The book 1984 by George Orwell is a dystopia about a Totalitarian political regime. The main character in the book is Winston, who is part of the outer party, he works in the Ministry of Truth.
Winston’s job is to rewrite history to match what the party says is true. The Party represents the government and “Big Brother” is also the government. Winston lives in the Nation of Oceania, in the city of London. His area is called Airstrip One, which used to be called England.
The Party watches people through telescreens and they post signs which say, “The Party controls the history that is written and the language.” The Illegal things consisted of individuality, sex, and free thought. Winston rebels, first by buying a diary and writing it, and then by having an affair with a girl at work.
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The Party makes a new language called the New Speak. They believed this would prevent rebellion by eliminating all words relating to rebellion. Winston becomes fascinated by a member of the Party named O’Brien, who is part of the inner party. Winston believes that O’Brien is a member of the Brotherhood, a mysterious group that legend says works to overthrow The Party.
Winston becomes troubled because he remembers that Oceania, where he lives, wasn’t always allies with East Asia and at war with Eurasia like history says. Julia a coworker writes him a note saying she loves him and they start an affair which is the second rebellious thing Winston does. The proles, which are the poorer people, are watched less by the party and Winston wanders in their neighborhoods in the evenings. Eventually he and Julia rent a room above a secondhand store in the prole district. Winston always worries that he will be caught and Julia is more pragmatic and optimistic.
Winston hates The Party more and more. Eventually he gets a message that O’Brien wants him to come to his apartment. Winston and Julia both go to O’Brien’s apartment, which is very luxurious. O’Brien tells them he hates The Party too and that he is a member of the Brotherhood, who fights against the government. O’Brien tells Winston and Julia he is making them members of The Brotherhood, and he gives them a copy of Emmanuel Goldstein’s book. Emmanuel Goldstein is who The Party says is the most dangerous man in the world. Going to O’Brien’s apartment and joining the Brotherhood was Winston’s third rebellion.
Winson’t fourth rebellion was reading the illegal book by Goldstein. He read it in the room above the secondhand store to Julia. At one point while they were in this room soldiers come in and take them away. They were turned in by the man who runs the secondhand store below their room because he is a member of the thought police.
Winston is then taken away from Julia to a place called the Ministry of Love. He learns that O’Brien is not a member of the brotherhood but is a spy that tricked Winston into rebelling from The Party and getting caught. He finds this out because O’Brien is the one who ends up torturing and brain washing Winston. At the end of all the torture O’Brien sends Winston to the horrible room 101 which is the last place they take people who rebel from The Party. O’Brien knows that Winston keeps having nightmares about rats so in room 101 O’Brien puts a cage of rats on Winston’s head and says he will let them eat Winston’s face. Winston resists until now, but this is the last straw. He says to do it to Julia and not to him. This is what O’Brien was trying to get Winston to do. Winston then accepted The Party and loved Big Brother, so they let him go. Later he meets up with Julia, but he doesn’t love her anymore and continues to be a good party member.
The whole book is about personal freedom versus political repression and in the book repression wins. The themes of the book are that totalitarianism is dangerous, psychological manipulation is dangerous, if you have too much psychological stimulation you will lose the ability to think independently, physical control through torture works (the party keeps people exhausted and worried about torture), The party controls information and history, and technology allows monitoring for “the good” but can be used for evil. What I learned from this book is that giving the government too much power is a dangerous thing that can result in the loss of freedoms.
