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George Orwell's 1984, published in the mid-20th century, is considered one of the best dystopian novels. In his work, the author expresses many thoughts in subtext; you need to be able to see this in order to understand the full depth of the novel.

George Orwell reflected a world that is controlled not only in the present and even in the future, but also in the past. Winston Smith, 39-year-old man, works for the Ministry of Truth. This is a fictional state structure of a totalitarian society ruled by the party. The name is ironic and attracts attention. Smith's job is to change the facts. If a person appears who is objectionable to the party, then information about him needs to be erased, and some facts must be rewritten properly. Society must follow the laws of the party and support its policies.

The main character only pretends that his ideals coincide with those of the party, but in reality he fiercely hates its policies. A girl named Julia works with him and watches him. Winston is worried that she knows his secret and will give him away. After a while, he finds out that Julia is in love with him. A relationship begins between them; they meet in a room above a junk shop. They have to hide their relationship because it is prohibited by party rules. Winston believes that one of the important employees of their ministry also disagrees with the party's policies. The couple goes to him with a request to accept them into the underground Brotherhood. Some time later, the man and woman were arrested. They will have to go through many physical and moral tests aimed at changing their worldview. Will Smith be able to stay true to his views and his love?

The entire novel is saturated with doublethink, it contains sayings that contradict each other, but people, under the influence of the party, sacredly believed in them. George Orwell raises the themes of freedom of thought and action, the consequences of a totalitarian regime, making the world of his work absurd, which only more clearly emphasizes the issues raised.

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Sketch for a portrait of Orwell

Each writer's biography has its own pattern, its own logic. This logic is not

every time it is easy to feel, and even more so - to discover the highest

the meaning that time dictates. But it happens that the old truth that speaks of

the impossibility of understanding a person outside his era becomes irrefutable not in

abstract, but in the most literal meaning of the word. The fate of George Orwell --

an example of just this kind.

Even today, when much more has been written about Orwell than he wrote

himself, much about him seems mysterious. Its sharp breaks are striking

literary path. The extremes of his judgments are striking - and in young

years, and in recent years. His books themselves seem to belong to different people: some,

signed with his real name, Eric Blair, easily fit into

context of the dominant ideas and trends of the 30s, others published under

pseudonym George Orwell, adopted in 1933, counter such

trends and ideas irreconcilably.

Some deep crack is splitting this creative world in two, and

It’s hard to believe that despite all the internal antagonisms, he is one.

Progression, evolution - words, at first impression are not at all

applicable to Orwell; others are needed - a cataclysm, an explosion. They can be replaced

not so energetic, saying, for example, about a turning point or revaluation, however

the essence will not change. There will still be an impression that in front of us

a writer who, in the short time allotted to him, lived in literature for two

very different lives.

In criticism of Orwell, this idea varies in many ways,

from endless repetitions it takes on the form of an axiom. But of course

obvious indisputability does not always prove to be a guarantee of truth. And with

According to Orwell, the situation was much more complicated than it seems

inattentive commentators rushing to decisively explain everything as a turning point in

his views, but confused in interpreting the reasons for this metamorphosis.

Indeed, there was a moment in Orwell's life when he experienced a profound

a spiritual crisis, even a shock, which forced him to give up a lot of things he believed in

young Eric Blair firmly believed. To those few who noticed the writer back in the 30s

years, it would be extremely difficult to guess what works would come out of his

pen in the 40s. But, stating this, let us not lose sight of the main thing - here

it was not so much subjective factors that acted, but above all gave itself

feel the drama of revolutionary ideas that played out at the end of the same

30s. For Orwell it turned out to be a difficult personal test. From this

trials, books were born that provided their author with a rightful place in culture

XX century. This, however, became clear only years after his death.

Five years ago, a literary event of a special kind was celebrated in the West:

not a memorable writer’s date, not the anniversary of the appearance of a famous book, but

Illustration by Alan Harmon

Very briefly

Totalitarian state. A party member tries to resist the authorities, preserving his consciousness from manipulation. But thoughtcrime cannot be hidden, and the party subordinates the person to the system.

First part

1984 London, capital of Airstrip I, Oceania Province. 39-year-old short, frail Winston Smith, an experienced employee of the Ministry of Truth, goes up to his apartment. In the lobby hangs a poster of a huge, rugged face with thick black eyebrows. “Big Brother is looking at you,” the caption reads. In Winston’s room, like in any other, there is a device (telescreen) built into the wall, working around the clock for both reception and transmission. The Thought Police are listening to every word and watching every move. From the window one can see the facade of his ministry with party slogans: “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength."

