The Character of George Orwell’s 1984
Not all the characters in 1984 are rounded individuals like Winston,Julia, and O’Brien. Many have parts like bit players in a stage play,carrying signboards that signal the author’s intentions. If you lookat them one by one, you’ll be able to write about the differencebetween characters as people and characters as symbols, or emblems.
Best services for writing your paper according to Trustpilot
MAJOR CHARACTERS
aˆ? BIG BROTHER
To begin with, Big Brother is not a real person. All-present as he is,all-powerful and forever watching, he is seen only on TV. Although hispicture glares out from huge posters that shout, BIG BROTHER ISWATCHING YOU, nobody sees Big Brother in person.
Orwell had several things in mind when he created Big Brother. He wascertainly thinking of Russian leader Joseph Stalin; the pictures ofBig Brother even look like him. He was also thinking of Nazi leaderAdolph Hitler and Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. Big Brotherstands for all dictators everywhere. Orwell may have been thinkingabout figures in certain religious faiths when he drew Big Brother.the mysterious, powerful, God-like figure who sees and knowseverything-but never appears in person.
For Inner Party members, Big Brother is a leader, a bogeyman they canuse to scare the people, and their authorization for doing whateverthey want. If anybody asks, they can say they are under orders fromBig Brother.
For the unthinking proles, Big Brother is a distant authority figure.
For Winston, Big Brother is an inspiration. Big Brother excites andenergizes Winston, who hates him. He is also fascinated by Big Brotherand drawn to him in some of the sa…
…ar. So Oceania standsfor the United States of America , Eurasia for Russia and Eastasia forChina. The fact that the two socialist countries Eastasia and Eurasia(in our case Russia and China) are at war with each other, correspondsto our history (Usuri river). Other, non-historical symbols can befound. One of these symbols is the paperweight that Winston buys inthe old junk-shop. It stands for the fragile little world that Winstonand Julia have made for each other. They are the coral inside of it.As Orwell wrote: “It is a little chunk of history, that they haveforgotten to alter”. The “Golden Country” is another symbol. It standsfor the old European pastoral landscape. The place where Winston andJulia meet for the first time to make love to each other, is exactlylike the “Golden Country” of Winston’s dreams.
