About the Author

George Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair. The son of a civil servant, he was born in India in 1903. His family having moved to England in 1907, he commenced studies at Eton in 1917, where he contributed to several college magazines.

Orwell served with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma from 1922 to 1927. Years of poverty followed.

In 1936 he fought for the Republicans in the Spanish civil war, and was wounded. He was admitted to a sanitorium in 1938. During World War II, Orwell served in the British Home Guard, and subsequently (from 1941 to 1943) worked for the BBC Eastern Service. He was the literary editor of the Tribune, and contributed to the Observer and the Manchester Evening News.

George Orwell is most famous for his books Animal Farm (published in 1945) and 1984 (published in 1949). He died in London, England in January of 1950.

About the Novel

Owing largely to progress in communications and other technologies, governments and businesses today have more power than ever to monitor and influence what we buy, were we go, what we watch or read, and what we believe. Recent terrorists attacks in the United States of America (most notably, the destruction of the twin World Trade Towers in New York and the Pentagon, and the delivery of Anthrax spores to public officials and the media in the U.S.A.) has most citizens more willing than ever to give up more individual freedom and privacy in exchange for the promise of greater security. Long denied the right to violate basic individual rights and freedoms and privacy, the world's law enforcement and surveillance communities and their governments are seizing the day, and making rapid steps to pass relatively permanent legislation giving the government powers which - prior to the acts of September 11, 2001 - would have been considered by the general populace to be powers properly unleashed only for temporary periods of national emergency.

In the process, questions are being raised as to whether the surrender of individual freedom will actually result in greater security, or whether we, in giving up freedom for security, are satisfying the aim of the terrorists to begin with: to undermine individual freedom of choice, equality under the law, and the dignity of every individual.

1984 has long been the first book to which we have turned for a vivid picture of a government that has used war to justify infringement on freedom; that has used speech codes to limit everyone's ability to understand higher concepts or concepts that favour human individuality; that uses powerful media to build unwarranted consensus and rewrite history; and that has used technology to nip political opposition and individualistic or eccentric practices in the bud. Far from being a caricature, it insightfully and skillfully characterizes the tendencies and motivations of unlimited government power, and the horrifying, hopeless result of such government: humanity denied its freedom to think, to be rational, and to dissent...its freedom to be human.

If, after finishing 1984, you find yourself nervous and paranoid, then: good. You have just taken a step closer to respecting the importance of human freedom and dignity, and the dangers in allowing governments to usurp your freedom to dissent or be different. All that remains is to fight to maintain or regain your ownlife (read the book, you'll know what we mean).

Plot Summary

Winston Smith knows there is something wrong with the world. Surely it hasn’t always been tasteless food, gray, stringy clothing, a dispiriting job, and always the same fear and suspicion of everyone around you? If life did used to be different, how does he know it was? What makes him question Big Brother, who is always watching, and the Party, who is always right? Why does he instinctively avoid the all-knowing telescreen, and secretly abhor the Two Minute Hate that everyone else revels in?

These are the questions that plague Winston’s mind constantly. He knows he’s different, but doesn’t know why, and doesn’t know how to find out without detection. The world as he knows it is filled with hate, anger, and fear, but deep down he longs for answers, and for beauty. He is always wondering about the past, and whether the daily facts that Big Brother reports are the truth, or nothing but lies. The past is constantly being rewritten by the Party, and it is Winston’s job to help change the facts to suit the current day’s needs. He both loves and is horrified by his job but sees nothing he can do to change it.

Winston can’t take the monotony anymore and one day starts a very small rebellion of his own by starting a diary, which is forbidden (and punishable by death). A chance meeting with a dark haired girl at the Ministry where he works slowly leads to an illicit affair, which awakens feelings in him he never knew existed. He is filled with love and lust for Julia, and their passionate romance awakens another feeling- all out rebellion against the party. They meet secretly as often as they can, talking about the world and making love in secret rooms. To Winston, it’s paradise.

Another chance meeting leads him to O’Brien, an Inner Party member he believes to be associated with a conspiracy against the Party, part of a secret society known only as the Brotherhood. He and Julia immediately join, and promise to do whatever they can to help the Brotherhood. O’Brien promises them that nothing will ever happen in their lifetime, and their service with the Brotherhood will most certainly lead to torture and death by the Party. This doesn’t bother them in the slightest.

It doesn’t take them long to get caught, however (betrayed, ultimately, by a kindly shopkeeper they trusted, who turns out to be a member of the Thought Police), and they’re both taken to the Ministry of Love for torture and interrogation.

Winston is held there for months, getting tortured by O’Brien himself, who turns out to be a member of the Party. He holds out against him and his brainwashing for a long time, but in the end he betrays Julia, and himself. He submits to their brainwashing and learns to love Big Brother and Big Brother only. He has no individualism, no thoughts that are not approved by the party, and no love for his fellow man. He is released from his prison, considered a “perfect specimen” by the Party and safe for society.

