Death is an inescapable doom that marks the end of one’s life and can be used as a threat to scare others to manipulate them. Moreover, some deaths can be more significant than others. In literature, death will oftentimes mark a turning point or symbolify a key concept in the novel. Both the novels, Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, and, 1894, by George Orwell, have notable deaths at the ends of their books. Brave New World has the death of John the savage, while 1984 has the death of Winston Smith. Both of these deaths symbolize the loss of humanity and privacy. Additionally, their deaths prove that no matter what, in the end, society always remains victorious.
John the savage’s death in Brave New World marks an extremely significant part
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This death is significant to the novel because, like Brave New World, it marks the end of Winston’s humanity. Throughout most of the book, Winston hated everything about the Party. For instance, Orwell states, “His pen had slid voluptuously over the smooth paper, printing in large neat capitals- DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER… over and over again, filling half the page” (Orwell 18). To further explain, Winston hated Big Brother and the Party so much that he illegally purchased a journal and writing illegal things in it, but by doing so, he has all his humanity and is completely himself. As the novel progresses, his behavior becomes more radical until he is finally caught by the Thought Police. Orwell writes, “There was another crash. Someone had picked up the glass paperweight from the table and smashed it to pieces on the hearthstone” (Orwell 223). To analyze, Orwell includes this detail about the glass paperweight to symbolize freedom and hope. Once the paperweight is smashed by the Thought Police, the reader knows that all Winston’s freedom is gone, and that there is no hope left. Moreover, it essentially states that Winston is doomed. From that point on, Winston is tortured until he has the Party’s ideals implemented into his brain; however, he proves to be a difficult case. At the end of the novel, Orwell writes “But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother” (Orwell 298). Orwell does not directly state that Winston is dead, but it is clearly obvious that he is because previously in the novel Orwell states, “It would not matter if they killed you at once. To be killed was what you expected. But before death (nobody spoke of such things, yet everybody knew of them) there was the routine of confession that had to be gone through” (Orwell 103). In other
Believing that O’Brien is a member of the Brotherhood and he too is opposed to the Party, Julia and Winston pay him a visit at his apartment. O’Brien tells the two that they must be willing to lose their own lives in order to take down Big Brother; however, when he asks if they would be willing to betray one another, they refuse. Winston’s hatred for Big Brother has accumulated so much that he is now willing to die solely for the sake of taking down the Party. At the start of the novel, Winston could not stand the thought of his own death. The thought haunted him, and he was not prepared for that to happen. As the story progresses and Winston is being oppressed in more and more ways, he despises the Party more than ever, and eventually is
In 1984 George Orwell uses many symbolic objects such as the paperweight, the prole's, big brother, and telescreens to assist the readers in a deeper understanding of the book and its purpose. When Winston Smith, the main character, purchases the glass paperweight he represents the struggle in
Other than Winston’s weak characteristic and his lack of planning, the main cause that contributes to Winston’s downfall is his indulgence. Winston lacks the ability to control himself from anything addictive in life. This personal flaw makes Winston lost in his cause to the destruction of “Big Brother”. In the novel, Winston constantly drinks and smokes to distract himself instead of focusing on a plan to take down “Big Brother”. Winston’s dream is to have a love affair: “Almost as swiftly as he had imagined it, she had torn her clothes off, and when she flung them aside it was with that same magnificent gesture by which a whole civilization seemed to be annihilated” (Book 2, Chapter 1). His illegal love affair with Julia does no good to his objective of bringing down “Big Brother”. The only result that the love affair accomplishes is Winston’s
Winston started as a unique man who hated following the rules and he made a complete 180 following the events in jail. Winston came out a new man, with respect for the Party and Big Brother as well as others around him. Winston had this to say about his new life at the end of the book, “it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished.” When he said the struggle was finished he realized he was done fighting Big Brother and the Party and finally was willing to accept them.
Throughout the novel, Winston wanted to rebel against the government, but the fear of the thought police made him conform. The party used telescreens and other things to monitor the citizens to make sure they were not thinking for themselves. This is why Winston had to be careful in what he does because if he got caught he would have been killed. When Winston finally found people that he trusted and thought were on his side, he started to begin to do things outside of conformity. This is when the party stepped in and began to punish him with his worst fear of rats to make him conform again. Winston knew that Big Brother was not real, but he was forced to conform by being brainwashed by his
In the beginning of the book we see that Big Brother is in charge of Oceania and at the end of the novel, Big Brother is still in charge. The beginning of the novel is important as the end, however, nothing seems to change Winston loved big brother then later he questions himself why he loves Big brother. After being torture he no longer has questions of Big Brother or where his loyalty is he loves and respect Big Brother. “But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother” (Book 3 Chapter 6). During the novel, Winston wanted to join a rebellion and fight against Big Brother but after being torture Winston hopes faded and ended up if nothing has happened. The only thing Winston change is some words that went against the Party but after losing his job and being torture he went along with whatever Big Bother said. Which made no difference to Oceania since they have still had to follow and obey the Party and their awful
Winston goes through emotional change throughout 1984 that changes his perspective and personality. At the beginning of the book, Winston is filled with hatred towards the Party. “They’ll shoot me in the back of the neck i dont care down with big brother they always shoot you in the back of the neck i dont care down with big brother-” (Orwell, 19). Winston’s fury towards the Party and Big Brother is evident. Through his diary entries, you can definitely tell that he harbors an intense anger towards them. So, it may seem that this trait will never change and make him always fight for it. The reader may at first think that he will never change views. But then, Winston completely changes perspective at the end of the book when he states, “He loved Big Brother.” (Orwell, 298). This keeps Winston from becoming another boring character who refuses to change his opinion which makes for an interesting book and a more complex character.
