1984 by George Orwell Plot Summary

1984 by George Orwell Plot Summary

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a seminal dystopian novel that depicts a world of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, and historical negationism. The story follows Winston Smith, a man who attempts to maintain his humanity in a society that demands absolute conformity to the “Party” and its leader, Big Brother.

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PLOT SUMMARY 1984
Part 1, Chapter 1
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary
We are introduced to Winston Smith and the world in which he lives. He is a very aged
thirty-nine year old man, with a small, thin stature. He works in one of the four Ministries
that serve as the entire government of Oceania. The Ministry names and functions are
as follows: The Ministry of Truth, which regulates all forms of media, entertainment, and
arts; the Ministry of Peace, which presides over all aspects of war; the Ministry of Love,
which is a form of judicial system; and the Ministry of Plenty, which governs economic
affairs.
The description of life in his world is bleak at best. He lives in a filthy building that smells
of boiled cabbage. The elevator is always broken and his flat (apartment) is on the
seventh floor. He has a terrible time getting up and down the stairs on account of a
constantly oozing and aching varicose ulcer just above his right ankle. When he finally
gets home, he is greeted by the same type of environment that he just left at work:
constant surveillance by Big Brother, the government. This constant watch is kept on
him by a telescreen, which covers the wall and is constantly monitoring not only his
every action and word, but also his facial expressions. The slightest notion through
gesture or appearance against the Party means death or worse. He must, in every
aspect of his being, be a member of the Party, the group that supports Big Brother. The
Thought Police are always there to enforce that loyalty.
Every description paints a picture of a cold, dark, empty, colorless existence. The Party
Slogans, "WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH,"
are plastered everywhere the eye can see. Along with them, a portrait of Big Brother
glaring with the caption, "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU."
The overwhelming and growing discontent that Winston feels is immediately evident.
Although it is a risk to his life, he has somehow procured a pen, ink and a journal. There
is a small alcove in his flat that just barely escapes the watch of the telescreen. He uses
this as his sacred space to be himself and write. All of these actions are punishable by
death. Even having a thought against the Party, which is called Thought crime, is
labeled as an offense. When he begins to write he realizes that he is not exactly sure of
the date, his exact age, or of his own history or that of the world. He thinks that it is April
4, 1984. He cannot really be sure of anything, however, because it is the intention and
priority of the Party to systematically erase the past and replace it with whatever they
want to create. In the 1950's, a process began to dissolve the past through destruction
of all newspapers, books, etc. and subsequently rewrite all of history to suit the Party.
Another part of this process includes the creation of a new language called Newspeak
and complete dissolution of the current form of language known as Oldspeak. This
process was to be complete by 2050. The new language will be exponentially shorter
than the old language and void of emotion or imagery. For instance, all synonyms of
good and bad, as well as the word bad will cease to exist. In their place will be the
words good and ungood. In order to say very good, one would say doubleplusgood, and
to say very bad, doubleplusungood would be used. The new vocabulary is being
constructed strictly for political purposes. Words such as honor, morality, democracy
and science are cut out of the language completely. The word free has been retained
but only in the following type of context: "The floor is free from litter."
The telescreen serves more than just the purpose of monitoring the people; it is also the
medium by which political propaganda is programmed into them. Throughout the day
flashes of Emmanuel Goldstein, the Enemy of the People appear on the screen in the
form of the Two Minutes Hate. This is a Newspeak term describing a two-minute period
during which footage and narration are especially geared towards accessing the depths
of fear and anger in the people and turning it loose in support of Big Brother. There is
yelling, name-calling, and throwing of objects at Goldstein's' face on the screen,
followed by group chanting "B-B" (standing for Big Brother) repeatedly. One has to be
careful not to be too calm or uninterested during the demonstrations, as this would
serve as a definite clue to the Thought Police who may not be in full support of the
Party.
In this section, we were also introduced to O'Brien. When he started writing his journal,
he felt like O'Brien might be the only one that could ever help him in the movement to
bring down Big Brother. He is sure that O'Brien gave him a certain flash of the eyes that
made him know they were both in the same place against the party. We learn that in
general Winston dislikes women. He believes that they are the most likely to believe
everything the Party says without question. The girl with dark hair is especially
frightening to him. She is a member of the Junior Anti-Sex League and has a piercing
glance that makes him sure; she is one of the Thought Police.
Part 1, Chapter 1 Analysis
His name is Winston Smith. His first name is ironic because he is anything because he
is anything but a winner. It is also symbolic and flows with the theme of winning/Victory
that the Party creates. Smith is one of the most common surnames. In this case,
Winston represents the common person. The use of paradoxes is glaringly obvious, for
example: The party slogans, "WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE
IS STRENGTH." Also, take each Ministry name and function into consideration. The
Ministry of Peace governs war. The Ministry of Truth heads entertainment, news,
education, etc., which are most known in society for being biased and unreliable. The
Ministry of Love is responsible for law and order, judgment against another. Love is the
opposite of judgment. The Ministry of Plenty directs economic affairs, which is an
obvious irony in this situation since under the political circumstances in the book
scarcity abounds.
The Party provides Victory cigarettes to its people, the wrappers of which barely keep
the tobacco in. Throughout the book, we also read about Victory gin, Victory coffee,
Victory Mansions (which are the buildings they live in that are falling apart) etc. The
word Victory is symbolic of the image that Party presents to the people of the state of
their lives. This is also ironic because that image is obviously not reality.
Winston states on page nine that nothing is illegal because there were no longer any
laws. This is ironic because the people were being judged and punished constantly, but
by having no laws, the Party created the image of freedom.
Winston's' character starts to develop very quickly. We see in the first couple of pages
that he is just playing the Party game but not believing it and by the end of the first
chapter, we know the depths of his hatred against the Party.
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