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Characterization of winston smith 1984
1984 literary essay: winston smith character analysis
Character traits of winston smith
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Good Morning ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I am honored to represent my client Mr. Winston Smith in the case of Winston vs Oceania. You have heard the prosecution’s case claiming that my client is a criminal and deserves to be where he is, and that my client willingly broke Oceanic law. However, I will prove that not only is my client not a criminal, but instead a hero. Exhibit A I am holding in front of you, your garden variety notepad harmless right yet this item was enough to start the process of making my client a marked man. Now if you think this is harsh allow me to present Exhibit B, a note, not a note of anger or doom but a note of expression of one’s love for the woman of his dreams. Lastly Exhibit C I hold here a book written …show more content…
In Exhibit A, I showed you a notebook. The notebook displays my client Winston Smith’s thoughts and feelings. Oceania took over the rights of their people not being able to think and speak on their own. Winston didn’t have anyone he could share his true feelings with, so he resulted in buying a notebook and taking a risk when The Party existed. The party interfered with the things that my client thought about and wrote. Winston was so infuriated with the government he once wrote, “DOWN WITH BIG BOTHER.”(Page 20) They interfered with the human rights that my client held. Even when the party tortured him he couldn’t do the things he did before. Only because he was so in fear of the party he didn’t act like he did before. It is not until his actions with Julia in the hidden apartment are discovered that the Thought Police search his home and also discover the diary which helps to incriminate my client. The diary symbolized his freedom and desires which he can’t share …show more content…
Exchange of ideas should be free and not interfered by others. Everyone should have freedom of opinion, according to article 19. My client didn’t have the chance to have freedom of opinion he was suppressed to withhold his ideas. He couldn’t express himself which is a crime itself. O’Brien stated, “The programme it sets forth is nonsense. The secret accumulation of knowledge -- a gradual spread of enlightenment -- ultimately a proletarian rebellion -- the overthrow of the Party. You foresaw yourself that that was what it would say. It is all nonsense” (Page 300). Why would O'brien state that the book is nonsense when he told my client to read the book that in itself is
Returning to his diary, Winston then expresses his emotions against the Party, the Thought Police and Big Brother himself; he questions the unnecessary acts by the Party and continuously asserts rebellion. Winston soon realized he had committed the crime of having an individual thought, “thoughtcrime.” The chapter ends with a knock on Winston’s door. Significant Quotes “From where Winston stood it was just possible to read, picked out on its white face in elegant lettering, the three slogans of the Party: WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (Orwell 7). “But there was a fraction of a second when their eyes met, and for as long as it took to happen Winston knew— yes, he knew!
In “1984,” Orwell uses Winston to portray a single individual’s attempt to take action against a powerful government, culminating in his failure and subjugation. His individual efforts failed tremendously due to the overarching power of the Party to control every aspect of social life in Oceania. Orwell uses Winston’s deeply seated hatred of the Party to portray his views on power and social change. Winston’s actions show that even in the direst of situations ...
