Character Description

Richard Pho

Mr. George

World Literature Honors

14 October 2010

Conforming from Loneness

            Although Winston embodies the last humane individual in Oceania, Big Brother manages to excavate through his stubbornness and opposition towards the Party, causing Winston to assimilate into the dystopia he never believed in.

            Throughout the book, Winston subtly rebels against the Party.  He consistently writes in his diary about his hatred towards Big Brother: “Freedom is the freedom to say two plus two makes four” (249).  The Party’s main goal is power and prosecution, keeping the proles ignorant to stay in control.  In Winston’s life, he does not accept their beliefs, knowing the hope of leaving this dystopia would fade away.  Winston does not account the factor of torture; the Party utilizes it to segregate Winston from human qualities, such as emotions: “Tear her face off […] Not to me! Julia!” (286). Emotions keep one human; the fact that the Party prevents the proles from exhibiting any emotion keeps the Party superior.  Subjected to torture, Winston falls into the Party’s trap, giving up his loyalty to Julia.  He has done what the Party wanted, betrayal, showing his assimilation to the Party.

Winston resembles a missionary. He logs his beliefs and hatred towards the Party in his diary. He has always believed in the opposition of the Party like how missionaries solely pertain to a certain religion. When Winston preaches his opposition to Julia, she has no care for it. Her indifference to the problem mirrors the Party's disagreement with Winston. Just like missionaries, they are decidcated to their beliefs, even if some people do not agree with them.

Just like in the movie, Shutter Island, Big Brother controls everyone. In Shutter Island, Teddy Daniels is sent to this island to solve a mystery, not knowing that he is never going to leave. He is eventually conditioned to be crazy, becoming a new patient of the island. The lighthouse, where people's brains are tweaked to make them crazy resembles room 101, and how people's fears cause them to assimilate.