The
book was written in 1947-1948 and named
as “1984” after eliminating a few options by inverting the date. Those were the
years that the war had just ended but the chaotic atmosphere of the war was
still felt. Winston Smith , the protagonist of the novel ,represents his
society and their troubles,their emotions,their lack of belief in everything in
a sense. The first name makes reference to Winston Churchill, one of the famous
British statesman, who is a political and intellectual hero during war. The
surname Smith is a very common English name,thus the main character of the book
is representative of “everyman”.
Orwell
creates his character perfectly and makes reader to symphatize Winston. On the
one hand we have a rebellious man who commits crimes such as writing “down with
Big Brother” in his diary or having an illegal love affair with Julia; on the
other hand he has paranoias about being catched. These characteristics makes
reader to identify themselves with him and experience his pain and agony,
caused by living in a society where life is mechanized like any other machine
and where all thoughts and actions are controlled.
Alienation
is inevitable in a society like the one in Oceania of which human bonds and
human emotions have been destroyed. Everyone,
including children, are taught to keep an eye on one other and report
misconduct to the Party. Winston lives in a World in which optimism is an
impossibility; lacking any real hope. At the Minitrue he is an editör responsible for historical revisionism, concording the
past to the Party’s contemporary official version of the past; thus making the
government of Ocenia seem omniscient. As such, he perpetually rewrites records
and alters photographs, rendering the deleted people as “unpersons”; the original
documents are incinerated in a “memory hole”. Despite enjoying the intellectual
challenges of historical revisionism he becomes increasingly fascinated by true
past and tries to learn more about it. Winston seeks the unadultered truth-and
the only way to attain that is by rebelling against the totalitarian rule of
the Party. In a society where everyone is merely existing
and fulfilling the Party's wishes, Winston continues to think, question, love,
and feel like all free human beings should.
He tries to remember his past but he could not. Winston
is alone, he doesn’t have a family and he even doesn’t have their photos or their
writings etc. He thinks about his mother
sometimes,however he is not able
to feel any real emotion. He is a stranger to his own life,own identity indeed;
thus his alienation to society, like other characters in the novel, is not
suprising.
Winston Smith has troubles about relying on
others. In an environment that all of his behaviours are controlled and all his
speeches are recorded, he cannot trust anybody. This lack of confidence makes
him insensitive. He lives a very dull life in an apartment at Victory Mansions:
he wears blue overalls, eats synthesized food – including black bread, bitter
chocolate, and fake saccharine – rationed out by the Party, drinks industrial
grade Victory Gin, and smokes Victory Cigarettes as a common man untill he recognizes Julia and
builds up a relationship. He is not alienated from real life by himself from
now on, he has a lover and a friend. They will resist together by the time
Party realize this inexcusable love affair.
Mechanization and urban decay affect the
protagonist, as well. Symphatized by the readers , Winston is easily identified with them and they are able to understand his feelings about the world Grey buildings
which are crumbling, never working elevators, unreliable electricity and
plumbing show how mankind and their
needs are neglected.
Party achieves its aim: Inner Party workers change the truth, rewrite the history, not
only kill the rebellious people but also remove their name and body from the
memory of society. They do not think in which condition people do live or from
what they suffer. With the help of telescreens they can follow them and order
them what to do. After a while community gets used to this kind of life style,however,
the ones like Winston is unable to adapt as a consequence he becomes one of the
“unpersons”.
