George Orwell
1903-1950

Biography

Born as Eric Arthur Blair, George Orwell was born in 1903, in the Indian town of Motihari, which is close to the Nepal border. He later changed his name because he wanted to completely change his identity, from a British police officer in India to a classless anti-authoritarian.

Eric Arthur Blair spent most of his youth in India.  He was the son of a ‘lower-upper-middle class’ family in India. His family was dependant on the British Empire and was not very wealthy. Acting as administrators for the Empire, the Blair’s family had a very privileged life in India. When Eric was eight years old, his family moved back to England, but he would return in the future.

In England, Eric attended a private school in Sussex.  At the age of thirteen, Eric won a scholarship to a prestigious school.  Eton, the first public secondary school in England, had a reputation for high academic achievement.

At an early age, Eric decided that he wanted to be a writer. Consequently, his grades were not that competitive, and he did not win any scholarships to any prestigious schools.  He did find time to do intensive studies of some of English literature’s finest writers, including Jonathan Swift, Laurence Sterne, and Jack London. Nonetheless, he chose not to pursue an academic career. Instead, in 1922 he chose a life of travel and adventure with the Indian Imperial Police.

After training for five years in Burma, he retired from the police and returned to England in 1928. The two most well known reasons for his retirement are: he wanted to be a writer, and he disliked the imperialism that he enforced in India.  His views on imperialism can be seen in his early work.

Eric developed most of his writing techniques from his life experiences. Eric returned to England and was determined to become a writer. He lived in poverty-stricken areas in London and Paris, because he wanted to overcome the stereotype of his ‘upper lower middle class’ family.  In Paris, he lived in a working class area, filled with artists and writers.  He continued to live in the poor areas in London, and later wrote a book about his times named ‘Down and Out in Paris and London.’

Soon after, Eric changed his name to ‘George Orwell.’ He wanted to forget his life as an old Etonian and English colonial policeman. He chose this name for his affection for the old English countryside traditions. He chose George because he was the patron saint of England, and George V was monarch at the time, and Orwell because of the River Orwell in Suffolk was one of his favorite places.

In the late 1930’s, Orwell traveled to Spain, where he really admired the revolutionary areas that apparently were absence of a class structure. When the Spanish civil war broke out, Orwell decided to support the revolutionaries. Orwell strongly opposed Stalinism and Fascism, and later devoted his life to anti-totalitarianism.

Orwell was in Morocco when the Second World War broke out. He wanted to fight, but he had contradicted tuberculosis and was classified as unfit to fight. During the war, Orwell was a reporter for the BBC. In 1946, resettled in Scotland, where he wrote ‘1984.’  He admitted that the ‘book would not have been so harshif he had not been suffering from tuberculosis.’

Book Summary
1984

Introduction

 

1984 is a story that takes in a fictional society, one that the government is watching everyone all the time.  An invisible protector is constantly monitoring all of the activities in the city. The state enforces perfect conformity among citizens through indoctrination, fear, lies, and ruthless punishment.

This book has proven to be one of the greats in English literature.  Several major motion pictures have been made from this book, including two awarding winning recreations by the BBC and the famous American Director Richard Burton. In addition, several radio and television shows have been made based on this book. To this day, majority of English speaking high schools and universities require their students to study this book.

The reality is that many of the concepts in this book are coming true, even though the book was made over 50 years ago. Conversely, the argument can be made that life imitates what we read. However the logic of the events in this book are staggeringly plausible. With the recent innovations in the digital camera industry, Orwell’s nightmare world is closer than ever.

Another example of this books greatness is the number of phrases that are still used in modern language.  For example, almost all English speakers know the phrases ‘big brother,’ ‘thought crimes, and ‘Room 101.’ Although this book is dark and depressing, people recognize that there is truth in what Orwell wrote. 1984 will continue to be debated, and only the future can tell how real his world will be.

Chapter-by-Chapter Summary

Preface
The story is written from the third person perspective. The narrator tells us what the main character is doing and thinking, but the character is referred to by his name, not the first person pronoun ‘I.’ The narrator is all knowing, but does not get involved in the story at all.

