1984 Essay

Essay 1984

George Orwell's science fiction novel 1984 was published in 1948 and set thirty-six years into a dark vision of the future. The world is divided into three superpower stats: Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia. The setting takes place in the totalitarian society Oceania led by Big Brother, the mysterious omnipresent figurehead and embodiment of the Party, Ingsoc, and which censors everyone's behavior, even their thoughts.

The main character the 39 years old Winston Smith is a member of the Other Party from Oceania, which is a fictional stat that representing today's England, America and Australia. He lives in London in Victory Masions which are a worned and damaged neighborhood where everything is falling apart. Wilston Smith's job is to falsify and rewrite history at the Ministry of truth also called the Minitrue in newspeak.

When we meet Winston in the beginning of the story, he lives as a good party member, in complete conformance with the wishes of Big Brother and the Inner Party. Even though that he is depressed and sad Winston manages to keep his loathing for the workings of the Party and Big Brother hidden deep inside. But when Winston decides to keep a diary in which he writes about his true feelings and hatred for Big Brother, his character starts to change.

Winston becomes a rebel. This is because of the fact, that it is a crime to write, to think or to have feelings. It is an offend against the Party's rules, when Winston starts to write in his diary. But Winston does not seem to fear the consequences of his actions: "Whether he went on with the diary, or whether he did not go on with it, made no difference. The Thought Police would get him just the same. He had committed -- would still have committed, even if he had never set pen to paper -- the essential crime that contained all others in itself." chapter 1 The above quotation is a good example of how Winton no longer fear the Inner Party, Big Brother and the consequences of his actions and the fact that he has committed a thought crime.

One day Winston catches the eye of the character O'Brian who actually is a member of the Inner Party. Winston thinks that O'Brian might carries the same cynicism towards the Party that Winston does. Winston sees O'Brian as is a potential fellow rebel and soul mate: "He felt deeply drawn to him, and not solely because he was intrigued by the contrast between O'Brien's urbane manner and his prize-fighter's physique. Much more it was because of a secretly held belief -- or perhaps not even a belief, merely a hope -- that O'Brien's political orthodoxy was not perfect." chapter 1 O'Brian seems like a trustworthy person from Winston's point of view.

Another character in the book is the girl with the dark hair called Julia. She is 27 years