Preview

Examples Of Heroism In 1984

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
893 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Examples Of Heroism In 1984
Heroism
“From where Winston stood it was just possible to read, picked out on its white face in elegant lettering, the slogans of the party: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength.” (Orwell 4) The world imagined in George Orwell’s 1984 was what most feared our world would turn into. Totalism was a nightmare, and those who rebelled against it were made to think they were wrong. Yet some dare to anyways even if it won’t make a difference. George Orwell came up with definition for heroism which was different from most. Orwell felt ordinary people doing what they could to change the social system even if they know it could never work. However, does Winston fit this description? Could Winston really be considered a hero?
In the beginning of the book we learn much about what is going on in the world imagined by George Orwell and the
…show more content…
Winston, we learn works for the Ministry of Truth, which handles news, education, and the fine arts that all relate to the party. Within the Ministry of Truth, also known as MiniTruth in Newspeak, Winston makes corrections to the errors or misprints in the papers. However, these ‘misprints’ and ‘errors’ are really misprints and errors, and Winston knows this. Quietly he rebels with his thoughts even though he knows if he were ever caught there would be severe repercussions. This is why in the opening pages of the book we find Winston with his back turned to the telescreen. He had recently bought a small journal from an antique store. He knows this is a dangerous, but Winston does it anyways. He does it because it was his was of rebelling. He knew that it wouldn’t matter because “Either the future would resemble the present, in which case it would not listen to him, or it would be different from it, and his predicament would be meaningless.” (Orwell 7) yet he continues. Winston writes of the propaganda and the war films with vivid deaths that really opened his

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    1984 book I

    • 331 Words
    • 2 Pages

    · In Orwell's novel Ninteen Twenty- four, Winston Smith the protagonist who lives in a totalatarian government works as an officer in Victory Mansions in The minis located in Oceanian. In book I of Orwell's novel the setting of this totalatarian government is characterized as harsh and opressive where the past is constantly being made up and accepted as the truth. The story is told in third person omniscent and begins by telling of the past; one significant event the novel tells is of the time when Winston our main character buys a blank journal from a little shop in which the proles occupy and swears to never go back there again. Throughout book I Winston writes in the journal but very reluctantly due to the fact that if discovered he might be vaporized by the government. Book I also goes on to describes Winston's marriage with his wife Katherine that consisted of no real affection and later on were separated due to infertility. Although Winston swears to never go back to the shop occupied by the proles he finds himself wandereing outside of the Ministry…

    • 331 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    At first, even Winston does not know his aim of writing the diary, then he realizes “But so long as he uttered it, in some obscure way the continuity was not broken. It was not by making yourself heard but by staying sane that you carried on the human heritage”(Orwell 27). There is a no denying fact that under the control of Big Brother, Winston’s diary will not influence anyone, except himself. Writing the diary is a way to keep Winston staying sane, which is because most of the Oceania people already lost their mind to tell right from wrong. Thus, sometimes, even Winston himself may question whether he is right or not. When he begins to write his diary, he already realized he must die eventually. Even knowing this outcome, Winston still choose to write the diary because it is a main way for him to express his rebellion against the government. In Winston’s diary, he could write everything he wants and express his rebellion against the Party independently, which gives both Winston and readers the hope to fight against the Party. Even though at the end, Winston fails to take any actions against the government, his diary is his rebellion. Also, in Winston’s diary, he memorizes some obscure memory of his past, which can be interpreted into his subconscious desire to past life. It is a well established fact that he is longing for getting…

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When you read this story you have to understand that it was in 1984 and it was a wake up to the spread of communism that was going to happen, he wanted the perfect community with mind games and only little vocabulary. He wanted it to be just like he wanted and It was starting. But the question was do I think Winston Smith was a hero by George definition? No I do not think he was a hero even though he did well for everyone and helped them with things they needed. The stuff that he did gave him hope that he could overthrow the government. Winston just did all of the things so he could have the feel of being a rebel but he would have just tried to do it right him could have really made a difference in this world and I don't think he even noticed it at the time we was doing all of the stuff for the people. My opiopion is that if he would of left his rebel stage out of it and actually helped the people because he cared then I would of considered him a hero even though he didn't fit the profile of a hero but looks always deceive you and even the smallest person on the earth could be a hero it’s about your heart and all the good you have inside of…

    • 848 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    1984 Betrayal Analysis

    • 1969 Words
    • 8 Pages

    At the beginning of the novel, Winston is introduced as a supposedly loyal member to the party as he works for the Ministry of Truth, altering the past to eliminate any discrepancies made by the party; however, the reader discovers that he secretly loathes his job and the party itself. He hides from the telescreen in his flat and keeps a journal where he writes down his true thoughts on Big Brother. He goes as far as to even commit thoughtcrime by writing "Down with Big Brother" numerous times in it (18). This shows Winston's discontentment with the party and foreshadows his rebellion against the party. Later, he also jots down that, "Freedom is the freedom to say two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows" (67). Here, Winston is referring to the party's manipulation of the truth; it changes the truths into lies and the lies into truths and expects its citizens to believe whatever they consider the truth to be true. He believes that freedom will follow only after the truth is revealed. He also makes another assumption that, "[the party] [could] [not] get inside you"(135). He is proven long later as Big Brother does conform him to the philosophies of the party. This can be seen when he sits at the Chestnut Tree Café and, "unconsciously trace[s] with his finger in the dust on the table: two plus two equals five" (230). Through this action, the reader sees that…

