Julia

Julia plays an interesting role in this novel. As well as breaking up the grim mood of the novel, she clearly has a positive effect on Winston. We notice these effects through symbols such as Winston's varicose ulcer, which tends not to act up when Julia`s presence features largely in the novel. As well as this Winston seems less given to his vices when he is engaged in his affair with Julia. Julia, basically, is a ray of hope in the novel. While they both eventually accept the inevitability of their eventual capture and submission, they seem to see their affair as a relief from the world that the part set up, and proof that one can find happiness in a world such as that.

"It was as though some huge force were pressing down ... upon you – something that penetrated inside your skull, battering against your brain, frightening you out of your beliefs, persuading you, almost, to deny the evidence of your senses. In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. And what was terrifying was not that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable…what then?"


Another quote I like from this novel, this paragraph really gives an insight into the horror of life under the party. As well as this it really causes the reader to consider the nature of reality.

The Ending

"He gazed up at the enormous face.  Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark mustache.  O cruel, needless misunderstanding!  O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast!  Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose.  But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished.  He had won the victory over himself.  He loved Big Brother" (p. 300)


Possibly the most surreal moment in the novel, this quote represents the ultimate failure of Winston`s rebellion. 
Winston sits in the chestnut tree cafe, a massive symbol of the victims of the party`s oppression throughout the novel,and makes reference to the suppression of `false memories``, which he never doubted before. Throughout the novel, Winston`s vices are seen to fade in correlation with the presence of Julia in the narrative, however now we see Winston essentially living in a drunken stupor in the cafe. While these references are made we are watching Winston make a chess game with himself , making a metaphor of ``White always mates``, white being Big Brother in Winston`s mind. This quote immediately follows Winston`s rejoice over the oceanic army`s victory in a war that Winston previously knew to be false.

The Place Where There is no Darkness

This is perhaps one of my favourite aspects of this novel. We hear from Winston that in a dream he heard "We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness" and that he believes it was O'brien's voice he heard it from. To make a long story short, it was O'brien, and they do. The fact that the place where there is no darkness is the interrogation rooms of the Ministry of Love and that they meet their at the darkest point of the story is an example of the duplicity and deceit that permeate the book. This deceit is perhaps wht makes me appreciate the novel so much. All throughout the book this statement is used as a hope for the future, as a sign that everything will turn out alright, and when it turns out the exact opposite we are let down in an impressive fashion.

The Paperweight

The paperweight is a beautiful symbol in this novel. Winston, in his second visit to Charrington's shop, buys a glass paperweight with a fragment of coral in the center. This paperweight really couldn't fit the bill for symbol any better if we wrote it ourselves. The definition of a symbol is something that represents a larger idea or concept. The paperweight is not only a remnant of the past that the party is nearing completion in destroying, it is a symbol of that very same past. When Winston holds it in his hands and revels in the smoothness of the glass and the beauty of the coral, we see that it is not the aspects of the paperweight he is appreciating but the aspects of the past it represents.When Winston is arrested and one of the men smash the paperweight we can physically feel the grief of the party winning, and this is a testament to the quality of writing involved.

Writing Style

1984 is written with a very direct, matter-of-fact, and unimbellished writing style. Orwell seems to be following his own rules, such as "If it is possible to cut a word out, do it" and "never use a long word when a short one will do". This lends a great deal to the tone of the novel. The language used in his descriptions grind the dull and unsatisfying air of the subject matter into our minds. He constantly uses descriptors like "grey" or "flat" to describe the environment of oceana and it is extremely effective in building a sense of unease and creating a beautifully drab and depressing crisis in which much of the novel revels in.

Solipsism

Solipsism, at it's essence, is the theory that nothing exists outside of the consciousness of the individual. Basically that reality is inside of the skull. Solipsism is also explored in 1984, albeit not in the classical sense. The solipsism of 1984, as stated by O'brian, is more a collective solipsism, the theory that the external world exists only through conciousness. The party finds this world view effective because if reality is internal, and conciousness is alterable then reality itself is a simple matter to modify to one's liking.

"It was as though some huge force were pressing down ... upon you – something that penetrated inside your skull, battering against your brain, frightening you out of your beliefs, persuading you, almost, to deny the evidence of your senses. In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. And what was terrifying was not that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable…what then?"