List of Characters

Winston Smith: Winston is thirty-nine, small and frail with fair hair and reddish skin. He wears the blue overalls that are the uniform of the Outer Party. He has a varicose ulcer above his right ankle. He is dissatisfied with life under the Party and wonders what things were like before, when people were free and had human dignity. He thinks deeply about the condition of the world. Winston has a phobic fear of rats.

Big Brother: The beloved leader of Oceania and symbol of the Party. Big Brother has black hair, a black moustache and piercing eyes that seem to follow you. His face and voice are everywhere--on the telescreens, coins, stamps, banners, posters, cigarette packets and book covers. Winston sometimes doubts that Big Brother is a real person.

Mr. Charrington: The owner of the prole junk-shop Winston visits. He is an old man, with a mild, friendly face and thick glasses. He has an intellectual air. His hair is almost white but his eyebrows are still black. Later, when Winston is arrested, he sees him with black hair and no glasses, a man of about thirty-five, and he realizes that all along Mr. Charrington was a disguised Thought Police agent.

Julia: When Winston first meets Julia he doesn't know her name and thinks she is a typical Party follower--a mindless, well-behaved robot. She works as a mechanic on a novel-writing machine. She has short, thick, dark hair, a freckled face and is twenty-six years old. Around her waist she wears a red sash, a symbol of the Junior Anti-Sex League. Later Winston discovers that Julia merely participates in the Anti-Sex League and other community activities as a cover and that she, too, hates the Party. She is intelligent and less likely to be fooled by Party propaganda than even Winston, but she is more interested in evading authority and having a good time than trying to overthrow the government. Julia is a highly sexual person.

Winston's Mother: She was tall, silent and moved slowly. She had magnificent, fair hair. She disappeared when Winston was about ten or eleven years old. Winston finds it tragic that she loved him and died loving him when he was too young and selfish to love her in return.

O'Brien: O'Brien has a very important, mysterious job. He is a large, well-built man with a 'coarse, humorous, brutal' face. He wears spectacles. Winston has always hoped that O'Brien may be an ally and also against Big Brother. As it turns out, he has been toying with Winston and is in charge of his torture and’re-integration' in the Ministry of Love. The two of them do have a special kind of empathy, although O'Brien can also be very cruel and is determined to force Winston to conform: ''Do you remember writing in your diary,' he said, 'that it did not matter whether I was a friend or an enemy, since I was at least a person who understood you and could be talked to? You were right. I enjoy talking to you. Your mind appeals to me. It resembles my own mind except that you happen to be insane.' (Part 3, Chapter 2, pg. 271)

Mr. Parsons: Parsons is not only Winston's neighbor but also works with him in the Ministry of Truth. Parsons is fattish but active. He is stupid, and incredibly enthusiastic about all political and community activities. He sweats a lot--he always smells of sweat and leaves damp patches on the handles of the table-tennis rackets at the Community Center. Winston thinks of him as 'one of those completely unquestioning, devoted drudges on whom, more even than on the Thought Police, the stability of the Party depended.' Even in the cells of the Ministry of Love, Parsons is loyal to the Party and glad to be arrested.

Ampleforth: A poet who works with Winston in the Ministry of Truth. He is quite fond of Winston in his own way. Working on a definitive edition of the works of Kipling, he allows the word 'God' to remain at the end of a line because he cannot find another suitable rhyme, and he is taken to the Ministry of Love.

Winston's Father: He was dark and thin, wore spectacles and dressed neatly. Winston especially remembers that the soles of his shoes were very thin.

Goldstein: The leader of the mysterious Brotherhood, and the enemy of the Party. He was one of the original leaders of the revolution, but Big Brother later exposed him as a traitor and forced him into exile.

Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford: Among the last survivors of the original leaders of the Revolution--who were all, except for Big Brother, exposed as traitors and counter-revolutionaries or wiped out? Like all Party enemies, they were arrested and then released for a while after they confessed, but eventually killed by the Thought Police. After their release Winston saw them in the Chestnut Tree Café. They were silent and unmoving, and Aaronson and Rutherford had broken noses. He saw Rutherford's eyes fill with tears.

Katharine: Winston's wife. They parted nearly eleven years ago and he hardly ever thinks of her. She was tall and fair-haired with strong facial features. She was very politically orthodox and not at all intelligent. 'She had not a thought in her head that was not a slogan, and there was no imbecility, absolutely none, that she was not capable of swallowing if the Party handed it out to her.' (Part 1, Chapter 6, pg. 67) Katharine hated sex, but insisted that she and Winston should try to have children for the Party.

Martin: O'Brien's mysterious servant. A small, dark-haired man in a white jacket, with a totally expressionless, yellow face which might be Asian. O'Brien reveals that he is one of the Brotherhood. It seems to Winston that Martin's whole life is playing a part. O'Brien tells them that sometimes the organization finds it necessary to alter someone's appearance, and Winston wonders whether Martin has a synthetic face, if this is why he shows no expression.

