The 1984 written by George Orwell that is published in 1949.

It is a science
fiction, social science fiction, political fiction, romance and thriller. It follows the story
of Winston Smith, a member of “The Party”. The Party was ruled by “Big Brother”
who controls every aspect of people’s lives. The party controls what people speak,
think, and doing with a threat that if they disobey, they will be punished.

The novel took place at Airstrip One, a province of Oceania in the year of
1984 at the time when the world has fallen victim to unending war and unescapable
government surveillance. The living conditions there was very poor, with the
buildings broken-down, the food were rationed out, and the wages were poor. One
cannot expect privacy anywhere, as there is a telescreen that monitors every actions
and what you say as well as what you are thinking. I never been to a place like that
and I wish not to be there too. I do not like that place as it hinders your freedom to
live.

Nineteen Eighty-Four has presented a few characters with different personalities,

having more and more appearing as the plot intensifies. The followings are the main
characters of the novel:

Winston Smith. A 39 year old man that works in the Records Department of the
Ministry of Truth, where he rewrites historical documents. He is smoker and drinker.
He has also a wife, from whom it seem he has become separated. Winston has an
interest in items and literature from the past.

Julia. A 26 year old dark haired girl. She works at Fiction Department in Ministry of
Truth. She is the lover of Winston Smith. She has a practical mindset. Julia is
somewhat rebellious, like that she admits that she is sleeping with the members of
the Party. Eventually, she has an affair between Winston. But in the view of the
Party, falling in love with another person is to put that another person above the
Party. Julia gives Winston hope, and it is the continuation of this hope that gets them
both destroyed.

O’Brien. He is a member of the Inner Party and a coworker of Winston at Ministry of

Truth. He holds administrative position that is far from Winston’s. Winston suspects
O’Brien secretly against the Party. But in truth, O Brien is an agent of the Thought
Police, and is completely loyal to the Party and to Ingsoc. He is part of a movement
whose goal is to find thought crime offenders, lure them in by pretending to be on
their side, then arrest and punish them.

The following are the secondary characters in the novel that played a minor role
in the novel, nonetheless had a great impact in the intensification of the novel’s plot:

Big Brother. The supreme ruler of Oceania and the leader of the Party. The Party
uses the image of Big Brother to impart in the minds of the people the essence of
loyalty and fear. The image appear on telescreens and on the large posters
displayed all over the city with a slogan “Big Brother is watching you.” The idea of
Big Brother is sufficient to keep the people living in a state of fear, and the fact that
no one seems to have ever seen him may make him even more effective leader.

Mrs. Parsons. The wife of Tom Parsons and neighbor of Winston. An aged woman
and a mother of two terrible children that belongs to the Spies and Youth league and
who are bound to eventually denounce her and her husband to the Thought Police.

Tom Parsons. Tom is the husband of Mrs. Parsons, and Winston’s co-worker and
neighbour. He is active in his community groups, and appears to truly believe Party
claims and doctrines. However, his daughter eventually denounces him to the
Though Police, claiming he was saying “Down with Big Brother” in his sleep.

Syme. A “friend” of Winston and a philologist working on the Eleventh Edition of the
Newspeak Dictionary. Winston notices that Syme, although a devoted Party
member, is too smart and too vocal for his own good. He predicts Syme will be
vanished, and is proven when Syme suddenly disappears.

Katharine Smith. Winston’s wife. According to Winston, she is “unthankful” and

claims she was absurdly devoted to the Party, to the point where she referred
sleeping with Winston to produce offspring as her duty to the Party. The two never
had children, and eventually separated.

Mr. Charrington. The owner of the antique shop where Winston first buys his diary,
pen, and a glass paperweight. Winston rents the room above the shop from Mr.
Charrington for his love affair with Julia. Mr. Charrington appears to be kind old man
interested in past, but later he reveals himself to be a member of the Thought Police.
He leads Winston and Julia into his trap, and observes their actions from the hidden
telescreen. Mr. Charrington has clearly been working under disguise.
Emmanuel Goldstein. He was once a member of the Party who rebelled against its
principles. He is believed to be the founder of the revolutionary group The
Brotherhood who is believed to be revolting against the Party

Aaronson, Jones, and Rutherford. Three Inner Party members wrongly arrested in
1965 and forced to incriminate themselves of various crimes, including treason and
murder. They are eventually killed. Winston finds a clipping proving their innocence
and destroys the document, but never forgets holding the proof that Party "fact" was
fiction.

Ampleforth. A co-worker of Winston's, and a poet who works in the Records

Department rewriting politically or ideologically objectionable Oldspeak poems.

Each one of the characters had their own personality. But Julia’s character interests
me. What made me admire was her persistence and passion. She pursued her
feelings to Winston despite of consequences they will be facing. Also, I like her
cleverness that she able to deceive the Party for a long time and disguise herself as
a fanatical to the Party.

