1984 summary part 1,2 and 3

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‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ by George Orwell: A Review
The novel Nineteen Eighty-Four was written by George Orwell at a time when the world was still recovering from the wounds of the Second World War. The Cold War was only starting to gain momentum, and a race ensued between the America and Russia to become the next superpower of the world. When considered in this context of the political unrest, the story, which describes extreme government oppression, becomes takes on an image that seems extremely real and considerable.
PLOT – PART 1
The story is set in a totalitarian London, in the country of Oceania, in a time of complete political authority. The government is under the control of the Party, headed by the Big Brother, whose face is plastered everywhere in the city. The Party practices acute and constant surveillance, watching people through ‘telescreens’ even in their homes, and anyone suspected of rebellion on treachery is imprisoned and tortured. Furthermore, the Party even controls the people’s language and history: they are working on devising on a new lexicon for people that omits words related to rebellion, even thinking of which is illegal and designated as a crime of the highest degree.
Winston Smith, the novel’s protagonist, works as a lowly member of the Outer Party, and is tasked with rewriting news pieces from history to make them sound favorable to them. He pretends to be unfazed by their reign, but in secret despises not being able to express his individuality.

To record his thoughts against the Party, he buys a diary and begins writing a book criticizing the party. However, he is plagued by the fear that he will be discovered, and convicted of ‘thought crime’.
Eventually, Winston notices a beautiful co-worker staring at him but avoids her for fear that she might be a spy for the Party. Additionally, the Party’s way of controlling history perturbs him: according to them, the nation of Oceania has always been inclined with Eastasia to in the war against Eurasia. However, Winston has memories of the opposite. Additionally, he is obsessed with O’Brien, a member of the party who Winston believes might also be working for the Brotherhood, a mysterious sect working to overthrow the Party. To escape constant monitoring, he sometimes spends his time in the poorest parts of the city, where the proletariats of his time live inadequately furnished lives.
PLOT – PART 2
One day, Winston received a note from Julia, the same co-worker who had been staring at him. She confesses that she loves him, and thus begins their cover love affair. Winston is scared that his secret actions against the government will be discovered, thus implicating both him and Julia. The latter, however, is more optimistic. Eventually, the couple rents an apartment above the same store from where Winston bought his incriminating diary. As his love for Julia grows, so does his hatred for the Party. One day, they receive a message that O’Brien wishes to see them.
They make their way to his apartment, and he reveals himself as a secret member of the Brotherhood. He pronounces them members of the Brotherhood, handing them a copy of a book about Emmanuel Goldstein, the Brotherhood’s leader. Winston is reading the book to Julia in the apartment above the store when they are ambushed by soldiers and seized.
PLOT – PART 3
Winston and Julia’s secret is out, and they are incriminated for committing an open act of rebellion against the Party. O’Brien himself is revealed as a member of the same and had pretended to support Winston to trap him. The couple is then taken to the Ministry of Love, where they are separated, and Winston is tortured and brainwashed for months. After months of resisting, he his sent to Room 101, where he is told that he would be made to face his worst fear. O’Brien orders for a cage of rats to be lowered onto Winston’s face for them to eat. Winston, who is terrified of rats, breaks, and screams to be spared, pleading with them to do it to Julia instead.
His spirit shattered; Winston is let go. He then meets Julia sometime later in a park but feels nothing for her. He has, at last, become a fervent follower, and let Big Brother ‘love him’CITATION Orw83 p 1-684 t l 1033 (Orwell 1-684).
ANALYSIS
Power is one of the main themes of Orwell’s novel. Put simply, the novel ‘posits simply an unaccountable elite’, who work only to satisfy their interests, and suppress individual thought and curiosity through telepathic control. It explores the conditions that form when uncontrollable power sits at the head of a state, and is in charge of all affairs—how difficult it gets to maintain personal integrity and stability in a totalitarian, unequal society CITATION Myn10 p “, par. 6” l 1033 (Mynick, par. 6).
Although Orwell does not make any definite references, it is widely believed that the nation of Oceania, a totalitarian regime that controls all life, the methods and techniques described have a direct resemblance to Stalin’s Russia, which Orwell was an open opposer of. Furthermore, Orwell himself described reading the novel as a critique on Stalinism. Big Brother, the omnipresent leader of the Party, bears a stark resemblance to Russia. The environment of 1984’s Oceania itself resembles that of Russia, with secret police, constant monitoring, and executing people who opposed the regime CITATION Kel84 p “, par. 8” l 1033 (Kellner, par. 8).
Orwell’s writing follows his rules fervently. In Politics and the English Language, Orwell emphasizes the need to cut sentences short, and to use the simple language where he could. His novel is a perfect manifestation of his self-imposed ruleCITATION Orw46 p “, par. 22-24” l 1033 (Orwell, Politics and The English Language, par. 22-24). Beautifully horrifying, aided by his third perspective narrative, the novel has been written in an extremely bleak tone, without any hint of emotion or ornamentation. There are no detailed descriptions of situations, and the narration continues as a journalistic account would. Additionally, the dull, uninteresting rhythm that he adopts resonates with the quality and cycle of life that the people of the nation were forced to. In a way, the writing is as restricted and taut as conditions in Oceania, which makes the work that much more disturbing.
In a way, Nineteen Eighty-Four is a novel written for the higher mind, as many may find the subject matter difficult to read. However, it is Orwell’s treatment of the same, his unattached, unemotional account of it all, including Winston’s pathetic state at the end, adds to the beauty of it. An avid reader would understand that the absence of emotion makes the novel scarier and that the humor infused within the tapestry of the work is more dark than comical. However, this makes for a very good combination for ninety eighty-four, thus justifying Orwell’s title as one of the most famous political writers of all time.
Works Cited
BIBLIOGRAPHY Kellner, Douglas. “From 1984 to One-Dimensional Man: Critical Reflection on Orwell and Marcuse .” August 1984. Illuminations: The Critical Theory Project . 7 June 2015 .
Mynick, Richard. “A comment: Revisiting George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four in 2010.” 12 June 2010. World Socialist Website . 6 June 2015.
Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty Four. Unabridged, Reprint . Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1983.
—. Politics and The English Language. Essay . London : Horizon , 1946.