Part I sets up the misery of Winston's

world before he outwardly expresses

any sort of rebellion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEHVu82lEY

Winston Smith is living in London, chief city of Airstrip One

(formerly known as England), in the superstate of Oceania. It ishe
thinks1984.

Setting .place / period

Type of government
Oceania is a totalitarian state dominated by the principles of Ingsoc
(English Socialism) and ruled by an organization known simply as the
Purpose of war
Party. Oceania and the two other world super states, Eurasia and
Eastasia, are involved in a continuous war over the remaining world,
and constantly shift alliances. As the novel progresses, it becomes clear
that the war is largely an illusion, and that the three super
states maintain this illusion for their mutual benefit. It serves their
shared purpose of holding onto absolute power over their respective
peoples. Much of the warfare, in fact, is inflicted by these
governments upon their own citizens.

Oceanic society is hierarchical and oligarchic. At the bottomwhere

the vast majority of the population lies are the "proles" or
proletariat, the working classes who are uneducated and largely
left alone by the government except when it is necessary to tap into
mass patriotism or political participation. Above the proles is the
Outer Party, less privileged members of the Party who spend their
time keeping the wheels of the Party machine well-oiled and running
smoothly. These people are systematically brainwashed from a young
age and are kept under constant surveillance by ubiquitous
"telescreens" (which can receive and transmit visual and aural
impulses simultaneously) and the ominous Thought

Oligarchy( government in
which a small group exercis
control especially for corrup
and selfish purposes;

Social structure
Proles
Outer party..
Inner party .
BIG BROTHER .

Police.
1

Where Winston Works

Above the Outer Party are the Inner Party members, who enjoy the
fruits of power and production, and whose sole aim is to perpetuate
power for the Party, forever. At the very top of the pyramid is Big
Brother, the embodiment of the Party, a "face" and glorified persona
which it is easier to love than an abstract collective organization.

Why do you think writing in

diary can be compromising
Why does he do it ?

What is his characteristic?

On this April day, Winston has left the Ministry of Truth, where
he works in the Records Department, to take his lunch break at home,
because he wishes to write in his diary a compromising activity and a
compromising possession to begin with. Yet, despite his fears, he is
overwhelmed with the need to impose some sanity upon his world.
Winston is a rebel at heart, a heretic who does not subscribe to Party
doctrines or beliefs.
Winstons past .

Who does he think is knock

at the door ?
Why are the children descri
as demons ?

After reflecting on the day's events, notably the event which inspired
him to begin the diary on this day, Winston is startled by a knock on
the door. Could it be the Thought Police already?

What does his job involve ..

Fortunately, it is only his neighbor Mrs. Parsons, asking him to help

her unclog her kitchen sink drain. He does, and after being briefly
tormented by her childrendangerous little demons already
brainwashed by the Party and certain to turn on their parents one
dayhe returns to his flat.

What part of his job does he enjoy ?

Winston's diary and his dreams and memories of the past are all
testament to his need to anchor himself in the past, believing it to be
more sane than the world he lives in now. The description of his
dreams and memories gradually unfolds the developments which have

What role does truth have in

his job?

led to the current world order.

How is the past described ???

What was his relationship with his wife Katherine like

Winston's job at the fraudulently-named Ministry of Truth involves

the daily rewriting of history: he corrects "errors" and "misprints"
in past articles in order to make the Party appear infallible and
constantalways correct in its predictions, always at war with one
enemy. Currently the enemy is Eurasia, and it follows (according to
the Party) that it has always been Eurasia, though Winston knows this
to be untrue.
Despite his horror at the Party's destruction of the past, Winston
enjoys his part in it, taking pleasure in using his imagination in
rewriting Big Brother's speeches and such.

It becomes apparent, through a painstaking unfolding of detail, that the

standards of living in Oceania are barely tolerable. For the majority
of the population, goods are scarce, and everything is ugly and tastes
horrible. Depressed, Winston wonders if the past were better. Once
upon a time, did people enjoy marriage, was sex pleasurable, were
there enough goods to go around? He recalls his own dismal marriage
to Katharine, a frigid woman so inculcated with Party doctrine that she
hates sex but insists upon it once a week as "our duty to the Party."

Life standards in Oceania

Hope

Winston feels that the only hope lies in the proles, if they wake up
one day and realize that they are not living the kind of life they could
be. But will they wake up?
Tormented by memories and searching for answers, Winston walks

What do you think the

antique shop represents
3

The second part of the book traces hopeful events.

How does Julia relate to the party ?

aimlessly through a prole area. He tries to talk to an old man about the
past, but can't seem to get anywhere. Eventually, he finds himself in
front of the antique shop where he had bought the diary. He enters,
starts to chat with Mr. Charrington (the proprietor), and wanders
through the quaint antiques. He buys a beautiful glass paperweight.
Mr. Charrington talks to him some more and shows him an upstairs
room furnished with old furniture. There is no telescreen in this
room, amazing Winston, and inspiring him to consider renting this
room as a hiding placethough he immediately dismisses the idea as
lunacy. Still, enchanted, he resolves to come back sometime.

How would you describe h

deduction on the girl who
works in his ministry

Upon leaving the shop, he is startled to see a girl with dark hair who
works in his Ministry. There is no reason for her to be in this area, and
he deduces she must have been following him. Terrified, he hurries
home and tries to write in his diary, but cannot.

How does the encounter

come about ?

It opens with a startling encounter with the girl with dark hair. They
pass one another in a corridor. She trips and falls on her injured arm;
Winston helps her up. As he does, she slips him a note. He is surprised
but tries not to show it. When he finally reads it, he is astonished to see
that it says, "I love you."
Winston tries to figure out how they can meet. After a few days, they
finally manage to exchange some words in the canteen, and meet later
that evening in Victory Square (once, apparently, Trafalgar Square).
4

Who is OBrien and what is Winstons attitude towards

him ?

There, the girl discreetly gives him directions to a meeting place where
they will rendezvous on Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoon rolls
around, and Winston and the girl, Julia, meet out in the countryside.
He is surprised and delighted to find that she detests the Party and goes
out of her way to be as "corrupt" as possible. They spend a pleasant
time together, and make love.

What strikes you about

Winstons enjoyment ?

Winston and Julia start to meet clandestinely in the streets to "talk by

instalments," as Julia calls it; private meetings are rare and difficult to
coordinate. But they do manage once more that month. They talk as
much as they can and get to know one another's personalities and
histories.

Finally, the pressures and troubles of arranging meetings induce them

to take the risky step of renting Mr. Charrington's upstairs room. In this
room, they start to act like a married couple Julia puts on makeup
The Brotherhood is
and plans to get a dress, so she can feel like a woman, while Winston

enjoys the sensation of privacy and the novelty of being

able to lie in bed with your loved one and talk as much
(or as little) as you want about whatever you wish. As
time passes, they grow closer and talk about escaping
together, though they know it is impossible.

Winston and Julia correct

old newspapers
to

At about this time, O'Brien an Inner Party member for whom

Winston feels an inexplicable reverence, and some sort of bond
suddenly makes an overture, presenting Winston with his address. This
5

Part III recounts the downfall of Winston and Julia.

Who does Obrien turn out to be

Why does the party behave as it does ?

seems to be a sign. Winston and Julia go to O'Brien's flat together.

There they are inducted into the Brotherhood, a legendary
underground anti-Party organization founded by Emmanuel
Goldstein, a former Party member. O'Brien gives them instructions
and details on what to expect and what not to expect.

What happens to their

dream of happiness ..

Here Hate Week intervenes. Months and weeks of preparation

are nothing to the flurry the Ministry of Truth is cast into when
suddenly, at the climax of Hate Week, it is made known that Oceania
is at war with Eastasia rather than Eurasia. Winston and Julia and all
their co-workers are thrown into a 90-hour-stretch of correcting old
newspapers, since it must be made to appear that Oceania has
always been at war with Eastasia.

