SUMMARY

The story begins set in 1944 in London in the Nation of Oceania. Winton Smith is a low-ranking
member of the Party; an organization in charge of governing and making decisions for the rest of the
population to follow. Scattered across Oceania, and even in the comfort of his own home, are telescreens
and posters, serving as a reminder that ominous rulers Big Brother is are always watching you. Winston
grows to express hatred, frustration, and distrust toward the Party, with their control over the history and
language in Oceania. The Party are even in a current state of implementing a new language, NewSpeak,
that will prevent political rebellion and independence, by eliminating all words associated with it. Even
having individualistic thoughts serves as thoughtcrime, an act the audience learns Winston has fallen
victim to.

As an act of defiance, Winston purchases an illegal diary, where he journals this thoughts and
opinions towards the lifestyles and habits he witnesses in London controlled by the Party. Strangely
enough, he also becomes enamored by a high-ranking Party Member, whom he believes is a secret
member of the Brotherhood; a secret, legendary organization who aim to bring down the party. Winston
presumes O'Brien has a sense of consciousness and a spark of rebellion against the treachery of the Party.

Winston works in the Ministry Of Truth, where his job is to alter historical facts and figures to
meet the requirements of the Party. At his work, his he is fixated on a dark-haired girl whom we will later
come to know as Julia. He worries that she is a spy whom has come to arrest him for his thoughtcrime.
Winston is upset over the Party's constant inaccuracy of information, often finding them caught between a
web of lies within themselves. One day Winston receives a note from Julia claiming she loves him, and
shortly after they began sexual rendezvous blind to the eye of the Party. Julia is different from Winston –
she does not seek rebellion like Winston does, she only finds that she enjoys pleasurable acts, and the
only reason the Party forbids intercourse apart from procreation is, so the pent-up frustration can be
channeled into the oppression of Oceania's enemies. Winston is panicked by the thought of one of the
members of the Party catching him while Julia is more carefree, until one day, he receives a message
from O'Brien asking him to see him.

Winston and Julia meet O'Brien in his much more luxurious apartment where O'Brien he
confesses that like them, he too hates the Party and is a member of the Brotherhood. He welcomes them
into the Brotherhood, giving them the novel by Emmanuel Goldstein, the Manifesto of the Brotherhood.
As they read the book, guards barge through the door and seize them, one of them being Mr. Charrington
the proprietor of the story, being a member of the Though Police all along. After being separated from
Julia and forcefully taken to the Ministry of Love, Winston foolishly realizes that O'Brien had been a spy
for the Party, who had tricked him into believing he was a member of the Brotherhood to gain his trust.
At the ministry, Winston is tortured and brainwashed relentlessly, stubbornly resisting until he is taken to
the feared Room 101 where he will be forced to face his worst fear.

Finally, Winston snaps, pleading that it should be done to Julia instead. O'Brien attained his goal
of wanting Winston to give up Julia. Winston is then released into the world again where he meets Julia
but feels nothing for her, and so he lives like a hollow, mindless, controlled drone.

PLOT AND CHARACTER SKETCH

Orwell's main goal when writing this novel was to deliver a world of total anguish told through
the eyes of our protagonist, Winston Smith. Winston unlike most protagonists doesn't have sense of
uniqueness that separates him from the rest of the population, and all that drives Winston as a character is
his hatred for injustice.

Throughout the novel, we see Winston express individuality, forming thoughts and personal
opinions that gradually increase his worth as a character. He witnesses the unright impolitic oppression
the Party has on Oceania and its citizens; forcing limitations upon its lower class workers. The audience
witnesses how with growing time, and as further the novel advances, how Winston's loathe for the Party
grows by performing acts of Rebellion that rival the laws the Party enforce.

I believe as we get to see Winston express his strengths very often in the novel, there are
underlying themes of his weaknesses. I believe these are trust and naivetes. Winston often blindly trust
someone, after they have either peaked his interest or give him a reason not to, and it is primarily his
greatest downfall. The two greatest examples of this is after meeting Julia and speaking with her a few
times, he cancels out any possibility that she is a spy from the Party simply because he doesn't feel as if
she is. And though I do applaud him for truly following his gut seeing as how Julia did become a
favorable example, O'Brien can serve as the next example. He was fixated on O'Brien, believing that he
was indeed a member of the Brotherhood, even when knowing nothing but his name. By being so
uneducated on O'Brien, he later foolishly realized he was tricked by the one man he ever strongly trusted.

You can describe these as acts of rebellion driven by his naive character trait. Winston, whom
seems wise for his age, also displays moments of pure naivety because he has yet to be corrected on the
way the world truly works. To live in a time like this and be amongst the people that recognize what is
happening, you need to be extra informed, educated, and suspicious of every person you encounter
because time and time again it has been proving that Big Brother has eyes everywhere. Winston tends to
blindly follow his instinct, at a certain point he known that remaining in the room above Mr. Charrington
shop would be dangerous and risky, and yet they continue to do it anyways. It's because of Winston's
naivety that leads him to partake in acts of rebellion without informing him on the consequences that most
definitely take place after.

THEMES AND REFLECTION

There are a million words and more I could use to describe the themes and morals I experienced
the story. The best three I feel strongly reflect this novel and its significance is independence and truth,
rebellion, and manipulation and deceit.

Independence has been a constant factor throughout his story from the moment Winston
purchases his diary, to his resistance against the torture he encountered in the Ministry of Love. A right to
independence – to be able to stand on his own two feet without being commanded to sit down is what
drove Winston in his rebellion against the Party. Truth, sadly enough Winston doesn't witness copious
amounts of it at his job especially, where he changes documents to fit the Party's preference. We see
Winston struggle to find any traces of solid, concrete information that can give him any reason to abide
by the Party, however, every single time he comes up short.

Rebellion of source is an act strongly related to out protagonist as a character; and seems to be an
act he vey enjoys committing. Not only him, but his secret lover Julia perform small acts of defiance
against the party to clap back at all the wrong they witness on a day-to-day scale with the citizens of
Oceania.

Lastly, manipulation, phycological psychological and physical is the only way the Party to have
control over the citizens of Oceania. They are psychologically exposed to stimuli that dull their brain
unknowingly, forcing them to show less reaction when encountered with different situations. Party
members like Winston especially, are forced to be monitored day to day for their behavior and habits. The
way the Party is organized, pays no attention to family structure undermining the wellness of children by
introducing them to groups such as Junior Spies, which expose them to hard politics at a young age.
Another example of psychological manipulation is the Party's refusal for citizens to be sexually engaged
with anyone at any times apart from the purpose of repopulation. The pent up sexual frustration will now
play into the Party's hands by generating more anger and oppression at Hate Week, against the enemies of
Oceania. George Orwell's main purpose of the party, was to express deceit and lies to a degree where
none of the information you so heavily rely on around you is concrete.