Question #1 - 1984

Who are the main characters in the novel? Do you like them? Why or why not? What is special about them? What do they reveal about the universal human experience?

The main characters in the novel are Winston Smith, who is the protagonist and rebels against Big Brother and the government; Julia, who is also a rebel and Winston's secret lover; O'Brien, who finds out about Winston's and Julia's rebelliousness and affair; and Big Brother, who is the leader of the government (a.k.a. the Party). I liked the characters of Winston Smith and Julia, but I did not really like Big Brother and O'Brien. I liked Winston and Julia, until the end of the story, because they weren't blind followers of the Party. Winston and Julia believed there was a time that had been better before the Party had come into power, and they were both strongly against the Party. I liked this quality in them, because it showed that they actually had thoughts in their heads, unlike the proles and other followers of the Party. However, I did prefer Winston a bit more to Julia. This is because Julia seemed a bit two-faced. She was very active in the Party movements, but also very against them. Winston did not take part in as many governmental movements as Julia; he only went to the ones he had to go to. So it seemed as if Julia were a double-crossing liar, but I still liked her character and Winston for opposing the Party. However, I was disappointed in them at the end of the book for becoming just like all the other blind followers of the Party.

I did not like Big Brother and O'Brien. Big Brother did not appeal to me from the start of the book. From the way Winston described him for the most part of the novel, Big Brother seemed like a dictator; his obedient followers, however, described him as a kindly fellow who watches out for everyone's welfare. It was obvious, though, that Big Brother was nothing of the sort. I even doubted his existence while reading the novel, because there had been absolutely no proof that he even existed. I also disliked O'Brien. Although I must admit that, at first, I liked him, because it seemed as if he was against the Party, too. However, after it was finally revealed that he worked for the Party, I loathed him. The reason I disliked him was because he had actually planned, for seven years, to trap Winston and destroy his thoughts, in which he succeeded.

All of these characters reveal the same thing about the universal human experience, but in different ways. The main message that they convey is that, "The government does have the power to change who you are." Big Brother and O'Brien show this by how they destroy everyone's anti-Party thoughts and change them to love Big Brother with their heart, which is actually very scary, because it is almost impossible to force someone to genuinely love something with all of his/her heart. Winston shows this message to the audience by being arrested by the Thought Police for having anti-Party thoughts, and then being tortured to have love for the Party and Big Brother. Julia also goes through the same process as Winston, although much less, because she immediately betrayed Winston after they were arrested. The fact that the government has the power to change people's thinking is very scary and unethical. A country must learn to respect that its citizens all have different ideas, and that embracing all the different opinions makes a stronger country, rather than having everyone always agree on what the government says, because the government can oftentimes be wrong.