Comrade Ogilvy: A character Winston makes up. He is the perfect Oceania citizen and even as a child had spent all his time supporting the Party. As an adult, he had designed a highly effective hand grenade and then died in action at the age of twenty-three protecting important dispatches. He didn't drink or smoke, was completely celibate and never discussed anything but the Party philosophy, Ingsoc. 'Comrade Ogilvy, who had never existed in the present, now existed in the past, and when once the act of forgery was forgotten, he would exist just as authentically, and upon the same evidence, as Charlemagne or Julius Caesar.' (Part 1, Chapter 4, pg. 50)

Mrs. Parsons: Mr. Parson's wife. She is about thirty, but looks older. She has dust in the creases of her face and her hair is wispy. She looks crushed and afraid.

The Skull-faced Man: One of Winston's fellow prisoners in the Ministry of Love. He looks ordinary and mean--he might have been an engineer or technician. He radiates murderous, unappeasable hatred. His face is so emaciated that it looks like a skull, and he is obviously starving to death. When the guards come to take him to Room 101, he hysterically begs them not to take him. He starts to scream and says he will do anything rather than go there--offers to confess to anything, tells them to shoot him, tells them to cut the throats of his wife and three small children in front of him, but begs them not to take him to Room 101.

Syme: One of Winston's co-workers. A Newspeak specialist who is working on the Eleventh Edition of the official dictionary. He is politically orthodox and a hard worker, but, Winston thinks, he is too intelligent. Sooner or later he will get vaporized.

Character Map

Object/ Places

Airstrip One: The territory that used to be known as Britain.

The Alcove: Winston's plan of keeping a diary is partly suggested by the fact that the telescreen in his living room is unusually placed--there is a shallow alcove in the wall next to the screen which is out of sight. The alcove was probably intended to hold bookshelves, but Winston puts a table there and uses it as a private place to write in. In the alcove he can be heard, but not seen, by someone watching him through the telescreen.

The Book: The book that contains all the truth against the Party and Big Brother. Goldstein wrote it. The book is highly illegal--copies are produced by the Brotherhood, and continually sought out and destroyed by the Thought Police. The title, as Winston discovers when he finally gets hold of a copy, is The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism.

The Brotherhood: A secret organization, led by Emmanuel Goldstein, which is dedicated to overthrowing the Party government. O'Brien tells Winston and Julia that no-one knows how large the Brotherhood is or who the members are--no single member ever meets more than three or four contacts at a time, so that they can never betray more than a handful of people. When members are finally caught, they get no help. If it is vital to silence someone, a razor blade may be smuggled into their cell so that they can kill themselves before being questioned.

The Chestnut Tree Café: Haunt of painters and musicians, the place seems ill-omened and slightly disreputable. It is associated with those out of favor with the Party--the old leaders of the Party, before they were exposed as traitors and purged, used to gather there. The specialty of the house is gin flavored with cloves.

Crimestop: Stopping short, by instinct, on the threshold of any train of thought that could prove disloyal to the Party.

Community Center: Where Party members are supposed to go after work for communal recreation--games, lectures and drinking. Party members are not supposed to spend a lot of time alone or have spare time.

The Diary: Where Winston writes his secret thoughts. He uses a real, old-fashioned pen and ink, and writes in a beautiful book with creamy paper, which he found in the junk-shop. He puts a special speck of dust on the cover so that he can tell if anyone has found the diary, but does not realize that the Thought Police actually move and replace the speck of dust so he will not know that he is being watched.

Doublethink: The practice of thought control necessary to be a good Party disciple. No Party member can ever admit that the Party might be wrong. However, sometimes reality shows something to the contrary. Through using doublethink, the Party member can deal with any problems or inconsistencies with the Party. Party members simply block all awareness of the Party's falsities from their mind and then, as another act of doublethink, they forget that they have even used doublethink.

Eastasia: One of the three world superpowers. This super-state that has the least land, but still a large population. It consists China and all of southern and eastern Asia.

Eurasia: One of the three world superpowers. Its landmass is the whole of the northern part of Asia, and Europe. In the novel, Oceania is first at war with Eurasia and allied with Eastasia, but then is at war with Eastasia and allied with Eurasia.

The Glass Paperweight: A beautiful antique that Winston finds in the junk-shop--a heavy lump of glass, curved on one side and flat on the other, almost like half a sphere. The color and texture of the glass has softness, like rainwater, and in the center is a piece of pink coral. Winston buys it because of its beauty, but it is a strange thing for a Party member to buy and it would be difficult for him to explain if anyone knew that he had it. It seems to him as if the surface of the glass is like the sky, and inside is a tiny world where Julia's life and his own are fixed, like the coral, in a kind of eternity.