The book was written about the future. Although parts seem like an actual account of historic events, this book is entirely fictional. The definition of  ‘totalitarianism’ in this book is not entirely representative of what has happened historically. His intentions are likely to show the worst-case scenario, so future generations can be prepared and take preventative actions.

 

Chapter 1

The portrayed world in this book is very different from the current day. The Earth is now divided into three countries: Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. However, the readers are never told how this situation came about.  Immediately in the book, the reader is told that freedom of individual thought is prohibited.

The narrator introduces us to Winston Smith, a government employee living in London, which is now a part of Oceania. The book starts in Winston’s apartment. Once inside, the narrator explains that ‘Big Brother,’ the political party that has taken over Oceania, is monitoring the apartment. This party is determined to remove all traces of individuality. The party puts cameras into every home to monitor what people are doing. Winston has a spot in his house, which is out of the range of the cameras. The book starts off here, and he is writing a diary, a highly illegal act that is punishable by death.

He starts the diary realizing that he does not the exact date. All he knows is an approximation. This tells us that timekeeping is also prohibited in this world. He is nervous at first, but eventually writes down the plot of a movie that he had just finished watching. At the end of his entry in to the diary, he repeatedly writes  ‘Down with big brother…’

During the day, he constantly thinks about whether or not he loves Big Brother. At work, the narrator tells us that all citizens of Oceania undergo a 11:00am ‘hate’ ritual, towards Emmanuel Goldstein, the Number One enemy of the People. During this time, employees express their intense anger specifically at Goldstein, a truly terrifying and disgusting ritual where everyone screams and shouts uncontrollably for two minutes. During this time, Winston notices that his colleague, O’Brien, may also share his displeasure with Big Brother. He also notices that he is sexually attracted to one of his colleagues, because she is young, pretty, and he will never have the opportunity to be with her. This realization increases his realization for his hatred for Big Brother, because love and affection are prohibited.  .

Big Brother encourages the use of ‘Newspeak, a language created to avoid individuality from the people of Oceania

The narrator also introduces the major division of government in Oceania: the Ministry of Truth deals with news, entertainment, education and fine arts. The Ministry of Love maintains law and order. The Ministry of Peace wages war, and the Ministry of Plenty handles economic affairs. For any crimes, the ‘thought police’ are sent in to inflict sever punishment, usually at night when the perpetrator is sleeping.

The chapter ends with Winston writing down his contempt of the system and his willingness for rebellion.

 

Chapter 2

Winston mistakenly places his diary on the table, with the words ‘Down with Big Brother’ visible.  Immediately after, the there was a knock on the door.  Winston greatly feared that it was the ‘thought police,’ however it was only his neighbor, Mrs. Parsons, asking him to fix her sink. The narrator explains to us that Winston detests his neighbors, specifically Mr. Parsons, because he follows the party like an obedient dog.

While at the Parsons apartment, Winston realizes that her children are brainwashed by Big Brother, and that they would be future soldiers with no loyalty to their own family. This shows that Big Brother starts training people at a very young age, to be completely devoted to the system.

Winston goes back to his apartment. While trying to think of something to add into his diary, he remembers a dream that he had, where he is walking in a dark room and he hears a voice saying 'We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.’ He is convinced that this voice was his colleague, O’Brien, but he is unsure of the meaning.

He then watches the news, which first describes a winning battle and then tells of the upcoming chocolate rationing. Of course, Big Brother hides the bad news with good.

After leaving his book out, Winston is sure that he will be executed soon. He then writes in his diary ‘Thought crime does not entail death: thought crime IS death.’

 

Chapter 3

The narrator explains one of Winston’s dreams where Winston’s mother and sister are sacrificed for him during one of Big Brother’s purges. He could not remember what happened, but he knew that he was sad. The same sadness would not be acceptable anymore, because Oceania had become too cold. He also dreams of being with the girl from his office. Winston woke up with the word 'Shakespeare' on his lips, symbolizing that his memories of humanity were coming back to him.

Winston then reminisces about life before Big Brother. He remembers a place called London England. He also remembers hiding from the first bombs with his family in a shelter. He remembers a time of peace.

