Hello readers! Welcome back to my 1984 blog. A lot has happened since my last post, including Winston finding a special someone... Today I will be analyzing George Orwell's unique writing style, and hopefully, I can slide a few juicy details in about Winston's new romance!
I must confess, I haven't been completely honest about the titles of my blogs. I am titling them based on how many chapters I've read, but in reality, the chapters start back at one at the beginning of each part. There are three parts in total. During this reading, I finished Part One, which ended at Chapter Eight, and I read through Chapter Four of Part Two. Technically Chapter Four of Part Two was the twelfth chapter of the book, so I am going to continue titling my posts in that fashion. Part One is the reader's introduction to Winston and his character where the reader gets to see Winston develop into a rebellious character, as he finally is acting on his thoughts. For example, the book opens and we learn that Winston has been keeping a diary, something that is forbidden for Party members, and throughout Part One Winston gets even braver. He begins skipping his hours at the Community Center in favor of roaming the streets and observing the proles. The proles are working-class people who live a life similar to how we live now, and in Oceania, they live a life free from Big Brother. They don't have telescreens, they don't have to follow all the silly rules Party members have to follow, and they make up a very large percentage of the population of Oceania. Winston writes in his diary that "If there is hope... it lies in the proles" (69). Winston means that if the proles were to rise up and oppose Big Brother and the Party, they could potentially overthrow the government because there are so many of them. However, they aren't very smart, so they are content with how life is now because they don't see all of the issues with their society. Part One is an account of Winston's drastic character development over a short period of time, where he takes bigger and bigger risks. He is content with recording everything that happens to him so that maybe someday in the future someone will ensure the same mistakes aren't made. Now I say content because he certainly isn't happy due to the inevitability of his vaporization. His crimes loom over his head and he constantly expresses his fear of being caught by the Thought Police. This fear is worsened when Winston sees "the girl from the Fiction Department, the girl with the dark hair" when he is leaving the shop that he purchased his diary from (100). This freaks him out, as he believes that the dark-haired girl is a member of the Thought-Police and is trying to catch him doing something unorthodox, and wandering around a prole section of town is certainly unorthodox. Part One ends with him being afraid for his life, and Part Two begins with a lengthy description of his love affair with Julia, the dark-haired girl. Yep, you read that right. It turns out Julia, the dark-haired girl, is in love with Winston. The first four chapters of Part Two explain more about Julia and her background. The contrast between Part One and Part Two is quite evident as Part One is when Winston is all depressed because he has accepted that he will one day be vaporized and Part Two is when Winston finally has something to live for.
Something that I find interesting about 1984 is how the novel is structured. It centers around Winston writing in his diary, and snippets of his diary entries are actually included in the book. Once a sentence or a paragraph from the diary has been introduced there is a lengthy discussion of the story behind the quote. One example of this is when Winston writes in his diary "Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious" (70). The page then shifts into a detailed discussion of how the proles were liberated by the Party after the Revolution, but Winston shares his thoughts on how the proles haven't really been liberated. He explains that they are still treated poorly as their only jobs are "to work and to breed" (71). They aren't very smart, and they live their lives without ever fully comprehending how messed-up the society is that they live in. That is why Winston claims they are not conscious. This passage from the diary comes after a section where Winston explained that if the proles wanted to, they could rise up and defeat the Party because they make up such a large percentage of the population. However, in his diary, Winston writes down that the proles will not be able to rebel as long as they keep believing their lives are fine the way they are. Another example of this is when Winston writes "Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows" (81). This comes after he is talking about how the Party tells its citizens "to reject the evidence of [their] eyes and ears" (81). Winston is talking about how everyone who is governed by Big Brother is required to believe what Big Brother believes. There is no individual freedom. This passage is when Winston realizes that freedom truly does not exist in their society unless people can see past what the Party preaches. Winston uses the diary to store all of his grand ideas on how to rebel against the Party, and the previous example is Winston saying that people must acknowledge their power as an individual in order to band together and fight the Party. As you can see the novel is peppered with portions of Winston's diary that are either preceded by or followed by Winston's thoughts on the topic.