The Golden Country: A landscape that recurs in Winston's dreams that he thinks he recognizes in the country area he visits with Julia. There is an old pasture (a field used for grazing animals) with a foot-track running across it and a few molehills. Nearby he can hear a stream.

Hate Week: A kind of week-long festival involving processions, speeches, films, banners, posters, etc, aiming at building hatred of the enemy.

Inner Party: The highest level of Oceania society, easily visible because of their black overalls. Regular people like Winston belong to the middle level, the Outer Party.

Junior Anti-Sex League: An organization for young people to advocate complete celibacy for both sexes. Their ideal is that all children will be the products of artificial insemination and will grow up in public institutions. Members wear a red sash around the waist.

The Junk-shop: Winston finds this shop in a slummy area of town and is fascinated. Although Party members are not supposed to go into ordinary shops, he goes in to buy a blank book, which he uses as his secret diary. Winston later returns and meets the owner, Mr. Charrington. He and Julia rent the room above the shop, which has an armchair, a mahogany double bed and an 'old-fashioned' clock with a twelve-hour face, as a private place for the two of them.

Ministry of Love: In charge of law and order; the Ministry of Love is where political prisoners are tortured. It is hard to get into, surrounded by barbed wire and steel doors, and the surrounding streets are patrolled by guards.

Ministry of Peace: In charge of war--Oceania is constantly at war with either Eurasia or Eastasia and alternates which superpower is the friend and which is the enemy at an instant's notice.

Ministry of Plenty: In charge of economic affairs and production of goods. The Ministry of Plenty fabricates shortages of everyday items, such as razor blades.

Ministry of Truth: Like the other ministries, it is housed in a huge white pyramid-shaped concrete building. It is in charge of creating and rewriting all news, education, entertainment and art.

Newspeak: The official language of Oceania. The idea behind Newspeak is to develop a language in which it is technically impossible to disagree with the Party because there are no words for unorthodox ideas. Every year the vocabulary of Newspeak becomes smaller and smaller and the language is more simplified.

Oceania: The super-state headed by the Party and Big Brother. It consists of what used to be called North and South America, the Atlantic islands including Great Britain, Australasia and the southern part of Africa.

Proles: The proletariat--the working class of Oceania. They have much freer lives than Party members and the Party spends much less time watching and controlling the proles, because they aren't worth the time and effort. The Party does not view the proles as a threat to the system. Winston believes that any change in Oceania society would have to come from them.

Records Department: The department in the Ministry of Truth which changes all records of the past, from newspapers to poetry, so as to reflect current politics and show the Party in the best possible light.

The Spies: The Party's organization for children. They wear blue shorts, gray shirts and red neckerchiefs. In the Spies children are taught to hate traitors and thought criminals. They also learn to worship the Party and Big Brother but rebel against all discipline except that of the Party, so that they become 'ungovernable little savages' and often turn on their parents.

St. Clement's Dane Engraving: Screwed onto the wall in the room above the junk-shop, a steel engraving of the church, which is an oval building with rectangular windows and a small tower. Mr. Charrington offers to sell it to Winston but it is obviously too big and awkward for him to take home. It later turns out that there was a telescreen behind the engraving, spying on Winston and Julia during their time together.

Telescreen: a square metal screen, like a dulled mirror, which works like a television screen except that it not only shows programs (all praising the Party) but also allows anyone within its range to be seen and heard by the Thought Police.

Thoughtcrime: The crime of thinking anything that disagrees with Big Brother, the Party or the Party philosophy, Ingsoc.

Thought Police: The specialized, terrifying branch of the police that detects and arrests thought criminals.

Two Minute Hate: A daily ritual. Everyone assembles in front of the telescreen at eleven hundred for a two-minute program that shows Emmanuel Goldstein, the Enemy of the People, and marching enemy soldiers. This is a highly emotional moment and it is impossible even for Winston to avoid joining in: 'A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with a sledgehammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current, turning one even against one's will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic.' (Part 1, Chapter 1, pg. 16) At the end of Two Minute Hate, Big Brother's face appears, inspiring everyone with relief and is followed by the three Party slogans.

Vaporizing: Enemies of the party are arrested in the middle of the night and completely disappear. Their names are wiped from register and all records of any of their actions are destroyed, so that they are totally abolished--'vaporized'--and have become an 'unperson', someone who supposedly has never existed.

Victory Gin: The alcoholic beverage drunk by Outer Party members--it is colorless, oily, tastes like nitric acid and has a sickly smell. Drinking it causes an effect like being hit on the back of the head with a rubber club. It is the only product in Oceania that is both cheap and easy to find.

Victory Masion: The apartment building where Wilson lives. It was built in 1930 and is falling apart. Nothing, from the plumbing to the electricity, works right. The hallway smells like boiled cabbage and old rags.

Book Summary

Book I Summary

Chapter 1

Winston, a thirty-nine year old frail man who suffers from varicose ulcer above his right ankle, climbs the staircase up to his apartment because the elevator is always not in use. On every landing, he sees a huge picture with large text: “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.”