Four years previously, Oceania was at war with Eastasia. However Oceania and Eastasia currently formed an alliance to fight Eurasia. The news conflictingly state that Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. Clearly this shows that the government had been actively lying to the people. However, without free thought, no one remembers. Most disturbingly, no one cares anymore.

Winston is in the middle of a group exercise thinking about the past, he is not paying much attention and then is singled out by the cameras.

 

Chapter 4
We find out that Winston’s job is to rewrite and recreate the newspaper’s archives. He also is responsible for erasing the past, so no one can prove what really happened. An intricate series of tubes is used to transfer mail to others in the building. Where they all went, no one actually knew.

Winston and his colleagues rewrite articles, and the best is chosen for the archives. Winston then thinks about his colleagues. He remembers one named ‘Withers,’ who was praised before for good work, but then disappears three months later. This signifies that the erasers of history can also be erased. Erased people are referred to as ‘unpersons.’

Winston is assigned to rewrite one of Big Brother’s speeches, so he decides to invent a totally new person as the subject of the speech, naming him Comrade Ogilvy. Comrade Ogilvy never existed, but a speech from Big Brother in the newspapers always becomes indisputable fact. The imaginary Ogilvy’s accomplishments are great enough to be compared to the all time great historical figures, like Caesar and Charlemagne. He is proud of his work, and he is sure that it will be chosen for the archives.

 

Chapter 5

While at lunch, Winston meets a friend names Syme, a writer for the latest addition of the Newspeak dictionary. Syme explains that his job is to create new simpler words and to destroy the old ones. Sym’s logic is simple: instead of having two opposite words, like ‘good’ and ‘bad,’ just use ‘good’ and ungood.’ The master plan is to eliminate all ‘Oldspeak (the book’s way of saying original English)’ words. Eventually, all the old authors like Shakespeare and Milton can be converted into Newspeak, or deleted forever.

Winston realized that human consciousness is being destroyed. Syme continues to confess that he is ashamed of his work habits, because he had been thinking in Oldspeak while converting to words into Newspeak. Winston tries to hold in his contempt and is luckily interrupted by Mr. Parsons. Mr. Parsons boasts of his children’s obedience to Big Brother, specifically how the kids informed the police about a man had set a woman on fire, but actually was only wearing strange shoes. Winston does not think that this is a good enough reason to blame someone. Winston becomes convinced that Syme and Mr. Parsons do not display any intelligence at all.

As they ate lunch, Winston notices the attractive dark haired girl is looking at him from across the cafeteria. He fears that she was a member of the thought police, and that she is spying on him.  He also notices that this dark haired girl sat behind him during the last two day’s hate ritual. He fears that he would be punished soon for leaving his diary open. He fears that we is going to become an ‘unperson’ very soon.

 

Chapter 6

Winston is writing in his diary about his sexual encounters, all of them leaving him unfulfilled and searching for an affectionate relationship.

In Oceania, the act of sex is illegal except for having children. In addition, all acts of love and eroticism are illegal. In fact, couples are not allowed to be attracted to each other. Big Brother controls all marriages, and only permit ones that benefit the party. The party prefers people to be celibate and alone.

Winston writes about his previous marriage to Katherine, a loveless marriage that did not produce any children. Katherine never enjoyed sex with Winston. They never divorced but do not live together anymore. He does not care about Katherine at all.

Winston also writes of his encounter with a prostitute. He had absolutely no attraction to her, but he had sex with her anyway. Both of his partners left him yearning for more from a woman. Winston believed that writing this down would be therapeutic, but this does not help. He realizes that he wanted to break the rules and find love. However, Big Brother strictly prohibited this.

Chapter 7

Winston is in his apartment thinking about life in Oceania. He is thinking about the party and how a new revolution is needed. He also believes that the ‘proles,’ or working class, are the only people that have the strength to fight the party. As we find out. Big Brother has been changing the history of Oceania. He thinks about how the party has helped improve the lives of the proles, by decreasing the infant birth mortality, increasing literacy etc. However, Big Brother still views the proles as slaves. As long as the proles did their work and had children, they are not important. Winston then expresses the ludicrousness and writes his thoughts into his diary.

