نویسنده: جورج اورول
انتشارات: نشر مجید
به قلم: امین رضایی ورودی ۱۴۰۰ مهندسی مکانیک
Brief
1984 is a masterpiece by George Orwell. It’s his last novel written in 1948. Similar to
animal’s farm, He wrote it to warn readers of the dangers of totalitarianism.
Summary
Winston Smith is a member of the Outer Party. He works in the Records Department in
the Ministry of Truth, rewriting and distorting history. To escape Big Brother's tyranny, at
least inside his own mind, Winston begins a diary — an act punishable by death. Winston
is determined to remain human under inhuman conditions. Yet telescreens are placed
everywhere — in his home, in his work place, in the cafeteria where he eats, even in the
bathrooms. His every move is watched. No place is safe.
One day, while at the mandatory Two Minutes Hate, Winston catches the eye of an
Inner Party Member, O'Brien, whom he believes to be an ally. He also catches the eye of a
dark-haired girl from the Fiction Department, whom he believes is his enemy and wants
him destroyed. A few days later, Julia, the dark-haired girl, secretly hands him a note that
reads, "I love you." Winston takes pains to meet her, and when they finally do, Julia draws
up a complicated plan whereby they can be alone.
Alone in the countryside, Winston and Julia make love and begin their allegiance
against the Party and Big Brother. Winston is able to secure a room above a shop where
he and Julia can go for their romantic visits. Winston and Julia fall in love, and, while they
know that they might someday be caught, they believe that the love and loyalty they feel
for each other can never be taken from them.
Eventually, Winston and Julia confess to O'Brien, their hatred of the Party; whom they
believe to be a member of the Brotherhood (an underground organization aimed to bring
down the Party). O'Brien welcomes them into the Brotherhood with some questions, then
gives Winston a copy of "the book," the underground's treasonous volume written by their
leader, Emmanuel Goldstein, former ally of Big Brother turned enemy.
Winston gets the book and takes it to the secure room where he reads it with Julia
napping by his side. The two are disturbed by a noise behind a painting in the room and
discover a telescreen. They are dragged away and separated. Winston finds himself deep
inside the Ministry of Love, a kind of prison with no windows, where he sits for days alone.
Finally, O'Brien comes. Initially Winston believes that O'Brien has also been caught, but he
soon realizes that O'Brien is there to torture him. The Party had been aware of Winston's
"crimes" all along; in fact, O'Brien has been watching Winston for the past seven years.
O'Brien spends the next few months breaking Winston in order to change his way of
thinking — to employ the concept of doublethink, the ability to simultaneously believe in
two opposing ideas. Winston believes that the human mind must be free, and to remain
free, one must be allowed to believe in an objective truth, such as 2 + 2 = 4. O'Brien wants
Winston to believe that 2 + 2 = 5, but Winston resists.
Finally, O'Brien takes Winston to Room 101, the place where prisoners meet their
greatest dreads. Winston's greatest fear is rats. O'Brien places over Winston's head a mask
made of wire mesh and threatens to open the door to release rats on Winston's face. When
Winston screams, "Do it to Julia!" he gives up his last sign of humanity.
Winston is a changed man. He sits in the Chestnut Tree Café, watching the telescreens
and agonizing over the results of daily battles on the front lines. He has seen Julia again.
She, too, is changed, seeming older and less attractive. She admits that she also betrayed
him. In the end, there is no doubt, Winston loves Big Brother.
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