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Book Report: 1984

Context

I heard about Julia which is 1984 from the perspective of Julia, the other main character in 1984. I decided I wanted to re-read 1984 before reading Julia so I could appriciate it more. I last read 1984 when I was in late elementary or early middle school. So I definitely didn’t remember details, but did remember the general gist of things at least. I wrote the below on my phone at varying levels of detail. Something to improve with these book reports.

Part 1

Introduced to Winston, the main character and the country of Oceania. Oceania is a tightly controlled country run by Big Brother and ‘The Party’. There are three castes of people:

Thoughts are controlled by rewriting history, limiting language, and brutal enforcement of arbitrary laws. He purchases a diary and begins to write in it which is an act of Thoughtcrime. He becomes infatuated with a woman Julia. He goes to a prole bar hoping to learn about the times before the party but fails. He returns to the shop where he bought the diary and discovers the woman is also in the same prole neighborhood. He freaks out because he thinks she’s followed him.

Part 2

Julia passes Winston a note saying “I love you”. They arrange to meet in the countryside on Sunday. They meet up, she’s met up and slept with lots of folks. Winston loves the fact that she’s done this a lot before. Julia talks about how sex needs to be controlled by the party to keep everyone fearful and full of energy. They eventually meet up in a room that Winston rented above the shop he bought the diary at. She brings coffee and sugar that are stolen from the Inner Party.

A man that Winston thinks is a rebel finds a way to give Winston’s his address. This man’s name is O’Brien, he’s an inner party member. Winston thinks he is starting to connect with other folks that oppose the party. He also feels like he is closer to death.

Winston dreams of his mother and sister. They had nothing, but Winston always demanded more. One day he storms off and when he returns they are gone. This makes Winston think of being human and how letting the party change how he feels would be the ultimate failure.

Winston spends more time with Julia. He’s a bit disappointed that she isn’t as intellectual about her rebellion. But sometimes she’s has insights he doesn’t have. The talk about how the party can make you say anything but they can’t change how you feel. Winston is fond of saying ‘we are the dead’ because he knows he will be caught eventually.

Winston gets “the book” from O’Brien. The book explains how the continual war is needed to dispose of excess production. If that production were not destroyed, everyone would have wealth and it would destroy the hierarchy that the powerful folks enjoy. It also explains that all three countries function the same.

After reading more of THE BOOK, Winston and Julia start singing “we are the dead” and then he hears the thought police saying “you are the dead”! It turns out the shopkeeper was the thought police and there was a telescreen in the secret room the whole time. Winston knows how things are done, but not why.

Part 3

Winston is in the Ministry of Love. The conditions are terrible. He see a couple of folks he knows. Even Parsins who was a die hard party supporter. He was saying “Diwn with Big Brither” in his sleep and was turned in by his daughter. O’Brien also comes in, but not as a prisoner.

O’Brien interrogated Winston quite a bit. He explains that the party must covert its enemies completely before they are killed. They must avoid making martyrs like previous regimes had done.

Eventually, they stop beating Winston and he gets stronger. He slowly understands how to DoubleThink and CrimeStop, the opposite of ThoughtCrime. Just when he thinks he’s been “cured“. He cries out Julia’s name. O’Brien hears this and knows that Winston is still rebelling a bit. He asks Winston what he thinks of bb and Winston’s says he hates him. O’Brien tells Winston he must love Big Brother to be cured. Winston is sent to Room 101.

Room 101 contains what a person fears the most. For Winston, it is rats. He is forced to put on a helmet that is filled with rats that can be released to eat him alive. Right before this happens he begs that they torture Julia instead. He has failed to rebel. In the end he loves Big Brother, just as O’Brein wanted.