1984’s Winston Smith is a hero; but not the typical kind. He isn’t the kind of hero that saves
other people, protects them from dangerous situations, and shields them from evil leaders. A
hero isn’t always destined to save everyone else. Sometimes, a hero just fights to save themselves.
And sometimes, they just fight to stay strong and do as much as possible for what they believe in.
Winston is just that. He is just a simple man with a great deal of courage and a strong-headed,
rebellious mind that disagrees with his alleged rulers. That is what makes him a hero.
At first, his actual personality doesn’t seem to fit the lifestyle he’s been living for so long.
He seems to be just an ordinary man who completes his jobs, follows the rules, and
does what he’s told. Being
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married, he appears to live a typical life. Little do they know he secretly has a longing to be free and live the life he had always wanted without worrying about the possibility of being arrested or even worse: vaporized. Towards the middle of the novel, Winston meets a woman whom he quickly falls in love with. She also shares the same burning desire of independence that he possesses. To break free from being under the rule of the unjust dictatorship that they had abided by for so long is what they both longed for. Both being determined to turn their dream into a reality, they begin rebelling against the uncivilized, unjust, and unfair party. Between having scandalous, illicit sex, staying in a room with seemingly no telescreen, and even just the thoughts that encompass Winston’s mind on a daily basis, all contribute to the law-breaking and rebellious acts that he portrays throughout the novel.
After they catch Winston, they put him through much persecution. Being beaten, tortured, and
slowly torn apart piece by piece, he could feel his vulnerability growing stronger with each blow.
However, he never surrenders. He keeps pushing through it all whilst knowing his sentencing to
fail, he still tries to stay strong despite that for as long as possible.
One of the biggest points where Winston undoubtedly stands out as a hero is when he comes to a
point where he realizes why he wants so desperately to revolt against the party. As O’Brien explains
to him that “The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in
the aid of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power… The object of
persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.”, Winston
realizes the thing he turns out to wish for least is to give the party power. Power over himself, Power
over his life, and power over this world he lives in (Orwell 217).
He certainly doesn’t resemble the classic presumptuous, and tenacious hero figure that is
commonly portrayed in numerous fictitious books and films. Realistically, has he even
done anything heroic or to benefit anyone else? The answer to that is unquestionably simple, no. He doesn’t help anyone else. As a matter of fact, he even ends up selling out the one woman whom he truly loved. Nevertheless, a hero doesn’t always need to save everyone else. Likewise, even throughout all the continuous physical, mental, and intellectual torture he endures, he still holds on to his dream of a brighter future. Even though Winston once thought to himself that “In the face of pain, there are no heroes”, he still fights and fights through the all brain games that they play with him and he keeps fighting until he has absolutely no fight left in him (Orwell 197). Instead of living in constant fear and allowing his life to be under the adjudication of a prejudicial party, he causes his own self-destruction for a reason justified as far as he believes. If that doesn’t sound like a true hero, is there even such a thing?
Winston Smith is the book’s main protagonist. He 's 39 years old, and works as a records editor in the Ministry of Truth. Winston is very intelligent and thoughtful, but also rebellious and fatalistic. He fights against the Party while being aware that there is only one end result for doing
thinks that he just merely works under them and he always has to no matter what
Winston commits “thoughtcrime” leading to his arrest and questioning at the Ministry of Love, the communities jail center working with matters pertaining to war. His comrade O’Brien begins torturing him in an underground room and calls it the “learning stage”. He teaches Winston the truth about the Party and their slogan; eventually he explains that “Freedom is Slavery” is easily reversed as “Slavery is freedom. Alone- free- the human being is always defeated… if he can make complete, utter submission… [and] merge himself in the Party… then he is all-powerful and immortal” (264). The Party uses this statement to illustrate that when one acknowledges the collective will, they become free from danger and desire. Those who are surrendered to INGSOC, including O’Brien, assume that when an individual has freedom they become subjugated to their senses and emotions. Moreover, Winston continues to be starved and tortured until he appears to be nothing but skin and bones when his opinions transition to align with the governments. He now accepts everything that O’Brien has expressed to him including that he is crazy and two plus two equals five. While he thinks about what he has been taught he thinks about “How easy it all was! Only surrender, and everything else followed… he hardly knew why he had ever rebelled” (278). In a sense, Winston is now free, only in a
Winston would not have been better off not challenging the party without Winston rebelling he would've never started feeling emotion for doing simple things in life. Winston goes to buy a book so that he can write what he's thinking about there
The protagonists in stories are often portrayed as heroic and not like everyone else. The author of 1984, George Orwell, did so in a rather unusual way. His definition of heroism is: 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. This definition is already a bit different to what most people would think. Hero’s are mostly seen as people with superpowers who cannot be defeated or - - - -influenced by higher, external powers. Winston Smith, the protagonist of the story, struggles to embody the characteristics of a true hero while dealing with Big Brother and the Party.. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The main character in the book 1984 was Winston, a character who showed many different qualities throughout the book. Winston showed qualities that included being daring, curious, and rebellious. His daring qualities showed when he wrote in his diary to commit thoughtcrime. Curiosity was show when Winston was wondered about the past and how the past has been changed. When O’Brien shut off his telescreen, Winston got very curious because he did not know that the telescreen could be shut off. A third quality Winston showed was being rebellious. His rebellious qualities showed when he took measures that were disbelieved by the Party. Even though Winston showed many qualities throughout the book, the strongest qualities he showed was being daring, curious and rebellious.