Winston decides to keep a diary. This crime is punishable by death or hard labor, but he needs to vent his thoughts. It is unlikely that they will reach the future: the thought police will get to it anyway, thought crime cannot be hidden forever. Winston doesn't know where to start. He remembers the morning two minutes of hatred at the ministry.

The main object of the two minutes of hatred has always been Goldstein - a traitor, the main desecrator of party purity, an enemy of the people, a counter-revolutionary: he appeared on the telescreen. In the hall, Winston met a freckled girl with thick dark hair. He disliked her at first sight: so young and pretty they were “the most fanatical adherents of the party, swallowers of slogans, willing spies and sniffers of heresy.” O'Brien, a high-ranking member of the party, also entered the hall. The contrast between his upbringing and the physique of a heavyweight boxer was puzzling. Deep down, Winston suspected that O’Brien was “not entirely politically correct.”

He remembers his old dream: someone told him: “We will meet where there is no darkness.” It was O'Brien's voice.

“Winston could not clearly remember a time when the country was not at war... Officially, ally and enemy never changed... The Party says that Oceania never entered into an alliance with Eurasia. He, Winston Smith, knows that Oceania was allied with Eurasia just four years ago. But where is this knowledge stored? Only in his mind, and he, one way or another, will soon be destroyed. And if everyone accepts the lies imposed by the party... then this lie settles in history and becomes the truth.”

Now even children report on their parents: the offspring of Winston Parsons' neighbors will definitely try to catch their mother and father for ideological inconsistency.

In his office, Winston gets to work. He changes data in newspapers published earlier according to today's assignment. Wrong forecasts and political mistakes of Big Brother were destroyed. The names of undesirable persons were erased from history.

In the dining room at lunch, Winston meets the philologist Syme, a specialist in Newspeak. He says about his work: “It’s wonderful to destroy words... In the end, we will make thought crime simply impossible - there will be no words left for it.” “Syme will undoubtedly be sprayed,” thinks Winston. “One cannot say that he is unfaithful... But there was always some kind of unrespectable scent coming from him.”

Suddenly he notices that the girl with dark hair, whom he met yesterday at the Two Minutes of Hate, is closely watching him.

Winston remembers his wife Catherine. They separated 11 years ago. Already at the very beginning of their life together, he realized that “I had never met a more stupid, vulgar, empty creature. Every single thought in her head consisted of slogans.”

Smith believes that only the proles - the lowest caste of Oceania, constituting 85% of the population - can destroy the party. The proles don't even have telescreens in their apartments. “In all moral matters they are allowed to follow the customs of their ancestors.”

“With the feeling that he was saying this to O’Brien,” Winston writes in his diary: “Freedom is the ability to say that two and two are four.”

Second part

At work, Winston meets this freckled girl again. She trips and falls. He helps her get up, and the girl puts a note in his hand containing the words: “I love you.” In the dining room they agree on a date.

They meet outside the city, among the trees, where they cannot be overheard. Julia - that’s the girl’s name - admits that she had dozens of connections with party members. Winston is delighted: it is precisely such depravity, animal instinct that can tear the party to shreds! Their loving embrace becomes a battle, a political act.

Julia is 26 years old and works in the literature department on a novel writing machine. Julia understood the meaning of party puritanism: “When you sleep with a person, you waste energy; and then you feel good and don’t care about anything. It’s in their throats.” They want energy to be used only for party work.

Winston rents a room above Mr. Charrington's junk shop for meetings with Julia - there is no telescreen there. One day a rat appears from a hole. Julia treats her indifferently, Winston is disgusted by the rat: “There is nothing worse in the world.”

Syme disappears. “Syme ceased to exist; he never existed."

When Winston once mentioned war with Eurasia, “Julia stunned him by casually saying that in her opinion there was no war. The rockets falling on London may be launched by the government itself “to keep people in fear.”

Finally, a fateful conversation with O'Brien takes place. He approaches Smith in the hallway and gives his address.

Winston dreams of his mother. He remembers his hungry childhood. Winston does not remember how his father disappeared. Despite the fact that food had to be divided between his mother, his sickly little sister of two or three years old, and Winston himself, he demanded more and more food and received it from his mother. One day he took her sister’s portion of chocolate and ran away. When he returned, neither his mother nor his sister were there. After this, Winston was sent to a colony for homeless children - an “educational center.”

