Just like Oranges and Lemons, and dust, the glass paperweight is a major symbol in 1984, representing a homage to the past, then turning into Mr. Charrington's room, Winston's hope, and Julia's and Winston's lives, but at the end it turns into Winston's smashed dreams. All this helps contribute to plot parts, characters, and the theme. Mr. Charrington, appreciating the paperweight, says, “That wasn't made less than a hundred years ago. More, by the look of it […] It is a beautiful thing” (84). Talking nicely about the glasspaperwight adds to Mr. Charrington's character. He is an old man who loves the past and appreciates it. Mr. Charrington's love of the paperweight adds to Winston's hope that Winston is not alone in loving the past. The paperweight …show more content…
here merely represents the past. However, the paperweight becomes Winston's hopes and dreams when he thinks, “the idea had first floated into his head in the form of a vision, of the glass paperweight mirrored by the surface of thegateleg table” (121). He is obsessed with the paperweight; the paperweight even shows up in his dreams.
Complications arise from this. He thinks the paperweight is safe, but if it mirrors the table, the paperweight likely mirrors Winston in it, which will help the government in tearing him down. For now, Winston is ignorant to that and has hope in the paperweight as it is his protector and he can live in it. Winston talks appreciatively of the paperweight to Julia and says, “it's a little chunk of history that they've forgotten to alter. It's a message from a hundred years ago if one knew how to read it” (128). Winston believes that the paperweight is a sign of hope from the past, that it will aid his rebellion because the Party did not catch it to change it or destroy it. A conflict arises as Winston believes the coral and paperweight will help him. The Party knows the paperweight will not and that they must destroy him. Winston's hope in such a frail object shows he is very ignorant and very dull. The paperweight changes from the past to Winston's life and hope when he thinks, “the paperweight was the room he was in and the coral was Julia's life and his own” …show more content…
(130). Blatantly, Orwell says the paperweight and coral are their lives Obviously, the paperweight is mirrors and reflects the coral so Winston's and Julia's lives are being reflected out and displayed for the party to see, adding to complications of Winston believing his life and rebellion are safe. Once again, Winston is too dull to see he is mistaken and so the paperweight gives him themed hope. He even dares to think that “it would be possible to get inside that glassy world, and that once inside it time could be arrested” (134). Winston knows he is going to be caught and deludes that a mere glass ball will save his life. He still has an ignorant hope and is being completely dull in thinking something so fragile, such as his hope or life, could be protected against someone as strong as the Party. Winston displays his ignorant again when thinking of what to ask O'Brien: “there came into his mind a sort of composite picture of […] the glass paperweight” (158). Instead of thinking of something important to ask, like about the Party or the Brotherhood- strong, real organizations (believed as of now), he thinks of a weak little glass ball. Winston is completely stupid here; he cannot even think of important questions to ask when he has full range. Luckily, very soon Winston realizes his ignorance and is punished: “There was another crash. Someone had picked up the glass paperweight […] and smashed it into pieces against the hearth-stone. The fragment of coral, a tiny crinkle of pink […] rolled across the mat […] How small it always was!” (198). Winston realizes the coral, like is life, is so very tiny and insignificant; the paperweight merely magnified it as his life was magnified to seem more important than it really is. His hope is fully destroyed as his life is shattered and the small coral rolls out. Climax and the turning point is established here as the mood heightens when Winston realizes he is destroyed and the journey down to his destruction begins. His destruction full comes in the cafe when he thinks, “he knew now that for seven years the Thought Police had watched him like a beetle under a magnifying glass” (247). This alludes to his life upon the paperweight as a symbol. The Thought Police watched him for years under the glass and burned him out. The resolution is established as Winston realizes he loses and succumbs to the government and Big Brother, completely losing all hope. Oranges and Lemons, dust, and the paperweight all contribute to plot points, character traits, and the theme as they evolve.
Oranges and Lemons goes from the past and Winston's trust device to his figurative death. Dust changes from the world and a protector to the government. The paperweight goes from the past and hope to Winston's smashed dreams. These symbols help change 1984 from Winston's hope of fighting against the oligarchical Party with Julia, to his end and submission to the government. 1984's symbols adding to Winston's and Julia's destruction of hope show the world should avoid a total oligarchical society. In creating one, all hope is
voided.
The protagonist states that both Winston and Julia are the dead. Meanwhile, Winston's lover argues that the protagonist and Julia are not dead yet. After being in a room that was meant to be safe, a telescreen repeats what Winston and Julia have said. The Thought Police has finally come for Winston and Julia. While getting arrested, the glass paperweight is destroyed symbolizing the ending of the relationship Winston and Julia had. Winston has realized for the first time the protagonist is looking, with knowledge, at a member of the Thought Police, which was Mr.
If Winston never started to rebel he would've never started “voicing” his opinion in his diary which may of made it even harder to deal with things that got under his skin. Winston starts to use the diary which is starting to make him rebellious by writing his mind. He is also happy that his room was oddly shaped so that he could
In Oceania, love is cast aside and adoration for Big Brother is put in its place. Two people, Winston and Julia, developed a love for one another that is distinct from relationships in Oceania. These lovers must meet in secret and pretend that they do not know one another while they are in public. Due to their circumstances, the two experience isolation from the other citizens as a result of their strong emotions. In 1984, the glass paperweight that contains the small coral represents the fragile relationship of Winston and Julia and their forbidden love life.
