Winston Smith
Orwell named his hero after
Winston Churchill, England's great leader during World War II. He added
a common last name: Smith. The action of this novel is built around the
main person, Winston Smith, and therefore the understanding of his personality,
and his character is important for the understanding of the whole book.
Winston was born before the Second World War. During the War, there was
a lack of food, and Winston has taken nearly all of the food that was allocated
to the family, although his younger sister was starving to death. In 1984
Winston often dreams of this time, and he often remembers how he once has
stolen the whole chocolate, that was given to the family. I think that
Winston now (1984) somehow regrets his egoistic behaviour. He also sees
a kind of link between his behaviour, and the behaviour of the children
that are educated by the Party. These children prosecute their own family
(Parsons). He finally realises his and the Party's guilt. To my mind Winston
is a sort of hero, because he is aware of the danger that he has encountered.
So for example he knew it from the very beginning that his diary would
be found. And as one can see the things that are written in this book (that
freedom is to say that two and two makes four) are used against him later
. He also knew that his illegal love affair was an act of revolution, would
be disclosed by the Thought Police. But nevertheless he is some kind of
naive. He has opened his mind to O'Brien before he was sure that he was
also against the Party.
1984