Winston is not fully an appropriated "cog in the machine" in the novel's exposition. Throughout the novel, we see that there are parts of his life that actively embrace a world outside of Big Brother. His affair with Julia is one example.
Even when Winston is reeducated, he initially does not seem to be a completely changed person—as evident from the small doodles he does at the end while he is sitting at the Chestnut Tree Cafe. He also remembers his mother playing Snakes and Ladders with him. These "false memories" can be pushed aside, but they will always be with him. Winston might have been "changed," yet there is still a part of his consciousness, a small recess or corner of his being, that seems to remain untouched by Big Brother and the Party. However, by the very end of the novel, it is clear that Winston has wholly succumbed to his brainwashing as he looks up at a portrait of Big Brother with love.
Friday, May 24, 2013
Does Winston truly change?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
What is the theme of the chapter Lead?
Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...
-
The statement "Development policy needs to be about poor people, not just poor countries," carries a lot of baggage. Let's dis...
-
"Mistaken Identity" is an amusing anecdote recounted by the famous author Mark Twain about an experience he once had while traveli...
-
Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...
-
De Gouges's Declaration of the Rights of Woman was enormously influential. We can see its influences on early English feminist Mary Woll...
-
As if Hamlet were not obsessed enough with death, his uncovering of the skull of Yorick, the court jester from his youth, really sets him of...
-
In both "Volar" and "A Wall of Fire Rising," the characters are impacted by their environments, and this is indeed refle...
No comments:
Post a Comment