One reason for Winston's rebellion, and eventual downfall, is his knowledge that the party will ultimately capture and punish him. With constant surveillance of Party members, any sign of disloyalty could lead to an arrest; even a tiny facial twitch. As soon as he writes Down with BB' in his diary, Winston is positive that the Thought police will quickly capture him for committing thought crime. With this wisdom, he allows himself to take unnecessary risks, such as trusting O'Brien and renting the room in Mr. charington's shop to host his secret relationship with Julia. Because he has no doubt that he will be caught no matter what he does, he continues to rebel, and brings his own struggle to an end.
Throughout the novel we see the characters’ different uses and views of technology; O’Brien’s for power, Charington to incriminate rebels and Winston’s and Julia’s avoidance and frustration of its restrictions. Through Winston’s personal tendency to resist the confinement of his individuality and his intellectual ability to express his distress regarding the control of the party, enables the reader to observe and understand the extreme danger of corrupt technology use.
However, because it is Winston's own government manipulating him, and the fact that it is them he is rebelling against, this makes 1984 more relevant to today’s society.
In the novel 1984, Orwell produced a social critique on totalitarianism and a future dystopia that made the world pause and think about our past, present and future. When reading this novel we all must take the time to think of the possibility that Orwell's world could come to pass. Orwell presents the concepts of power, marginalization, and resistance through physical, psychological, sexual and political control of the people of Oceania. The reader experiences the emotional ride through the eyes of Winston Smith, who was born into the oppressive life under the rule of Ingsoc. Readers are encouraged through Winston to adopt a negative opinion on the idea of communist rule and the inherent dangers of totalitarianism. The psychological manipulation and physical control are explored through Winston's journey, and with Winston's resistance and ultimate downfall, the reader is able to fully appreciate O'Briens reasoning, "Power is not a means, it is an end."
In in the book 1984 by George Orwell, the party is symbolized by the idea of Big Brother, who constantly is watching at all the activities of the people of Oceania. Everyone is controlled by the party, but no one is happy about it and hates the party. In search for a place for a room without telegram, Winston finds a room above Mr. Charrington’s shop. Winston decides to rent this room since there is no one watching him. Orwell developed a thought of freedom and privacy that Winston has in the room but later changed Winston’s life.
An important motif that emerges in the first three chapters of 1984 is that of urban decay. Under the supposedly benign guidance of the Party, London has fallen apart. Winston's world is a nasty,
1984 is a powerful work of George Orwell, but one of the key components to the book is the dream of Winston and how that dream relates to the book overall. Winston dreams of the deaths of his mother and sister. They were sinking in water, sacrificing their lives in some tragic, loving way to keep Winston alive. The dream then changes to the "Golden Country," an idyllic setting. A girl runs towards him, carelessly tearing off her clothes in defiance of the Party. Winston wakens with "Shakespeare" upon his lips.
However, both authors portray the symbols in a different way. “The paperweight was the room he was in, and the coral was Julia’s life and his own, fixed in a sort of eternity at the heart of the crystal” (Orwell 147). The paperweight symbolizes the relationship of Julia and Winston. As soon as the paperweight breaks, the reader can infer what is to come. Orwell tells the reader what the symbol represents right away. He also compares the relationship to various parts of the paperweight. Bradbury explains his symbols in a different way. “He had never thought in his life that it could give as well as take. Even its smell was different” (Bradbury 146). Bradbury lets the reader infer the meaning of the symbolism along the course of the novel rather than explain it right. Although both authors have different styles, each novel contains symbols that evolve
At this moment, Winston feels powerless against the seemingly unstoppable Party, knowing that his life is at the mercy of O’Brien. Thus, Winston’s already weak willpower continues to wither away, rendering him more vulnerable to further reformation. The final procedure in completely transforming Winston’s personality occurs in the dreaded Room 101. To achieve his ultimate goal of breaking Winston’s loyalty towards Julia, O’Brien exploits Winston’s deepest fear of rats in a rather gruesome manner.
The glass paperweight in George Orwell’s 1984 is symbolic of Winston’s ability and desire to reconnect with the past. He is able to withstand the Party’s manipulation and can still think for himself. He uses the paperweight as a glimpse of hope because he knows there is truth in the past.
The novel 1984 is a futuristic portrayal of the world in the year 1984. The main characters Winston and Julia fall in love with each other but are caught and purified of all their wrong doings. In the end they betray each other because of the pressure of the party. The party is a group that controls society in these ways: Manipulation of Reality, Invasion of Privacy, and Desensitization.
He started skipping nights at the Community Center, an unusual act, and starts going to Mr. Charrington’s shop, an extremely dangerous act. Winston then takes even larger risks such as buying a piece of glass with coral in it from Mr. Charrington. Since the Party considers items like the coral useless and believes people shouldn’t own useless items Winston would be severely punished if he is caught. He also goes up to a prole in a bar and starts asking about what was like before the Party took control. The whole time he is doing this he realizes that it is dangerous and the book says, “It was a queer thing, even a compromising thing, for a Party member to have in his possession,” while Winston was describing the coral. His ideals are also shown to be very different from the Party’s ideals when Winston says, “The thing was doubly attractive because of its apparent uselessness.” The Party doesn’t see the point in owning useless things and they want everyone to think the same was as