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Examples Of Heroism In George Orwell's '1984'

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Winston Smith, Hero or Not? George Orwell’s 1984 is a dystopian novel, meaning the society fails to recognize human decency, shows a world where people suffer in the hands of others, and takes place in an isolated environment. The protagonist, Winston Smith (thirty-nine-year-old from the Outer Party), is portrayed somewhat controversial throughout the novel in the discussion of him being a hero or not. Due to Smith being in the Outer Party, the reader assumes he grew up in a middle or lower class family. Orwell’s definition of being a hero is ordinary people, doing whatever they can to change social systems that do not respect human decencies, even with the knowledge that they might not succeed. Smith is not a hero in my eyes due to many things, …show more content…

Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don’t care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Not me! Julia! Not me!’ ” (P 3, Ch 5). Smith had multiple chances facing his fear of rats, at first it was just a couple, but now being surrounded by so many at once, knowing they are going to attack someone’s face, he could not handle the pressure. Smith was strapped to a chair, but that did not stop him. As soon as he started to sacrifice Julia, he fell not only through the floor, but the walls of the building, through the earth, throughout the oceans, through the atmosphere, into outer space, into the gulfs between the stars. As far away from the rats as possible. This was a perfect opportunity for him to display being heroic, yet the fear took over …show more content…

Although, in part three we discover his love for Big Brother and the government is much stronger. Big Brother is an invention created by the Party. Big Brother serves as the Party’s leader, his face is on coins and posters all around Oceania. This was a big moment in 1984 because the government had been trying to get Smith to fully accept Big Brother. The government does not want any of their people to love anyone more than Big Brother. O”Brien used the doublethink technique to torture Smith. The doublethink technique is to torture a person so badly that they refuse to believe what they know is true and begin to believe what is not true; thus the Big Brother is controlling Smith’s reality. With the acceptance of Big Brother, the government knew there was no turning back. His betrayal of Julia was a turning point. By him betraying Julia and fully accepting Big Brother/the government, they knew Smith had no free will. At this point, they were able to fully control all of Smith’s actions, which was their

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