Julia decides to date Winston until the very end. Winston speaks of torture if it is discovered: “Confession is not betrayal. What you said or didn’t say is not important, only the feeling is important. If they force me to stop loving you, that will be a real betrayal.”

Winston and Julia come to O'Brien and admit that they are enemies of the party and thought criminals. O'Brien confirms that a conspiracy against the Party called the Brotherhood exists. He promises that Winston will be given Goldstein's book.

On the sixth day of the Week of Hate it is announced that Oceania is not at war with Eurasia. There is a war with Eastasia. Eurasia is an ally. "Oceania is at war with Eastasia: Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia." For five days, Winston works to destroy the data from the past.

Winston begins reading Emmanuel Goldstein's book "The Theory and Practice of Oligarchic Collectivism" in a small room in Mr. Charrington's shop. Later, Julia and Winston listen at the window to the prole woman singing. “We are dead,” they say in turn. “You are dead,” says an iron voice behind them. Julia is hit and carried away. There was a telescreen hidden in the room. Mr. Charrington enters. “He looked like his former self, but this was a different person... It was the face of a wary, cold-blooded man of about thirty-five. Winston thought that for the first time in his life he saw with complete certainty a member of the Thought Police.”

The third part

“Winston didn’t know where he was. He was probably brought to the Ministry of Love, but there was no way to verify this.” Parsons appears in his cell, where the light is constantly on. In a dream, he shouted: “Down with Big Brother!”, and his daughter reported him. Winston is left alone in the cell; O'Brien enters. “And they have you!” - Winston shouts. O’Brien replies: “I’ve been with them for a long time... Don’t fool yourself. You knew it... you always knew it."

The nightmare begins. Winston is beaten and tortured. He learns that he has been watched for seven years. Finally O'Brien appears. Winston is chained to some kind of torture device. O'Brien recalls a phrase written by Smith in his diary: “Freedom is the ability to say that two and two are four”? He shows four fingers and asks Winston to show how many there are. Winston stubbornly repeats that there are four of them, although O'Brien increases the prisoner's pain with a lever. Finally, unable to bear the pain, Winston shouts “Five!” But O'Brien says, “You're lying. You still think that there are four of them... Do you understand, Winston, that anyone who has been here does not leave our hands unhealed?”

O'Brien says the party seeks power for its own sake. He is one of those who wrote the book of Brotherhood. The party will always exist, it cannot be overthrown. “Winston, you are the last man. Your species is extinct... You are outside of history, you do not exist.” O'Brien notes how Winston has sunk, but he retorts: "I did not betray Julia." “Exactly. You didn’t betray Julia,” O’Brien agrees.

Winston continues to be locked up. Half-forgotten, Winston shouts: “Julia, my beloved!” When he wakes up, he realizes his mistake: O’Brien doesn’t ask him to do this. Winston hates Big Brother. “To die hating them is freedom.” Winston is sent to room one hundred and one. They bring a cage of disgusting rats to his face - he cannot stand this: “Give them Julia!.. Not me! Julia! - he shouts.

Winston is sitting in the Chestnut Cafe. He reflects on what happened to him: “They can’t get into you,” Julia said. But they were able to get in. O'Brien truly said, "What is done to you here is done to you forever."

Winston met Julia after being tortured at the Ministry of Love. She changed: “The face took on an earthy hue, a scar stretched across the entire forehead to the temple... But that was not the point.” Her waist, when Winston hugged Julia, seemed like stone: like that of a corpse that Winston once had to pull out from under the rubble. Both confessed their betrayal to each other. Julia noted the most important thing: when a person screams for someone else to be given instead of him, he is not just saying that, he wants it. Yes, Winston wanted her, not him, to be given away.

Victory fanfare is heard in the cafe: Oceania has defeated Eurasia. Winston also wins - over himself. He loves Big Brother.

Orwell's novel "1984" summary which is in this article is the famous dystopia of the English writer. The work was first published in 1949. Today its name, as well as the terminology used by the author, have become household names. They are often used to denote a social structure that resembles the totalitarian society described by the author. The novel was often subject to censorship, especially in socialist countries, and criticism, most often from leftist movements in the West.

