How Is Winston Presented In 1984

1984 by George Orwell follows Winston Smith, a low-ranking member of a totalitarian government known as the Party with Big Brother as its ruler, as he goes about his life, frustrated with the oppressive control of the Party that prohibits all forms of independence and freedom, like sex and freethought. He works at the Ministry of Truth where he alters historical records to fit the Party’s agenda which feeds his frustration and leads him to illegally buy a diary to write down all his “criminal” thoughts. As the novel continues, he eventually notices that a young coworker, Julia, is watching him. He initially fears that she is an informant that is aware of his crime until she gives him a note that reads “I love you”. Winston uses the gift of

With Julia’s proclamation of love, Winston was able to find the desire and hope to live, “At the sight of the words I love you the desire to stay alive had welled up inside him” (Part 2, Chapter 1, pg. 109). With the discovery of Julia’s love, he believes he has found a form of comradery with someone who not only desires him but also understands him. The affair is only further revered in Winston’s mind as he sees it as a protest against the rigid control of the Party “Their embrace had been a battle, the climax, a victory. It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a political act.”(Part 2, Chapter 2, pg.126). By having sex with Julia, he is actively commiting a crime against the party and regaining his own freedom as he chooses to do this with Julia instead of abiding by the Party’s

He felt as though he had condemned himself when he first started writing in the diary and with his affair with Julia he was only further dooming himself which he expressed by stating “In this game that we’re playing, we can’t win” (Part 2, Chapter 3, pg. 135). Despite knowing the potential consequences his relationship could have, he still chooses to pursue it saying “Some kinds of failure’s are better than other kinds, that's all” (Part 2, Chapter 3, pg. 135). While understanding the inevitable fall of their relationship at the hands of the Party, he still chooses her as he believes that dying while hating the Party is still a better option as he notes later on that death is inevitable for everyone “So long as human beings stay humans, death and life are the same thing” (Part 2, Chapter 3). He acknowledges that the concept of being alive means that they will have to die and that living under the Party is akin to being dead. So by choosing this form of freedom he, as stated before, is finding his own sense of independence and identity within his relationship with Julia and truly