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Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell

Summary

 

Contents

Story. 1

Author 3

 

Story

Winston Smith works in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth. On lunchtime he goes back in his flat and begins to write in his diary in a part of his room where he cannot be seen by the telescreen. He thinks about earlier that day when he had attended the Tow Minutes Hate at Work. The Two Minutes Hate is a meeting which is designed to increase people’s love for Big Brother and to increase their hate for the enemy and the arch-traitor Emmanuel Goldstein. At the meeting he noticed two people. Winston thinks that one of them, a dark-haired girl, is spying him. The other person he thinks about is O’Brien. Winston writes in his diary “Down with Big Brother”. He is then frightened by a knock on the door, because he thinks he has already been found. Mrs. Parson has knocked on his door and asks Winston if he could help her unblock a sink. She is the wife of a party member. Her children call Winston a spy. She explains that they are angry because they cannot see the public hanging. Winston returns in his flat and write again in his diary. Winston is at works in the Records Department. He has to change newspaper reports and articles and then to destroy the old reports. At lunchtime Winston meets Syme, who is a specialist in Newspeak. Mr. Parson joins them and apologizes for his children’s behavior. The telescreen reports that the standard of living has risen, but Winston thinks that that is not true. He notices the dark-haired girl and thinks again if she is a spy.

Winston continues his diary. He thinks about the Party’s attitude to sex and marriage and he thinks about his wife Katharine, who no longer lives with him.

Winston feels that life is worse now ? before the revolution. He cannot prove it because the Party controls all information of the past. Winston fears that one day the Party says that two and two make five and everybody will believe it.

 Winston visits a part of the city where the proles live and follows a man into a public house. He asks the old man questions about the past, but only receives meaningless answers. Then he finds a junk-shop where he bought the diary. He enters and the shopkeeper, Mr. Charrington, shows Winston a room with old fashioned objects. When he leaves the shop, he sees the dark-haired girl. Now he is sure that she is spying on him.

Winston meets the dark-haired girl at work. He has hurt her arm and collapses in front of him. Winston helps her and she gives him a piece of paper. He can read on the paper that she loves him. Winston wants to meet her, but they are not able to talk to each other. Later the girl is able to give him instructions where and how to meet. They meet at Victory Square, where a crowd of people is watching captured prisoners. The dark-haired girl gives him directions to meet her in the country. When Winston arrives at the countryside he feels that he is in the Golden Country. Then the girl arrives and shows him a secret place and tells him that her name is Julia and that she is against the Party. Winston and Julia make plans to meet again, but it is very difficult. They decide to rent the room in the junk-shop.

Winston and Julia often talk about the Party and they notice that they have different attitudes. Julia thinks that it is impossible to overthrow the Party. O’Brian invites Winston to his flat. Winston belives that O’Brian is asking him to join a conspiracy against the Party. He knows that he will come to the flat of O’Brian, but he also knows that it is dangerous. Winston and Julia visit O’Brian and tell him that they are prepared to help to overthrow the Party. O’Brian tells them about the organization of the Brotherhood, a secret organization against the Party. The leader of the Brotherhood is Goldstein. Winston and Julia are in their room over the junk-shop. Guards enter the room and take Julia away. Mr. Charringont, the shopkeeper, enters and Winston finds out that he is a member of the Thought Police.

Winston is in a cell in the Ministry of Love. Winston quickly finds out that O’Brian is a loyal Party member and has deceived him. Winston has been tortured and confesses all his crimes against the Party. O’Brian tells Winston that he has been watching him for several years and that he wants to cure him. He explains that there are three stages to Winston’s cure: Learning, understanding and accepting. O’Brian continues to torture Winston when he cannot answer questions correctly. It seems that Winston is cured, but when O’Brian realizes that he still hates Big Brother, he takes Winston to room 101. In room 101 People are confronted with their deepest fears. Winston sits on a chair and O’Brian explains Winston how room 101 works. A cage with two large rats is brought in, because this is Winston’s greatest fear, he once told Julia. The cage is fixed in front of his face. Winston is afraid. The rats might come out and be able to attack him. Winston is in panic and begs that this should be experienced by Julia rather than by himself. This is the moment of his final betrayal Julia.

Winston meets Julia once again. She confesses to Winston that she has betrayed him and that the she has no more feelings for him.

Later Winston sits in the Chestnut Tree Café. Oceania is at war with Eastasia. The telescreen announces a great victory and Winston finds himself joining the people in hysterical celebrations. He realizes that he has been cured by the Party and is know able to admit that he loves Big Brother.

 

Author

Eric Arthur Blair was born in 1903 in India. He later changed his name to George Orwell. In 1907 his family moved to England where he went to school. In 1917 he began studying at Eton College one of England’s foremost private schools. From 1922 to 1972 he served with the India Imperial Police Force in Burma, which inspired his first novel, Burmese Days. Before he returned to England he lived in Paris for 2 years. In 1936 he was commissioned by the publisher Victor Gollancz to visit areas of mass unemployment in Lancashire and Yorkshire. The Road to Wigan is a description of the poverty he saw there. In 1936 George Orwell went to Spain to fight for the Republicans. During the Second World War he served in the Home Guard and worked for the BBC. As literary editor of Tribune he contributed a regular page of political and literary commentary, and he also wrote for the Observer and for the Manchester Evening News. George Orwell died in London in 1950.

 

Main Characters:

  • Winston Smith
  • Julia
  • 0’Brain
  • Big Brother

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