Discussion Topic
Winston's Role, Job, and Character Development in 1984
Summary:
In George Orwell's 1984, Winston Smith is a records editor at the Ministry of Truth, tasked with rewriting history to align with the Party's ever-changing narratives. Initially harboring resentment against the oppressive regime, Winston secretly documents his thoughts in a diary and engages in rebellious acts, such as an affair with Julia. Despite his efforts to resist, Winston's eventual capture and torture by the Party lead to his psychological breakdown and submission to Big Brother, illustrating the totalitarian regime's power over individual thought and freedom.
What is Winston's job in book 3, chapter 6 of 1984?
Winston Smith is the protagonist, or main character, of George Orwell's novel 1984. He works for the government of Oceania, specifically the Ministry of Truth, an organization tasked with changing all records to support the ideology of Big Brother. His job title is records editor in the Records Department at the Ministry.
The Party believes that in order to maintain power it needs to control the flow of information not just about the past but also about the present. For example, Oceania has been at war with Eastasia and allied with Eurasia. The Party, for some reason not known to Smith, decides that they are now allied with Eastasia and at war with Eurasia. In order to maintain control of the truth, the Party insists that they have always been at war with Eurasia and has the Ministry of Truth rewrite history to reflect this. Smith puts in...
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90 hours at work in five days to make this change, going through past books and newspapers and editing them to reflect the current reality.
Winston's job was to constantly rewrite minor "historical" occurrences so that they reflected the current politics. Keep in mind that the politics changed rapidly and frequently in Winston's world, so his job security was good. If a news report had previously said that, for instance, the wheat crop was going to be good and the price of flour would decrease, but with new political shifts in fighting, several flour mills were destroyed, Winston would rewrite this news item so it read that people were going to have to tighten their belts for the good of the party because the price of flour would go up. Winston's job is an example of sinecure in that it was an easy job requiring little effort, but it was secure, if not lucrative.
Winston works at a very unimportant job in the Ministry of Truth now. He only goes in a couple days a week and even he is not quite sure what it is he does. He works for a,
"sub-committee of a sub-committee which had sprouted from one of the innumerable committees dealing with minor difficulties that arose from the compilation of the Eleventh Edition of the Newspeak Dictionary."
He states that one of the jobs, perhaps the only job, of his sub-committee (which is made up of four other people who are like him) is to report whether commas belong inside or outside brackets.
What are Winston's feelings about his world and its governance in "1984"?
Winston Smith is at once terrified and demoralized by the totalitarian society in which he lives. Despite the regime's best efforts at mind control, Winston still manages to retain a capacity for independent thought, which naturally leads him to want to overthrow the Party's tyrannical rule.
The most important source for Winston's true feelings is his diary. Winston doesn't want to keep his subversive thoughts all bottled up inside; he feels an urgent need to express them. But in this totalitarian society, expressing thoughts that contradict Party policy is a serious crime, punishable by death, so Winston has to be extremely careful. He figures that confiding his true thoughts about the regime to a diary is the least dangerous option, certainly much less so than telling someone about them.
Winston's diary is the only place where he can express what he really thinks about the regime. He positively loathes Big Brother; we know this because he writes "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER" in his diary over and over again. And it's Winston's loathing of Oceania's dictator that leads him to take increasingly bold risks—such as reaching out to O'Brien, someone he believes is an opponent of the regime, but who in actual fact is an Inner Party agent. Winston wrongly thinks that O'Brien also hates Big Brother with a passion. The fact that Winston tries to establish a subversive connection to him demonstrates that his diary entries are not just words; he means to act on his opposition to the regime.
Unfortunately, Winston's brave defiance leads to his downfall. In his capacity as a Party apparatchik—a member of the political elite—O'Brien tortures Winston, not just to punish him, but more importantly to force him to love Big Brother. After his horrifying stint in Room 101, psychologically destroyed, his body broken by torture, Winston finally gives in. As he sits in the Chestnut Tree cafe, crying into his Victory Gin, he gazes up at an enormous portrait of Big Brother. At that moment, Winston, with his brainwashed mind, has triumphed over his subversive self, the self that he expressed so eloquently in his diary. In reality, this triumph, such as it is, is really a victory of the Party over Winston—and that victory is complete. For he now loves Big Brother.
What are Winston's feelings and development throughout 1984?
At the beginning of the novel, Winston harbors feelings of resentment and hatred towards the Party inside himself. Winston's only act of rebellion is simply writing "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER" in his diary and contemplating the Party's oppressive hold on society. He fears being arrested by the Thought Police but does not initially try to undermine the government. As the novel progresses, Winston believes he has an ally in O'Brien and develops a relationship with Julia. Julia persuades Winston to exercise his individuality, and he begins to find respite during his brief interactions with her. Winston begins to act more rebellious by renting an apartment above Charrington's antique shop, carrying on an affair with Julia, and even attempting to join the Brotherhood by visiting O'Brien's home, where he receives "THE BOOK."
The more Winston engages in rebellious behavior, the closer he gets to being arrested by the Thought Police, which is something Winston accepts and anticipates. Eventually, Winston is arrested and taken to the Ministry of Love, where he is tortured by O'Brien. While he is being tortured, Winston tries his best to maintain his individuality by protecting his spirit. Unfortunately, Winston is taken to Room 101, where he eventually abandons hope and is brainwashed into becoming a loyal follower of Big Brother.
What is Winston's role at the Ministry of Truth in 1984?
The Ministry of Truth is actually the ministry of lies, just as the Ministry of Love is actually the ministry of torture. At the Ministry of Truth, history is rewritten to align with whatever is the current Party orthodoxy, and it is also where propaganda is produced. Winston's job is to rewrite newspaper articles to align with the Party's current version of reality. For example, whatever superpower Oceania is at war with is supposed to be the superpower it has always been at war with, so when the enemy changes, Winston has to alter newspaper articles to make it appears that Oceania has always been at war with this enemy. He also has to alter news stories to erase Party members who have fallen into disfavor. When he has produced the new version of reality, he drops the old news story down the memory hole where it is burned in a furnace. He then performs doublethink to forget that he ever altered anything, though Winston is prone to commit such thoughcrimes as remembering.
What is Winston's role in the plot of 1984?
Winston is the protagonist, or main character, of 1984. Without Winston, there would be no book.
Winston is the everyman in the society of the novel; he has an average life, an average job, an average wife. When Winston begins to question the Party, he helps the readers begin a journey of exploration about the dangers of totalitarian governments. Winston's victories become the reader's victories, and his trials become the reader's, too.
When Winston finally succombs to the Party philosophies again at the end of the novel, it is disheartening, because the reader has begun to root for the revolution, just as he had. Realizing that there truly is no underground revolution is devastating to Winston and the reader alike. Winston allows us to see the dangers of blind loyalty to those in power, and reminds us to continue to question the world around us.