Winston tells an interesting story about a public outburst over tin saucepans. There was a shortage, and all the women were frantic, even violent. This amazed him because they were so crazy about something so unimportant. He wishes that people could express their feelings about something more constructive.

He now realizes that all these facts may be lies, and he remembers having proof. Although he cannot remember the exact date, he remembers a news report where three of the original leaders of the revolution confessed to crimes they could not possibly have committed. He knew this because he had seen the three men in a café, and they had left behind a newspaper clipping stating that they were in a different place during the times of their crimes. He regrets not keep the article, and confirms that he would keep any future proof.

Winston also tells us about the daily lives of citizens of the party. Everyone is obliged to participate in community activities when they are not working. Even if not married, the people are obligated to spend all of their non-work time with other party members. The only time they should be alone is while sleeping. He had missed the last few community gatherings, and he knows that soon the thought police will come for him.

Winston describes a poster of Big Brother, a very powerful picture where Big Brother is watching from every angle. Winston understands how Big Brother controlled the people, but he does not know why they did.

Winston also realizes why he is writing in his diary to express his freedom. He believes that people should be allowed to say what they want without Big Brother erasing it. He also realizes that he hopes to share his ideas with his coworker, O’Brien

 

Chapter 8
One day on his way home from work, Winston chose to follow the smell of coffee. This behavior is known as ‘owness,’ and is against the law. Winston does not care and enjoys the excitement.

He ends up in a prole area. As he walked, a bomb was dropped on the city merely a few hundred meters away. Winston is not hurt, so he continues on and notices a group of men arguing over a lottery ticket, the prize being very large. Winston then tells us that he knows that no one ever wins the large prize being promised. The cities are isolated so hiding the any winner’s identity is easy.

Winston sees an old man who was approximately 80 years old. He decides to follow him into a bar.  He buys him a drink and asks him about what life was like before the party.  The old man turns out to be a drunken fool with nothing useful to say.  Winston tries to ask him questions about life before the revolution, about capitalism and the war.  The old man kept speaking nonsense.  Winston was sad because he could see the disappearance of the few remaining pieces of evidence of life in the past.

Winston finds the antique store where he originally bought his diary. He had promised himself that he would never go back, but he ends up there anyways. The owner recognizes him right away. This time, Winston purchased a piece of coral. The shopkeeper reminisces of a time when antiques were highly valuable, and now are basically worthless. He also reminisces of the old British currency, the pound, which had been replaced with dollars.

Winston recognizes a church from one of the pictures on the wall. He could not remember when it was built, but it was sometime before the revolution. In fact, they classify time into only those two times: before and after the revolution. Therefore estimating dates before the revolution was impossible.

Winston finds out the shopkeeper’s name is Charrington. He promises to come back within the month. After leaving, Winston thinks about a poem of Charrington’s: ‘Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St Clements, You owe me three farthings, say the bells of St Martin's!’  Saying this made him think about the real bells ringing.

As he hummed his tune, he saw the brown haired girl from his office. She immediately turns away and runs off. He was sure that she had been following him. However, he did not know if she was a member of the Thought Police, or simply a spy looking for advancement within the party.

Winston arrived home very late. He is worried about the Thought Police coming in while he slept. He contemplates suicide, but decides against it. He continues writing in his diary about what had happened. He thinks again about O’Brien, and about the dream that he had.

 

Chapter 9
Four days later, Winston is in his office. He sees the brown haired girl walking towards him in the hallway. She trips and falls. As Winston helps her up, she slips a note into his hand. To avoid being caught, he hides the note until it is safe to read.

At first he was very nervous. Maybe this was the Thought Police’s way of punishment, to avoid any unnecessary confrontations. He also imagines that it could be a secret underground society, and this is their way of recruiting people. He went back to work. Eight minutes later he pretends to open some files, but in fact he was reading the note. It says ‘I love you.’