This section of reading was particularly interesting as Winston reveals who his audience is. Before this was revealed I thought the diary was just an emotional outlet for Winston, a place where he could jot down all of his experiences and grievances in exchange for a bit of closure. Winston is "writing the diary for O'Brien-to O'Brien; it [is] like an interminable letter which no one [will] ever read, but [it is] addressed to a particular person and [takes] its color from that fact" (81). The diary is where Winston records everything he wishes he could share with O'Brien because he is unable to have an actual conversation with him. I believe Orwell uses O'Brien to symbolize hope. Winston is unsure of his future, as he believes he has doomed himself by keeping a diary. O'Brien symbolizes a better future, a future where more people understand how horrible the Party is. This symbol comes up again when Winston realizes what "the place where there is no darkness" means, stating that "The place where there is no darkness [is] the imagined future, which one would never see, but which, by foreknowledge, one could mystically share in" (103). O'Brien is a symbol of a brighter future, and Orwell uses him to show that Winston is writing his diary because he needs something to keep living for. His diary, written to O'Brien, is an account of Winston's experience living under the Party's rule. The diary contains what a government shouldn't do when trying to run a successful society, and Winston hopes that someone (potentially O'Brien) will read the diary in the future and make sure they don't make the same mistakes. The diary is Winston's hope for a brighter future expressed in words.
George Orwell uses a third-person limited point of view in 1984 as opposed to a third-person omniscient point of view. This means that the reader knows the thoughts and feelings of one character, rather than all of them. I received a comment on my last blog that was wondering if others in Winston's society didn't agree with the Party. This is hard to determine as the reader only gets what Winston is thinking about other people. For example, Winston "'...imagined that [Julia] had something to do with the Thought Police'" (121). Winston has always believed that Julia is the most dedicated Party member, a member who would betray him to the Thought Police at the drop of a hat. The reader also believes that, as Winston is their only source of information. It turns out that Julia is extremely unorthodox, perhaps even more than Winston. She breaks many rules, meeting Winston in secret places, stealing food, and having sexual intercourse with multiple Party members. However, the reader has no idea that Julia is unorthodox until Winston finds out. He is our window into Oceania. There could be many other people that denounce the Party and exhibit rebellious tendencies, but Winston is only aware of Julia and O'Brien being slightly different. Maybe everyone despises the Party but still conforms because they are afraid of being different. As long as Winston doesn't know, the reader doesn't know, so hopefully he will find out if others share his views.
1984 is easy to read as it flows really well. I think it's cool how Orwell intertwines Winston's diary with the actual story as it helps the reader get a closer look inside Winston's mind. My one complaint is that sometimes I can get a little confused because occasionally Winston talks about the past. I wouldn't necessarily call it a flashback, but an example of this is when Winston talks about his wife Katharine and their relationship. Other than these occasional flashbacks the novel is chronological, making for a pretty easy read. I also don't really like how the chapters start over from one in each part because that makes it difficult to divide up the book. These are very minor complaints, and I must admit I am enjoying 1984 and I can't wait to find out how Winston and Julia's relationship will progress!
I must confess, I haven't been completely honest about the titles of my blogs. I am titling them based on how many chapters I've read, but in reality, the chapters start back at one at the beginning of each part. There are three parts in total. During this reading, I finished Part One, which ended at Chapter Eight, and I read through Chapter Four of Part Two. Technically Chapter Four of Part Two was the twelfth chapter of the book, so I am going to continue titling my posts in that fashion. Part One is the reader's introduction to Winston and his character where the reader gets to see Winston develop into a rebellious character, as he finally is acting on his thoughts. For example, the book opens and we learn that Winston has been keeping a diary, something that is forbidden for Party members, and throughout Part One Winston gets even braver. He begins skipping his hours at the Community Center in favor of roaming the streets and observing the proles. The proles are working-class people who live a life similar to how we live now, and in Oceania, they live a life free from Big Brother. They don't have telescreens, they don't have to follow all the silly rules Party members have to follow, and they make up a very large percentage of the population of Oceania. Winston writes in his diary that "If there is hope... it lies in the proles" (69). Winston means that if the proles were to rise up and oppose Big Brother and the Party, they could potentially overthrow the government because there are so many of them. However, they aren't very smart, so they are content with how life is now because they don't see all of the issues with their society. Part One is an account of Winston's drastic character development over a short period of time, where he takes bigger and bigger risks. He is content with recording everything that happens to him so that maybe someday in the future someone will ensure the same mistakes aren't made. Now I say content because he certainly isn't happy due to the inevitability of his vaporization. His crimes loom over his head and he constantly expresses his fear of being caught by the Thought Police. This fear is worsened when Winston sees "the girl from the Fiction Department, the girl with the dark hair" when he is leaving the shop that he purchased his diary from (100). This freaks him out, as he believes that the dark-haired girl is a member of the Thought-Police and is trying to catch him doing something unorthodox, and wandering around a prole section of town is certainly unorthodox. Part One ends with him being afraid for his life, and Part Two begins with a lengthy description of his love affair with Julia, the dark-haired girl. Yep, you read that right. It turns out Julia, the dark-haired girl, is in love with Winston. The first four chapters of Part Two explain more about Julia and her background. The contrast between Part One and Part Two is quite evident as Part One is when Winston is all depressed because he has accepted that he will one day be vaporized and Part Two is when Winston finally has something to live for.
