Unorthodox In 1984

Improved Essays
George Orwell, author of the novel 1984, once stated, “Threats to freedom, writing and action, though often trivial in isolation, are cumulative in their effect and, unless checked, lead to a general disrespect for the rights of the citizen” (King). Orwell correctly states the cause for the disrespect of human rights, as Big Brother is not tested for corruption, with the exception of a few unorthodox characters such as Winston Smith, Julia, and Emmanuel Goldstein. Orwell’s 1984 includes the protagonist, Winston Smith, who lives in Oceania and has a love affair with a Ministry of Truth worker named Julia. The Party sets all regulations and rules for the citizens of Oceania, except for lower class citizens, recognized as proles. Winston never …show more content…
The 39-year-old Ministry of Truth worker, Winston Smith, begins his defiant behavior by writing “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” in a diary that is purchased from Mr. Charrington’s store (Orwell 19). Little does Winston know, O’Brien is overseeing Winston’s unorthodox actions, eventually resulting in O’Brien torturing Winston Smith. Next, Winston and Julia first congregate in the country and make love, a consequence that is punishable by death. To advance his affair with Julia, Winston leases a room atop Mr. Charrington’s store, and Julia and Winston begin to live together. Winston begins to believe O’Brien is part of the Brotherhood movement, allowing Winston to obtain an Emmanuel Goldstein novel from O’Brien. Winston reads the outlawed novel, pushing his desire to discover the past. Winston becomes rather angry at the party and its alteration of the past: “If the party could thrust its hand and say of this or that event, it never happened – that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death?” (Orwell 32). This proves how deeply affected Winston is by the corruption of the past of the Party and shows Winston would rather die than have the past altered. Winston is the most unorthodox character in 1984, but his acquaintance, Julia, is not far …show more content…
Julia, a 26-year-old worker in the Ministry of Truth, slips Winston a note stating, “I love you” (Orwell 90). To express love in Oceania is forbidden because the Party wants all love and passion devoted to Big Brother. Also, Julia arranges to meet with Winston in the Golden Country. The Party does not allow the meeting and communication of opposite genders. In addition, Winston has nightmares while sleeping with Julia, and Julia remains calm and is not worried about being caught. Julia states, “What’s the matter?” after Winston wakes up crying from a nightmare (Orwell132). Julia is clearly not bothered by the idea of the Thought Police capturing Winston and her. Julia’s love for Winston is extremely unorthodox, propelling Julia to be one of the most unorthodox characters in Orwell’s

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    As mentioned in chapter thirteen, most politically centered books “address the rights of persons and the wrongs of those in power.” This is the exact goal that George Orwell accomplished in his novel about Winston’s life and job. Winston and everyone around him are being wronged and “Big Brother” and the Party members are the ones in power doing the wronging. Most things mentioned in 1984 can be tied back to real life events that George Orwell lived…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1984 Rhetorical Analysis

    • 768 Words
    • 4 Pages

    1984, written by George Orwell in 1949, is a dystopian novel written from the point of view of a common citizen named Winston Smith. 1984 is a year where there is a totalitarian government, ruling by the name of “Big Brother,” in the country of Oceania. Winston begins the story by writing his thoughts into a diary, which is banned by the Party, knowing that he will eventually become found out and put to death. The novel covers his story, along with his experiences with Big Brother. Overall; however, the novel produces a highly foreboding tone of hopelessness, shown through literary devices such as: irony, paradoxes, and the tone.…

    • 768 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    George Orwell’s 1984, like many other dystopian novels, features an all-powerful government that has changed the population to better suit their needs. That is, to keep the powerful in power. 1984 stands out from the crowd in how it depicts this greed. While the governments of many dystopian novels excuse their grabbing for power by claiming that it is for the greater good of the people, the Party of 1984 gives no excuse whatsoever, and makes little effort to hide it. O’Brien, when torturing Winston, asks him why the Party clings to its power.…

    • 1707 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    This relationship has many readers taken by surprise, due to Winston’s initial hatred toward her. But, as time goes on it becomes clear that Winston hates Julia out of envy because she has something Winston doesn’t: composure, adolescence, and boldness. We eventually find out they have more in common than initially thought. To begin, Winston and Julia are both individuals that seek to rebel against the party, even though their motives are different. Winston’s rebellion is selfless.…

    • 1140 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When people are afraid, their very first instinct is to protect themselves over others; as a result, human relationships are weakened. David Creato Jr.’s murder of his son and the novel 1984 exemplify that human relationships are weak when it comes to fear. David Creato’s killing of his three-year-old son for his girlfriend depicts that an individual’s fear dominates relationships. In August 2017, New Jersey man David Creato Jr. pleaded guilty to suffocating three-year-old Brendan, because he “feared his then-17-year-old girlfriend, who was away at college, was going to leave him.” She had emphasized that she did not wish to be around the child and wanted Creato to give up custody.…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1984 Rhetorical Analysis

