Heroism In George Orwell's 1984

The idea of heroism in society today versus George Orwell’s 1984 share similar qualities. The ideal hero is known as someone who stands up for what they believe in and over time people’s opinions of how they should act have begun to transform the true vision of what a hero is. Winston Smith from 1984 along with modern day heroes such as Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr, and Ghandi the majority of these people were considered criminals at one point, but society changed its views and thinks of them as true heroes at one point but even in the world today mankind finds anything in their heroic act to turn against them. In the novel and in modern day heroes are held to such an high standard that true often heroes go unnoticed like Alistair

Winston standing up against society by any number of his actions makes him a hero. For example; he breaks the law with Julia in multiple ways like by getting high quality foods restricted from the Outer Party, engaging in intercourse for pleasure and not for simply doing their duty to the party, and he even goes as far to reach out to the Brotherhood. In addition to this when Winston writes in his diary he states his feelings towards Big Brother and the party he believes that it should not exist so when the novel states,”DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER...”(18). Winston states his defiance towards the party and their values by blatantly voicing his dislikes towards the party. Winston may not have upheld the expectations his society has on him and much like many other famous heroes of the past that stood up against society he was sent to prison. Much like our society Winston’s society has equal opportunity to change their views on what a hero is considered a hero. A great example of the Party changing its view on an heroic figure when it is stated,”FFCC..., had been singled out for special mention...Three months later FFCC had suddenly been dissolved” (Orwell 44). This is a perfect example in the book of how the Party can change its views on heroic figures. This expertly

Winston believed that he would not succeed in his goal to set society free from the party. Heroes like Harriet Tubman have stood up against large forces that were much stronger than themselves. They believed that what society was doing was wrong. For example in Tiananmen square, a famous photo of the incident is of a single person standing against a tank. This is a perfect example of how people have stood against an authoritative force that was much stronger than themselves. Something very similar to this happens in the novel of 1984 when O’Brien states,” the world itself is only a speck of dust. And man is tiny-helpless”(265).This quote is saying the world this huge powerful think is tiny and that a man is even smaller and less significant than that. This quote is bashing the entire idea of heroism and how we are in fact not small and insignificant but are strong and can make large changes Much like Harriet Tubman, Winston, the protagonist of 1984, wanted to prove to society that the quality of life was not as good as the Party had lead them to believe and that they were all in fact slaves of the Party. Winston was still a hero even though he was not able to,”spread...knowledge outwards...generation after generation” (176). This is the main goal for Winston to complete knows he will not succeed in bringing down the all powerful, infallible, and