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1984 Paperweight Essay

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It stands to reason that in 1984, George Orwell employs both the glass paperweight and Winston’s diary to develop Winston’s desire for the past and his personal rebellion against the Party. The glass paperweight, as a remnant of the past, reflects Winston’s attempt to reconnect with the past and his hope to rebel the government. When Winston first sees the paperweight in Mr.Charrington’s shop, he is fascinated because “The thing was doubly attractive because of its apparent uselessness, though he could guess that it must once have been intended as paperweight”(Orwell 95). According to the Party, there is no such thing as beautiful as the paperweight in the current society, which is because the beauty and uselessness of the paperweight go against …show more content…

With the Party’s propaganda and absolute control, the people of Oceania no longer have a memory of the past; however, the paperweight is beautiful and purposeless, which is a great representation of the goods in the previous time. Thus, Winston hopes he could get in touch with the past by having this paperweight which comes from the past. Under the control of the Party, it is almost impossible to get anything from the past like this paperweight, that is why the paperweight attracts Winston so much. Also, the paperweight represents Winston’s hope in rebelling against the Party, which is beautiful and useless. It is commonly believed that Winston desires to reconnect with the past because he dreams the past is like the secret world in the paperweight which has happiness and freedom rather than the government’s control. What need to be mentioned is that when Winston and …show more content…

His desire for past is elucidated by owning the objects from the past, while his rebellion is shown by his violation of the Party, especially his longing for the

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