The next few days were a problem for Winston: how to get in touch with the girl again. He fantasizes about sexual encounters with her. He also tries to develop a plan to meet her again, which is difficult because she had been working in a different department. He could not send her a letter, or follow her after work, because he does not want to be suspicious. He decides to wait to see her in the cafeteria, preferably when there is not that many people around. Unfortunately, there were no opportunities for several days.

Eventually at lunch, he has an opportunity to sit with her. Unfortunately, he is asked to sit with another colleague. More importantly, she notices him. The next day he she is there at the same time and same place. He sat across from her but does not look at her for fear of being detected. They sat in silence for a little while, but then he finally asks, “where can I meet you?” She has an answer ready and they set up a meeting after work, in a public place with lots of people around. They could not be seen talking to each other, so she leaves abruptly.

Winston goes to the designated spot to wait. She is late but arrives eventually. As some soldiers drive by, Winston moves towards her, but did not look. She gives him directions to meet her in a prole area on their next day off. Then she orders him away. 

Chapter 10
Winston goes to the designated place and waits for her. They meet in the lane and continue to the designated place. After some small talk, they kiss. Winston is not used to this at first, because he has never done this before. She appears to be more experienced.

Afterwards they talk and finally Winston finds out her name is Julia. She asks him what he had thought of her before she passed him the note. He told her the truth that he hated and loathed her at first.

They talk some more. Julia told him that she is a proper party member on the outside, but was wild underneath. She gives him some chocolate that she had purchased on the black market.

They then go to the clearing to make love. Julia informs him that she has had many lovers before with other party members, but never any from the inner party because she hated them. Winston admits that he hates the purity within the party. Although she has had many partners, Winston seems to more attracted to her. She admits to loving sex, and Winston uses this as his moment to initiate the love-making.

When he wakes up, he comes to the realization that making love was an act of rebellion against the party, and he wants to repeat his rebellion.

 

Chapter 11
Julia and Winston decide to start a relationship. They meet as often as they can, but this is difficult because of the supervision. Julia admits that she does not know about any underground societies, but she is not interested because she prefers to live as a rebel. Julia tells of her defiance of the party was more about seeing how much she could get away with before getting caught.

She tells Winston about her former job with the PornoSec department. Winston always thought that men have the more sexually deviant personalities and is shocked to hear that women also have the same thoughts.

Julia tells Winston of her past lovers. Winston tells her of his marriage to Katherine, including a time that he could have easily murdered her without getting caught. He now feels that he should have.

Chapter 12
Winston goes back to Charrington’s shop and asks if he can rent a room upstairs. This way, he and Julia can have a place to go every time. Although this is a direct violation of the rules, they decide to be rebellious.

They soon start to develop a love for each other. They use the room as their home and start adding things. Julia falls to temptation and uses her job to get nice clothes and make up, so she can look beautiful for Winston.

One night, Winston sees a rat and is terrified. Julia calms him down and he almost instantly forgets. They drink some coffee and they start to look around the room at all of Charrington’s things. They cannot identify what they are or how old the stuff is, but they enjoy looking. He tells her the poem that Charrington sang, and she seems to share the joy. He stares at the coral that he purchased before, and he realizes that this represented his life with Julia.

Chapter 13
As Winston had predicted, Syme becomes an unperson.  Winston is not surprised.

Preparations for hate week begin: many posters of soldiers were put up and a new song was broadcast everywhere.  Winston does not care, because he is happy as long as he has a place to go to meet Julia.  Winston nearly stops drinking and his health improved.

Winston and Julia spend a lot of time talking. They consider getting married, committing suicide, and running away together.  For now, they would continue meeting in secret.

They also talk about the party ‘brotherhood’ of rebellion. Julia agrees that O’Brien is probably part of the brotherhood, but she does not believe that there is a widespread movement. She is convinced that the party is responsible for the wars, and they themselves are bombing the cities of Oceana. Winston never thought that the party could do this until now. They argue about who invented the aeroplane. Julia learned in school that the party invented it, and Winston knows that is impossible because the aeroplane had been invented before the party existed. After some debate, Julia confesses that she did not care really, and that these facts are unimportant.  Winston felt differently and vows to find proof of the party’s deceptions. Julia only cares about the short term. Winston realizes that the party is most effective at controlling people who do not care to understand how things work.

