1984 Book summary

1984, like Animal Farm, is believed to be Orwell’s indictment of Joseph Stalin’s Communism. However, Orwell claimed that his books were about what could go wrong with Totalitarianism everywhere, and it did not have anything to do with the USSR specifically. Orwell may not have been writing about Russia, but he was certainly inspired by the political developments in the country. The chief opposition to the government of Big Brother in 1984 is found in the character of Emmanuel Goldstein, who was based on the real-life exiled communist, Leon Trotsky.

George Orwell drew inspiration from several prolific writers, chief among them being Johnathan Swift and Aldous Huxley. George Orwell was inspired by the satirical writings of Johnathan Swift, most of all, Gulliver’s Travels. He was also greatly influenced by Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, however, it is important to note that Huxley wrote about Utopia while George Orwell chose to write Dystopias. While working on the novel, he had thought to name it The Last Man in Europe, but he ultimately decided on 1984.

Winston Smith is a Party worker in the Ministry of Truth for the nation of Oceania, one of the three nations of the world. He lives in Airstrip One, a city that had once been called London, and works in the Department of Records, where he works to correct documents that prove the Party had ever been wrong about anything. The Party of Big Brother operates in a dystopian world of poverty and war, with constant surveillance. Winston commits a covert thoughtcrime when he secretly begins to record his thoughts in a journal, a serious crime that would invite horrendous punishment upon him. However, Winston is beyond the point of caring, since his life is so empty and joyless that he almost seems to invite the thought of being caught. Winston has also been mustering the courage to rebel openly by joining the underground rebellious group called the Brotherhood. Winston believes that he has found a member of the group, O’Brien, a senior member of the inner Party but Winston hasn’t yet dared to speak to him.

Winston’s failed marriage has left him with bitter feelings about sex, and he often fantasizes about having intercourse with a member of the Anti-Sex League, Julia. The Party teaches its citizens that sex is dirty and repulsive, although it is necessary for reproduction. Winston and Julia eventually come together, as Julia secretly hands him a note telling him that she loves him. They meet in a secret meadow for the first time, and have sex, although they don’t truly love each other at this point and only wish to rebel against the Party. The relationship between them deepens as they continue to meet in secret places and at work. Finally, Winston decides to rent a room in the poorer part of the city where they cannot be surveilled, right above the shop where he had purchased his journal. Julia and Winston begin to fall in love as they learn about each other’s past, and they become more human. In the safety of their room, Winston can uncover the guilt he had always experienced due to how he had treated his mother and sister when he had been a starving child. He decides that he cannot continue to live under the hateful regime of Big Brother and that he would approach O’Brien to join the Brotherhood. He asks Julia to separate herself from him since his rebellion would certainly expose her to the Party. However, Julia decides to join the brotherhood along with him, although she had always expressed her desire to continue rebelling against the Party in secret without any overt action like joining the rebellion.

O’Brien accepts both of them into the Brotherhood and informs them that they will soon receive a book written by the leader of the Brotherhood. Winston receives the book, and he begins to uncover the twisted machinations of the Party as it tells him that poverty and war are tools that are used to keep the Party in power. However, Winston fails to learn why the Party wishes to remain in power, but before he can go back to the book, they are both captured. Winston learns that O’Brien had never truly been a member of the Brotherhood and that the whole arrangement had been made to entrap him into committing Thoughtcrime. He also learns that the Party isn’t interested in punishing the criminals that rebel against its order, but that they focus their efforts on converting them. O’Brien leads the team that works on converting Winston with constant torture and beatings. O’Brien exposes him to so much pain that Winston eventually begins to adopt the Party mindset but his feelings for Julia do not change. Finally, O’Brien exposes Winston to his worst fear, rats, and Winston betrays Julia. He tells O’Brien to spare him the punishment and to punish Julia with the rats instead of him. Several years later, when Winston is reintegrated into society, he runs into Julia. The two of them are completely free but they are unable to have the same connection with one another since they had both betrayed one another.