Something that I find interesting about 1984 is how the novel is structured. It centers around Winston writing in his diary, and snippets of his diary entries are actually included in the book. Once a sentence or a paragraph from the diary has been introduced there is a lengthy discussion of the story behind the quote. One example of this is when Winston writes in his diary "Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious" (70). The page then shifts into a detailed discussion of how the proles were liberated by the Party after the Revolution, but Winston shares his thoughts on how the proles haven't really been liberated. He explains that they are still treated poorly as their only jobs are "to work and to breed" (71). They aren't very smart, and they live their lives without ever fully comprehending how messed-up the society is that they live in. That is why Winston claims they are not conscious. This passage from the diary comes after a section where Winston explained that if the proles wanted to, they could rise up and defeat the Party because they make up such a large percentage of the population. However, in his diary, Winston writes down that the proles will not be able to rebel as long as they keep believing their lives are fine the way they are. Another example of this is when Winston writes "Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows" (81). This comes after he is talking about how the Party tells its citizens "to reject the evidence of [their] eyes and ears" (81). Winston is talking about how everyone who is governed by Big Brother is required to believe what Big Brother believes. There is no individual freedom. This passage is when Winston realizes that freedom truly does not exist in their society unless people can see past what the Party preaches. Winston uses the diary to store all of his grand ideas on how to rebel against the Party, and the previous example is Winston saying that people must acknowledge their power as an individual in order to band together and fight the Party. As you can see the novel is peppered with portions of Winston's diary that are either preceded by or followed by Winston's thoughts on the topic.
This section of reading was particularly interesting as Winston reveals who his audience is. Before this was revealed I thought the diary was just an emotional outlet for Winston, a place where he could jot down all of his experiences and grievances in exchange for a bit of closure. Winston is "writing the diary for O'Brien-to O'Brien; it [is] like an interminable letter which no one [will] ever read, but [it is] addressed to a particular person and [takes] its color from that fact" (81). The diary is where Winston records everything he wishes he could share with O'Brien because he is unable to have an actual conversation with him. I believe Orwell uses O'Brien to symbolize hope. Winston is unsure of his future, as he believes he has doomed himself by keeping a diary. O'Brien symbolizes a better future, a future where more people understand how horrible the Party is. This symbol comes up again when Winston realizes what "the place where there is no darkness" means, stating that "The place where there is no darkness [is] the imagined future, which one would never see, but which, by foreknowledge, one could mystically share in" (103). O'Brien is a symbol of a brighter future, and Orwell uses him to show that Winston is writing his diary because he needs something to keep living for. His diary, written to O'Brien, is an account of Winston's experience living under the Party's rule. The diary contains what a government shouldn't do when trying to run a successful society, and Winston hopes that someone (potentially O'Brien) will read the diary in the future and make sure they don't make the same mistakes. The diary is Winston's hope for a brighter future expressed in words.