    • 1566 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Additionally, the Party in Oceania had redefined love, and therefore effectively brainwashed its people into following Big Brother, and Big Brother alone. At the end of the book, it is revealed about Winston, “He loved Big Brother” (298). Relationships with people are destroyed because of this propaganda and because the citizens are taught that complete loyalty to Big Brother is the equivalent of love, they blindly follow the path set for them. Even Winston, who held out against the Party’s control, succumbs to the powerful word manipulation that exists in Oceania when he admits to loving Big…

    • 1566 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Modern Day Technology is Creating a 1984-Type Society George Orwell’s novel 1984 tells the story of Winston Smith, a man living in the dystopian society of Oceania in the year 1984. Oceania is ruled over by Big Brother and the Inner Party, a political group that believes in Ingsoc, English Socialism, and creating a world free of unorthodoxy and individuality. This is done by inventing Newspeak, Oceania’s official language designed to limit individual thought, and organizations like the Thought Police, who punish people that go against the Party’s ideals. Winston, unlike most of the population, dislikes the Party and believes in creating a society that embraces freedom of thought.…

    • 368 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1984 describes a story of a dystopian society in Oceania, where a man named Winston, lives. This man contrasts with the whole of the Party, as he understands that Party deceives the people and makes them believe that everything told to them equals truth. George Orwell often utilizes a main character, who differs from all others, to highlight values of the society within which the character lives in his other novels. In the case of 1984, Orwell brings Winston into the novel to display all things wrong with his society. George Orwell uses Winston’s class standing alongside his feelings to create this alienation, which reveals the society’s moral values.…

    • 723 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Theme Of Freedom In 1984

    • 1816 Words
    • 8 Pages

    More Security, Less Freedom George Orwell’s dystopian book, 1984, is a step into the future, along with many side effects. This includes the people of Oceania, where the book takes place, and their security that comes with a price of their freedom. Winston is the main character in this novel and tries to ignore the fact, at first, that he doesn 't believe in Big Brother. While Winston is on his journey to freedom he comes across Julia, his beloved soul mate, and together they rebel against the Party. With many acts of rebellion the couple soon gets caught and their love and freedom of individuality is put on the line.…

    • 1816 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    1984 Betrayal

    • 1313 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Whether it is through a loving yet detrimental bond between two main characters, an explicit lie made by a supposed friend and Brotherhood member to Winston, or the ultimate self-inflicting factor, betrayal has a significant influence on the novel. A major relationship in which the majority of the novel’s plot is based around, is the relationship between Winston Smith and Julia. Not only is this relationship important in terms of the plot, it is very relevant in the idea of trust leading to betrayal. In their eyes, it is a way for the two to go against the Party in control of everyone, so an indestructible trust must be present.…

    • 1313 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Mankind has always possessed two conflicting desires; the aspiration to fit in and the determination to stand out. These are two concurrent components of a complex system by which all human beings exist. But while these desires may clash with each other, an ideal life would be filled with an equal amount of both. These two forces are shown throughout George Orwell’s book, 1984. Winston violently hungers for Julia’s company because she is the only one that can understand him.…

    • 1221 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Thesis: In George Orwell’s 1984, Winston resists the Party’s degradation of basic human rights through his intimate relationship with Julia in an effort to maintain his individuality. His example inspires people today to find ways to preserve their civil liberties when faced with oppression. Party’s degradation of basic human rights Winston’s resistance to the Party’s dehumanization through his intimate relationship with Julia Conclusion: Orwell’s call for all people to fight for the preservation of their civil liberties Outline: The Inner Party ruthlessly denies its citizens their basic human rights to individually interpret the world, have private lives, and be informed of the truth.…

    • 1012 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Winston smith rebels against the party as he has a love affair with Julia, rents Mr.Charrington's, wants to join the brotherhood, and buys a paperweight. To begin, Julia and Winston's relationship are a form of "ownlife"(Orwell 82) which is a direct rebellion against the party. The “sex instinct [creates] a world of its own which [is] outside the Party's control and which therefore [has] to be destroyed if possible. ”(Orwell 132-133).Winston and Julia engage in a powerful political act that Winston considers to be a “blow struck against the Party” (Orwell 126). Therefore, for Winston and Julia, the act of having sex is an emotional release which helps them rebel against the Party.…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Individuality is a particular quality a person possesses that distinguishes one person from others, and presents uniqueness upon that individual. Individuality promotes independence and self-will, which is evident throughout many literature pieces as the individuality of characters advance. Within the novel 1984, Winston Smith is the epitome of a citizen possessing individuality within Oceania as his efforts to maintain self-control of his progress in this totalitarianism society work against him. His distrust in humanity is the root cause of his rebellion against Big Brother. As he and his new love, Julia, revolt against Oceania’s laws through their individuality, O’Brien catches, captures, and betrays them.…

    • 1459 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Although reading into this book further, there are underlying connections with the story. In this society there are many ideas and connections that tie with Marxism, Nazism, Communism and the Red Scare, subsequently during the time Orwell wrote this novel. In 1984, we see Winston as the main character. He is seen as a normal man that works as a records editor in the Records Department at the Ministry of Truth.…

    • 2185 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays