1984

1984

1. Characters

   • Winston Smith
     • Main protagonist
     • Resents the authoritarian regime of the Party and attempts to rebel
   • Julia
     • She starts out with a strident anti-party strand
     • Suppressed the same way as Winston is
   • O'Brien
     • Prominent member of the Inner Circle of the Party
     • Traps Winston into betraying his unorthodox views and presides over his torture and degradation
   • Mr. Charrington
     • Member of the powerful Thought Police
     • Disguises himself as a 'prole' and entraps Winston
   • Ampleforth
     • One of Winston's colleagues at the Ministry of Thruth
     • Job is to "rewrite" old poems in keeping with Party ideology
     • Arrested for Thought Crimes
   • Parsons
     • Colleague of Winston's who despite stupid and unquestioning adhearence to the Party line is still arrested
   • Big Brother
     • Symbolises Party dominance
     • Presence is everywhere on posters, on cigarette covers, on coins and on telescreens
   • Emmanuel Goldstein
     • Number one enemy of the People according to the Party
     • Written a subversive book and to head a mysterious anti-party organisation called 'The Brotherhood'
   • Symes
     • Colleague of Winston's who is executed
   • Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford
     • 3 original leaders of the Party who were later founded traitors and executed

2. Symbolism, Imagery and Allegory

   • Victory Gin, Victory Cigarettes
     • Escape and self-medication
     • Winston drinks gin to sedate his paranoia; downs a shot or two before writing in his jounal
     • Smokes cigarettes to calm himself down
   • The paperweight, the old man in the prole bar, St. Clement's Church
     • Winston buys the paperweight to reconnect with the past
     • When the Thought Police in the end arrived to take Winston and Julia away, the glass paperweight shattered on the ground. As if all of Winston's chances of recovering the past have shattered

3. Setting - Oceania

   • Is set in near-future Oceania. Oceania is in a constant state of War, and bomb explosions are ubiquitous. Living conditions are poor; with the buildings dilapidated, the food synthetic and rationed out, wagers poor, and clothing shoddy. No privacy. Telescreens monitors behaviour visually and audily in almost every room.

4. Narrators point of view

   • Third person, limited omniscient
   • Feel the same emotions as its protagonist, Winston is confronted with the irony of his love and hate for certain characters

5. Genre: Drama, dystopian literature, parody, science-fiction

6. Tone: sharp and pessimistic

7. 3 Act Book Analysis

   • Act 1: experiences Winston's life through his eyes and how much he hates the Party
   • Act 2: introduction to Julia and ends with Winston and Julia being caught and taken away by the Thought Police
   • Act 3; Winston is in the Ministry of Love; physically and psychologically manipulated until he accepts and loves the Party. O'Brien reforms Winston the nonconformist into being a conformist

8. Quotes

   • Power
     • "Winston kept his back turned to the telescreen" - fear runs so deep in Winston that he feels if he turns his back on a telescreen, his rebellious spirit may be caught