1984

"War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength."

1984 or "Nineteen Eighty-Four" is a 1949 novel by George Orwell. It is a dystopian novel, which meant that it takes place in a dehumanized, futuristic society. It tells the story of a man lives in a totalitarian world with a harsh government and how he plans to rebel against his corrupt government and society. 1984 has also invented several famous Orwellian words such as Newspeak, Big Brother and thoughtpolice.

1984 is Orwell's well-known work and is a popular school-read, as well as being ranked among the greatest novels of all time.

Plot Summary
Winston Smith is a middle-aged man living in London, Airstrip One (formerly called Great Britain). The year is 1984 and the world Smith lives in is divided up in 3 separate states: Oceania (where his home country, Airstrip One is), Eurasia and Eastasia, that have been caught up in an ongoing war. Oceania is ruled by The Party, a socialist government whose leader is the mysterious Big Brother. Winston is a low-ranking member of the Party. They make up all the rules of Oceania and control everything in the nation, most notably constantly monitoring their citizens through TV surveillance-like cameras called telescreens. Everywhere Winston goes, the telescreens are always watching him; even in his own home. In addition, no one is allowed to fall in love, have sex or have free thoughts. The nation is also patrolled by intimidating officers called "Thoughtpolice", who seek out and punish anyone who commits the crime thoughtcrime, when someone is thinking of negative thoughts about the Party. The novel begins with Winston being frustrated at the Party's strict, rigid control. He despises the Party so much that one day, he illegally purchases a diary from a secondhand shop and writes all of his thoughts into it. He also becomes interested in a man named O'Brien, who is a member of the Party. Winston thinks that he is secretly part of the Brotherhood, an organization who plans to overthrow the Party, led by Emmanuel Goldstein.

Winston works at the Ministry of Truth, where he rewrites historical records to fit the Party's needs. At work, he spots a pretty, dark-haired woman who he suspects could be a spy for the Thoughtpolice. One day, he receives a note from the woman that says, "I love you". The woman's name is Julia and both she and Winston have a love affair. They keep their romance a secret from the Party and rent out a room together upstairs in the secondhand store where Winston bought the diary. Winston continues to hate the party the more he loves Julia and before long, O'Brien summons the couple to his home. He claims that he is a member of the Brotherhood and he wants to stop the Party as well. He would have the couple join the Brotherhood with him, and even gives them a copy of a book written by Emmanuel Goldstein about the basics of his founded clan and how they would join.

However, O'Brien is actually a loyal member of the Party, and he ends up tricking Winston and Julia into believing him. The couple were arrested and imprisoned in separate rooms at Oceania's interior ministry, the Ministry of Love. Winston is tortured and brainwashed by O'Brien for months until he is taken to Room 101 where any opposer to the Party would encounter their worst fear. Winston is afraid of rats, and both he and Julia betray each other when placed into the room and soon released.

Winston has since lost his spirit and is now a faithful member of the Party. He is no longer in love with Julia, who has also changed from her imprisonment. Winston looks up at Big Brother's portrait and finally begins to love and adore him.

Characters
Winston Smith- The main protagonist. He is a frail, thin middle-aged man who was once a member of the Party. He works for the Ministry of Truth where he rewrites history in the Party's version, but secretly dreams of revolution and starts to hate the Party. He rebels by journal-keeping and having a romantic relationship with one of the Party members, but ends up being mentally tortured and made into a true believer.

Julia- Winston's lover. A beautiful, dark-haired woman, she is a Party member and mechanist of the Ministry of Truth. She, too, also has hatred for the Party and decides to take part in the revolution when she meets and falls in love with Winston. She has very active and strong sexual desires which are illegal against the Party. Despite her strong relationship with Winston, however, she ends up being mentally tortured and forced to betray her lover.

O'Brien- A member of the Inner Party who Winston suspects of being part of the anti-Party rebel group the Brotherhood. He looked up to him and strongly believed in his actions and thoughts. But O'Brien ends up having Winston and Julia betray each other by psychological torture and becoming faithful followers.

Big Brother- Despite never making a physical appearance in the novel, (and may not even exist) Big Brother serves as the leader of Oceania and an important key factor. His face is always seen on posters and tele screens, with his famous motto "Big Brother is Watching You" planted all over the nation.

Mr. Charrington  - An elderly man who owns an antique shop in the Prole district, where Winston first purchases his diary and rents out the upstairs room for him. He seems to be kind and optimistic about Winston's fascination with the past and supports his relationship with Julia. But he was secretly a member of the Thought Police and has the couple arrested and imprisoned.

Writing History/Reception
1984 was heavily influenced by WWII, particularly the Soviet Union and some major characters and moments in the novel were loosely based in reality. Big Brother is based on Joseph Stalin, the ruler of the Soviet Union and the Two-Minute hate was inspired by most of the propaganda films that were played worldwide at the time. 1984 was mainly published as a warning about the possible near future being a dystopian society.

Orwell wrote the first manuscript around 1946 at Jura in the Scottish Isles while he was suffering from tuberculosis. He had temporarily resided in a cottage there with his sister Avril, a housekeeper and his young adopted son Richard. While he stayed there, he spent most of his time doing work on it from 1947-48.

