1984 Winston Smith Character Analysis

Winston Smith is an average man living life in a society ruled by a totalitarian power: The Party. He is a simple, middle-aged man who wants to do the right thing and does what he needs to do by going to work, following the curfew, and commits crimes that would only mean certain death if he was caught. But why the last bit? One must delve deeper to substantiate Winston’s actions and why he truly does what he does. Winston lives in a world of lies and cruelty, yet he makes the best of it. Winston kept a diary, had a love life filled with pleasure, and even inducted himself into what he thought was the underground resistance movement, The Brotherhood. He does these things as a way of keeping himself human. Knowing that he can do simple things

We all, as human beings, have the natural tendency to want love/attraction and give that love to someone else. It releases hormones that allow humans to feel happy and have a sense of empowerment. Winston, the main protagonist from 1984, has a passionate love for Julia. It is a bond that does not only satisfy him on a physical level, but their love fills him with a sense of belonging and attraction and makes Winston want to keep on doing what he knows he should not. Winston loves her so much so, that not even the punishment of death for even the crime of having this voluptuous relationship keeps him from going to the apartment above the store and seeing Julia. Now, not all love has to be that touchy or even quite advanced at all. Love is human nature, even Winston wanting to induct himself into the Brotherhood, he wants to feel he is not alone in his views, Winston wants to know that these people who feel the same as him will support him and put him at ease, which is why he visited O’Brien at his house to look into the Brotherhood (p. 138). This sort of treason and conspiracy against the Party is not unlike what has been happening in the news recently concerning secret meetings that may or may not have happened with Russian officials regarding the election of the past year. Winston’s need to question the motives of The Party, was just Winston putting his mind to work and only coming up with answers

It was mentioned in the book that “two thousand Eurasian war criminals were to be hanged on the last day of the proceedings,” (p. 148) but a page of dialogue later, a speech would reveal that “Oceania was at war with Eastasia!” and the crowds would react during the Hate that Eastasia was always the enemy. Later on, in 1984 (p. 164), Winston is reading from Goldstein’s book. The book of Goldstein spoke about rulers such as Pharaohs and Caesars alike and that, as long as these individuals in power could meet the military standards of other states and fulfill the survival requirement of their citizens, “they can twist reality into whatever shape they choose.” President Trump even does this today with his calling out on news agencies on how they are “fake,” and what they say cannot be trusted. Winston was wanting to understand why The Party wanted the power to literally change what it wanted from the past, and cause its citizens to be so obsequious to whatever the party said was right. Winston was the outlier, with his humanity not broken up to the point where it was easy to accept changes that would otherwise cause a panic if truly thought out. Unfortunately, Winston was punished for his crimes against the Party. Simple things are also punished in real life. The only