Winston has received the book, the bible of the Brotherhood written
by Emmanuel Goldstein, but has not had time to read it until his work
at the Ministry finally finishes. All workers are given the rest of the
Describe Winstons
day off, and he and Julia head separately for their upstairs room.
imprisonment.
There Winston reads a good deal about what he already knows. Julia
comes in, and after they make love he settles down to read the book to
her. She falls asleep, and shortly after he realizes this, he closes the
Why is Parsons in prison ?
book and goes to sleep too.
When they awaken, the old-fashioned clock says 8:30, but various
hints indicate that it is 8:30 a.m., not p.m. as Winston and Julia
suppose. They stand together, looking out at the world, feeling how

feeling

beautiful it is,
hopeful that the future will be all right
even though they will not live to see it.
Suddenly they hear a voice and jump apart. There has been a

How is Winston considere

6

telescreen in the room, behind a picture hanging over the bed.

Winston and Julia have been caught. Helpless, they are taken away
by the Thought Police, their momentary glimpse of happiness
shattered.
.
What is Winstons thought crime ?

After being held in a common prison for a while, Winston is

transferred to the Ministry of Love. He sits in his cell, starving,
thirsty, tortured by fear, waiting for he does not know what. As he
waits, people come in and out, including Ampleforth, the poet from his
department, and Parsons, who has been denounced by his seven-yearold daughter. Other people he does not know come in, and through

What does he see in the

mirror ?

them he hears about "Room 101," which seems to terrify

everyone. He thinks longingly of being smuggled a razor blade by the
Brotherhood, though he knows he probably wouldn't use it.
The end of the book
How has Winston changed ?
What can be heard from the telescreen ..-..

At last the door opens and, to his utter shock, Winston sees O'Brien
come in. His assumption is that O'Brien has been captured; but it turns
out that O'Brien was never a member of the Brotherhood, and that
the whole thing had been a trap.

What does Winstons reeducation consist in ?

Winston is tortured and interrogated for a seemingly endless

time. Somehow he feels that O'Brien is behind it all, directing the
entire process with a twisted kind of love. Finally he finds himself
alone with O'Brien, who tells him he is insane and that they are to
work together to cure him. Winston's discussions with O'Brien dwell
on the nature of the past and reality, and reveal much about the
Party's approach to those concepts. They also uncover a good deal in
O'Brien's personality, which is a puzzling and intricate one. Perhaps
most importantly, the discussions finally answer Winston's former
question, "WHY?" The Party, O'Brien explains with a lunatic intensity,

What makes Winston turn

away from Julia :::::
What saves him.

seeks absolute

power,

for power's own

sake.

This is why it does what it does; and

its quest will shape the world into an even more nightmarish one than
it already is.
Winston cannot argue; every time he does, he is faced with obstinate
logical fallacy, a completely different system of reasoning which runs
counter to all reason. His final attempt to argue with O'Brien ends in
O'Brien showing Winston himself in the mirror. Winston is beyond
horrified to see that he has turned into a sickly, disgusting sack of
bones, beaten into a new face.
After this, Winston submits to his re-education. He is no longer
beaten; he is fed at regular intervals; he is allowed to sleep (though the
lights, of course, never go out). He seems to be making "progress," but
underneath he is still holding onto the last remaining kernel of
himself and his humanity: his love for Julia.
This comes out when, in the midst of a dream, Winston cries aloud,
"Julia! Julia! Julia, my love! Julia!"
This thought

crime is his undoing. He is taken to Room

101, where he is threatened with the possibility of being eaten alive

by rats. Insane with panic and terror, he screams that they should do it
to Julia, not him. Physically he is saved by this betrayal; but it has
wiped away the last trace of his humanity and his ability to hold
himself up with any sort of pride.
The end of the book finds Winston a shell of a man, completely
succumbed to the Party. He and Julia no longer love each other; after
8

Room 101, this is impossible for both of them. He is essentially

waiting for his death. As he sits in the Chestnut Tree Cafe, musing
distractedly (but never rebelliously) on the wreck of his life, word
comes over the telescreen that Oceania has won a major victory
against Eurasia (with which it is back at war) and that she now has
complete control over Africa. Winston is just as triumphantly
excited as everyone else, and he gazes up at the portrait of Big
Brother with new understanding. At last, he loves Big Brother.