Hero's Journey In The Waste Land

In his novel, 1984, George Orwell places a thirty-nine-year-old man, Winston Smith, in a realm where the ruling powers have complete control over their citizens. The inhabitants of this dystopia are expected to have absolute loyalty to that of “Big Brother,” the face of the government. The plot follows Winston’s rebellion against the world’s leaders and their policies. According to his perspective, Winston is alone in his disapproval of the “Party,” which is the term allotted to the followers of “Big Brother.” This solitude ignites hope in Winston that after all, he is not isolated in his beliefs.

It is evident that within the novel 1984, that George Orwell establishes several moods through the use of literary devices, in which the reader is delved into the environment that Winston has to undergo subpar conditions amidst the ubiquitous and intrusive telescreens. This could be seen through the setting, imagery, and the diction that Orwell employs in conveying this mood. By George Orwell utilizing specific diction and imagery in describing the setting, this therefore contributes to a desolate, invasive, and tranquil mood; this could be seen through the instances of Winston’s apartment, Winston’s workplace, the apartment, and the Ministry of Love.

Winston Smith is probably the most important and complex character in George Orwell’s masterpiece, namely Nineteen Eighty-Four. Throughout this essay I will try to explain the different aspects of Winston’s role in the novel from the question of the narrative perspective through his rebellious tendencies to his psychological problems.

The main character in George Orwell’s 1948 novel, 1984, Winston Smith can be seen as many things. To some, he may be a hero, but to others he is a coward and a fool. Throughout the novel, Winston’s characteristics are explored, and readers are shown the reasoning behind Winston’s twisted mind. It is evident that although Winston thinks he had control over his own mind and body, this is an imagined factor. The world of 1984 is one of a totalitarian society, where no one can be trusted, and no one is safe, Winston being the primary example of one who trusted thoughtlessly.

In the novel 1984, George Orwell relates the tension between outward conformity and inward questioning by allowing the reader to see inside of the mind of Winston Smith. Orwell uses Winston’s rebellious thoughts to counteract his actions in order to show the reader how a dystopian society can control the citizens. Although Winston is in an obvious state of disbelief in the society, his actions still oppose his thoughts because of his fear of the government. Winston’s outward conformity and inward questioning relate to the meaning of the novel by showing Winston’s fight to truth being ended by the dystopian society’s government.

In Orwell’s 1984 we follow Winston Smith, a man who feels the oppressions of the

He implies this ideology on the government’s excessive use of Propaganda. The novel begins with Winston Smith, a protagonist, walking into his house gloomily. Inside his home, a “telescreen” play loudly and continuously. As Winston looks outside, he sees that, “Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no color in anything, except the posters that were plastered everywhere. The black-mustachioed face gazed down from every commanding corner. There was one on the house front immediately opposite. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption said, while the dark eyes looked deep into Winston's own” (Orwell 6). Orwell implies the reality of how the totalitarian government is able brainwash people with the power of propaganda. By using imagery, “eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no color in anything,” he describes the vivid picture of a depressing environment of totalitarian society. This sequentially reflects people’s psychological mind due to the government’s misuse of propaganda. Orwell further stresses totalitarians’ abuse of power through the use of appeal to fear, “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.” This statement reminds the citizens who hold the

The juxtaposition of Big Brother in George Orwell’s 1984 with our present day government and social media presence in the United States demonstrates the imminent danger of imposing figures who control both the actions and thoughts of its citizens. Throughout the novel, the narrator depicts Big Brother as a controlling force that takes technology and surveillance of the citizens of Oceania too far. Similarly, in today’s society, we are constantly bombarded with new technology by the government and social media that demands and records our actions as well as our inner thoughts. As Winston navigates his dangerous and dilapidated world, one can uncover parallels between his relationship with Big Brother and our relationship with the government

Imagine being controlled completely by the government; cameras in every household, microphones recording every word spoken and propaganda saying “Big Brother is watching you!” all around. In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, that is the reality. Thirty-nine year old Winston Smith, low-ranking member of the Party in London, Is embittered by the Totalitarian government and its brutality to the people. The Party controls everything in Oceania; languages, history, sex, free thought and even individuality, by the Thought Police. Winston writes in a diary how much he hates the government, which ultimately would get him killed by the Thought Police if he was caught. Winston believes there is a secret brotherhood which works to overthrow Big Brother and the Party, and has a suspicion that a powerful party member named O’Brien is part of this group.

