Plot Diagram

Introduction:
1984 is set in the country Oceania, a futuristic totalitarian society ruled by Big Brother. Winston Smith is an average, unimportant man. He works in the ministry of truth, where he falsifies any documents or pictures that could prove that the Party (government) lies. If they are at war with a certain country, they have always been at war with that country. If someone is executed, then they never existed. If the Party claims that production of boots has gone up, then production of boots has gone up, even if it has gone down. The citizens of Oceania believe every lie they are fed. Even thinking something against the Party is a crime. There are telescreens in every home and public place from which the thought police can see you at any time, they watch for any suspicious behaviors that could betray you as having rebellious thoughts. If you are caught (and you always are caught eventually) they will arrest you and execute you, but first they will take you to the ministry of love, were they will beat and brainwash you until you love big brother and have had every ounce of individuality stomped out of you.

Rising Action:
Winston knows that what the party is doing is wrong. He purchases a diary, where he writes down his illegal thoughts. He is troubled by the fact that the Party can control even the past, and that his co workers believe the Partys lies so easily. The Party claims that they have always been at war with Eastasia and allied with Eurasia, but Winston can remember a time when they were at war with Eurasia. The Party also says that Emmanuel Goldstein, the leader of the Brotherhood - a secret organization of rebels who hate they Party and are constantly trying to bring it down, is the most dangerous man alive, and they instill a deep hatred of him into every Party member, but Winston has trouble believing this. Later Winston and a girl named Julia fall in love and begin a secret, illegal affair. They rent an apartment over the shop were Winston bought the diary. The shop owner Mr. Charrington claims that the room has no telescreen. Then one day something Winston has been waiting for happens. He receives a massage from OBrien; a high ranking Party member that Winston suspects is involved in the Brotherhood. Winston and Julia go to see him at his apartment and their suspicions are confirmed. OBrien gives them Goldsteins book to read, and welcomes them to the Brotherhood.

Climax:
Winston and Julia are in their apartment, reading Goldsteins book. The thought police burst through the door and arrest them. It turns out that

Mr. Charington lied, there is a secret telescreen in the room and the thought police have heard every word they said. OBrien was never part of the Brotherhood, he just pretend to be so that he could get an open confession of thoughtcrime out of Winston. They are taken away to the ministry of love, where they are separated and jailed. Winston is starved and beaten, then eventually taken away to another room, where OBrien begins his re-education. He must learn to accept that everything the Party says is true. That reality is not external, but internal. If the part says 2+2=5 then you must accept that 2+2=5 completely, without question, even if only seconds before you knew that 2+2=4. You must accept the Party wholeheartedly. Eventually Winston is taken to the dreaded room 101. Room 101 contains the worst thing in the world, for each person who enters it. For Winston its rats. Throughout the book he has reoccurring nightmares about rats. OBrien has a metal mask to enclose the rats over Winstons face. At the last moment Winston yells to do it to Julia, not him. That is what OBrien wanted all along, to break him down so much that he even betrays Julia.

Falling Action:
Winston is released from the ministry of love. He spends most of his time drinking gin and playing chess in small pub. He has a job, a higher paying job where he only has to work a few days a week. He meets with Julia, but they no longer feel anything for each other. The betrayed each other in room 101, and once you have betrayed some one so deeply, and wished your personal worst nightmare unto them, you can never go back to how you were before.

Conclusion:
Winstons spirit has been broken. He accepts the Party completely, that 2+2=5. Oceania is at war with Eurasia, Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia. Winston no longer hates the Party and all affiliated with it. He has learned to love Big Brother.

Main Characters:

Winston Smith Winston is a dynamic character, because throughout the beginning and middle of the story he hates the Party, but after his

torture and re-education he supports the party and believes their lies himself. He loves Big Brother. Julia - Julia is a dynamic character as well. At the beginning she loves Winston, but after her time in the ministry of love she no longer feels the same towards him. OBrien OBrien is a static character. All throughout the story he is a member of the thought police and supporter of the party, our perception of him changes, but not OBrien himself.

Minor Characters:

Emmanuel Goldstein - Leader of the rebel organization the Brotherhood and enemy of all who support the Party. He is a static character, because his rebellion against the party is consistent throughout the book. Mr. Charrington Shop owner, who sells Winston the diary and rents him and Julia the apartment, then later turns out to be a secret member of the thought police. He is a static character because he never actually changes, but the way Winston sees him does.

Conflict:
WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH The main source of conflict in 1984 is corrupt government control, which is external. The Party is in absolute control. They seek only power, and to them power is not a means; it is an end. And power means the capacity to inflict unlimited pain and suffering on to another human being. The Party is constantly working to gain more control. They are developing a new language called newspeak. Newspeak eliminates words associated with rebellion from the vocabulary or strips meaning from words, because thought is limited to vocabulary. You could never even think a rebellious thought because you would have no words to voice it. There is never ending war. The Party uses war to rally the country against one common enemy so that they dont focus on the problems within their own country. The war also uses up most of the Oceanias surplus, so that even though they are continuously producing supplies most of the country is living in poverty and on the brink of starvation, because a hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects. They also use the concept of doublethink, which means to hold two contradictory thoughts in your head at the same time, yet believe them both. Winston knows the Party is corrupted, and he rebels against it any way he can, he knows he will be caught, tortured, and eventually executed one day, yet he still fights back. He knows from the time he first writes in the diary that he is a dead man. When he is caught and tortured he tries to hold onto his ideals, but mostly his love for Julia. In the end he is tortured to the point where he betrays her to save himself, which is what the Party wanted all along. This is a source of internal conflict.

Setting

This story takes place in London 1984. A small minority of the country are party members, and an even smaller amount are inner party members, but the majority of the country is made up of the Proles they are simple people that are basically peasants. The book was written in 1948, and portrays a frightening view of the future.

1984 GEORGE ORWELL