Winston Smith, Hero or Not?
George Orwell once offered this definition of heroism: 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.
I think that Winston Smith Was a hero, Smith decided to go out and fight against the enemy. Even knowing that whatever happened Smith could be killed, or even hurt to an extreme. “Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.” Smith had a charter that was confident in protecting his people, Smith was not worried about his own life because others were more important. Smith was an un-selfish man that only wanted to do what was best for the people, to me that shows great Hero qualities a man interested in more than himself.
Smith was willing to put other lives on top of his own, which is what’s
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required of a hero. A hero must not show no emotion when it comes to a battle. Even though Smith was a hero he was not cocky he was more calm and sure that the enemy would and can be defeated. "Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past," The government was there enemy, Smith was tired of seeing his people hunger and miserable so Smith decide to go out. Knowing he may lose his own life just to save others, to me the charter of the hero must be right. The hero should be caring your ordinary man in the site of the people, it should be that man or women that doesn’t get much attention on the daily bases. Just to show that any person has the ability to stand up and rise to whatever occasion, “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, and every date has been altered. And that process is continuing day-by-day and minute-by-minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” I think that Smith positivity is what really brought others, to really think Smith could go out and take over the government.
For a while they, felt that Smith was a no one and should just do what the government told him to do. Which is to be quiet forget everything that has ever happened, Smith did not want to forget he wanted to remember history. “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. His heart sank as he thought of the enormous power arrayed against him, the ease with which any Party intellectual would overthrow him in debate, the subtle arguments which he would not be able to understand, much less answer. And yet he was in the right! They were wrong and he was right. The obvious, the silly, and the true had got to be defended. Truisms are true, hold on to that! The solid world exists, its laws do not change. Stones are hard, water is wet, objects unsupported fall towards the earth's centre. With the feeling that he was speaking to O'Brien, and also that he was setting forth an important
axiom.” History was so important to Smith, he wanted something more for his people instead of just erased memories and broke hearts. To me that what’s makes a hero, even when your own people have given up Smith was right there. To make sure they don’t forget what really matters, in the end I think that Smith helps his people understand what would happen if they just forgot about everything. I think this is what caused the people, to really believe in Smith and know that he had a chance to save his people from world domination. “And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed – if all records told the same tale – then the lie passed into history and became truth.” “Who controls the past," ran the Party slogan, "controls the future: who controls the present controls the past." And yet the past, though of its nature alterable, never had been altered. Whatever was true now was true from everlasting to everlasting. It was quite simple. All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory.” Smith was a hero for the simple reason, he had character, love and respect for his people. What he wanted to do was go out and be an example for his people, let them know that it is absolutely okay to stand up for what is right. If I could say I only took one thing for this novel, I would say it would be the people. They are so like my generation they are quick to give up, there only a couple hero’s around that are willing to stand up and remind the generation what’s right and what wrong. Why we should love and honor our memories and time while we have it.
Thus, Smith was a very proud and boastful man. Before reaching 25, he battled in many areas, such as the Netherlands and Hungary. He fought at sea off the Atlantic coast, where he was captured as a slave. As a slave, he was rough and beaten. The Indians that captured him brought him to their leader named Powhatan. Powhatan didn’t like him, so he threatened him to death and began to plan his death. Powhatan’s daughter, Pocahontas, fell in love with Smith and gained her fathers trust. He soon became Powhatan’s son. Burned severely in a gunpowder explosion, Smith was sent back to England for recovery. He returns to America in 5 years, only this time to New England.
Prothero believes that the sentiment of the climbing of the mountain is people believing that in the end the difference in religions is trivial. I don’t think Smith is saying this, he mentions the complete different journey on the mountain but in death everyone is the same no matter who they die as. I do believe
Winston Smith - The protagonist of the story. Winston Smith works as a clerk in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth, where his job is to rewrite historical documents. This involves revising newspaper articles and doctoring photographs, mostly to remove "unpersons," people who have fallen foul of the party. Because of his proximity to the mechanics of rewriting history, Winston Smith nurses doubts about the Party and its monopoly on truth.
The damage that had been done to John Smith was irreparable from the moment the story began. His death, while a gloomy ending for his character, is in many ways a release from his torment, as demonstrated by his rising from the point of impact and leaving his body behind. The value of John Smith is to serve as an extreme example of the damage being done to Indian society.
Throughout the section, the main character, Winston is constantly facing conflicts. Most of these conflicts are internal. In the society Winston lives in, he is being monitored 24/7, which prevents him from doing most things freely. The first sign of conflict is shown when he takes out the diary he bought, and starts writing things he remembers. Of course he is disobeying the law, but he is taking a risk. The “Two-minute hate” is literally a time where everyone hates on the traitors for two minutes. There, Winston faces some internal conflicts; they are internal because the other characters do not know what Winston is thinking. The girl with the dark hair is introduced. She is a bad impression to Winston, and he always feels uncomfortable around her. Later in the book, she intimidates him even more because it feels like she is watching him. Another character that Winston has an internal conflict is O’Brien. It is one of the most interesting encounters because it might have involved O’Brien himself. During the Two-minute Hate, their eyes meet together and Winston suddenly thinks that ...