He purchased a small journal from a shop and began to write in it out of view of the telescreen in his house, which allows anything in front of it to potentially be seen or heard. At first he had some difficulties as he could only manage to write jumbles of some of his memories, but then he began to write things like “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER (Orwell, page 18).” He later had an encounter with one of his fellow coworkers, O’Brien, which got him thinking that there might be others out in the world who see things the way he does, including O’Brien himself. Winston eventually decides that his diary will become a sort of letter to O’Brien, and to a future or past where things might have been different. In these diary entries he wrote things such as, “To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone—to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone…(Orwell, page 28).” This refers to how citizens think and act the same and previous events are not written as they happened, but altered to Big Brother’s benefit. He also wrote, “Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death (Orwell, page 28).” This can be further explained by Winston’s previous thought, “The consequences of every act are included in the act itself (Orwell, page 28).” Winston
Winston Smith is a thirty-nine year old man who participates in a group of the “outer-party,” which is the lower part of the two classes. Smith works in one of the four main government buildings. This building is called the Ministry of Truth; his job is to rewrite history books so those that read them will not learn what the past used to be like. The occupation Winston is the major factor that allows him to realize that Big Brother is limiting people’s freedom. He keeps these thoughts to himself as secrets because the totalitarian party will not allow those of rebellious thoughts around. The tensions between the two grow throughout the book because the Big Brother becomes very suspicious of Winston. The Big Brother becomes so suspicious of Winston that he sends a person by the name O’Brien, to watch over him. Mr. O’Brien is a member of the “inner party,” which in this book is the upper-class. Winston doesn't know of the trap that Big Brother had set tells O’Brien of his own idea and plans. He tells Winston of a rebellious leader that has been rounding up those that want to go against the totalitarian government. But like the Big Brother had done, he set a trap and O’Brien betrayed Winston. During the story the conflict between Big Brother and Winston climaxes when Winston is caught. He is taken to some sort of bright underground prison type
George Orwell creates a dark, depressing and pessimistic world where the government has full control over the masses in the novel 1984. The protagonist, Winston, is low-level Party member who has grown to resent the society that he lives in. Orwell portrays him as a individual that begins to lose his sanity due to the constrictions of society. There are only two possible outcomes, either he becomes more effectively assimilated or he brings about the change he desires. Winston starts a journey towards his own self-destruction. His first defiant act is the diary where he writes “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER.” But he goes further by having an affair with Julia, another party member, renting a room over Mr. Carrington’s antique shop where Winston conducts this affair with Julia, and by following O’Brien who claims to have connections with the Brotherhood, the anti-Party movement led my Emmanuel Goldstein. Winston and Julia are both eventually arrested by the Thought Police when Mr. Carrington turns out to be a undercover officer. They both eventually betray each other when O’Brien conducts torture upon them at the Ministry of Love. Orwell conveys the limitations of the individual when it comes to doing something monumental like overthrowing the established hierarchy which is seen through the futility of Winston Smith’s actions that end with his failure instead of the end of Big Brother. Winston’s goal of liberating himself turns out to be hopeless when the people he trusted end up betraying him and how he was arbitrarily manipulated. It can be perceived that Winston was in fact concerned more about his own sanity and physical well-being because he gives into Big Brother after he is tortured and becomes content to live in the society he hated so much. Winston witnesses the weakness within the prole community because of their inability to understand the Party’s workings but he himself embodies weakness by sabotaging himself by associating with all the wrong people and by simply falling into the arms of Big Brother. Orwell created a world where there is no use but to assimilate from Winston’s perspective making his struggle utterly hopeless.
Winston is confronted with struggle throughout the entirety of George Orwell`s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Living within a totalitarian regime subsequently causes Winston to seek approaches for dealing with such abundant oppression; he finds liberation through self-awareness, understanding and ultimately rebellion. First, Winston realizes that “if you want to keep a secret you must also hide it from yourself”, alluding to the notion of thoughtcrime (162). This recognition exemplifies the complete cognizance that Winston has regarding the oppressive society displayed throughout the novel. Next, Syme states “It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words”, alluding to the idea of Newspeak (28). This statement directly correlates to Winston speaking with other party members to gain knowledge about how others feels about policies deployed by the government. This information-seeking also connects with Winston`s rebellion, as he actively searched for others to join his uprising, which is shown when Winston tells O’Brien “We want to join [The Brotherhood]” (171). Winston’s attempt to join a rebellious organization exhibits his evident desire to release his suppressed emotions. Winston devises a very methodical approach to deal with the problematic society he resides in.
Winston is a very complex man who lives in a society where he cannot think for himself. In a society wherea citizen makes the wrong expression on their face they could be killed. In a society where the most common things would cause the average man severe punishment,that is enough to scare any man. The main character Winston indeed was scared of the authorities. For instance, in the beginning of the story, when Winston begins to write in his diary his thoughts were on the very act of it being a crime. In this passage Winston thought to himself, “The thing he was about to do was to open the diary. This was not illegal (nothing was illegal, since there were no longer any laws), but if detected it was reasonably certain that it would be punished by death, or at least twenty-five ye...