1984 was published on June 8th, 1949 by Secker and Warburg in London after Orwell had sent the manuscript there a year earlier while recovering from his frail health in Scotland, with the US edition published 5 days later. It became an instant success, and is a fine example of dystopian totalitarianism. It also invented the term Orwellian, which describes the characteristics associated with Orwell's writings. Orwell originally wanted to have the novel titled "The Last Man in Europe", but his publisher wanted him to have a title that is more symbolic to the future. He ended up using the last two digits of the year 1948 reversed that became known as "1984".

1984 would be Orwell's final novel before his death a year later in 1950, and is officially hailed as one of the most influential novels in literature.

Totalitarianism
Orwell's main goal was to publish 1984 as a warning of the dangers of totalitarianism in the possible future. It was significantly targeted towards Western nations that aren't aware of the terrors of WWII communism in Europe, such as the regimes in Spain and Russia. Orwell excellently created and described the dystopian world of Airstrip One, Oceania in his novel. One example includes the government constantly monitoring the prospects of everyday life and creating harsh rules to follow. As the novel progressed, Winston Smith attempted to rebel against the Party's regime and its leader Big Brother, but Orwell had made it clear that rebellion would never succeed and would end up torturing and manipulating any opposers to be more faithful.

Propaganda
One of the main factors about 1984's totalitarianism is its propaganda. The Ministry of Truth is the one who spreads out all of the Party's information and announcements. They also send out intimidating propagandist messages to the public, such as "Big Brother is Watching You" as the Party's leader Big Brother is always monitoring them no matter where they are or what they do. The Party's propaganda is also responsible for using them to turn against Emmanuel Goldstein and manipulating the public that Goldstein is their enemy. Examples of using the propaganda include the telescreens advertising and the Two-Minute Hate, in which everyone is instructed to send out their expressions of hate towards the enemies of the state, such as Goldstein.

Loyalty
Loyalty is one of the main aspects the Party uses to assure that everyone in Oceania would be loyal and obedient to their government and to their leader. Even those would refuse loyalty would be easily tortured into being true followers. With their citizens' support, the Party could aim to build a thriving empire in Oceania, and when someone aims loyalty, they must be faithful to their promise. Winston attempted his own opposing loyalty when he attempted to join the Brotherhood and to maintain his romance with Julia, even if it meant placing himself in danger or death. At the end of the novel, after finally betraying Julia after being tortured by O'Brien and being taught about the Party's intelligence, he ends up gaining true obedience and fulfilling the Party's main goal.

Love/Sexuality
One of the main laws established by the Party is the ban of falling in love and having sex. They realize that when there is mass hysteria from sex frustration, they are able to convert them into loyal, faithful followers to Big Brother and erase all love from the lives of their loved ones. This explains why Winston's marriage to his wife Katharine was loveless that ended in them being separated. The Party is also sneaky enough to catch anyone hiding their secret affairs from them and can easily force them to stop loving each other, and the only person that will truly love is their leader. Winston and Julia, despite trying to secretly disobey the Party with their love affair, may had been monitored closely throughout the whole both by O'Brien and the Thoughtpolice. Julia's intense love for sex and the sash she wears as part of the Junior Anti-Sex League represents her hatred and rebellion towards the Party and usually took pleasure in it, including when she claims she had slept with over 16 Party men. By the end of the novel, however, after Winston was mentally brainwashed and defeated by O'Brien, there is now only one person he has now loved deeply, and it is his leader Big Brother.

Social Class System
Oceania's society is divided up into 3 social class structures: the Inner Party, Outer Party, and the lower class of impoverished proles. Only 2% of the population are part of the Inner Party, who are the rules of Oceania alongside Big Brother. They are the upper class and are usually known as "The Party". The Outer Party are the middle class and are mostly educated members of the Party. The Proles are the lower class, who lives as the poorest people in the nation and made up of nearly 85% of Oceania's population. The social classes barely interact with each other, except when gathering together for events such as the Two-Minute Hate. Winston has hoped that the Proles have dream and intentions of revolution and symbolizing the future of bringing down the Party, especially when he writes "If there is any hope, it lies with the Proles." Even if the Proles had plans of rebellion and their intelligence is detected by the Thoughtpolice, they would end up being arrested or vaporized.

The telescreens
The telescreens symbolize the constant surveillance of their citizens and represent the powerful regime of the Party's control, even symbolizing the government's abuse of technology.

Big Brother
As the leader of Oceania, Big Brother, like the telescreens, symbolizes the totalitarian government and the surveillance of Oceania. He also symbolizes the fact that he is meant to be worshipped not just as a leader, but as a God of Oceania. It is unknown whether Big Brother is actually a real person, or just a figurehead for the Party.

The Glass Paperweight
An antique object that Winston purchases at Mr. Charrington's secondhand shop. The Glass Paperweight symbolizes the past and beauty for its own sake, offering a serene sanctuary for Winston and Julia and allowing him to reconnect his memories to the past.

The Red-Armed Prole Woman
The red-armed Prole woman, who Winston spots singing outside of his rented room, symbolizes a hopeful future for him and the lower social class.

Foreshadowing

 * Winston and Julia see a rat in their rented room. Foreshadows Winston betraying her after nearly being eaten alive by rats in Room 101.
 * Winston writes "Down with Big Brother" in his diary and his neighbour Mrs. Parsons' children telling him he's a traitor and thought criminal foreshadows his treachery to the party and subsequent vaporization.
 * Winston suspects that Syme would be vaporized because he is too smart. Foreshadows Syme's sudden disappearance but likely vaporized later on.