George Orwell uses a third-person limited point of view in 1984 as opposed to a third-person omniscient point of view. This means that the reader knows the thoughts and feelings of one character, rather than all of them. I received a comment on my last blog that was wondering if others in Winston's society didn't agree with the Party. This is hard to determine as the reader only gets what Winston is thinking about other people. For example, Winston "'...imagined that [Julia] had something to do with the Thought Police'" (121). Winston has always believed that Julia is the most dedicated Party member, a member who would betray him to the Thought Police at the drop of a hat. The reader also believes that, as Winston is their only source of information. It turns out that Julia is extremely unorthodox, perhaps even more than Winston. She breaks many rules, meeting Winston in secret places, stealing food, and having sexual intercourse with multiple Party members. However, the reader has no idea that Julia is unorthodox until Winston finds out. He is our window into Oceania. There could be many other people that denounce the Party and exhibit rebellious tendencies, but Winston is only aware of Julia and O'Brien being slightly different. Maybe everyone despises the Party but still conforms because they are afraid of being different. As long as Winston doesn't know, the reader doesn't know, so hopefully he will find out if others share his views.
1984 is easy to read as it flows really well. I think it's cool how Orwell intertwines Winston's diary with the actual story as it helps the reader get a closer look inside Winston's mind. My one complaint is that sometimes I can get a little confused because occasionally Winston talks about the past. I wouldn't necessarily call it a flashback, but an example of this is when Winston talks about his wife Katharine and their relationship. Other than these occasional flashbacks the novel is chronological, making for a pretty easy read. I also don't really like how the chapters start over from one in each part because that makes it difficult to divide up the book. These are very minor complaints, and I must admit I am enjoying 1984 and I can't wait to find out how Winston and Julia's relationship will progress!
Citation(s)
Orwell, George. 1984. Signet Classics, 1977.
Hey Ellie, I enjoyed reading your blog post! I read the basic summary of 1984 online and it looks really interesting. Your post makes me want to read it. I liked your analysis of Winston and how he transforms from depressed to lively. In the novel, did it explain the start of their relationship? Also, do you think Winston will ever act upon the rebellious ideas he writes in his diary?
ReplyDeleteEB
EB, thank you for reading my blog. The novel does go into detail surrounding Winston and Julia's relationship, I just chose to focus more on the style of the novel in this post rather than the plot. But just to clear things up for you, Winston and Julia meet after she gives him a note that says I love you. Eventually they meet in person and start an intimate relationship. I think that Winston eventually will act on his ideas, especially if Julia keeps pushing him to.
DeleteHi Ellie!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your discussion of how the diary is mixed in with the story. I also really enjoyed that, especially at the beginning of the book. I thought it was a clever and unique way to characterize Winston.
I also find it really interesting that O'Brien means so much to Winston even though they have never talked. I agree that O'Brien definitely symbolizes a brighter future to Winston, but I wonder if Winston will ever end up talking to him. (It is really annoying that the chapter numbers start over with each section).
Georgia
Thanks for reading Georgia! I'm glad you agree with me regarding the structure of the novel. Hopefully we will find out in this next section of reading if O'Brien and Winston ever actually talk.
DeleteHi Ellie,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your discussion of the third-person limited viewpoint in this book. I personally like that we are left in the dark as to what the other characters are thinking and feeling; it gives more weight to their actions and causes the reader to analyze their behaviors. How do you feel about this point of view? Do you think the book would be very different if the point of view was third-person omniscient?
Katie
I like this point of view because as a reader I feel more involved in the story. I know the same things that the main character knows, meaning that if the main character doesn't know something I don't know it. I discover things as the main character discovers them. If the book was written in third-person omniscient the book would be less exciting because we the reader would already know the background of Oceania and the Party, so the reader would very rarely be surprised, making for a slower read.
DeleteEllie,
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your blog about 1984 and seeing your perspective of the book makes me want to read it soon! I think it is important how you explained the difference between part one and two of the book because it really shows the style of the author.
I think it is key that in your blog you expressed that even though you like the book, you still have some things you would change about it. Many people are not usually this honest when reviewing a book. Your true opinions make me want to read this book even more! I can’t wait to hear more about the next part of the book!
-Megan
Good analysis of the set up of the book. Your discussion of the point of view provides good insight into how Orwell controls his reader's reaction to the text.
ReplyDelete