Winston is an insignificant official of the Party, a totalitarian political regime, and although he's a member of the ruling class, he is still not excluded from the regime's oppression. In his apartment, there is an instrument called telescreen. It is always on, spouting propaganda and is thought to be an instrument being used by the Thought Police to monitor the actions of the citizens. Winston keeps his back on the screen and from his window sees the Ministry of Truth were he works. He then remembers the other ministries that exist to reassert the government's status: the Ministry Of Peace, which is responsible for waging war; the Ministry of Plenty, the one responsible for economic shortages; and, the dreaded one, the Ministry of Love, which is the center of the Party’s detestable activities.

Keeping himself out of sight in the telescreen, he brings out his diary and writes there the films he watched, his lust and hatred for a woman, and about O'Brien, a member of the Party but whom he thinks is actually an enemy of it. He feels guilty as he writes. He starts to think that the Thought Police will seize him any moment soon. Just then, he hears a knock on the door.

Chapter 2

Winston opens the door thinking the Thought Police has arrived to arrest him. On the other side of the door, instead, is Mrs. Parsons, a neighbor in his apartment building who needs a hand in plumbing while his husband is away. While in Mrs. Parson’s apartment, Winston is being tormented by the Parsons kids who are Junior Spies. The Junior Spies is an organization of children who monitor adults, especially their own parents, for disloyalty to the Party. The Parsons children are agitated because their mother won’t let them join the Party’s activity in the park that evening. Back to his apartment, Winston remembers his dreams hearing a voice telling him, “We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.” He believes the voice belongs to O’Brien.

Chapter 3

Winston dreams of her mother who disappeared twenty years ago. For a reason he cannot comprehend, he feels responsible for her disappearance. Then he dreams of a place called The Golden County where a dark-haired girl takes off her clothes and runs towards him an in act of freedom. He wakes with the word “Shakespeare” on his mouth then he is awakened fully by a whistle sound from the telescreen, a reminder that it is already time for the Physical Jerks, a round of exercise.

As he exercises, he thinks of his childhood which he barely remembers since there were no photographs and documents. His mind also travels to the Oceania’s relationship to other countries in the world, Eurasia and Eastasia. Then it shifts to Big Brother. As far as he remembers, no one had heard of Big Brother, the leader of the Party, before 1960, but now stories on him appears in histories as far back as 1930s.

A reprimanding voice in the telescreen brings him back to the present.

Chapter 4

Winston goes to his work in the Records Section. His job is altering historical records of Oceania. He has to change the name of a former Party official who has been exiled. Comrade Withers, one of Big Brother’s former officials had a commendation for being a loyal party member. However, he was later executed as an enemy of the Party. He needs to destroy the documents related to the commendation so it will jive with the most current record. He also needs to edit any Party record to match new documents. There should be no discrepancy no matter how small because Big Brother cannot be wrong. He is never wrong. Even when the supply of food becomes less and Airstrip One has to make do with it, they are told they are receiving more than ever, and for one reason or another, they believe it.

Chapter 5

Winston has lunch with Syme who is responsible for modifying the dictionary. Syme explains his work to Winston – he has to modify the Newspeak, the official language of Oceania. Newspeak’s aim is to narrow the range of thought, erase the words related to independence, rebellious thoughts, and the likes. Syme said if there are no negative words used and seen, no one will ever be able to rebel as no one will have the capability to express such thoughts. Winston ponders Syme’s intelligence and how it will affect Syme’s future. Then there comes Mr. Parsons, their neighbor. He apologizes for what his children did to Winston when he fixed their plumbing, but he is openly beaming for his kids’ spirit.

Their conversation was abruptly cut when a message from the Ministry of Plenty announces a greater supply of chocolate ration to twenty grams. Winston reflects the increase is actually a reduction from the supply the day before. He notices that there is a joyful environment all around him. Then he feels someone is watching him, so he looks up and finds the dark-haired girl who he thinks is a Party agent.

Chapter 6

At home, Winston writes down his sexual encounter with a prole prostitute. He thinks of the Party’s hatred of sex and concludes that the Party’s real goal is to remove pleasure from the sexual act. Sex becomes a duty to the Party merely to produce new Party members. He remembers his wife Katherine. She never really likes sex and when they found out they cannot have any children, they separated. He really desires to have an enjoyable sexual affair, which he sees as an ultimate act of rebellion. In his diary, he writes that the prole prostitute is old and ugly but he still goes to perform the act. But writing down his fantasies does not lessen his anger, depression, or rebellion. He still longs to shout profanities.

Chapter 7

Winston writes in his diary that it is possible to overthrow the Party if only the rebellion would come from the proles since they make up eighty-five percent of the population. The problem is the proles do not believe they are being oppressed by the Party. They also lack both the energy and interest to revolt. Winston knows the Party cannot be destroyed from within.