 

Chapter 14
The day finally came when Winston bumps into O’Brien. O’Brien talks about the newest edition of the Newspeark dictionary, which is surely a referral to Syme, a former friend of Winston’s whom no one was supposed to talk about. O’Brien offers him a pre-release copy of the dictionary, which Winston would have to pick up at his house. Winston knew this was going to be more than just a meeting about a dictionary.  Winston is scared because he does not know if he can trust O’Brien.

 

Chapter 15
Winston awakes from a bad dream and explains to Julia that he now knew that he did not murder his mother. At first, he thought that his mother and sister died during a party purge, however he was sure that this was not the case anymore.

He could not remember the exact date, but in his dream he recalls the time when his father left his family. His mother became spiritless after. She continues her motherly duties, including her daily housework, but does not seem to care about anything anymore. He remembers how poor they were and how there was not very much food in the house. Winston had been greedy, taking food from his younger sisters. One day, he stole his sister’s chocolate and ran out of the house. When Winston returned home, his mother and sister were gone. He did not know where they went, possibly a labor camp or relocation program. Regardless, Winston was sent to a colony for homeless children.

Winston tells Julia about his dream, but she does not seem to care and falls asleep before he can finish. Winston realizes that people in Oceana are only loyal to the party, not to other people. He discovers that he has respect for the proles, because they ‘stay human’ while party members mindless drones.

Winston and Julia promise to never betray one another to the party. If caught, they would be split apart forever. They could never find out what had happened to each other, so they promised to always be loyal. In his mind, nothing could cause Winston to betray Julia. Winston believes that the party could never change the way that he feels about anything ever again.

 

Chapter 16
Winston and Julia go to O’Brien’s home together to see if O’Brien is part of an underground movement. This is dangerous because Winston cannot say that he is picking up the dictionary with her there. If O’Brien cannot be trusted, then going there would have incriminated both of them. Nonetheless, they take a chance. Once inside, O’Brien turns off the monitors so they can talk in private. Winston confesses nervously that he wants to join the rebellion brotherhood.

O’Brien offers them some wine, and they all sit to talk. O’Brien’s servant named Martin, possibly a man of Chinese decent, also joins them. O’Brien was a member of the party’s inner circle, a position that is highly secretive and trusted. However, O’Brien could only leave his monitors off for thirty minutes maximum for fear of being caught. In this time, O’Brian asks them some questions about their loyalty to the rebellion. Winston agrees to follow everything that the rebellion asks, except to be split apart from Julia.  O’Brien also tells them that surgery was sometimes necessary to hide people’s true identity.

O’Brien explains that the brotherhood of rebellion that he belongs too is very secretive. Winston and Julia would receive commands, and they would have to obey no matter what. They would never be told about how many people were in the brotherhood or what their true intent was. In fact, the brotherhood would not help them if the police caught them. When caught, they would have to confess truthfully. This was ok because they would not be told anything important. When caught, they would die or be forced to commit suicide. They drink one last toast to freedom, and Julia leaves first.O’Brien promises to send them a book containing more information about the brotherhood. The book itself was hard to get, so they had to wait.

O’Brien also promises that they would meet again soon. Winston repeats ‘in a place with no darkness’ and O’Brien acknowledges. Winston’s now feels better knowing that his dream about O’Brien was in fact real. Winston leaves O’Brien’s apartment with a renewed sense of hope.

 

Chapter 17
Winston spends most of hate week working very hard.  On the 6th day, when hate for the enemy ‘Eurasia’ was at a peek, Winston goes to a rally. While there, the party announces that the enemy was now ‘Eastasia,’ and that ‘Eurasia’ was an ally.  A short moment of confusion passes and everyone continues their hate for the new enemy.  Once again, the party has changed the history, but no one seems to care anymore.

Winston becomes even busier at work, because he is now responsible for changing four years of history, from the enemy being ‘Eurasia’ to ‘Eastasia.’  After several days of hard work, he finally manages to go to his hideout and wait for Julia.  He brings with him a copy of the book that O’Brien gave to him. He is excited. The book is named ‘The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism,’ by Emmanuel Goldstein.

