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ORWELL, George: 1984: Style
ORWELL, George: 1984: Style
ORWELL, George: 1984: Style
Style
- depressing, mirroring the functional style and aesthetics of the Party
- individuality is discouraged
- beauty is considered politically suspect
- tone is dark, pessimistic, and gloomy
- warning of how miserable life will be under totalitarianism
- similar to deprivation from World War II, when real sugar, butter, and coffee were luxuries
- story is told in a third-person (referring to Winston as “he”)
- language is markedly oppressive and dull (everything is ugly and gray)
- full of metaphors and foreshadowing
- sometimes modifies his style to match Winston’s thoughts (writing changes from grammatically correct and
precise to uncapitalized, unpunctuated
- proles speak with Cockney accents
- not yet anyone speaks Newspeak as their primary language
- replace Standard English by the year 2050
- epilogue itself is written in standard English
- the Party has not entirely succeeded in eradicating independent thought
Foreshadowing
- Winston’s betrayal of Julia is ironically foreshadowed by his insistence the Party can’t make him stop
loving her
- Winston’s betrayal of the Party is foreshadowed by the anti-Party comments he writes in his diary
- Winston’s misreading of Julia as a spy foreshadows that he will misread O’Brien as a friend instead of
antagonist
- the rat in Winston and Julia’s rented room foreshadows that they are being watched.
Story
- book is divided into 3 parts
- Winston Smith: member of the ruling Party in London, nation of Oceania
- The Party watches everything through telescreens (Big Brother sees you)
- The Party controls everything in Oceania (people’s history and language)
- invention of language called Newspeak (attempts to prevent political rebellion by eliminating words)
- even thinking rebellious thoughts is illegal (= thoughtcrime, worst of all crimes)
- Winston feels frustrated by the rigid control of the Party (prohibition of free thought, sex, and any
expression of individuality)
- Winston illegally bought a diary (writes his criminal thoughts)
+ become fixated on a powerful Party member named O’Brien (W. believes he is a secret member of the
Brotherhood – organisation which wants to overthrow the Party)
- Winston works in the Ministry of Truth (alters historical records to fit the needs of the Party)
- Winston receives a note from a girl (he though she 's watching him and wants to betray him) that reads “I
love you.”
- W. and Julia start to meet each other
- rent a room above the secondhand store in the prole district where Winston bought the diary
- Winston is sure that they will be caught and punished sooner or later
x Julia is more optimistic
- they both really hate The Party
- message that O’Brien wants to see him
- Winston and Julia travel to O’Brien’s luxurious apartment (O´Brien is a member of the powerful Inner
Party)
- O´Brien confirms to Winston and Julia that, he hates the Party + is a member of the Brotherhood
- gives Winston a copy of Emmanuel Goldstein’s book (manifesto of the Brotherhood)
- W. and J. read the book in their secret palce
- soldiers barge in and seize them (Mr. Charrington, proprietor of the store, is a member of the Thought
Police)
- soldiers take them to the Ministry of Love
- Winston finds that O’Brien is a Party spy (pretended to be a member of the Brotherhood)
- O’Brien spends months torturing and brainwashing Winston
- dreaded Room 101, the final destination for anyone who opposes the Party
- here, O’Brien tells Winston that he will be forced to confront his worst fear (nightmares about rats)
- Winston begs O’Brien to do it to Julia, not to him
- giving up Julia is what O’Brien wanted from Winston all along (spirit is broken)
- Winston is released to the outside world
- meets Julia but no longer feels anything for her
- W. accepted the Party entirely and even loves Big Brother
Characters
Winston Smith: main protagonist, his resistance, enables the reader to observe and understand the harsh
oppression that the Party, Big Brother, and the Thought Police institute, desperate to understand how and
why the Party exercises such absolute power in Oceania
- his human traits: rebelliousness, intelligence and thoughtfulnes
- hates the Party passionately
- commits innumerable crimes throughout the novel (writing in his diary, having an illegal love affair with
Julia, getting himself secretly indoctrinated into the anti-Party Brotherhood)
- through torture Winston is transformed into a loyal member of the Party and Big Brother
- constant paranoia about the Party (believes that he will be caught no matter what he does, he convinces
himself that he must continue to rebel)
- his fatalistic attitude makes him unable to imagine his relationship with Julia lasting very long
Julia: Winston’s lover
- only other person who Winston can be sure hates the Party and wishes to rebel against it as he does
(nothing else in common)
- sensual, pragmatic, content to live in the moment and make the best of her life
- practical plans to avoid getting caught by the Party
O’Brien: powerful member of the Inner Party
- tricks Winston into believing that he is a member of the revolutionary group called the Brotherhood
- appears at Winston’s jail cell to abuse and brainwash him in the name of the Party
- O’Brien admits that he pretended to be connected to the Brotherhood merely to trap Winston
- very un-developped character (by the end of the book, the reader knows far less about him than they
previously had thought)
- O’Brien himself was once rebellious (tortured same as Winston)
Big Brother: supreme ruler of Oceania, the leader of the Party
- The Party uses the image of Big Brother to instill a sense of loyalty and fear in the populace
- his portrait is everywhere (Big Brother is watching you) on coins, telescreens, large posters all over the city
- powerful role in society
x no actual appearance in the novel
- idea of Big Brother is to keep the people living in a state of fear
- Big Brother either doesn’t exist, or perhaps never existed, as an actual person (The Party itself)
Mr. Charrington: widower and the owner of a second-hand shop in the prole district of London
- tells Winston about London’s history and share in Winston’s interest in the past
- provides several key resources that facilitate Winston’s various crimes against the Party (diary, glass
paperweight - symbol of Winston’s connection to a concrete past + rents Winston the room)
- a member of the Thought Police (manipulative agent of the Party)
Syme: an intelligent (according to W. he is too intelligent to stay alive), outgoing ma, works with Winston at
the Ministry of Truth, specializes in language (working on a new edition of the Newspeak dictionary)
Parsons: ordinary Party member, lives near Winston, works at the Ministry of Truth, wife and a group of
suspicious, ill-mannered children (members of the Junior Spies)
Emmanuel Goldstein: according to the Party, Goldstein is the legendary leader of the Brotherhood, probably
a former Party leader who fell out of favour with the regime, the Party describes him as the most dangerous
and treacherous man in Oceania, doesn´t ever appear in the book (maybe he is an illusion, a way to deceive
people)
My opinion
- well written, easy to follow, catchy theme (very important and serious topic), characters descripted only by
few mysterious information (the only character whom we really get to know is Winston)
- helps to create a mysterious and thrilling atmosphere (also the tone, the despair of society and the cruelty of
The Party)
- the parallel with Russia is also very interesting
- eventhough it is clear from the very beginning that Winston will eventually end up being arrested by the
Though Police, it is an absolutely captivating and well written story