his own mind and body, this is an imagined factor. The world of 1984 is one of a totalitarian society, where no one can be trusted, and no one is safe, Winston being the primary example of one who trusted thoughtlessly.

The first impression of Winston is a weak, worn down individual. His body was getting older, as illustrated by his limited ability when participating in the daily stretches. Orwell only explains his physical characterization in the beginning and end of the book when he is being tortured. The middle of the book is more focused on characterizing Winston's mind. The reader is constantly wondering how many rules Winston is willing to break at the risk of torture. At first is seems as though his follower-type personality will only let him risk

In response to adversity, Winston’s instinct is to resist and to fight back. These attempts at subversion are useless in saving him, for in the end, he is defeated in mind and heart. One way he defies Party rule is by hiding from the telescreen -- an item used for constant surveillance -- and writing in an illegally bought diary from pre-Party times. The act of writing in the diary itself is thoughtcrime, but what he writes in the diary, “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER”, is treason as well. Winston does this because, chained within himself as he is by his own self-awareness, he desperately seeks an escape from the oppressive walls of lies that have been closing in on him for most of his life. Even without quite knowing why, Winston burns with the need to know the truth, claws at freedom. Rather than being at odds with the Party slogan “FREEDOM IS SLAVERY”, it is in perfect agreement with it, because his instinct toward humanity -- a mostly extinct construct -- is what enslaves him to his own destruction. Another way he rebels is by maintaining a secretive (to their knowledge, at least) and sexual relationship with Julia, who is ironically a member of the Junior Anti-Sex League. Since sex for the purpose of satisfaction is highly discouraged by the Party, the sex itself is subversive as it is pleasurable, and “their embrace had been a

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

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).

As human beings, there are distinct characteristics that separate us from feral animals; the ability to create, to appreciate art, to curiously question the world and most importantly to sympathize for our kind. However, when that exact nature is stripped from us, we tend to become mindless, restricted, cold, and degraded as an entire race. This is the setting of George Orwell’s last book, 1984. A world where human thought is limited, war and poverty lie on every street corner, and one cannot trust nobody or nothing. It is all due to the one reigning political entity, the Ingsoc Party, who imposes complete power over all aspects of life for all citizens. There is no creative or intellectual thought, no art, culture or history, and no

     Winston is a miserable member of a society he hates, and is controlled and watched in every area of his life. He has no desire to go on