Winston enjoys reading in peace.  He jumps from chapter to chapter, because he knows he will read it over and over again.  The book talks about the origins of the three super states, Eurasia, Eastasia, and Oceana. None of the states can ever be defeated because of the geography of the earth. Also, none of them have any reason to fight each other anymore. The states merely fight to use up the excess consumption goods that are being produced. Technology allows people to work fewer hours and have more than enough goods to survive.

The book also states that in order to have a hierarchal society, the privileged lower class could only be controlled if they are ignorant of the hierarchy.  Therefore, the aim of the party is to rule the earth and to extinguish independent thought. All three states have nuclear weapons but choose not to use them because the current leaders do need to use them to maintain control. The wars become endless stalemates but take place because the states need them to keep control of their people.

Julia finally arrives. Winston reads her the book, but she keeps falling asleep. He reads chapter one, which explains about three different classes of people: high, middle, and low. The high tries to stay in power, the middle aims to overthrow the high, and the low by definition stay as slaves. The middle class always tends to over-power the high with the aid of the low. Once in power, the middle becomes the high, and the low get sent back to being slaves.  As socialism and technology grew, so did the real possibility that everyone could be equal. When Ingsoc was formed, the high class learned that they could stay on top permanently, by removing independent thought by constantly supervisiion. The party removed private ownership of land and convinced the middle class people that everyone is a party member, not an individual.

Big Brother is actually a focusing point for everyone to love and care about.  Instead of individual accomplishments, everyone can be proud of Big Brother. Big Brother is also the person that people turn to for help when they are scared or angry.  Big Brother does not exist, and never did. The inner party invented him as a symbol for people to worship.  The inner circle, or high class, represents two percent of the population. The outer party, or middle class, represents fifteen percent, and the proles make up the rest.

After reading, Winston feels relieved that he was not crazy, and that his suspicions about the party are true. Winston and Julia stare out the window enjoying the view and reminisce about their relationship.

Suddenly they hear voices and they know that thought police were close by. Winston stands still so they have no reason to beat him. Julia is not so lucky and is beaten and then carried away. Winston then hears Charrington’s voice coming closer. Charrington’s hair is now dark black, and his face looks younger. His appearance has been surgically altered, and Winston knows that Charrington is a member of the thought police.

 

Chapter 18
They take him to a prison and interrogate him. After countless hours of torture, Winston becomes weak and confesses to everything, even things that he did not do. He awakens in a room, tied to an electric chair, with O’Brien standing over him. Winston then realizes that O’Brien is the person interrogating him. O’Brien then asks him some questions to trick Winston into saying untruths. O’Brien holds up four fingers and asks Winston how many he sees. When Winston replies that he sees ‘four fingers,’ O’Brien tells him that he is incorrect, and that he is holding up ‘five fingers’. Every time Winston tells the truth, he gets a shock. Finally, Winston gives in to O’Brien’s and tries to answer so he will not get shocked anymore. When the interrogation ended, Winston receives an injection of painkillers. This somehow makes Winston feel he can trust O’Brien again, even though he had just tortured him.

O'Brien tells Winston that he is in the ‘Ministry of Love.’ Winston is there to be cured from insanity. O’Brien tells that murdering criminals glorifies their action. In addition, converting the way criminals think is a better way to keep the resistance down. O’Brien tells Winston that this torture will change Winston forever, and that Winston will never again be an individual. Winston starts to believe him, but tries not to.
O’Brien states that the party can do anything they want, including the impossible, including the earth is the center of the universe. In fact, O’Brien states that the earth can be in the center and revolve around the sun. Anything is possible if the party wishes. Winston believes that O’Brien is person that is insane, hot he.

They hook up some electrodes to Winston’s temples and start draining his memories.  While the electricity is on, O’Brien tells Winston some lies, and Winston believes them. At the end, O’Brien allows Winston to ask him any questions that he wants. Winston asks ‘what happened to Julia, does big brother really exist, and does the brotherhood exist?’  O’Brien responds ‘Julia betrayed you to us, the party exists so big brother does too, and that the brotherhood is a secret that he will never find out about.’