First part

Orwell's novel "1984", a summary of which you are now reading, begins with events in London in 1984. The country belongs to the Oceania province. The main character is an unprepossessing 39-year-old Winston Smith. He works for the Ministry of Truth.

At the very beginning of George Orwell's novel 1984, which is summarized on the page, he is walking up the stairs to his apartment. There is a poster in the lobby that shows a huge, rugged face with black, bushy eyebrows. The caption underneath: “Big Brother is looking at you.” It will become a refrain for the entire novel and will be often used in works and in everyday life after the success of Orwell’s book.

Smith's room is no different from the housing of most inhabitants of England at that time. There is a huge TV screen built into the wall, which cannot be turned off; it operates around the clock. And both for reception and transmission. The scrupulously working thought police can eavesdrop on every word, see every movement of any citizen of the country.

The windows of Smith's apartment look directly onto the façade of the ministry, which is also decorated with posters. On them you can see paradoxical inscriptions, although no one doubts their accuracy. "War is peace. Ignorance is strength. Freedom is slavery."

Smith's Diary

At the very beginning of Orwell's novel "1984", a summary of which can be found in this article, we learn that main character decides to keep a diary. At that time, this was a deadly undertaking, which could result in a sentence of capital punishment or exile to hard labor camps. But this is vital for him, Winston wants to collect all his thoughts and record them.

At the same time, he does not console himself with the hope that future generations will one day learn about the diary. Smith is convinced that the police will get to him sooner or later, because thought crime is severely punished. But even in such a situation, he decides to take risks.

Not knowing where to start, Smith recalls a morning at his ministry that traditionally began with two minutes of hate. As always, the subject of the two minutes was Goldstein. He was called a desecrator of party purity and the main traitor.

In George Orwell's novel 1984, which is summarized here, Winston meets an attractive girl with mischievous freckles during a two-minute meeting. He disliked her at first sight. Such pretty young girls most often turned out to be the most loyal and fanatical adherents of the ruling party. They gladly uttered slogans at rallies and were voluntary spies and informers.

The main character's dream

At this time O'Brien appeared in the hall. He was a high-ranking party member overseeing the Ministry of Truth. From J. Orwell's novel "1984", a summary of which you can read if you cannot master the entire work, we learn that he was ponderous and emphatically mannered. At the same time, Winston and some others suspected that in reality he was not as loyal to the party as he was trying to prove.

Smith has recently been increasingly recalling his old dream, in which, in O’Brien’s voice, an unknown person promises to meet him soon in a place where there is no darkness.

Diary of Truth

Winston decided to keep a diary when he realized that he could not clearly remember when his country was not at war. At the same time, the Party, according to official sources of information, claimed that Oceania was never in an alliance with Eurasia. Although Smith himself clearly remembered that the union existed only four years ago. But this knowledge was stored only in his memory; he could not document it in any way. Therefore, he increasingly questioned what the party told him, suspecting that lies, having settled in history, eventually turn into truth.

Recently, people around have changed a lot, notes the hero of George Orwell's novel "1984", a summary of which cannot replace the work itself. Children are increasingly reporting on their parents. For example, the offspring of his neighbors tried to catch his father and mother being ideologically incontinent.

Wilson's work

Returning to his job at the Ministry of Truth, Smith begins his standard duties. He changes articles in newspapers published in previous years in accordance with today's realities. Incorrect political forecasts are destroyed, Big Brother's mistakes are erased from the pages of the press. The names of undesirable persons are forever deleted from articles and essays.

During the lunch break, Winston meets the philologist Syme, who is a local expert on Newspeak, in the dining room. In Orwell's novel "1984" (a chapter-by-chapter summary will allow you to get acquainted with the main points of the work) special linguistic techniques are used. Syme argues that destroying words is a beautiful thing. Thus, human thought crimes are made impossible. There are simply no words left for them.

At the same time, Winston thinks to himself that the philologist will definitely be sprayed. Although it cannot be said about him that he is unfaithful, there is a steady scent of little respectability coming from him.

Winston's wife

At the very end of lunch, Smith notices that the girl with dark hair, whom he noticed in the morning at Two Minutes of Hate, is now watching him closely.

At the same time, he remembers his own wife, with whom he separated about 11 years ago. Her name was Katherine. Smith understands that even at the very beginning of their life together he clearly realized that he had never met a more stupid and empty creature. All thoughts in her head consisted exclusively of slogans.

