1984 Part 1

Brief Overview: 
Winston Smith is a 39-year-old citizen of Air-Strip One who has faint memories of his past in a place where memories are things that can’t be trusted. Air-Strip One is ruled over by the Party and Big Brother. Their rule is extremely strict and every nook and corner of Air-Strip One is looked over by the Party. His home is a place which was previously known as London, and it belongs to Oceania--indicating to the then England. 
Smith is wary of Big Brother and the Party as he sees Big Brother’s name and the words “Big Brother is watching you” written everywhere. While Winston himself works for the Ministry of Truth; changing the history in documents and making it suit the Party’s ways of spreading their influence, he despises the Party and hates Big Brother. He sees the lower class of his community: the Proles and believes that if anyone can take Big Brother and the Party down its the Proles. He then comes in contact with Julia, a young woman who works for the Fiction Department of the Ministry of Truth, and Winston is drawn toward her with the belief that their union can be an act of resistance against the Party.

Major theme - Propaganda:
Propaganda is a constant issue on Air-Strip One. The Party and Big Brother have to keep their whole population under control; hating their enemy Emmanuel Goldstein, and fervent devotion to the Party and its interests. Starting with the Two Minutes of Hate; where all the citizens of AS1 have to pay attention to the violent and hateful monologue given by Emmanuel Goldstein. This monologue stirs up the masses and gets them in a frenzy of hate and verbal abuse meant for Goldstein. And Winston questions even the validity of the message; no one but the Party can tell if that message is crafted in order to incite support from the citizens toward the Party, and no one else. 
On the other hand, one of the major and consistent actions of the Party is to change the history of Air Strip One; the whole Ministry of Truth is dedicated to establishing fallacy but in the name of truth. Workers in Winston’s Records Department work to modify and change the documents published by any source that have traces of historical events or figures, and may potentially affect the Party’s honesty in any way. 

List of characters: 
Winston Smith: He’s the main protagonist of the story and questions everything done by the Party; possibly will succeed in making a revolution.

Julia:  A young party member that works in the Ministry of Truth and gets close to Winston. She might have an important role to play in Winston’s plan to overthrow the Party.

O’Brien: An important party member with whom Winston has a past bond; the dream that Winston has with him foreshadows that they’ll meet again, and it will be significant. 

Big Brother: The ultimate ruler over the citizens of Air Strip One and ruler of the Party. Winston thinks he isn’t a real person; just a mouthpiece of the party. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Beowulf Dialectical Journal 1-16

Sir Gawain/Green Knight Fit 2: Discussion Questions

Hamlet Act 4 Questions