Historical information about the Setting: Orwell’s novel takes place in London (but the province itself had been renamed “Airstrip One”) in a land called Oceania in the year 1984. Oceania is in the state of seemingly endless war; the country is in constant peril. There are terrible living conditions. For example, everything is rundown and food rations are pathetically divided. The government sees and controls everything. When the novel was written in 1949, 1984 was the near-future. “1984” was Orwell’s haunting visualization of a “negative utopia”. This vision was influenced by his visits to many countries where totalitarian regimes reigned over citizens. Plot summary: Winston Smith is a minor member of the Party, which is the ruling totalitarian regime. Telescreens allow the Party to spy on people. The mascot/ruler of the Party, Big …show more content…
His job is to rewrite history. He notices a dark-haired female coworker watching him, which causes him to think that she will turn him in for thoughtcrime. Winston is uneasy about the falsified history. There is almost no spying in the proles (the poorest areas), so Winston takes walks there at …show more content…
O’Brien spends months torturing and brainwashing the struggling Winston. Finally, O’Brien sends him to Room 101, the room that holds a person’s worst fear. Throughout the story, Winston has had nightmares about rats, proving them as his worst fear. O’Brien straps a cage of rats onto Winston’s head and is about to let the rats eat his face. Winston begs O’Brien to do it to Julia instead of him. This betrayal was what O’ Brien wanted all along. Winston is released. He talks with Julia, and they acknowledge that they betrayed each other. They drift apart, since they no longer love each other. Winston now loves Big Brother and is a dedicated member of the