Thinking about who is capable of destroying the Party, Winston comes to the conclusion that only the proles are capable of this. In the novel “1984” by George Orwell (we are now describing a summary of the chapters), this is the name of the lower caste of the inhabitants of Oceania. Moreover, they make up 85% of the total population. When it comes to deciding moral issues, they follow the customs of their ancestors, but they live so poorly that there are not even television screens in their apartments.

Smith makes an important entry in his diary. "Freedom is the ability to say that two and two are four."

Second part of the novel

The next day at the service, Smith again runs into the girl with freckles. She trips and falls right in front of him, and he rushes to her aid. While Winston helps his colleague up, she quietly slips a note into his hand. There are only three words in it: “I love you.” They agree on a date.

In Orwell's book 1984, the characters go on a romantic walk outside the city. Only there they cannot be overheard.

It turns out that the girl's name is Julia. She admits that she had dozens of connections with Party members. Winston is only delighted by this, because he understands that only such depravity and animal passion can destroy the Party from the inside. George Orwell describes their loving embrace in his book “1984,” a summary of which allows one to get an impression of the relationship between the main characters, as a political act.

Julia

Julia is only 26 years old. She works in the literary department on a machine that writes novels. To meet his girlfriend, Smith rents a room without a TV screen above a junk shop. During one of these meetings, they see a rat emerging from a hole. Julia does not attach any importance to this, but Winston admits that he believes that there is nothing worse in the world.

Every day Julia amazes him more and more. One day, when he starts talking about the war with Eurasia, she declares that she believes there is no war at all. And the government itself can drop missiles on London to keep people in constant fear.

At this time, a fateful conversation takes place between Smith and O'Brien. They arrange a meeting. That evening, Winston remembers his poor childhood. He doesn’t remember how his father disappeared; there was very little food. And besides his mother, his younger sister lived with him. One day he took her portion of chocolate from the girl and ran away from home. And when he returned, he no longer found his relatives. He was taken to a camp for homeless children, where he was raised.

Relationship between Julia and Smith

The relationship between Julia and Smith develops. The girl wants to date until the very end, but the hero warns her that if they are discovered, they could be tortured.

The two of them come to O'Brien and admit that they are enemies of the Party. He responds by confirming that the Brotherhood organization, which opposes the Party, exists. He promises to soon bring Winston the book that Goldstein wrote.

At this time, further changes are taking place in geopolitical relations. The government announces that it has never fought with Eurasia, it is their ally, and the eternal enemy is Eastasia. Over the next five days, Winston works to correct the past.

On the same days, he finds Goldstein's book. It is called "The Theory and Practice of Oligarchic Collectivism." He reads it with Julia in the room above the junk shop. At this moment they are discovered, unknown people take Julia away. It turns out that there was a TV screen hidden in the room. The ragpicker turns out to be an undercover cop.

The third part

In the third part of Orwell's novel 1984, Winston is transported to an unknown location. He assumes that this is the Ministry of Love. He is placed in a chamber in which the light is constantly on.

Parsons, who in a dream called for the overthrow of Big Brother, is assigned to him. His own daughter reported him.

To extract a confession from Smith, he is tortured and beaten. It turns out that he was watched for seven years before being arrested. When O'Brien comes again, Winston realizes that he has always been on their side. Recalling him a phrase from his diary that freedom is the ability to say that two and two equals four, his former comrade shows him four fingers and asks him to say how many there are.

Despite the torture, Smith replies that it is 4. Only when the prisoner's pain intensifies does he admit that it is 5. But O'Brien notes that he is lying, because he still believes that it is four.

The party cannot be overthrown

It is revealed that O'Brien is one of the party members who wrote the Brotherhood book. The party itself provokes people like Winston to nip the protest in the bud. Every year there are fewer and fewer of them.

Smith disagrees only with the fact that he has fallen. After all, he never betrayed Julia. But it also comes to this. Winston is kept in a cell. In Orwell's novel "1984", a summary of which is in front of you, Winston even in conclusion confesses his love for a girl. He is sent to cell number one hundred and one. There, a cage of disgusting rats is brought right to his face. The main thing that Smith is afraid of in this life. In desperation, he asks to give them Julia, but not him. So he finally sinks, betraying his last loved one.

The ending of the novel

At the end of the novel, Smith spends time in a cafe called "Under the Chestnut Tree". He comprehends everything that has happened to him lately.