The Norton Anthology introduces each historical figure with a brief summary. Both sources explain how Smith was a soldier fighting in various battles, but Barbour goes on to explain, in the section entitled ‘Adventurer,’ how he searched for adventure and ‘was ever restless’ until he was taking part in the fight against the Turks (20). In General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles we are thrown immediately into the life of Smith and The Virginia Company in the New World. The background information that Barbour provides shows how Smith became the great adventurer that he was. It was interesting to read about the trials Smith went through as a youngster looking to join the army. He was cheated by four men, was robbed of everything he owned when he started out, and was taken in and helped along the way by strangers until he earned enough money to continue his journey (Barbour 18). Smith learned of the Mediterranean trade under La Roche (Barbour 22), and worked under Lieutenant Colonel Khissl, Chief of Artillery at Graz, as a soldier in the Holy...
written in the period just after W.W.II. It details the life of one man, Winston Smith, and his struggles with an undoubtedly
When George Orwell’s epic novel 1984 was published in 1949 it opened the public’s imagination to a future world where privacy and freedom had no meaning. The year 1984 has come and gone and we generally believe ourselves to still live in “The Land of the Free;” however, as we now move into the 21st Century changes brought about by recent advances in technology have changed the way we live forever. Although these new developments have seamed to make everyday life more enjoyable, we must be cautious of the dangers that lie behind them for it is very possible that we are in fact living in a world more similar to that of 1984 than we would like to imagine.
Winston Smith is a member of an unchanging machine and as a result is subject to the atrocities that this society entails. Now, Winston throughout the course of the novel chose to defy the party of Ingsoc and because of trying to stand up to the atrocities, he was devoured promptly by the beast of the Party who has the Big Brother as its figurehead. In the face of this totalitarian rule, it is better to dissent in silence and ignore the atrocities that happen around you. Winston Smith decided to forego the path most traveled by and as a result all the difference to his life. Winston eventually suffered a metaphorical or literal death when that bullet entered in his brain and Winston won victory over himself. While the tangibility of that bullet creates some debate, there can be no debate to the fact that had Winston had not expressed his rebellious thoughts he would have led a natural, albeit, unfulfilling life. I believe that Winston Smith would have been ultimately better off dissenting in silent and keeping his treasonous thoughts to himself in order to avoid the fate of those who oppose Big
That particular event shows how oblivious he is to all that is going on, and the true reasons he is there. Smith’s co-senator, Joseph Paine, begins to take Smith under his wing and becomes genuinely attached to his honest personality. Once the senate is in full swing, Mr. Smith decides that we wants to make a bill to make the Boy Rangers a summer camp. After Senator Paine hears that the camp Mr. Smith proposed to make would be on the land that he and his biggest financial supporter, Jim Taylor, planned to build a dam on, Paine shuts the bill down. All the while, Paine is fighting the internal battle of doing what is right, versus what those expect of him. Mr. Smith, with the help of Ms. Saunders, comes to realize the schemes and corruptions going on behind the scenes. With his back against the wall, his integrity at stake, and with only his moral compass to guide him, Mr. Smith decides to fight the corrupted politician and his supporters the only way he knows how. Mr. Smith makes up a list of things to talk about and calmly takes his seat in the senate. As soon as the bill about the dam is brought up, Smith begins his
Based on the textual evidence it seems that Septimus Smith is afflicted with schizophrenia. According to the American Medical Association schizophrenia is characterized by apparently disconnected remarks; blank looks; sudden statements that seem to spring to the speaker’s mind; hearing voices (often hostile); having hallucinations; having odd physical sensations; creating fantasy worlds; and exaggerated feelings of happiness, bewilderment, or despair. Another symptom of schizophrenia can be becoming devoid of emotion to the point that it is impossible to connect emotionally with the individual. Some schizophrenics also develop what is called paranoid schizophrenia. Symptoms of this type of schizophrenia include constant suspicion and resentment, accompanied by fear that people are hostile or even plotting to destroy him or her. (Kunz 295-296)
As far as I can tell Smith was a bit embarrassed to be saved by a twelve
Winston Smith is a tragic hero, for he is a man with a tragic flaw, which served as the catalyst to his
His accounts are considered by some to be false and that they were said for attention and fame. In his story he says a Powhatan hunting party captured him in the winter of 1607 (Stebbins 3). Then he tells of the famed rescue by Pocahontas, who was eleven at the time, in which she threw herself over Smith to keep her tribe from killing him (Stebbins 3). There are doubters that this happened for many reasons, including the fact that she was so young. Smith then went back to England because of a gunpowder wound, but Pocahontas was told that he was dead (Stebbins 5). Young English boys of the time were sent to live with the Indians, and vice versa (Stebbins 5). Smith also claims Pocahontas saved yet another life, one of a young boy. The English boy, Henry Spelman, ran away from the tribe he was living with (Stebbins 5). Pocahontas found him and sent him off to live with the Patawomeck tribe (Stebbins 5). These events, which supposedly happened, according to Smith, show Pocahontas’ true caring and free willed spirit she had while living with her