Winston has memories of a place called Room 101, so he asks O’Brien what is it? O’Brien only answers ‘everyone knows what is in Room 101.’

Chapter 20
Winston starts a new phase in his reprogramming.  His prison conditions are lightened and the torture becomes less severe.  O’Brien asks him ‘what is the party’s motive?’ Winston responds ‘you are ruling over us for our own good.’ O’Brien tells him that this is incorrect.  The party acted this way to maintain power. He repeatedly tells Winston that the party can never be defeated. Individuals live and die, but people who are dedicated to the party live forever. Winston tries his best to counter what O’Brien says but only gets more words of nonsense and electric shocks. O’Brien persists that power is being able to control others and to inflict pain on anyone.  O’Brien says that the party plans to abolish all human emotions, except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement.

Winston argues that the party will be defeated one day. O’Brien then forces him to take off his clothes and look in the mirror. Winston sees that he is extremely dirty, smelly, and has lost a lot of weight. Also, his hair and teeth have started to fall out. O’Brien then says that the torture will end as soon as Winston gives into the party. However, Winston still loves Julia, this idea keeps him sane.

 

Chapter 21
They move Winston to a new holding cell, where he was receiving regular meals and even cigarettes. They also give him clean clothes and a washbasin. Winston cannot remember how long he has been imprisoned, but he thinks for several months. The lights in his cell are very bright and never turn off. He dreams of the beautiful times that he had spent with Julia.

As Winston’s health increases, so does his thinking ability.  He starts to agree with the lies that O’Brien had told him, even though they were almost all completely ridiculous.

Later on, Winston has another daydream, but this time starts calling out Julia’s name out loud. O’Brien immediately becomes aware that Winston has not given up his free will. Soon enough, troops and O’Brien come in and ask him ‘do you love big brother?’ Winston replies ‘no,’ and they take him away for a new phase of conditioning.

Chapter 22
Winston is taken into a room well below the earth and is strapped upright in a chair.  O’Brien says that they are in Room 101, and that it contains ‘your greatest fear.’ They know that Winston’s greatest fear is rats.  O’Brien puts a cage filled with rats on the table in front of Winston. Winston argues that he does not know what they want him to do. The cage terrifies Winston.

O’Brien talks of how rats rip apart a human being very slowly and painfully. This adds to Winston’s fear. Just before O’Brien opens the cage, Winston breaks. He figures that the only way to save him self is to sacrifice the one thing that has kept him sane. He cries out ‘do it to Julia, I do not care what happens to her. Immediately after, the torture ends.

 

Chapter 23
Winston is sitting drinking gin in his favorite new spot, the Chestnut Tree Cafe.  He had been released from prison and been given an easy new job. He is working on a chess puzzle when the televisions announced the latest war reports. As he thinks about the chess puzzle, he realized that white always won, and so did Big Brother. 

He talks about his last encounter with Julia. In fact, he could have met her again because the party had stopped caring about him. They had met in the park. They both admitted to betraying one another, and they would have done anything to save themselves. This feeling of betrayal permanently changed the way they felt about people.  They could no longer love anyone else ever again. They promised to meet again but never did.

Winston admits that he really wished that Julia had been the one to be tortured, not he. He follows her for a little while, but he loses interest and goes back to the café.  He is an alcoholic now, and no one seems to care.  His job is meaningless, and he goes to the pub right after work to drink. However, no one ever says anything.

Winston continues to think about the chess puzzle. He then thinks about a moment from his childhood. However, he is not sure if it is real or not.  He does not care and goes back to the puzzle. As he thinks, an announcement of victory came onto the televisions. At that moment, he finally realized that he loved Big Brother. 

Discussion questions

Why does Orwell use dreams in this book?

What is the purpose of Hate week and the two minute hate ritual?

How truthful is the world that Orwell created?

What scares you the most about this book?

Do you think this could really happen?

What was the final thing that changed Winston’s mind about the party?

Is there a Big Brother Represent in today’s society?

In Taiwan, is there anything like Big Brother?