1984 Summary
1984 Summary
1984 Summary
Oceania, a place where the Party scrutinizes human actions with ever-
watchful Big Brother. Defying a ban on individuality, Winston dares to
express his thoughts in a diary and pursues a relationship with Julia.
These criminal deeds bring Winston into the eye of the opposition, who
then must reform the nonconformist. George Orwell's 1984 introduced
the watchwords for life without freedom: BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING
YOU.
Setting: Oceania
When George Orwell wrote 1984, the year that gives the book its
title was still almost 40 years in the future. Some of the things
Orwell imagined that would come to pass were the telescreen, a
TV that observes those who are watching it, and a world
consisting of three megastates rather than hundreds of countries.
In the novel, the country of Eastasia apparently consists of China
and its satellite nations; Eurasia is the Soviet Union;
and Oceania comprises the United States, the United Kingdom,
and their allies.
One day, while at the mandatory Two Minutes Hate, Winston catches the
eye of an Inner Party Member, O'Brien, whom he believes to be an ally.
He also catches the eye of a dark-haired girl from the Fiction
Department, whom he believes is his enemy and wants him destroyed. A
few days later, Julia, the dark-haired girl whom Winston believes to be
against him, secretly hands him a note that reads, "I love you." Winston
takes pains to meet her, and when they finally do, Julia draws up a
complicated plan whereby they can be alone.
Alone in the countryside, Winston and Julia make love and begin their
allegiance against the Party and Big Brother. Winston is able to secure a
room above a shop where he and Julia can go for their romantic trysts.
Winston and Julia fall in love, and, while they know that they will
someday be caught, they believe that the love and loyalty they feel for
each other can never be taken from them, even under the worst
circumstances.
Winston gets the book at a war rally and takes it to the secure room
where he reads it with Julia napping by his side. The two are disturbed
by a noise behind a painting in the room and discover a telescreen. They
are dragged away and separated. Winston finds himself deep inside the
Ministry of Love, a kind of prison with no windows, where he sits for
days alone. Finally, O'Brien comes. Initially Winston believes that
O'Brien has also been caught, but he soon realizes that O'Brien is there
to torture him and break his spirit. The Party had been aware of
Winston's "crimes" all along; in fact, O'Brien has been watching
Winston for the past seven years.
Finally, O'Brien takes Winston to Room 101, the most dreaded room of
all in the Ministry of Love, the place where prisoners meet their greatest
fear. Winston's greatest fear is rats. O'Brien places over Winston's head
a mask made of wire mesh and threatens to open the door to release
rats on Winston's face. When Winston screams, "Do it to Julia!" he
relinquishes his last vestige of humanity.