After imprisonment and torture in the Ministry of Love, he met Julia. Smith notes that she has changed a lot. Her face became sallow and a scar appeared on her forehead. And when he hugged her, she seemed to him as stone as a corpse. Both admitted that they betrayed each other under torture.

At this time, ceremonial fanfares are heard in the cafe. It is announced that Oceania has won the war against Eurasia. Winston admits that he also defeated himself and defeated Big Brother.

Analysis of the novel

Orwell's novel "1984", a summary of which, the analysis of which will certainly be useful to you, raises many important issues.

It talks about censorship, which develops in a totalitarian society, nationalism, which becomes the basis of domestic politics at the state level, surveillance, which is necessary for rulers to stay in power.

Until now, much of what is described in the novel remains relevant and discussed among residents of the most different countries. Wherever at least the beginnings of authoritarianism or totalitarianism appear in power, they immediately begin to remember this immortal novel by George Orwell, claiming that everything that the science fiction writer wrote about is once again coming true.

In the history of 20th-century literature, there are few novels as important as the book that George Orwell wrote. “1984” (we will describe a brief summary in the article) is a dystopia that tells about a society of the future that lives under the yoke of totalitarian power.

Origins of the novel

Writer George Orwell completed work on his main book in 1948. The title of the novel, “1984,” is a hidden reference to the date of its creation (the last two numbers are swapped). There are generally a lot of hidden hints and metaphors in Orwell's book.

The novel was written in the first post-war years, when all of Europe experienced the horrors of Nazism and the Holocaust. Of course, these tragic events influenced Orwell’s worldview and were reflected in his work. First of all, the writer in the pages of “1984” continued to develop the ideas that he used as the basis for his other famous story, “Animal Farm,” written a little earlier.

Winston Smith

The main character of the work is Winston Smith. At the time of the story, he is approximately 39 years old (that is, he was born in 1944 or 1945). The biography of this ordinary Londoner is a detailed snapshot of the era. Orwell, with the help of the memories of his protagonist, restores to the reader a picture of the history of several decades.

Thoughtcrime

The entire dystopian novel is saturated with the fantastic absurdity that society has reached, suffering from nuclear war, revolutions and the horrors of state terror. The authorities monitored their citizens 24 hours a day using Newest technologies(cameras, TV screens, etc.). In exactly the same way, the state massively conveyed to the residents the information necessary for the regime (via unswitched radio, newspapers, etc.).

The plot of the plot is that Smith, who worked in the Ministry of Truth, despite the widespread doublethink, begins to doubt what the party says. In fact, he is committing the most serious crime in his society - thought crime. This is another “fiction” of Orwell, inspired by the totalitarian regimes of the mid-20th century. Indeed, any resident of Oceania (as it was now called Mother country Smith), who even thought about something that ran counter to the party line was subject to destruction.

Two Minutes of Hate

In the first few chapters of his book, Orwell introduces the reader to a dystopian world of the future. Winston Smith attends Two Minutes of Hate. This event is regularly held within the official government agencies. Two-minute meetings are general meetings at which video reports are shown explaining to viewers how important it is to hate your enemies.

The main enemies of Oceania are Eurasia and Eastasia. According to Orwell, the world is a map divided approximately equally between three countries. Eurasia is the successor Soviet Union, where the official ideology is neo-Bolshevism. Very little is known about Eastasia. The novel contains references to the fact that this state lives according to the so-called cult of death.

Oceania Wars

One way or another, all three countries exist within the framework of totalitarian ideologies. These states are continuously world war. The conflict also occurs at the time to which the narrative in the novel relates. London (the capital of Oceania) is located far from the fronts, so only information carefully processed by the Ministry of Truth reaches here.

In Two Minutes of Hate, where Smith is present, the audience again (as every day before) learns about the enemy plans of Eastasia and Eurasia. They must be destroyed. The entire economy of Oceania is subordinated to this goal. All resources and energy of the population are spent on supporting the front. Such an economic imbalance was also normal for real totalitarian states that existed during Orwell’s life. “1984” is a novel that clearly depicts the consequences of the triumph of such regimes.

O'Brien and Julia

During Two Minutes of Hate, Smith meets two characters who will later turn out to be key characters in the entire novel. Firstly, this is party member O'Brien (his name is unknown). Smith hopes he also doubts what the party says. Orwell worked on this character for a long time. “1984” (a summary is impossible without mentioning other characters) reveals a few facts about his biography. However, the author himself said that this mysterious man has an important prototype - Gletkin from the novel “Blinding Darkness” by Arthur Koestler.