Winston looks at the children’s history book to answer some of his questions. But as expected, all the words there came from the Party, thus reworded to be in conjunction with the Party’s idealism and claims. The Party claims to have built ideal cities but the building where Winston lives is already dilapidated. More often than not, there is no electricity and the people live in poverty and fear.

There was one occasion he cannot forget. It was in mid-1960s when the original leaders of the Revolution were arrested. One day, he saw Rutherford weeping, he is one of the Party members. A few days later, he saw a photograph of the group proving they were in New York at the time the Party said the group is in Eurasia committing treason.

Winston thinks his writings in his diary as a form of letter to O’Brien. Though he doesn’t personally know O’Brien except for his name, he believes he sees a strain of independence and silent rebellion in him, a conscious oppression similar to his own. He realizes that all Party members should deny the true functions of their eyes and ears. Then he thinks that true freedom is attained by being able to think and interpret things as they perceive it – like 2+2=4.

Chapter 8

Winston goes to prole district. There he enters a pub and talks to an old man, trying to squeeze out information if before people were really exploited by bloated capitalists as the Party claims. However, the old man's memory is too vague to answer his questions. Winston laments that the real link from the past, the prole, is too thin that it will break anytime.

Winston then goes to the secondhand store when he bought his diary. Mr. Charrington, the proprietor, takes him upstairs to a private room where there is no telescreen. There he shows him a print of St. Clement’s church with an old rhyme: “Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St. Clement’s / You owe me three farthings, say the bells of St. Martin’s.”

As he walks toward home, he notices a figure in blue Party overalls, the dark-haired girl, obviously following him. Frightened, he imagines hitting her either with a cobblestone or with the paperweight in his pocket. Then he hurries home and decides that the best thing to do is to commit suicide before the party catches him and tortures him before killing him totally. He tries to calm himself and divert his thought to his dream where O’Brien talks to him of the place where there is no darkness. Still troubled, he takes a coin out of his pocket. It bears the face of Big Brother which reminds him of the Party slogans: "'WAR IS PEACE," "FREEDOM IS SLAVERY," "IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH."

Book II Summary

Chapter 1

One morning as Winston walks to the men’s room, he notices the dark-haired girl with her arm in a sling. She falls and when Winston tries to help her up, she passes him a note that reads, “I love you.” Winston tries to decipher the note’s meaning as he really believes the dark-haired girl is a political spy who monitors his behaviors. And now her note tells him she loves him. His thoughts are interrupted when Parsons arrives asking him about his preparations for the coming Hate Week.

Several days and nothing passed between Winston and the girl until one day, Winston manages to sit at the same luncheon table with her. They keep their eyes down while talking to avoid being noticed. They plan to meet at Victory Square. There, they will be able to hide from the telescreens. When they finally meet in the square, there is a convoy of Eurasian prisoners being tormented by unpleasant crowds. But still, the dark-haired girl manages to give him directions to a place where they can have their rendezvous. They manage to hold their hands briefly.

Chapter 2

Winston and the dark-haired girl meet in the country. Winston has no idea what to expect but he no longer believes that she is a spy. He worries for a hidden microphones in the bushes but later on feels calm by the girl’s obvious experience. She introduces herself as Julia then tears off her Junior Anti-Sex League sash. Then they make love in the woods as beautiful as Winston dreams it to be. Afterward, Winston asks Julia if she has done it before and Julia answers him yes, a couple of times. Thrilled by her answer, he tells her he loves her more – since it only means that more Party members are committing crimes.

Chapter 3

The next morning, Winston and Julia prepare for their return to London, to their normal lives. Over the coming weeks, they were able to arrange several brief meetings in the city. One time during their rendezvous in a ruined church, Julia tells Winston about living in a hostel and her first illicit affair. Unlike Winston, Julia is not interested in outward rebellion; she simply wants to outwit the Party. She explains that the Party forbids sex to turn people's frustration into a desire to worship Big Brother. Winston then tells Julia of an incident when he and his wife took a walk and he’s thinking of pushing her off a cliff. It never materializes. He says it wouldn’t matter anyway because it is impossible to win against the oppression he is experiencing.

Chapter 4

Winston looks around the room he is renting, the room above Mr. Charrington’s shop, foolishly he thinks, so can have his affair with Julia. Both of them have been very busy in preparation for the Hate Week, and Winston has been frustrated because they were unable to meet. The situation is aggravated that Julia has her period. Winston deeply wishes that he and Julia can lead a normal married life.

Julia comes into the room with coffee, sugar, and bread – luxuries enjoyed only by those who belong to the Inner Party. She puts on her makeup and Winston is enchanted by the beauty before his eyes. Later that evening while they rest, Julia sees a rat and Winston feels aghast. He is terribly afraid of rats more than anything else. Then Julia surveys her surroundings. She notices the paperweight and asks Winston about it. He tells her it is a link to the past. They sing a song pertaining to St. Clement’s Church. Julia says one day she will clean the old picture of the church. When Julia leaves, Winston looks at the paper weight imagining Julia and him living inside it unmoving.