    • 1969 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In my opinion Winston is a hero because he rescues a lot of people in the story and people consider him a savior. Winston's health was never good because he suffered from a coughing disease. He represents a good character when he decides to actually save the people in trouble. The people around him in the story see him as a nice and easy to get along with person. Winston was used in many good ways. A hero is a person who stands up and out of many people that includes braver. No one can ever go against Winston which shows the qualities of a brave/hero. Winston would never follow of the rules of his society and didnt understand the consequences. Without knowing any of that information shows the determination of being a hero. He stays to himself…

    • 352 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Winston has lived under the party and its leader, Big Brother, for most of his life. He is a middle class citizen who works in the Ministry of Truth. The Ministry of Truth…

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1984 Doublethink Analysis

    • 352 Words
    • 2 Pages

    George Orwell’s thoughts are all reflected into the novel, which helps clarify his way of thinking and criticising the corrupt society. Being completely controlled all the way to the point in which someone can’t think for themself is reflected upon the fact that the government manipulates aspects of reality to achieve control. The protagonist, Winston, was going through memory loss, however, as he works in the Ministry of Truth, where they elude historical events to support the party’s needs, he remembers parts of the…

    • 352 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Winston works in the Records Department in the Ministry of Truth, where his job is to rewrite history according to Party’s agenda. Winston’s job is to “track down and collect all copies of books, newspapers, and other documents which had been superseded and were due for destruction” (). If the Party is able to control history they can eliminate any previous events that may prove harmful to the Party and their agenda. Winston states “if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed— if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. ‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.’ And yet the past, though of its nature alterable, never had been altered” (). The Party alters the history of the past so that the altered past is no factually correct and the people living under the Party’s rule will have to perceive the past as true.…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    From the beginning of the novel rebellion had always been a part of Winston, but as time went on rebellion from the powerful Big Brother consumed him. After his hysteric outburst on paper on writing “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER”, Winston reveals that, “He had committed- would still have committed, even if he had never set pen on paper- the essential crime. Thought crime..." This is the first time Winston allows his feeling to surface through the suppression of the party. Within him there is sheer hatred for Big Brother, enough to sporadically scream his demise through pen and paper. More importantly, he knew he committed a crime and that it was inevitable. Though he knows that what he has done cannot be changed he accepts its inevitability. Rebellion was rooted in the deepest part of his mind as Thoughtcrime and it was inescapable.…

    • 601 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Winston Smith is a thirty- nine old year old. He is very thin and unfit. He is employed as a records editor in records department at the ministry of truth. He is also an outer party member living the victory mansions. Winston suffers from an itching and inflaming ulcer in his right ankle. He knows he does not like the party at all but doesn't know how to rebel against them. Although he would like more people to revolt against the party. Winston despises big brother, and will do anything to destroy it, even writing,"DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER" (Winston 18) in his diary. Winston isn't very enthusiastic about things, he wakes up in bad moods does his group exercise in a bad mood. and the only thing that keeps him at peace is Julia…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The author of the novel, George Orwell, lived in an area where the government had strict control and…

    • 966 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Because Winston lives in a society where humanity is diminished, he relegates towards his journal where he can freely express himself. In Oceania,” to disassemble your feelings, to control your face, to do what everyone else [is] doing, [is] an instinctive reaction” (Orwell 17). It is human nature to act in the best interest of one’s self, but everyone in Oceania must follow the footsteps of society. When someone is not able to make their own decisions, they become unaware and just go through the motions of society. Since Winston is forced to conform to society’s decisions, he constantly lives in the lower three centers of consciousness because he is living in the future where he wants to have freedom. In order to control his thoughts and…

    • 221 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1984: War Is Peace

    • 997 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Winston is a miserable member of a society he hates, and is controlled and watched in every area of his life. He has no desire to go on living that way, but he has no other choice. "The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it; moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live - did live, from habit that became instinct - in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and except in darkness, every movement scrutinized."(6-7). Winston feels hopeless, and knows there is nothing he can do to control his destiny. More than anything he wants to be able to have his own thoughts; not just be told what to think, do, and feel. He goes through the motions of outward orthodoxy, but inside he lives in a world of dreams, memories and endless speculation about the existence of the past in the face of the Party 's continual alteration of documents. Winston is devoid of any…

    • 997 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1984 - Big Brother

    • 859 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Throughout the novel, Winston believes that though society forces him to conform on the outside, he can still fight the system with his thoughts and by being with Julia in secret. He believes that his own individuality reveals that there is at least a small sliver of hope for humanity, but this is not so. Syme even questions Winston, "How could you have a slogan like 'freedom is slavery' when the concept of freedom has been abolished?" (pg.47). There is so much moral decay within the Party, Winston is wasting his breath and energy by trying to bring down Big Brother; it is too great, and he is too small, despite how intelligent he may be.…

    • 859 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The novel is speckled with ironies and those nuances typical in a George Orwell piece of writing. And it is those little details that transform it from a simple tale into a multi layered, multi faceted work of written art. He depicts the horrors of a communist regime, the brain washing involved in a play of…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays