Errors have been made, but others will be blamed.

This is an example of the fundamental

qualities that shape Winstons journey through Orwells idea of the perfect communist world in
his work 1984, which is devoid completely of all personality, choice, and other qualities that
truly make one human. In Britain, a dystopian society ruled by the Party and its various
ministries has its government represented by the symbolic Big Brother. This shady figure
continually evokes fear in all the Party workers and common people, reminding them to never
commit thought crime, which are any sort of negative thoughts toward the government. Winston,
the tragic protagonist, hates Big Brother and tries to rebel bit by bit by having an affair with
fellow Party member Julia and also by reading a very anti-Party novel that represents capitalism,
but Winston is ultimately tricked into trusting a double agent of the Party. Unfortunately yet
inevitably, Winston is brainwashed and tortured into loving his leader, Big Brother, once and for
all. All through his fictitious dystopian work 1984, George Orwell portrays his idealistic view of
communism in its lack of privacy and individualism, and confronts them through bold literary
devices.
As Winston ponders in his secret diary, a gloomy & unadorned writing style uncovers his
restricted sense of speech and freedom that is affected so strongly by his surroundings. It goes as
far as to Winston behaving indifferently and slightly unsteady when in romantic situations with
Julia, which is clearly due to them suffering at the hand of the Partys dreadful supervision.
Following their declaration of love for one another through passionate coitus, Winston goes on to
analyze their climax [as] a victory and simply a blow struck against the Party, making any
plausibility they ever loved each other disappear immediately (72). It seems that the Party has
succeeded in sticking this idea of physical pleasure at the same cheapened level of
Coronel 1
uncomfortable disgust which only makes Winston and Julias affair all the more of a exciting
rebellious act as they present a foil to everything the Party stands for (Lehman 2). At the same
time, one must realize that often in Orwells work, writing was itself though to be some sort of
political act and this is even supported through his six stylistic rules that all focused on
delivering a message straight forward (Meyers 9-11). When at the work place, Winston also tries
to keep his anxious rebellious interior hidden with his seemingly indifferent and diligent exterior.
Alone in his apartment, Winston is terribly scared of letting his thoughts wander as he believes
the smallest thing can give [him] away, and he struggles to stay nonchalant sometimes (34).
However, Winston finds little difficulty with this conduct of complete lack of concern when at
work and he goes on to believe Syme had never existed just because his name is removed from
the printed list of all members of Symes previous Party committee (86). All this lack of
enthusiasm in this daily life allows the Party to completely take over Winston psychologically
when dangerous emotions like anger can finally be funneled through the Two Minutes
Hate, which is mandatory and completely biased towards one feeling the need to favor the
Party and nothing but as it gives the restless people a chance to scream in disgust at democratic
ideals (Lehman 2).
From Big Brother to Oldspeak, symbolism is combined with allegory and imagery to
represent Winstons meager grasp of underlying doctrines that form the Partys true dark soul.
Technology can be either used in a beneficial or destructive way and in Winstons world, its the
latter as tele-screens put Big Brother and the Party in complete domination while placing him
and the rest of his world in a unceasing misery. With Winston, BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING
[him] twenty four seven so there is no time to think properly, act originally, or feel like a true
Coronel 2
individual as his eyes follow [Winston] about when [he] moves (1). In modern society, some
still suffer the same fate of relentless terror, as with the graven images of Iraqs Saddam
Hussein that were everywhere in Iraq before the war ended in 2003... so forbidding Husseins
face was that it was up to Americans to bring down his statue as Iraqis were afraid to go near
it (Dickey 1). Fortunately, Emmanuel Goldstein provides a hopeful foil to Big Brother in
Orwells dark pit of communism as Goldstein represents everything Winston hopes to become.
Goldstein is that Enemy of the People who is hated by all with a passion without anyone really
comprehending why, which is ironic because its Big Brother they should be acting primitively
towards everyday in Two Minutes Hate but because of this perpetual state of war governed by
the Party, the bizarre social stability allows this sort of cataclysm to occur (Ranald 7).
Furthermore, not only does Goldstein [abuse] Big Brother, [denounce] the dictatorship of the
Party, and [demand] the immediate conclusion of peace with Eurasia, he actually epitomizes
all Winston desires with freedom of speech and thought and what Winston hopes to become (7).
In combining symbolism with further trademarks, Oldspeak can be fused with Goldstein and
Newspeak can be attached loyally next to Big Brother as they represent the past and future.
Newspeak was coined to describe a language employed by Big Brothers followers where
words mean the reverse of their true meanings and it is easier to conform to an ideology as
genuine thought is repulsed or nearly unimaginable to communicate (Stewart 1). Winston sees
Newspeak as another threat to little history he dares to remember, but the Party enjoys the
destruction of words as they try to get rid of the very thing that makes one human- innovation
through communication (28-29). It is authentic shame then that this must endure in modern
society, as Tweetspeak lives to replace Orwells version of Newspeak and individuals younger
Coronel 3
than Winston himself subject themselves to the voluntary cannibalism of standard English.
(Ruth 2).