Chapter 5

Syme vanishes, just like Winston had predicted. The preparations for the Hate Week continue. The Parsons kids now sing different song called “Hate Song” especially written for the event. Winston is now consumed with his passion for Julia. He constantly thinks of the room above Mr. Charrington’s shop even when he cannot go there. He fantasizes that Katherine is dead and he will marry Julia. He also contemplates of altering his identity to become a prole. Winston and Julia talk about the Brotherhood, a Party enemy. Julia says she believes the war and the Party enemies like Emmanuel Goldstein are all made up by the Party. Winston is confused by her lack of concern; he admonishes her for being a rebel only from the waist down.

Chapter 6

O’Brien contacts Winston, who has been thrilled the moment he’s waiting for has finally come. Their brief meeting in the hallway leaves Winston anxious and at the same time excited. O’Brien suggests something about Syme and he tells Winston he can see a Newspeak dictionary if he comes to his house one evening. Winston thinks his life starts to cross O’Brien’s when he had his first rebellious thought. He feels depressed as he thinks he will eventually end up in the Ministry of Love. He resigns to his fate and is thrilled to have O’Brien’s address.

Chapter 7

One day in the room above Mr. Charrington’s store, Winston wakes up crying. Julia asks him what’s wrong. He says he has dreamed of his mother and he subconsciously believes he has killed her. He suddenly remembers the past that has been itched in his memory but remains suppressed till that moment. He remembers his life after his father left them. He, his mother and his baby sister spent most of their time in underground shelters, often without food. Consumed by hunger, he stole some chocolates from them and ran away, never to come back nor see them again. He hates the Party for creating inhumanity among humans, devoid of any human feelings. He believes, though, that proles are still human.

Winston and Julia are worried because they know they might be seized if the Party finds out where they are and what they are doing. They know they will eventually tell the truth but promises each other they will never cease to love the other. They plan to leave the room they rented but they cannot.

Chapter 8

Winston and Julia go to O’Brien’s place, risking their lives by appearing together. When they arrive, O’Brien turns off the telescreen which shocks Winston deeply. Believing they are free from the Party’s observation, Winston boldly tells him they are against the Party and wish to join the Brotherhood. O’Brien informs them that Brotherhood is real, so is Emmanuel Goldstein, who really exists and is very much alive. O’Brien leads them to a ritual song initiating them into the order of rebellion. He then serves them wine and Winston proposes that they drink to the past. After Julia left, O’Brien promises to give Winston a copy of the Goldstein book, the manifesto of the revolution. O’Brien tells Winston there’s a possibility of another meeting in the future and Winston asks if he means in the place where there is no darkness. O’Brien says yes, repeating his words. O’Brien helps Winston complete the missing verses from the St. Clement’s Church rhyme. Winston leaves and O’Brien turns on his telescreen then goes back to work.

Chapter 9

Winston is exhausted. He spent ninety hours for the Hate Week - changes have to be made as Oceania has switched enemies and allies in the ongoing war. At one rally, the speaker has a slip of the tongue. He says the Oceania is, and always has been, at war with Eastasia (instead of Eurasia). The people blame Emmanuel Goldstein’s agents for sabotaging them.

In the rented room, Winston reads the book of Goldstein, the one given by O’Brien – The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism. He notices that the chapter titles are the same with those of the Party slogans "WAR IS PEACE" and "IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH." The topics trace the social classes of the current world – High Class, Middle Class and Low Class – the Inner Party, the Outer Party, and the Proles. The manifesto explains the beginning of Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia. It explains how the three nations keep their respective populaces to protect the interests of the High Class. Goldstein also explains that war is simply a fact of life enabling the ruling powers to keep information from the masses. They believe that the masses should be ignorant of life in other places, thus the slogan "WAR IS PEACE."

Julia arrives and flings herself in Winston’s arms. She is glad to know but remains non-committal that Winston has the book. Half an hour later, the two hears a woman outside sing. Winston reads the book to Julia. Goldstein explains how the power of control benefits the Party. Winston notices that Julia is already asleep and he then he also falls asleep.

Chapter 10

In the morning, the two is awakened by a woman singing outside. Winston looks at the prole woman through the window. He admires her fertility and thinks that the possibility of throwing out the Party is in the hands of the prole people. Both Julia and Winston look at the woman and think that the woman might hold their future. Then they say, "We are dead," and a voice answers, "You are dead." Suddenly, they realize that a telescreen is present in the room, hidden in the picture of St. Clement’s Church. A familiar voice recites the last St. Clement’s rhyme: "Here comes a candle to light you to bed, He comes a chopper to chop off your head." The house is suddenly surrounded and there are echo of stomping boots outside, the black-clad troops pour in. They smash the paperweight, kick Winston and beat Julia. Winston becomes disoriented but sober enough to realize that the voice from the telescreen is Mr. Charrinton’s. He is also a member of the Thought Police.

