Examples Of Heroism In 1984

Imagine your TV is always on and always watching your every move. Welcome to 1984. From now on you must be very careful what you think for you must always live in fear of committing a thought crime. Even one negative thought about Big Brother could force the Thought Police to erase you from existence or, as they say in Newspeak, to make you an unperson. This is the daily life of a citizen of George Orwell’s fictional country called Oceania. The residents of Oceania all deal with these struggles in different ways resulting in many types of characters.
One personality that you don’t see much of in Oceania is the hero. In his book, Tillman (2011) says this about the hero “The hero is defined as someone who is very brave, selfless, and willing

Tillman (2011) says this of the trickster “[Tricksters] are just like puppet masters. The trickster causes doubt to creep into the main character′s mind, making that character change the way he or she was going to handle a certain situation. Generally, in the end, it is the trickster′s actions that make the main character the type of person he or she is at the end of the story.” (p. 30). In Winston Smith’s life, the trickster who has the most profound influence is O’Brien. Winston is inexplicably drawn to O’Brien believing he is not completely true to the party. O’Brien realizes Winston’s thoughts towards him and though never talking more than small talk with Winston O’Brien develops a relationship with him based on nods and winks. Eventually, O’Brien invites Winston to his house under the pretense of looking at a dictionary. Winston takes this as affirmation of O’Brien being an enemy of the Party and takes his secret girlfriend to go see him. When they arrive O’Brien claims to be part of a resistance group and initiates Winston into the group. Winston is then captured by the Thought Police and taken to the Ministry of Love. O’Brien then proceeds to torture Winston booth physically and mentally “ 'You are afraid, ' said O 'Brien, watching his face, 'that in another moment something is going to break. Your especial fear is that it will be your backbone. You have a vivid mental picture

The next set of people are not people at all but propaganda pieces. According to Ralph Casey “The propagandist tries to stimulate others to accept without challenge his own assertions, or to act as he wants them to do. The idea of using suggestion or stimulation as a propaganda device is that it will lead a public to accept a proposition even though there are not logical grounds for accepting it.”(Casey, 1944) Many of Oceania’s well-known citizens are propaganda pieces made up by the Ministry of Truth. These “people” are used to explain the Party’s failings or to boost morale throughout Oceania. One morale boosting piece was called Comrade Ogilvy. When we are first introduced to Comrade Ogilvy we learn that he died in battle at age 23 after many great accomplishments for Oceania. In 1984 Winston Smith writes of him “He was a total abstainer and a non-smoker, had no recreations except a daily hour in the gymnasium, and had taken a vow of celibacy, believing marriage and the care of a family to be incompatible with a twenty-four-hour-a-day devotion to duty.” (Orwell, 1977. p. 47). Ogilvy’s twenty-four-hour devotion to the party was something that would lift the spirits of any of Oceania’s citizens. This along with his death and accomplishments all make him the perfect citizen who the citizens of Oceania should strive to be like. While Ogilvy’s story may pull on the heart strings of Oceania, the Ministry of Truth can also come up with other stories that will make its ears