Analysis of Characters in George Orwell’s novel ‘1984’: Part One

Big Brother is an important figure of the novel. He is not a real person and no one has ever seen him. This character personifies all dictators - Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler, Francisco Franco and the others. Big Brother is a powerful leader and a Godlike figure. He knows everything and is everywhere. Big Brother controls people with the help of the Thought Police, who monitor the people of Oceania. He decides what is good for the state and what is not taking into consideration only his personal opinion and his own purposes. [1] Big Brother creates his own reality for the people of Oceania: ‘The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, [and] the lie became truth.’ (p. 78). The policy of the Party was concentrated on the lie that became the truth on Party's order: ‘And if all others accepted the lie which the party imposed – if all records told the same tale – then the lie passed into history and became the truth.’ (p. 37). Consequently, the political system of ‘1984’ serves as the means of controlling people of Oceania by Big Brother who is at the head of a ruling assembly – the Party.

Big Brother has done evil and unfair deeds during the Second World War. However, he realizes his guilt and is portrayed as a hero (p. 102). Winston Smith is a disenchanted member of the Party who is working for the Ministry of Truth. His major task is to rewrite old news in order the news become relevant to the current policy of the Party: ‘To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed…’ (p. 223). Winston Smith lives in the great state – Oceania. The nation of Oceania is at war with Eurasia or Eastasia. Thus, Winston rewrites documents when Oceania changes its politics concerning Eurasia or Eastasia. The Party can rewrite the history for ‘The Party is never wrong’ (p. 58).

Winston lives in Oceania where all these notions from Newspeak (the official language of Oceania) – leadership, truth, language, knowledge, freedom, slavery, and ignorance – have been misrepresented in order to control people: ‘The key-word here is blackwhite. Like so many Newspeak words, this word has two mutually contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts.’ (p. 221). Every person from the birth knows he/she must love the Party and its slogans: ‘War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength’ (p. 89). All the words are interpreted for the benefit of the Party and have the opposite meanings: truth is lie, slavery is freedom and freedom is slavery.