The Original Big Brother (1984 By George Orwell)

The world of Nineteen Eighty-Four

The novel focuses on Winston Smith, who stands, seemingly alone. Orwell's original title for the novel was The Last Man in Europe,[8]which was dropped both because it did not sound ominous enough and because it implied a level of heroism in the main character. Although the storyline is unified, it could be described as having three parts and in fact it has been published in three parts by some publishers. The first part deals with the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four as seen through the eyes of Winston; the second part deals with Winston's forbidden sexual relationship with Julia and his eagerness to rebel against the Party; and the third part deals with Winston's capture by the Party and his imprisonment in the Ministry of Love.

The world described in Nineteen Eighty-Four parallels the Stalinist Soviet Union and Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany. There are thematic similarities: the betrayed revolution, with which Orwell had famously dealt in Animal Farm; the subordination of individuals to "the Party"; and the rigorous distinction between the Inner Party, Outer Party, and everyone else. There are also direct parallels of the activities within the society: leader worship, such as that towards Big Brother, who can be compared to dictators like Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler; Joycamps, which are a reference to concentration camps or gulags; Thought Police, a reference to the Gestapo or NKVD; daily exercise reminiscent of Nazi propaganda movies; and the Youth League, reminiscent of Hitler Youth or Little Octobrists/Young Pioneers.

There is also an extensive and institutional use of propaganda; again, this was found in the totalitarian regimes of Hitler and Stalin.


Plot summary

A social pyramid of the classes listed in the Book, with Big Brother on top, and the proles at the bottom


Winston Smith, a member of the Outer Party, lives in the ruins of London, the chief city of Airstrip One — a front-line province of the totalitarian superstate Oceania. He grew up in post-World War II United Kingdom, during the revolution and civil war. When his parents disappeared during the civil war, he was picked up by the growing Ingsoc (Newspeak for "English Socialism") movement, placed into an orphanage and eventually given a job in the Outer Party.

Winston lives a squalid existence in a one-room apartment in "Victory Mansions", and eats black bread, synthetic meals served at his workplace, and drinks industrial-grade "Victory Gin." He is discontented with his life, and keeps a journal of his negative thoughts and opinions about the Party. This journal, along with any other eccentric behaviour, if found, would result in his torture and death through the dealings of the Thought Police (he starkly explains the very definite result of his "thoughtcrime" in a journal entry: "Thoughtcrime does not entail death. Thoughtcrime IS death"). The Thought Police have telescreens in every Party household and public area, as well as hidden microphones and informers in order to catch potential thoughtcriminals who could endanger the security of the Party. Children are carefully indoctrinated from birth to report any suspected thought criminal, even − especially − their parents.

The Ministry of Truth, which exercises complete control over all mass media in Oceania, employs Winston at the Records Department, where he doctors historical records in order to comply with the Party's version of the past. Since the present needs of the Party require constant revision of past events in order to reflect the shifting nature of the party's orthodox view of history, the task is a never-ending one.

While Winston likes his work, especially the intellectual challenge involved in fabricating a complete historical anecdote from scratch, he is also fascinated by the real past, and eagerly tries to find out more about the forbidden truth. At the Ministry of Truth, he encounters Julia, a mechanic on the novel-writing machines, and the two begin a necessarily clandestine relationship, regularly meeting up in the countryside (away from surveillance) or in a room above an antique shop in the Proles' area of the city. The owner of the shop exchanges various facts on the mysterious pre-revolutionary past with Winston and sells him artifacts from this period, as well as renting the room to them. Julia and Winston find their new hiding place a paradise, as they believe that there is no telescreen and so they believe themselves completely alone and safe.

As their relationship progresses, Winston's views begin to change, and he finds himself relentlessly questioning Ingsoc. Unknown to him (or to the reader), he and Julia are under surveillance by the Thought Police. When he is approached by Inner Party member O'Brien, Winston believes that he has made contact with the Resistance or Brotherhood which is opposed to the ideals of the Party. O'Brien gives Winston a copy of "the book", a searing criticism of Ingsoc believed to have been written by the dissident Emmanuel Goldstein, leader of the Brotherhood. This book explains the nature of the perpetual war, and exposes the truth behind the Party's slogan, "War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength."

Winston and Julia are eventually apprehended by the Thought Police in their supposed sanctuary, which actually contains a hidden telescreen, and are then interrogated separately in the Ministry of Love, where opponents of the regime are tortured and usually executed but sometimes released (only to be executed at a later time). O'Brien appears at the Ministry of Love, and reveals that he will help Winston "be cured" of his hatred for the Party, by subjecting Winston to numerous torture sessions. During one of these sessions, he explains to Winston that the purpose of the torture is not to extract a fake confession, but to alter the way Winston thinks. O'Brien also assures Winston that once he is cured, meaning that he accepts reality as described by the Party, he will be executed.

The party intends to achieve this with a combination of torture and electroshocks, continuing until O'Brien decides that Winston is "cured". Eventually, Winston is sent into Room 101, the most feared room in the Ministry of Love, where a person's greatest fear is forced upon them as the final step in their "re-education." Since Winston is morbidly afraid of rats, a cage of the hungry vermin is placed over his eyes, so that when the door is opened, they will eat their way through his skull. In terror, as the cage is placed onto his head, he screams, "Do it to Julia!". So ends the torture and Winston returns to society, apparently filled with party doctrine.

Near the end, Winston and Julia again meet in a park, by chance. They remember, with distaste, the "bad" feelings they once shared. Both acknowledge having betrayed the other, and find themselves apathetic. We finally see that the torture and "reprogramming" have been successful; happily reconciled to his own impending execution, and accepting of the Party's versions of the past and present (Winston shortly celebrates a possibly fabricated, though accepted as fact, bulletin describing Oceania's recent decisive victory over Eurasia), he finally accepts love towards Big Brother.