The second important character is Julia, also a party member. At first, Smith was suspicious of her, fearing that she was spying on him and might report him to punitive authorities. One day, Winston went to a residential area of ​​the proles (proletarians - the lowest class in society), where he visited a trading post. Such travel was undesirable for party members. On the way back, Smith ran into Julia. He was horrified at the thought that the girl might report where she saw him.

Secret meetings

However, the next day, Julia sent Winston a secret note in which she confessed her love to him. It was quite problematic to do this openly - relations between men and women were extremely strictly controlled by Ingsoc. According to the official ideology, all feelings were considered a relic of the past, and any sexual intercourse was only biological in nature, this was a necessary measure for the birth of offspring.

But Julia and Winston realize that there is more between them than just that. They begin to meet secretly, making dates for each other in deserted places. In the prolov area, the couple rents an apartment in the same trading store where Smith once went.

Goldstein

Soon the main characters of the work decide to open up to O’Brien. They hope that this mysterious and sympathetic man will be able to connect a couple with the mysterious Brotherhood. The most contradictory rumors circulated about this organization. According to Smith, the Brotherhood consisted of opponents of the regime who were trying to fight Ingsoc.

The main characters meet O'Brien. He admits that he really belongs to the Brotherhood. A party official secretly gives Julia and Winston a book, the author of which was a certain Goldstein. State propaganda called him internal enemy No. 1. He was an oppositionist trying to destroy the totalitarian regime of Oceania.

Denouement

We can say with confidence that “1984” is a novel with an unexpected plot. Some time after the fateful conversation with O'Brien, Winston and Julia were captured by the Thought Police in their safe house. It turned out that the owner of the shop from whom they rented an apartment was a secret informant for the authorities. The thought police specialized in searching for and capturing traitors whose thoughts ran counter to party ideology.

The couple is separated. Smith ended up in the dungeons of the Ministry of Love, which Orwell also invented. “1984” (you will find a summary in this article) at this point is approaching its denouement. Now the captured Winston will have to go through all the interrogations and torture that are usually carried out on state traitors.

Smith's abdication

To the surprise of the main character, O’Brien becomes his executioner - the same person he trusted, telling about his doubts in Ingsoc. Smith endures physical torture, but never renounces his beliefs (this is what was required of him). Before this, novels on English language did not contain anything like that. Orwell described in detail the bullying and inner psychological state of Smith, who endured pain and humiliation.

Gradually, Winston began to give in to O'Brien. Inwardly, he hoped that he would be able to deceive the Ministry of Love by making all the necessary confessions, but without giving up his beliefs in his heart. Finally, Smith has one last thing left that he has not yet renounced - his love for Julia. But even this feeling was destroyed. O'Brien, during the final torture, tapped into Smith's long-standing childhood fear. It was a fear of rats. Winston was chained face-first to a cage containing hungry, carnivorous rodents.

The fear turned out to be so acute that Smith agreed to confess to anything to stop the torture. After this, he was released from the Ministry of Love and Room 101. In the final scene of the novel main novel sits in a cafe, drinks alcohol, listens to the radio and realizes that he has been cured of his own doubts about the rightness of the party.

The meaning of the novel

The ending showed what Orwell wanted so badly to portray. “1984” (we have provided you with a summary) is a novel about how a repressive machine can destroy any individual. Even Smith, who resisted tyranny to the last, finally gave in. First, he was destroyed physically (in the literal sense of the word - he began to lose teeth, etc.). Then he finally lost his beliefs.

The unhappy ending only added to the novel's cult following. It instantly became a bestseller. Until this moment, no such book had ever been published in the world. Previous novels in the dystopian genre could not boast of such carefully researched and described artistic world, which was invented by Orwell.

However, as mentioned above, the English writer did not need to compose anything. In fact, he only logically developed all those phenomena that gave rise to Nazism and other totalitarian regimes of the first half of the 20th century.

The success of the novel is also explained by the many metaphors that have migrated to all languages ​​of the world. This is the already described doublethink, “Ingsoc”, two minutes of hatred, etc. Orwell became the author of the famous formula “twice two is exactly five,” which described the principle of falsity of propaganda, as well as the image of Big Brother. References to "1984" are important components of modern Western popular culture.