Why Is Winston Ineffective

1984 and V for Vendetta both tackled the idea of rebellion. In 1984, Winston rebelled against the standing party of Oceania. Winston’s rebellion started when he committed a thoughtcrime against Big Brother and wrote his thoughts in a dairy, which is against the party’s agenda. At the beginning of the novel, Winston made it prominent that he dissented Big Brother and his party’s idea. He wrote in his diary, in Book 1 Chapter 1, “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER…” (Orwell 18). This shows that Winston dissented his country’s government and was willing to rebel for he knew deep inside that

This is exhibited when Winston and Julia express the love they have for each other and both declare their hate for the party. In order to advances his goal in rebelling, Winston attempts to have more than a forbidden private love affair, he attempts to be an active rebel. In doing so, Winston plots against societies’ back and breaks the law. Not only does he betray the government, but he also opens many chances in which he can be harshly punished

Winston Smith, the main character in the novel, faced many emotional challenges throughout the book. The problems that he encountered were primarily a result of his strong opposition toward the government of Oceania, which was more commonly known as “the Party”. The Party controlled every aspect of people’s lives, to the point where one wrong thought or physical action could cause brutal punishment. Although Winston was a minor member of the Party, he still secretly despised the way it had inflicted a totalitarian society upon him and the rest of the nation. All citizens were brainwashed to live in complete orthodoxy, and any act, no matter how trivial, that was displeasing to the Party was looked upon as a serious crime. It is clear

Frequently, Winston questioned the motives of the government and often engaged in thoughtcrime (thoughts that oppose the ruling party). Winston could recognize that the people do not think for themselves, instead they simply believed and thought what Big Brother told them to.“Prodded by his natural need for reflection and critical analysis, Winston finds it hard not to make use of his inborn talents. He starts questioning the wisdom of Big Brother and moves hopefully toward his own liberation” (Nytimes.com). Due to his personality and own freedom of thought, he had the unique ability to recognize the injustice and lack of freedom around him. This lead to a deep seated hatred for Big Brother and the

Winston believed that he would not succeed in his goal to set society free from the party. Heroes like Harriet Tubman have stood up against large forces that were much stronger than themselves. They believed that what society was doing was wrong. For example in Tiananmen square, a famous photo of the incident is of a single person standing against a tank. This is a perfect example of how people have stood against an authoritative force that was much stronger than themselves. Something very similar to this happens in the novel of 1984 when O’Brien states,” the world itself is only a speck of dust. And man is tiny-helpless”(265).This quote is saying the world this huge powerful think is tiny and that a man is even smaller and less significant than that. This quote is bashing the entire idea of heroism and how we are in fact not small and insignificant but are strong and can make large changes Much like Harriet Tubman, Winston, the protagonist of 1984, wanted to prove to society that the quality of life was not as good as the Party had lead them to believe and that they were all in fact slaves of the Party. Winston was still a hero even though he was not able to,”spread...knowledge outwards...generation after generation” (176). This is the main goal for Winston to complete knows he will not succeed in bringing down the all powerful, infallible, and

Winston in the coming future, consider this as a memorandum for yourself. Before anyone else finds it and reads it, I hope you do.

In the novel 1984 Winston is contemplating starting a diary because he knows that such a thing would get him vaporized. This is an example on how The Party has such an influence on the citizens by making them so scared to normal tasks. Even

The Party’s approach to life has not always been for everyone, including Winston who frequently gets angry at their actions. In the beginning of the book, Winston says he was writing, “as though by automatic action… DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” (1.1.18). His thoughts and actions toward Big Brother and the Party have become so strong that he is involuntarily writing words against them. Winston also resents the rule that there can be no love in Oceania, and leaps at the chance to break it. When Julia hands him the note saying “I love you”, he states, “the desire to live had welled up inside him, and the taking of minor risks suddenly seemed stupid” (2.1.109). Winston is no longer interested in his previously small acts of rebellion. He wants to deepen his actions and carry out a force much greater than simply writing in a journal. Winston enjoys the fact that he’s becoming a rebel, and takes great pride in the fact that he is

Winston’s realization of the Party’s morally wrong actions gets him to start rebelling against him. The first instance of a rebellion is when he purchases a diary from a store, which is prohibited. He secretly writes down any anti-Party suspicions, knowing that he is going to get captured for it. In the first act of 1984, Winston continues to write in his diary. “His pen had slid voluptuously over the smooth paper, printing in large neat capitals - DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” (Orwell 6). These strong four words are what started his defiance against the Party. He realizes that if anyone finds this diary, he will be taken to prison and will most likely be executed. He does not care about the risks that he needs to take in order to take down the Party. He also starts a relationship outside of marriage with a girl named Julia, which

Aside from his relationship with Julia as a “political act” (129), Winston’s ultimate ruin can be traced to his intuition that has consistently led him astray, “It seemed to him that he know instinctively who would survive and who would perish, though just what it was that made for survival, it was not easy to say.” (63) This is a crucial example of how visibly disconnected Winston is, especially once the reader achieves the end of the novel, and each of the characters he had prophesied as a survivor of the oppressive regime is persecuted by Big Brother.

This passage summarizes how Winston lives in a world completely being watched 24/7 where he has no freedom to do nearly anything, and everything that he wants to do is considered a crime. One of the most serious crimes in this world is thoughtcrime, and this passage talks about the dangers of him getting the diary and writing down everything that he has stored up in his mind, and how this act is committing a serious crime. This passage really helped me understand the basis of this society, and how hard it would be to live this way. I always need someone to or something with to vent about anything going on in my life that I just can’t keep inside. It is so hard to live with something inside of you that only you know, and it always is such a relief when you can get it off of your shoulders and be able to talk to others about what is going on. So, Winston not being able to do this freely, and being considered committing a major crime, is a hard concept to understand, because I have never had to deal with that kind of constriction. This passage made me feel bad for Winston and for the constant build-up of emotions inside of him, because of him not being able to vent to someone about what is going on.

Make believe societies appearing to be perfect, but under the surface are corrupt and falling apart. An ideal parts, called utopia and the destructive parts, dystopias are known to be imaginative worlds typically, that both relate to each other. Dystopia is a society characterized by human misery as squalor, oppression, disease and overcrowding ("dystopia"). Whereas utopia is any real or imaginary society, place or state, etc, considered to be perfect or ideal ("utopia"). Utopias have an idyllic world where its citizens live in peace and harmony without any disruptions. It can quickly be demolished by dreadful events and eventually citizens of utopia are expose aspects of the outside world such as crime, overcrowding, and explicit content.

It’s crazy how many books and story lines can be so similar yet be written by different people and in different time periods. Brave New World was written in 1932 and in 1949 George Orwell published 1984, but both share some of the same elements. The movie The Hunger Games came out more recently, in 2012, and it is also somewhat similar to these novels. They all share the same dystopian elements, which include, futuristic, illusion of a perfect society, protagonist who rebels, and a totalitarian control. In Brave New World everyone must live according to the values of The World State, they are controlled through pleasure. In 1984 everyone lives under the control of Big Brother and The Party, they are monitored at all times and controlled through

Winston is defiant and rebels against Big Brother and the Party through various actions. For example, he continuously wrote “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” in his diary (Orwell 21). This simple thought is considered to be a severe crime where Winston lives because

One of the most important things Winston had learned, in O’Brien’s eyes, was that he began to change his mind towards the ideals of Big Brother. In George Orwell’s 1984, Winston is a man who is attempting to hold on to his humanity. He is found guilty of thoughtcrime by O’Brien, who is a member of the inner party. Big Brother believes this to be a crime against all humanity and that time is not a continuum. He wants this so people don’t think about their future, so that they will obey whatever Big Brother says. They convince the people that Big Brother is always right with their three step process,”’There is learning, there is understanding, and there is acceptance,’” Winston is in the second part of the three steps (260). His humanity began