“From where Winston stood it was just possible to read, picked out on its white face in elegant lettering, the slogans of the party: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength.” (Orwell 4) The world imagined in George Orwell’s 1984 was what most feared our world would turn into. Totalism was a nightmare, and those who rebelled against it were made to think they were wrong. Yet some dare to anyways even if it won’t make a difference. George Orwell came up with definition for heroism which was different from most. Orwell felt ordinary people doing what they could to change the social system even if they know it could never work. However, does Winston fit this description? Could Winston really be considered a hero?
In the beginning of the book we learn much about what is going on in the world imagined by George Orwell and the …show more content…
Winston, we learn works for the Ministry of Truth, which handles news, education, and the fine arts that all relate to the party. Within the Ministry of Truth, also known as MiniTruth in Newspeak, Winston makes corrections to the errors or misprints in the papers. However, these ‘misprints’ and ‘errors’ are really misprints and errors, and Winston knows this. Quietly he rebels with his thoughts even though he knows if he were ever caught there would be severe repercussions. This is why in the opening pages of the book we find Winston with his back turned to the telescreen. He had recently bought a small journal from an antique store. He knows this is a dangerous, but Winston does it anyways. He does it because it was his was of rebelling. He knew that it wouldn’t matter because “Either the future would resemble the present, in which case it would not listen to him, or it would be different from it, and his predicament would be meaningless.” (Orwell 7) yet he continues. Winston writes of the propaganda and the war films with vivid deaths that really opened his