How Does Winston Gain Power In The Novel 1984

How much control does the government really have? And what do they do to keep themselves in power? The answers to these questions are shown through George Orwell’s main character Winston Smith, in Orwell’s novel, 1984. Winston Smith’s character shows how easily one can be manipulated by a dominating power, how human instinct can influence one’s decisions and actions and how the face value of something is not always true. As Winston changes throughout the novel, his actions, opinions, and beliefs change too.
In this novel Winston shows how he can be manipulated by the Party and society into believing what they want. For example when O’Brien is torturing Winston to “cure” him into believing what the Party believes, he takes everything Winston …show more content…
For example, as Julia and Winston are going to Mr. Charrington’s shop more and more frequently, they learn quirky things about the shop like the picture frame that was nailed to the wall, or the fact that Mr. Charrington himself never actually tries to sell anything, which leads up to the plot twist, “It occurred to Winston that for the first time in his life he was looking, with knowledge at a member of the Thought Police (p. 224)” Before this point Winston and Julia both thought that Mr. Charrington was on their “side.” But unfortunately that was not the case and it was at this point that Winston’s characteristics, opinions and beliefs started to change and head toward the assimilation of the Party’s beliefs. Once they have both been arrested, they are immediately put into harsh conditions to subdue them and run down their self-esteem and hope. Here, Winston takes a turn and sees what the other people who follow the Party without thought are like, for example, Parsons, he thinks that he deserves to be there for bad-mouthing Big Brother. He simply accepts his fate, unlike Winston who, through his skepticism, logical thinking, and simply a rebellious nature against the norm, fights back and tries to understand what was behind the wall that keeps them separated from being powerful. Another example of how Winston’s character reveals that what is given at face value is not always the truth is through the three men who committed treachery, confessed, and were reinstated into the Party, but then later, they were taken out and made to confess again, only this time they were killed. “There was only one possible conclusion: their confessions were lies (p. 78).” This shows that not only did Winston find out what was behind the wall of falsifying the past and altering history, but he participated in it. This turning point for his character shows that while he could have done something