Plot Overview

Plot Overview

Winston Smith was born before the World War 2. He became an orphan when his mother and his sister disappeared one day. He is a member of the outer party and works in the Records Department in the Ministry of Truth, rewriting and distorting history. In 1984, Winston begins writing a diary, keeping negative thoughts and opinions about the Party – an act punishable by death.

One day, at the mandatory Two Minutes Hate, Winston catches the eye of an Inner Party Member, O’Brien, whom he believes to be an ally. He also catches the eye of a dark-haired girl from the Fiction Department, whom he believes is his enemy and wants him destroyed. Days later, Julia confesses her love to Winston by handing him a paper. Winston takes pain to meet her, and eventually they arranged to meet in the countryside.

They make love and begin their allegiance against the Party and Big Brother. Winston is able to secure a room above a shop where he and Julia can go for their romantic trysts. Winston and Julia fall in love, and, while they know that they will someday be caught, they believe that the love and loyalty they feel for each other can never be taken from them, even under the worst circumstances.
Eventually, they confess to O’Brien, believing he is a member of Brotherhood, their hatred for the Party. O’Brien welcomes them to the Brotherhood and asks them to read a copy of Emmanuel Goldstein’s book.

In the secure room, they read the book. To their amazement, they were disturbed by a noise behind a painting in the room and discover a telescreen. They are dragged away and separated. Winston finds himself deep inside the Ministry of Love, a kind of prison with no windows, where he sits for days alone. In there, he meets Parsons and Ampleforth (his colleagues).

Finally, O’Brien comes. Initially Winston believes that O’Brien has also been caught, but he soon realizes that O’Brien is there to torture him and break his spirit. The Party had been aware of Winston’s “crimes” all along; in fact, O’Brien has been watching Winston for the past seven years. O’Brien makes Winston go through 3 stages of “Brainwashing”.

Winston spends the next few months being tortured. O”Brien employs the concept of doublethink, the ability to simultaneously hold two opposing ideas in one’s mind and believe in them both. Initially, Winston opposes the brutal kicking, starving, fist bashing and finally, he was brought to Room 101, the most dreaded room of all in the Ministry of Love, the place where prisoners meet their greatest fear. Winston’s worst fear is rats. O’Brien threatens to release the rats and chew on Winston’s skull. Due to fear, Winston screams,” Do It to Julia!”, relinquishing his last vestige of humanity.

Thereafter, Winston is a changed man. He sits in the Chestnut Tree Café, watching the telescreens and agonizing over the results of daily battles on the front lines. He has seen Julia again. She, too, is changed, seeming older and less attractive. She admits that she also betrayed him. In the end, there is no doubt, Winston loves Big Brother.

Background Knowledge

The setting of 1984 is Oceania, a giant country comprised of the Americas. Oceania’s mainland is called Air Strip One, formerly England. The story itself takes place in London in the year 1984, a terrifying place and time where the human spirit and freedom are all but crushed. In the novel, war is constant.

In 1984, the world is sliced into three political realms—the super states of Oceania, Eastasia, and Eurasia. Each of these three states is run by a totalitarian government that is constantly warring on multiple fronts.

Oceania’s political structure is divided into three segments: the Inner Party, the ultimate ruling class, consisting of less than 2 percent of the population; the Outer Party, the educated workers, numbering around 18 to 19 percent of the population; and the Proles, or the proletariat, the working class. The Party restricts the people’s life in every aspect, having telescreens and microphones placed everywhere in the country except the outskirts of London.

Characters of 1984

Character Details

· Winston Smith
The novel’s protagonist works as a minor member of the ruling Party. He tries to find unobtrusive methods to rebel. His main desire is to remain human under inhuman circumstances. He harbours revolutionary dreams.

· Julia
She is Winston’s lover, who works in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth. She merely wants to break the rules, not change the society.

· Big Brother
He doesn’t appear in the book, but he is the leading leader of the Party.

· Emmanuel Goldstein
He is the leader of the Brotherhood, opposing party of the Party. However, no one is sure whether the Brotherhood truly exists.

· O'Brien
A mysterious, powerful and sophisticated member of the Inner Party whom Winston believes is also a member of the Brotherhood.

· Mr. Charrington
He owns a shop and later rents a room without telescreen, as it seems, to Winston for his affair. However, he is actually a member of the Thought Police.

· Parsons
He is Winston’s neighbour who ends up in the Ministry of Love with Winston, turned in by his own children. He works at the Ministry of Truth too.

· Syme
He is a Newspeak expert, who works with Winston in the Ministry of Truth. He is later vaporised, as he is too intelligent to stay in the Party’s favour.

· Ampleforth
He works at the Ministry of Truth. Like Parsons, he ends up in the Ministry of Love.