Plot Summary for 1984

Plot Summary

·        The main character Winston lives in the year 1984, but not the 1984 we remember. The city he lives in is Oceania is controlled by “big brother”. Everyone is controlled by the party, everything you do including your work is chosen by the party. So Winston starts a journal to catalogue his thoughts against the party.

·        One day Julia approaches Winston, and the two starts a secret love affair. Meeting at places they think evade telescreens and microphones. They fall deeper and deeper in love with each other, and also discuss rebelling against the Party. Julia’s involvement adds a second dimension to Winston’s life. Now, not only does Winston have to hide his journal writing from the Party, but must find hideouts to consummate his love.

·        O’Brien who works for the party approaches Winston and inducts both him and Julia into the Brotherhood. O’Brien arranges for Winston to receive a copy of Goldstein’s manifesto, detailing the "how" and "why" of the rebellion.

·        One day Winston and Julia wake up feeling like an ordinary, non-repressed couple. They discuss their future, now that they have joined the Brotherhood. They conclude that they are "the dead." A voice coming from behind the picture of St. Clements’s Church echoes what they say. They are surrounded by the Thought Police.

·        Winston is then cooped up at the Ministry of Love, where there only darkness. He meets a series of other prisoners, who all seem to fear being sent to the mysterious "Room 101." He undergoes a series of torturous interrogations by O’Brien, but still does not know what waits for him in Room 101. Winston is then sent to Room 101, where O’Brien confronts him with a cage of vociferous rats ready to chew him up. Winston’s spirit is finally broken by this, his biggest fear, and he betrays Julia in a final cry of surrender.

·        Having been released, Winston sits at the Chestnut Tree Café and reflects about scenes in his life, as well as an apathetic chance meeting with Julia. Winston is overcome by a feeling of total love and acceptance for the Party.