Characters

The conclusion of 1984 brought the tone from hopeful to hopeless.

Now that I know the full stories of each character, I thought it would be a perfect time to review how this ending affected each one. The characters generally have remained unchanged or have regressed because of the harsh totalitarian government.

Winston Smith:
Winston Smith is the main character in 1984. Early in the novel, Winston is rebellious to the Party, but does not believe that they will ever be stopped. Then, he meets people thinking similarly, such as O'Brien and Julia. At this point, Winston is happier and more hopeful for the future of Oceania. Winston's final development is made when he is betrayed by Mr. Charrington and O'Brien. These betrayals cause Winston to lose his optimism and rebellious nature, and concede to the Party. Winston's regression as a character shows the power of totalitarian governments.

Big Brother:
It is never revealed if Big Brother is a real person, however the idea is still significant. Big Brother is the supposed leader of the Party. His power seems impossible at first, but after reading this section, it has become clearer. Winston realizes that the Big Brother only desires power: "not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power." (332). This is the distinction between other totalitarian governments that makes Big Brother's complete control seem more realistic. The actual phrase "Big Brother" also has a deeper meaning. By naming the ruler of the party after a family member, Orwell suggests that the government replaces family members. The elimination of family by government is heavily suggested in the novel: "Children will be taken from their mothers at birth, as one takes eggs from a hen... There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother." (337).

Julia:
Like Winston, Julia is rebellious, which is why they form a secret relationship. As I mentioned in my previous blog entry, Julia was not as optimistic as Winston. JShe did not believe in the Brotherhood at first, and did not have any hope for the society as a whole. Rather, Julia worried about herself and Winston. We learn at the end of the novel that Julia's pessimistic view was more accurate when discover that O'Brien and Mr. Charrington were both loyal party members.

Although the 1984 ended on a depressing note, it was the most fitting conclusion. Throughout the novel Orwell made it clear that Big Brother is all powerful, so a rebellion at the end would not be suitable.

The Brotherhood

In this passage, Winston discovers that there is a group that conspires against the Party called the Brotherhood. Before I get into the implications of this, I must review some characters that have been introduced. Winston has created a secret and illegal relationship with a girl named Julia. Julia, like Winston, is against the Party. However, their priorities differ slightly. Winston is more hopeful, and believes that there is a secret resistance against the government. Julia, on the other hand, cares only about Winston and her survival, and not about a conspiracy. This idea is stated in the previous passage, when it mentions that "She [Julia] had never heard of the Brotherhood, and refused to believe in its existence." (165)

The current passage, however, confirms Winston's belief, and stops Julia from denying the existence of a conspiracy group. They meet a man named O'Brien, who tells them that he is a part of the Brotherhood. After this discovery, the tone becomes hopeful for the first time in the novel. The Brotherhood's existence is also significant because it shows the benefit to Winston's hopeful thinking. While Julia rejected the possibility of the Party ever being conspired against, Winston considered it as a possibility and was correct in doing so. By juxtaposing these two characters, Orwell shows the importance of caring beyond your own survival, as Julia does at first.

Julia and Winston eventually understand how their survival is not as important as the creation of a quality society. They even realize that they will most likely die soon, but hope that it will be for a positive cause: "Out of those mighty loins a race of conscious beings must one day come. You were the dead; theirs was the future." (278) In other words, although Julia and Winston will not live much longer, their actions will help the future generations.

To conclude the passage Winston and Julia's illegal activities are discovered by the Party, and they are taken away. Seconds before they are discovered, though, they show that they understand their sacrifice by both saying: "'We are the dead.'" (278) Although it is a seemingly hopeless ending to the passage. their sacrifice was for a reason. They admit that they will die, but they give their lives because it is the price for the freedom of future generations.

How a Totalitarian Government Is Possible

After completing the first half of 1984, I have a thorough understanding of the society of Oceania. Of all of the dystopian novels I have read, I found that 1984 has the most realistic social structure and government. George Orwell does not hold back on explaining how an entire society can be brainwashed. The realistic world that Orwell depicts is what awakened generations of readers to the possibility of a totalitarian government.

As the reader understands the society more, so does Winston Smith. Winston realizes in one of his diary entries how the government survives: "Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious." (90) In other words, the people cannot rebel against the nation because the nation tells them what to think.

Another method that the government maintains its power is through hope. In this section, the lottery is depicted as a major event. The lottery is so important to some people that it is "the only reason for remaining alive." (109) Orwell used the lottery to represent the hope that is still left in Oceania. However, the lottery only helps Big Brother by making his people believe that they have a chance. The lottery is Big Brother's way of keeping his citizens happy enough to accept the horrible totalitarian government that rules them.

Orwell shows how a government can hold its power by suppression with a small amount of hope. Through these ideas, it is alarmingly realistic how the government of Oceania keeps its incredible power.

The Children of 1984 and Nazi Germany

1984 has continued to show ideas that can be related to the world that George Orwell was living in. Before 1949 (when this book was published), many dictators rose and fell from power during World War Two. As I mentioned in my previous post, Orwell hopes to show the dangers of nationalism by connecting the dystopian world in 1984 with the present-day. Particularly in this passage, I found that the dystopia had similarities with Nazi Germany.

While Winston Smith is helping his neighbor Mrs. Parsons, her children show odd behaviors. Her son unexpectedly threatens Winston, "shouting 'Traitor!' and "Thought-criminal!'" (29) Winston soon realizes the boy is only playing pretend, however he compares Mrs. Parsons' children to playful "tiger cubs which will soon grow up to be man-eaters." (30) The children hope to be thought police when they grow up.

This scene seems to be taken straight out of Nazi Germany. The novel implies that the children in 1984 turn many of their parents in to the government: "It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children." (31) Similarly, Hitler had a program called Hitler's Youth, which awarded children for turning their parents in. For example, an article from Military History Online states that "One case involved a teenaged HJ [Hitler's Youth] member named Walter Hess who turned in his father for calling Hitler a crazed Nazi maniac. His father was then hauled off to the concentration camp at Dachau under Schutzhaft (protective custody)."

Children in both of these societies are raised almost completely by their governments. This idea poses the question: how much of an influence should a government have on a child's development? This question is still heavily debated in our own United States government today. The dystopian world in 1984 is an extreme society, where families are second to a child's nationality. By showing this extreme, Orwell hopes to warn a government like ours of the dangers of overpowered governments.