1984 Essay, Research Paper

1984 The title of the book is 1984 by George Orwell. George Orwell is a pen name for Eric Blair, his real name. The classification of this book is a combination between a historical fiction and a science fiction book. The author s purpose in writing this book was to sort of predict the future or what will happen in the upcoming years. The copyright date of the book was 1949. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc. of New York published the book. The overall purpose of this paper is to write a critical essay on 1984. The main setting of the book was in 1984, but it was written in the late 1940 s. The story took place in Oceania, which was in the area of Europe. The book starts by introducing Winston, the main character, and where he works. He works for the government in the records department. He lives in a small home and likes to drink bourbon. This was what the introduction was. Winston buys a diary and starts writing his thoughts in it and he is afraid the thought police would get him for being a rebel against Big Brother. The story goes on about Big BrotherAnd what Winston does at work. Next, Winston meets Julia and she gave Winston a note saying, I love you (p.90). They then secretly meet and get together in a field. They do this a couple times throughout the book too. They learn that each of them are rebels and said they were afraid of the thought police.The two of them continue on and find a place to live in Mr. Charrington s shop. Then Julia starts bringing back smuggled goods that the Inner Party uses like real coffee, sugar, wine, and other real foods. Now we meet O Brian who comes in and acts as their friend, but he actually is luring them into a trap. Now O Brian is acting like he is a friend, but he is not and he captures Winston and Julia. This is an example of an anti-climax. O Brian wants to convert them so they love Bog Brother. He does this by torturing them a great deal. We are led to believe that Winston will die, but he does not die at all. Winston was eventually was released too. That was the climax of the book. The falling action is when he is released and he goes back to work and drinking bourbon. It was just like the beginning of the book with one difference. That difference was that Winston loves Big Brother, which was the resolution. Winston is a middle-aged man at the age of 39, but is kind of small and weak. Winston has a good personality, but inside he hates Big Brother and he fears being caught by the thought police. Julia is a young woman and a rebel like Winston is. She is very sneaky also like Winston and fears the thought police. Mr. Charrington is the shop owner in the book, but actually he is a member of the thought police and aides in the trapping of Winston and Julia. O Brian is a member of the inner party and he loves Big Brother. He acts as a friend to Winston and Julia to trap them and to convert them.

Winston again has a deep fear of the thought police and thinks he will die because of his thoughts. At the end of the book his feelings and personality totally change by him saying he loves Big Brother at the end. The author s purpose for writing the book is to warn of the danger certain types of government can have. He is saying those Dictatorships are very controlling and that they can do as they please just to control the people within their country. The book says that Inner party, which is like a Dictatorship, did what ever it took the control the people. The major theme of the book is that totalitarianism is a very sinister and corrupt form of government and that it should be banned in some way or another. I believe that it is bad because the government has the complete power to do what they want and they could possibly change history. An additional theme in the book is to keep track of your history because at any given time it could change right in front of you. I believe this to be true because it is possible for some types of governments to change history to control the people in the country. Because of this the people could hold rebellions to try and stop the government power over the people. There are a few main conflicts in the book. The first one is Winston vs. himself. This is true because he is afraid of what he thinks will eventually happen to him. Another major conflict is Winston vs. Big Brother. Winston inside hates Big Brother and is a rebel. He thinks he could be captured by Big Brother because of his thoughts. The last one is Winston vs. O Brian. O Brian is acting as Winston s friend, but he is really trying to capture him and convert him. The protagonist in the book is Winston, which means he is the main character and the hero of the book. The Antagonist is definitely O Brian by far. He is the antagonist because he is the bad guy in the book. This story taught to watch out for controlling governmentsThat are really sinister like a dictatorship and totalitarianism. Those governments are again very controlling and can do what they want to control the people in their country. It also taught me to that history can change at any time and that we have to keep track of our history so we are not controlled. The last thing the story taught me any government could become very controlling so we have to watch out for it too. My purpose of this paper is to critically review the book so others can find out if they want to read it or not. I thought it was an okay book, but it was pretty good near the end of the book. I do recommend that people who hate long and boring books not to read it at all. Even though it was sort of boring it did have its good points as well.