In the beginning part of the novel, Winston was introduced and most of the
characters were introduced as well as the setting was pictured out. Oceania had four
ministries that govern the place having Big Brother as the leader, without even
knowing if he truly exist. First is the Ministry of Truth or called Minitrue in Newspeak,
serves as which is concerned with the news, entertainment, education, and the fine
arts. The Ministry of Peace (Minipax), which concerned itself with the war. The
Ministry of Plenty (Miniplenty), which was responsible for economic affairs. In this
part where Winston’s individualistic character and hate for the Party sparked.
Winston began to question the Party’a ruling and principles. He began looking for
answers of his question of the past. As he did, his mind was opened wider
perspective which even fuelled his desire for the Party’s end, “If there is hope, it lies
in the proles.”

The second part of the novel is that Winston receives a note from the dark-
haired girl that reads “I love you.” She tells him her name, Julia, and they begin a
covert affair, always on the lookout for signs of Party monitoring. Eventually they rent
a room above the secondhand store in the prole district where Winston bought the
diary. This relationship lasts for some time. Winston is sure that they will be caught
and punished sooner or later, while Julia is more logical and optimistic. As Winston’s
affair with Julia progresses, his hatred for the Party grows more and more intense. At
last, he receives the message that he has been waiting for: O’Brien wants to see
him.

In the last part, wavering away from Julia and taken to a place called the
Ministry of Love, Winston finds that O’Brien, too, is a Party spy who simply
pretended to be a member of the Brotherhood in order to trap Winston into
committing an open act of rebellion against the Party. O’Brien spends months
torturing and brainwashing Winston, who struggles to resist. At last, O’Brien sends
him to the 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.
Throughout the novel, Winston has had recurring nightmares about rats; O’Brien
now straps a cage full of rats onto Winston’s head and prepares to allow the rats to
eat his face. Winston snaps, pleading with O’Brien to do it to Julia, not to him. Giving
up Julia is what O’Brien wanted from Winston all along. His spirit broken, Winston is
released to the outside world. He meets Julia but no longer feels anything for her. He
has accepted the Party entirely and has learned to love Big Brother.

The principal conflict in 1984 is that of Winston vs. the Party (Man vs.
Society). Winston has started to question the system, he started o write a diary
where he expresses his ideas about the Party, about Big Brother; he has accepted
the fact that he had committed thoughtcrime and that death had now became
something unavoidable. This contributes to the character development of Winston.
Now that he has started to think against the preexisting government, his character
slowly starts the journey to fight the system. A Man vs. Society conflict is that if
Winston against the general society itself. He does not trust anyone, and anyone
could be a spy or part of the thought police. It has become a culture where one lives
for oneself or the government, but not for others.

Nineteen Eighty-Four gave the readers a lesson that is we defend

‘democracy’ in our own way and not give any chance to anything that can cut at the
legs of democracy Once a totalitarian or professional government is in place, it will
also be the only government that society will ever have and no further change in
government will be possible. In other words, what Orwell was saying is that we will
never get rid of a professionalised totalitarian or authoritarian regime once it
manages to be in power. Another lesson is that, appearances can deceive, and even
the worst appearances can hide even worse things underneath that skin. In relating
to the whole propaganda framework relating to Airstrip One’s history. Also, our
personalities, characters, strengths and weaknesses, and even free will are all
shaped entirely by circumstances.

In the novel 1984, the author’s main goal was to warn of the serious danger
totalitarianism poses to society. He goes to great lengths to demonstrate the
terrifying degree of power and control a totalitarian regime can acquire and maintain.
In such regimes, notions of personal rights and freedoms and individual thought are
pulverized under the all-powerful hand of the government.

QUESTIONS

1. What is important about the title 1984?

The book was distributed in the year 1948, three years after World War II.
Also, the ruling Party in the novel was broadly affected by Hitler's system, a
totalitarian system. Additionally, as per stated in the novel Winston's age of the
time, which is 39, the very same number of years as when the war finished and
the title, 1984, compares. As I would see it, the title was to help the readers to
remember how the general public would have been if Hitler succeeded. Or then
again the writer basically swapped the last two digits of the year when the book
was distributed, 1948.

2. What does the caption beneath the large poster on the wall mean?
Big Brother is Watching You

Big Brother was constantly spying on the people of Oceania and fear
instil in their minds. They have been monitored of what they would do, speak,
 and what they are thinking. It means that no things would be kept in secret in
their place because every corner you face there is watching you.

3. Why can’t the telescreen be completely shut off?

The telescreen can’t be turned off though the electricity in the daylight are
cut off. I think the telescreen has separate independent power supply. Also,
telescreen are used to monitor every actions of the people. So, it must be
turned on 24/7 to monitor every people. Even someone would have a chance
to turn off the telescreen, the Party has eyes everywhere, spies, which serve
as human telescreens.

4. ”We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.” What does this
mean?