To accomplish this, Orwell utilizes the theme of individuality versus tyranny, foreshadowing, and irony, in order to fully extract all possible motives behind Winston’s actions.Many countries, such as the United States, are founded on principles of individuality reigning over tyranny, more specifically, the freedom of choice. However, in the futuristic Oceania, run by “Big Brother”, such freedom and individuality is, for the most part, completely suspended. To act impulsively, or choose to oppose Big Brother, is a “thoughtcrime” of dire consequence. This is the basis behind the Inner Party’s control of Oceania. Winston however, from the commencement of the novel, showed that he was not willing to conform to such a tyrannical society. From his writing “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” in his diary as the novel opened, to his relationship with Julia, which was considered sexcrime in Oceania, Winston proved his thoughts were antiparallel to those of the Inner Party.
Book One uncovered how the government attempted to restrict any kind of expression to gain absolute control, but there are still strains of people who were unwilling to be subordinate to it’s power, such as Winston. Im the first few chapters, Winston, an seemingly ordinary worker in the Records Department took his first step of rebellion by writing in a diary. Just this simple act of writing your thoughts into a book could be dangerous, because it would generate individual thoughts. It was very true too as seen in this quote “ His pen had slid voluptuously over the smooth paper, printing in large neat capitals- DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER ” Unknowingly, he had written this down, and this was a thoughtcrime of high caliber. Even if he had tried to stop himself, his inner thoughts couldn’t help but want to defy the government. The party had destroyed all records of the past and altered...
Winston Smith is a 39 year old worker in the Records Department in the Ministry of Truth. His job is to rewrite and distort history to fit the ideals and views of Big Brother. Winston begins a diary to vent out his feelings and frustrations of the extremely overbearing and authoritative government, a crime punishable by death. Telescreens are placed everywhere in this country; In his home, workplace, the roads, and even the bathroom stalls. Everywhere he goes, he is watched.
Winston Smith is a minor member of the ruling Party. He hates the totalitarian control and enforced repression that are characteristic of his government. It has been the object of modern tyrannies to deny man this sense of responsibility, and gradually to eliminate all feelings. The working class of Oceania is ignorant and, as such, are blindly loyal to the government. The residences of Oceania have terrible smells. Orwell describ...
...everyone is on the same page and not stepping out of line. Though Winston is rebellious and writes "Down with Big Brother" in his journal, he is still frightened that he will be vaporized when he is caught disobeying the rules of Oceania (The Role of Media in Society in 1984 by George Orwell, ArticleMyriad.com).
The people of Oceania are divided into two classes, the members of the Party and the proletariat. The Party members are like machines that do the jobs of the government. In this world, never has anyone thought any different of his or her place in society. Due to this authority that attempts to control the human train of thought, paranoia among the people became common. Nobody would talk to each other. Bonds between one another were broken, and it was never thought to be any different than before. To hold on to what makes you human - emotions and the ability to speak freely - was considered a crime against Big Brother. Of course, with authority comes punishment. To break from traditional views essentially asks for some form of retribution. For Winston, this resulted
In the beginning, Orwell shows that Winston’s id takes over when he first decides to write in a journal. During his rush of rebellion, Winston’s id unconsciously forces him to write “Down with Big Brother” in his diary. Winston’s suppressed id drives him to act upon his ultimate thought and desire without filtering them through the ego and super ego. Winston’s id for an instant makes him believe that he is outsmarting the Party, however once he realizes what he as done Winston’s ill developed superego begins to kick in and he quickly becomes overwhelmed by the idea that he will be caught. In a Freudian perspective, Winston’s continuous anxiety of getting caught stimulates the id which then further influences him to rebel against Big Brother.
He writes in a diary about his feelings and frustrations with oppression, although it is illegal. Winston’s name can be compared to Winston Churchill from WW2. Winston Churchill was the leader of Great Britain of WW2 and both of these people have similar views and aspirations. The reader and people Great Britain can relate to both of these men since both Winston and Churchill were both people who took extraordinary efforts in unlikely circumstances. For instance, Winston was a person who was fighting “against the will of Hitler,” and a person who is “described as the "savior of his country." (http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ch-Co/Churchill-Winston.html) Winston Churchill wanted to bring peace and freedom, whereas Winston Smith wanted to gain his own personal freedom. Therefore, the author believed that the inspiration of the main character was Winston Churchill because he wanted to take an end to totalitarianism or at least be a major cause in fighting it. Even Winston 's occupation in Oceania can be compared to this time