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