1984 Book Report Essay

Connor Zundel
Mrs. Monzel
English
14 August 2014

1. Title: 1984 Author: George Orwell Genre: Fiction
2. In George Orwell’s 1984, a man named Winston Smith, whom is an Outer Party member lives in Oceania and is constantly being watched by telescreens and the Thought Police, and is strictly controlled by Big Brother and the Inner Party. In the beginning, Winston feels disgusted by the Party and is sick of the tight control. At this time, Winston goes and purchases a diary to write about his thoughts towards Big Brother. One day while working at the Ministry of Truth, the branch of the government responsible for production of information, he runs into a pretty dark-haired girl staring at him. Soon after, thinking that she is involved in the

Thought Police he contemplates killing her, but then he receives a letter from the girl saying “I Love You” and that her name is Julia.

As a result of this, the two begin a secret relationship, knowing that they will most likely get caught and imprisoned sooner or later, and they realize they share the same thoughts about the Inner Party and express great hate towards it. Then one day Winston receives an important message from O’Brien, a member of the Inner Party, who tells Winston and Julia that he also expresses great hatred toward the Party and is apart of the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood is an organization supposedly founded by Emmanuel Goldstein, and consists of people against the Party and who eventually wants to attack them. Winston and Julia soon become members of the Brotherhood after reading, Emmanuel Goldstein’s book The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism. Unexpectedly while Winston is reading the book soldiers from the Party crash into the room and capture the two. Winston and Julia get split from each other and taken to the Ministry of Love, where they are punished and abused. Winston frequently has to visit Room 101 where he is punished and also attacked by rats. Winston and Julia finally get

released, and are completely brainwashed and are taught to appreciate and love Big Brother and the Party.
3. The central character of the novel is Winston Smith and when he is in the Ministry of Love, O’Brien tells him “You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty, and then we shall fill you with ourselves.”(256) Winston is being emptied of all his old thoughts, including his hatred toward Big Brother and filled with the thoughts of the Party members.
When Winston and Julia are together and talking about the Party and Big Brother she says to him “They can’t do that..It’s the one thing they can’t do. They can make you say anything--anything--but they can’t make you believe it. They can’t get inside you.”(166) Julia believes that the Party can not make her stop loving Winston and this also reassures the fact that she hates the Party and does not let it control her own thoughts.
When O’Brien is talking to Winston in the Ministry of Love he tells him “We control life, Winston, at all its levels. You are imagining that there is something called human nature which will be outraged by what we do and will turn against us. But we create human nature. Men are infinitely malleable. Or perhaps you have returned to your old idea that the proletarians or the slaves will arise an overthrow us. Put it out of your mind. They are helpless, like the animals. Humanity is the Party. The others are outside-irrelevant.”(269” O’Brien whom is a Party spy caught Winston and Julia having hatred toward the Party and they got arrested. Now O’Brien is teaching Winston the correct thoughts and explaining thoughts of the Party.
4. While Winston and Mr. Charrington are talking about the church rhyme, he says “Here comes a candle to light you to bed, Here comes a chopper to chop off your head.”(98) This quote is very ironic and significant since Mr. Charrington betrays Winston, since he thought he could trust him. Then in the end Mr. Charrington eventually turns him into the police.
During the novel Winston stops and talks with an old man at a bar and Winston asks him “Was life better before the Revolution than it is now?”(93) but Winston never gets the answer he wants. The old man keeps going on about his age and never answers the question. The old man has been completely brainwashed by the Party that he can’t even recollect what happened and how life was before the Revolution.
5. The novel takes place in London, which is apart of a country called Oceania, and is set during 1984. Oceania is one of three world superpowers, and is ruled by the Party.
6. The point of view is told in third person, told by Winston Smith. There are several flashbacks throughout the novel such as when he thinks O’Brien sympathizes with him after the Two Minutes of Hate session. Then he also has another flashback where he has a dream about his mother and sister.
7. Big Brother is the dictator of Oceania and is a major symbol in the novel. The people of Oceania are always reminded of “Big Brother is watching you”. Several times throughout the novel. Winston writes “Down with Big Brother”(18) in his diary expressing his hatred toward the dictator. Big Brother is the leader of the Party and holds total control over everything.
In Oceania people are always surrounded by telescreens and are constantly being watched by the Party.

Winston tried to stay away from the telescreens “by sitting in the alcove, and keeping well back, Winston was able to remain outside the range of the telescreen, so far as sight went.”(6) By doing this the telescreen wouldn't be able to watch what Winston was doing and therefore he could write in his diary and express hate towards Big Brother.
Several times throughout the novel when Winston is talking to O’Brien, he mentions “the place where there is no darkness.”(103). When O’Brien says this he is referring to a dark prison cell with no lights, where Winston eventually goes before getting brainwashed.
8. In the novel, the reader constantly come across the slogan of the Party which is “War is Peace Freedom is Slavery Ignorance is Strength”(4) This is very significant because the slogan weakens the people’s mind and makes them easier to control, and goes with the entire novels theme and having a dangerous totalitarian government.
Another very important quote in the novel is said twice and gives the Party an advantage to controlling the people. The quote is “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.(248) This is very important because the Party can change history and provide false information to the people, and then with this they can very easily control the

future.
In order to assure to ultimate power and limit people’s intelligence “in the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it.”(80) By doing this they even controlled the human mind and is also apart of psychological manipulation of the people.
9. 1984 was written in warning people about the dangers of totalitarianism, which is a major theme in the novel. This is important because the Party controls all media, psychological manipulates all the people, and weakens their intelligence.
The second major theme is the control of information and the manipulation of history. The Party falsifies all historical events and media to control the past and future. By doing this the people are forced into believing what the Party wants them to believe.
10. The novel 1984 was a very interesting read, and I enjoyed it a lot. The plot was very suspenseful and was also not boring. This work is relevant to my life because it shows the dangers of a totalitarian government and how controlling it can be sometimes. Everyone should be aware of the danger and read this book.