Winston also shows determination throughout the novel. For example, when he was caught for having an affair with Julia, he did not give up his beliefs. O’Brien tortured Winston severely for thought crime and for the fact that he was willing to join brotherhood. However, until the very end of his pain Winston still said he hated Big Brother and that he did not like what they were doing. No matter how much pain he went through, Winston stood up for what he believed and he expressed his beliefs. When O’Brien asked
In the novel 1984, George Orwell uses symbolism as a way to help develop plot parts. Throughout the novel various symbols recur which play major parts in developing themes. The glass paperweight, victory gin and Julia’s scarlet sash are all important symbols found in the novel.
The first impression of Winston is a weak, worn down individual. His body was getting older, as illustrated by his limited ability when participating in the daily stretches. Orwell only explains his physical characterization in the beginning and end of the book when he is being tortured. The middle of the book is more focused on characterizing Winston's mind. The reader is constantly wondering how many rules Winston is willing to break at the risk of torture. At first is seems as though his follower-type personality will only let him risk
In George Orwell 's Novel 1984, the government, or Big Brother, monitors the people constantly, forcing them to adhere to laws that eliminate any individual freedoms or thoughts. Winston, the protagonist, lives in this society as someone who is against this oppression struggling to meet others who feel the same. He meets a woman named Julia who also a rebel, so both decide to have a forbidden relationship out of rebellion towards the party. Recruited by his co worker O’brien, Winston is able to join a rebel organization called the brotherhood.. Promptly after Winston joins the brotherhood; he and Julia are caught and punished by O’brien and the party. After all this, Winston gives up his desire for rebellion towards Big brother and finally accepts his oppression. Orwell’s central argument is to show the potential negative effects of what happens when government runs without checks to its power. Orwell conveys this argument through his deliberate arrangement, pessimistic tone, narrative distance and his use of satire.
The dedication of Winston’s mother and his sister giving up their lives in order to save Winston shows that the society in 1984 was full of control, if they want people to die, they will die. Although Winston and his family didn’t do anything wrong, there was no way for all of them to be survived. “He was out in the light and air while they were being sucked down to death, and they were down there because he was up here” (29). The difference between Winston and his mother and his sister shows that the Party had the absolute right to control who must live and who must die. This part shows that Orwell is proving how cold- blooded a society could be. In spite the fact that he was young and small, he still remembered “…she had sacrificed herself to a conception of loyalty that was private and unalterable. Such things, he saw, could not happen today” (30). There was no loyalty could be mentioned in Winston’s era, there was only hostility. The Party members had
Winston begins his journey as a diligent worker in the Ministry of Truth, secretly vowing to use the rest of his life to rid society of the Ocenia in which he currently lived. As he begins his involvement with Julia, Winston is able to come to terms with himself and understands his own distaste for the Party and Big Brother. Winston even agrees to commit suicide, if and when orders him to do so and almost approves O’Brien’s
This so successfully written conclusion made it seem as if the novel was built from end to beginning or carefully written working towards that end carefully linking each event while having no intention at all of having an ambiguous or uncertain conclusion to the novel. At the beginning of the Novel, Winston gets hold of a small notebook on which he starts writing about how he hates the party, emphasizing big brother, he wrote “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER”. And all the way from the beginning he knew, he knew he would end up dead if he kept going with this, he even wrote “they’ll shoot me i don’t
In 1984, George Orwell criticize the many flaws of the totalitarian government. The main flaws of the government system demonstrated in the novel are the deprivation of freedom of the citizens of Oceania. In 1984, the life of Winston is always filled with dread until the end when he starts to believe in Big Brother. It is due to Big Brother keeping him alive during the torture process because of him believing in him made the torture ease for Winston. Winston rebels against the government because he realized that the laws in Oceania are prejudice and unfair to man. The happiness of Winston found at the end of the book is due to him falling into the trap of a totalitarian government. After Winston, had been tortured by the ministry of love, he was sitting at a café and was listening to the telescreen as he started to constantly say “2+2=5” and “I love big brother” after he had been tortured (Orwell 263). Winston found that the trap to be his form of happiness because it allowed him to survive the torture session, making the totalitarian government very dangerous because Winston would have tragically died if he had not fallen under Big Brother’s fist. The happiness of Winston found at the end of the novel relates to the fact a person’s worth