1984 By George Orwell: Chapter Analysis

The red sun rose over the horizon, illuminating the city and the four ministries, windows glowed golden red and the concrete reflected an orange hue. Winston had woken up from the telescreen blaring victory music that filled the room in which he was lying in. It was seven-fifteen and Winston rose from the bed, pulling off the blue, dull bed sheets then reaching for his blue overalls hanging on the wall adjacent to the bed. He stood up, yawned and blinked, and then prepared himself for the telescreen to begin its normal routine, “Good morning fellow comrades!” Winston was ready for the physical jerk of the morning as the telescreen continued its countdown to the start of the exercise, Winston was gradually improving his physical fitness

He gathered his thoughts to go to Minitrue and started down the familiar street. Immediately something was different, the street he turned down all of a sudden felt abnormal. Winston normally would take the street, every day it would be alive with proles and woman talking about their husband’s spending too much time at the bars and groups of men betting what the numbers will be on the new lottery. The commotion combined with the light from the morning sun would have gave the street a lively feel, but it was absent today. A stray rat scurried across his path around 10 meters in front of him, followed by at least another six mice that ran just behind it. Winston knew something was not right he felt almost spooked. No one was on the street, no mouth was speaking, no bodies were moving, the street was deserted. Suddenly he remembered O’brien telling him, “In the end we shall shoot you” Winston had perhaps seconds. All of a sudden his mind was spinning, his brain began to throb, his heart began beating seemingly out of his chest. The hairs on is back were pressing against his overalls, goosebumps erupted across his neck and arms. The seconds Winston would sense before the appointed time now has come.

Immediately Winston turned around and started to run, he ignored the pain already in his legs. His whole life, he was remembering everything, 2+2=4, the party is evil, Julia, his mother, room 101. His mind was racing until all of a sudden Winston felt like what was a lightning bolt that struck him in the back of his head. He collapsed on the grey street and felt blood pouring down his neck. His vision was disappearing and he could no longer feel himself. Winston