Additionally, the portrayal of this dystopian society controlled by a totalitarian government might have been understood well by contemporary audiences, mirroring the rules of totalitarian regimes such as Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy- the citizens have no influence on the government and have no freedom of choosing the rules that govern and control every part of their lives. Therefore, Winston blames the misery in his life totally and completely on the government and on Big Brother. In Winston’s case, we can see that the propaganda, deprivation, and strict rules fail to make him concur with the party and accept Big Brother- in this situation, the party has to use extreme force and torture to make Winston love the party as well as Big Brother, in order for the party to maintain complete power.

The protagonist in Orwell’s 1984 is Winston Smith. In the novel the reader experiences the dangers of a totalitarian world through the eyes of Winston Smith. He, unlike the other citizens of Oceania, is aware of the illusions that the Party, Big Brother, and the Thought Police institute. Winston’s personality is extremely pensive and curious; he is desperate to understand the reasons why the Party exercises absolute power in Oceania. Winston tests the limits of the Party’s power through his secret journal, committing an illegal affair, and being indicted into an Anti-Party Brotherhood. He does all his in hopes to achieve freedom and independence, yet in the end it only leads to physical and psychological torture, transforming him into a loyal subject of Big Brother.

Totalitarianism, derived from a society which proceeds without cautiousness towards governmental power, can induce many limitations among citizens and every aspect of their lives including individualism. In George Orwell’s 1984, the artificiality of the dystopian country influenced the protagonist of the novel, Winston Smith, to try and deceive the government in any way possible. Winston and many others view individuality as immensely important, but a large challenge to achieve due to the diminished hope evident in dystopia. Hope is prominent among Winston in his actions towards the totalitarian government, referred to as Big Brother, throughout the novel. From the beginning of the novel when readers are introduced to a dismal setting to

Winston Smith, the protagonist of the novel, embodies the assumptions of Orwell about man’s nature – rational, individual and has a constant desire to define reality. Orwell concerns himself not only with the failure of communication but also with tyranny using the language. The novel explores the effect of totalitarianism on individual human consciousness through the experiences of Winston and his desire to have the “freedom to have the freedom to say that two plus two is equal to four.”

1984 by George Orwell is a dystopian- an imagined place in which everything is unpleasant or bad- novel that tells of the alarming future. The novel tells of a totalitarian government (called the “Party”) that uses manipulation and intense surveillance to gain control over the minds of its citizens. Orwell writes,"war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength (6)". These three slogans are the core of the Party. Set in Airstip One, which is a province of the superstate Oceania, the protagonist Winston Smith, searches for independence from the social norms. In the beginning of the novel, Orwell describes posters that say “big brother is watching you (3)”. The “big brother” these posters are referring to is a man with a

“You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lies, you may trod me in the very dirt, but still, like dust, I’ll rise.” Both Orwell’s “1984” and Huxley’s “Brave New World” embody how history can be altered to fit an illusionist dystopian society. Within their fractured worlds both writers have created non-conformist characters; arguably to emphasise and bring contrast to the distorted worlds of “Big Brother” and Huxley’s vision of innovative London. Orwell decided to present Winston as a refreshing controversy to the frantic world of which the reader is exposed to. Winston embodies a lack of “hatred” “against Goldstein” Orwell introduces the reader to Winston’s condemned hatred for “Big Brother.” Which progresses and declines rapidly. Reflecting the quick change within