In a totalitarian system, there is no freedom save of one's personal

thoughts and those are communicated to others at risk of imprisonment or
death. Dreams are a form of mental escape or displacement behaviour from
real life. In Winston’s case, it’s an escape from the constant repressiveness of
living and the life under the regime. A place without darkness is a figurative
reference means to a better place than now. That should mean its Winston’s
desire to live in a better time and place. Bute when Winston thinks or dreams
of a place with no darkness, he really ended up in a place without darkness —
in a room inside the Ministry of Love with constant artificial light and the
experience of it was torture.

5. “Party Slogan: Who controls the Past controls the future; who controls the
present controls the past.” Why should the past be wiped away?
Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present,
controls the past… The mutability of the past is the central tenet of Ingsoc.
Past events, it is argued, have no objective existence, but survive only in
written records and in human memories. The past is whatever the records and
the recollections concur upon. What's more, since the Party is in full control all
things considered and in similarly full control of the brains of its individuals, it
follows that the past is whatever the Party decides to make it.
6. Why does Winston rewrite history at the Ministry of Truth?

When one controls the past, that person has the power over the people
of the present and the future. Winston’s job is simply for the Party’s favour to
brainwash the people of Oceania of a corrupted past, therefore guiding them
to a future shaped by Big Brother’s ideals and visions. Winston rewrites
history to make the Party and Big Brother a perfect ruling entity and prevent
the people from ever finding out the corrupted and avoid any rebellion. The
Party understands that by rewriting the events of the past and controlling the
narrative of history, they can maintain their position of authority.

7. What is Newspeak? Why is it important?

In 1984, Newspeak is the official language of Oceania. Newspeak is

designed to cut down the use of a large vocabulary and eliminate many words
in the English language. Since vocabulary is considered a way to measure
intelligence, therefore by eliminating words in the English language, the Party
is trying to eliminate individual intelligence in people. Newspeak will remove
the ability to develop any negative thoughts. If the language is taken away
from the people, they will not be able to form ideas to challenge the Party.

8. What is the role of the Proles? In our society today, what do you think is the
power of the Proles?
Proles or proletariats, these are the lowest class of Oceania. It
composes the 85 percent of the population of Oceania and they could be the
force to destroy the Party and take Big Brother down. Proles are the ones that
live in worse conditions, but they have also a power. In this world that is
constantly changing, proles do have a huge impact to change our society. In a
way that they have the freedom to choose what they seem right and to
neglect what they seem wrong.
9. What is thoughtcrime? If such crime would be punishable by our laws today,
how would you feel?
Thoughtcrime is thinking of anything the Thought Police and the Party
regard is unlawful. The Party controls the speech, the actions, and the
thoughts of the citizens of Oceania. If such crime would be punishable by our
 laws today – pertaining that the concept of freedom is not yet established, I
would feel being suppressed in a way that I would rebel against the
government. Then, I choose what seems right because I believe that freedom
is not being dictated but it is your own will.
10. If we’d live in a world where Winston lives, would you obey what the
government order or would you deviate from it?
If we would live in a place where Winston lives, I chose not to obey the
government. Where Winston lives require people to behave in a manner that it
seems immoral to me, and if I did not obey sever consequences I will be
facing. I am willing to take such consequences because unjust laws should
never be followed. It is not sufficient that the law is unjust but it also has to be
something where benefits of the following are outweighed by the cost of doing
so.

11. Are you going to love Big Brother, too?

There is something in Big Brother that I love. That is his strong political
will. He manage to mould its society into his own ideals by imposing such
orders. But there is a great proportion that I don’t like him because of his
totalitarianism that controls the place. Big Brother controls the people and it
hinders their freedom to choose and express.

12. What are your thoughts about the novel?

Nineteen Eighty-Four felt like it was telling me about the present

society we live in. It just like it happens in the country like China. But as I kept
on reading, I realized that the concept of Big Brother is not just in the
countries that Human Rights and Freedom of Speech are not allowed, even in
countries with democracy still have these cases of spying on its citizens and
shutting down that citizen when they say things that may go against the
agenda of government.

13. If you could rewrite history. How would you like the world to be?

If I could rewrite history, I might change the concept of money.

Removing the concept of money will also remove greed, jealousy, selfishness
 and many more negative aspects in our life. Without money nothing will stop
us from discoveries. Without money problem of expensive medication and
cure for example cancer, will not exists. We will be all equal and we can live
our life without tons of problems.

14. Would you allow yourself to be enslaved in the idea that someone else is
controlling your every move and even truth be altered?

Freedom is what gives people the power to act or not to act. It allows
them to determine their own future and to shape their own destiny. We should
be in full control of how we live our lives. I would not allow other to be
enslaved in that kind of idea.

15. Which one would you choose utopia or dystopia? Explain.

I would choose utopia. It is because I want my life to be perfect as

possible. Where it would be a great place to live in. Though there is really no
utopia but only dystopia as there will be no concept of success if there is no
concept of failure.