Allusions arising from literature, philosophy, historical figures, and pop culture represent
how the Partys media distorts all reality and past. The morsels of literature and philosophy
Winston remembers embody his aspirations to recognize and appreciate more history, rich with
its declarations of all the Party is strongly against. Its is regrettable then that the Party plans to
annihilate all real knowledge of Oldspeak by the year 2050, resulting in the past voices of men
like Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, [and] Byron to be radically revamped to benefit the Partys
ideals and to further prevent inspiration for rebellion (29). In Winstons thoughts, this sort of
language can only annihilate a whole culture [and] a whole system of thought and his poor soul
may only be left to not even be able to contemplate these ancient time[s] (17). One cannot help
but feel sorry for Winstons second-rate lifestyle as he is stripped of universal values all
humans possess like love, family, and freedom of thought- one by one, but at the same time
one can almost feel a new surge of appreciation for what they think is a second-rate life as they
observe Winston's (Lehman 1). In the historical figures and pop culture mentioned in 1984, the
conceptual similarities are present as they construct realities and fantasies. It is possible to weave
any fantasy into reality and place them in the same class as Charlemagne or Julius Caesar, as
Winston demonstrates through creating Comrade Oglivy, the noble soldier of the Party known
only, shockingly, solely through Party propaganda (26). To make matters worse, the Partys
imitations are not improvements, but significant degradations and are all curiously lifeless and
unconvincing, which conveniently describes the Party perfectly (44). Even so, its ironic to think
that Orwell himself actually utilized journalism as a gateway for attack[ing] politicians lies and
Coronel 4
blatant fear-mongering tactics, which is exactly what Winston witnesses daily but can do
nothing about (Meyers 1).
Ultimately, what truly defines this entire composition of lies and deceit is plain tragedy at
its best and this is what really justifies and defines many of of the gruesome and dramatic turns
of events in Winstons lowly life. First in this diminishing process comes rebellion. In
anticipation, Winston finally decides to act on rebellion and seized by a kind of hysteria as he
furiously writes down his first written words of truly free expression, and this catalyst acts as a
drug and Winston cant help but to continually try to reach a new high (10). Later, Winston
succeeds in reaching that high by having a very sexual affair with Julia, but while her rebellion is
physical only, Winston wishes to understand the intellectual basis of the system so that he
may counteract it further down the road, however, Winston fails to realize that Julias downfall
was only inevitable at that point and might have been predicted, which is his first mistake in
the act of rebellion (Ranald 2). While his search for truth and decency leads Smith to
ultimately become a entire new piece of rubber, because at this point hes barely human, one can
always be reassured by the fact that one must have had independence and spiritual dignity in
order for someone to have to cut it away completely from them (Stewart 1). The second and last
stage of Winstons tragedy is ultimately his termination and completeness of indignity. In his
final struggle at the Ministry of Love, which of course really means one learns to never love
again, OBrien explains to Winston that basically in the journey to self-disservice, there are three
stages and they are as follows: learning, understanding, and acceptance, and as Winston
passes through each of these, he must learn to never be human, understand that this is inevitable,
and accept this feeling of emptiness for as long as he lives, which of course cannot be guaranteed
Coronel 5
for long anymore (151). Following this process, Winston ponders briefly on his cruel, needless
misunderstanding of what was wrong about the Party because now there is no way now to not
have ever loved Big Brother, so the Party prevails (172-173). Literally or figuratively, the fate
of Winston all lies in 1984, as he revolts, fails, and is reformed, reformed meaning stripped of
any human right that was originally given to people by their ability of expression (Ranald 1).
Through out George Orwells fictitious dystopian novel, 1984, a totalitarian Utopian
setting defies the standards of common privacy and individualism through a diversity of dark
literary devices. From his style of writing to the hatred and later love for Big Brother, Orwell
makes indifference and gloominess combined with a strange dose of allegory create a perfect
protagonist. Yet from the depths of the past that allusions bring to the justifications that tragedy
presents for all of Winstons life events, Orwell also succeeds in creating a perfect antagonist.
The two mesh in a typical good versus evil, but it goes deeper as it deals with individualism and
what truly defines the human race. This timeless idea can be seen most popularly with Apples
first ever commercial, portraying captive PC users as being released free from their bondages
and tele-screens and finally being able to use their very own personal laptops. Maybe without
even realizing it, Apple showed already in its very first commercial that just with freedom of
expression that 1984 rejects in every way, they would be able to radically change this world. The
best part? Apple is doing just that.
Coronel 6
Works Cited
Dickey, Christopher. "'Big Brother Is Watching You'."Newsweek International (2011): 1.
eLibrary.. Web. 16 April 2012.
Lehman, Eric D. "What It Means to Be Human in 1984 and Today." Phi Kappa Phi Forum
(2010): n.pag.eLibrary. Web. 24 April 2012.
Meyers, Jefferey. "GEORGE ORWELL AND THE ART OF WRITING." Kenyon Review 27.4
(2005): 92.eLibrary. Web. 16 April 2012.
Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Signet Classic , 1950. Print.
Ranald, Ralph A. "Works of George Orwell: Character Analyses and Critical Commentary."
MacMillan General Reference (1963): n.pag. eLibrary. Web. 16 April 2012.
Ruth, Dawn. "TWITTER VERSUS THOUGHT." New Orleans Magazine (2010): 1-2. eLibrary..
Web. 5 May 2012.
Stewart, Garrett. "1984." World Book Online Reference Center. (2012): 1. eLibrary. Web. 17
April 2012.
Coronel 7