Book III Summary

Chapter 1

Winston is in a bright, bare cell. The lights are always on – he has arrived at the place where there is no darkness. There are four telescreens in the room, constantly monitoring his every move. He pictures himself being beaten and he worries that he cannot endure the pain he will betray Julia in the process.

Ampleforth is tossed into the cell. He is the poet who did not remove the word "God" in a Rudyard Kipling translation. He soon leaves the cell, only to be taken to Room 101, the most dreaded cell. He also shares the cell with Parsons who was turned in by his own children for committing thoughtcrime.

Winston desperately hopes the Brotherhood will send him a razorblade so he could commit suicide. His mind is consumed by Brotherhood thoughts when O’Brien enters his cell, and he exclaims, "They’ve got you too!" O’Brien replies, "They got me long ago." Winston confirms his fear that what O’Brien did in his home is just an operation. Just then a guard smashes Winston’s elbow and he is consumed by inexplicable pain.

Chapter 2

O'Brien oversees Winston's torture session. He makes Winston accept that he's holding his five fingers when he's actually holding only four. He continues to torture him because he says Winston's current viewpoint is insane. Winston begins to accept what O'Brien tells him. He is also beginning to love O’Brien because he doesn’t inflict him much pain.

O’Brien consoles Winston with the thought the Party already perfected what the Inquisition, the Nazis, and the Soviets, had applied years ago. He assures Winston that the Party learns to convert them while posing to be non-existent in the eyes of the people. Slowly, Winston accepts O’Brien’s version of things and learn to apply the game of doublethink – refusing to believe memories he knows are real. O’Brien offers to answer any question that he has. When Winston asks him about Julia, O’Brien tells him the girl betrayed him at once. Then Winston compares his existence to Brotherhood’s and O’Brien denies his existence. When Winston asks O’Brien things about Brotherhood, O’Brien responds that Winston will never get hold of the answer. Winston asks what exists in Room 101, O’Brien answers him that everyone knows what waits in Room 101.

Chapter 3

After weeks of interrogation, O'Brien explains to Winston the Party's motives. He is being tortured and led to believe that the Party’s only goal is absolute, endless, and limitless power. When Winston tries to deny the possibility of altering the stars or the universe, O’Brien answers that the Party can do it because they control the mind.

Winston sees himself as gray and skeletal when O’Brien hands him a mirror; he begins to weep and blames him for what he has become. O’Brien replies that Winston already knows what will happen to him since the first day he had his diary entry. Then O’Brien acknowledges Winston’s strength for not betraying Julia. Winston feels grateful to O’Brien for recognizing such strength. But then O’Brien tells Winston he will soon be cured, though it won’t really matter since they will all be shot.

Chapter 4

Winston is transferred to a more comfortable room and the torture eases. He has the luxury to dream of Julia, his mother, and O’Brien. He begins to gain some weight and was given a small slate. Winston realizes he is foolish to oppose the Party alone. He makes himself believe in the Party slogans. He writes down on a slate: “FREEDOM IS SLAVERY,” “TWO AND TWO MAKE FIVE,” and “GOD IS POWER.”

One day, bursting with hatred, he suddenly screams Julia's name again and again. He realizes O’Brien will torture him again for the shouting but he just cannot help himself. He realizes that no matter how he tries to accept the Party, he just cannot. He will die hating Big Brother and by doing so he will have his own personal victory. O'Brien enters his room; he tells Winston that obeying Big Brother is not enough, he must learn to love him; O’Brien then orders the guards to bring Winston to Room 101.

Chapter 5

In Room 101, O'Brien ties up Winston and clamps his head. He reminds Winston that the room contains the worst thing in the world and reminds him of his worst nightmare. O’Brien informs him that the rats are on the other side of the wall. O’Brien brings out a cage with starving rats in it and places it near Winston. He says there is a lever that one press on it will bring the starving rats onto Winston’s face. Winston thinks that there is a possibility of O’Brien’s threats – with rats just inches away from him. Winston, screaming out, betrays Julia, asking O'Brien to torture her instead. O’Brien becomes satisfied with Winston’s betrayal that he immediately removes the cage.

Chapter 6

Winston, now free, sits in Chestnut Tree Cafe, the place where the dismissed Party members go. He now accepts what the Party says and does. On the table dust, he traces “2 + 2 = 5.” He remembers Julia and the things that happened between them though he now finds having sex with her detestable. They agreed to meet again but neither wants to continue the relationship. Winston remembers the political prisoners he saw many years back and he begins to cry. He also remembers the happy moments he had shared with his mother and sister but he cannot be sure if the memories are real. He looks up and when he saw the picture of Big Brother on the telescreen, he instantly feels happy and safe. As he listens to war news, he is sure that he already has achieved victory over himself and feels the overwhelming love for Big Brother.