George Orwell’s 1984, contains a large number of characters, each with their own set of traits that make them unique to the story, however, the protagonist, Winston Smith, despite being a regular person, shows the bravery, fatalism, and passion that no other character in Orwell’s novel does.
Throughout a life time, people hear many different definitions of heroism and examples of heroes. In childhood, heroes are either fictional men with supernatural abilities and talents or protectors of reality, such as firefighters and policemen; in adolescence, heroes can be actors, athletes, artists, and teachers; in adulthood, heroes may be activists or reporters, politicians or businessmen. Bonnie Tyler, a popular singer, describes her ideal hero saying “he’s gotta be strong and he’s gotta be fast and he’s gotta be fresh from the fight” (“Holding Out for a Hero” 1984). If the definition changes with age and personal preference, what truly makes up a real- life hero? The characterization of a literary hero is somewhat easier to define. Although the definition is subject to time, place, and situation, many characters that are defined as heroes throughout history have similar traits. Dorothy Norman and Roy Pickett attempt to clearly state this definition in their books The Hero: Myth/Image/Symbol and The Theme of the Hero, respectively. By using the classic hero from Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus, and a character not usually defined as a hero, Marji from Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, this paper will dissect the standards Norman and Pickett use to identify heroes and will determine whether an ancient warrior and a modern, strong-willed child both have the characteristics to be correctly defined as heroes for their time.
As such, Winston leaves the Ministry of love as a drastically changed man, forged into the image of perfection in the eyes of Big Brother. The foundation of his new personality is his ability to effortlessly commit crimes at a subconscious level. Thoughts that interfere with Party views are promptly erased from Winston’s mind. “False memories” such as when “his mother was sitting opposite of him and also laughing” (309, 308) were recollections of happiness, and thus, dangerous to Party ideologies. The ability to selectively believe which memories are true and which ones are false, using Party ideals as reference, is one of the main traits of a perfect Party member.
Winston - The protagonist; one of the individuals who secretly neglect the way of the current state of the government - totalitarianism.
Winston was one of the few characters in the novel that tried to fight against the restrictive system of the Party. He commits deadly crimes like writing in a journal and falling in love and stays resilient in his attempts to keep his individuality and to live a fulfilling life. Orwell wrote his character as a way to portray what it means to be human, rather than a hero, as Winston ultimately failed and the Party was able to capture him. The Party had complete control over the citizens, and wanted authority simply to feel powerful and godlike, while Winston attempts to oppose due to his desperate desire to feel something
hero’s path is like an obstacle course, the one who makes it to the end is the real hero. People
Winston Smith is a tragic hero, for he is a man with a tragic flaw, which served as the catalyst to his
“With the great power becomes great responsibility.” – Ben Parker this is what I believe was the perfect description of a hero. A hero is not always a man who hides under a mask or have supernatural powers. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. A hero is a selfless act of courage and is one who has a vested interest of others at heart. For these reasons heroes are not born they are made and shaped by the sacrifices and life experiences.
Those who have power over us, in most circumstances, will use it to their own