George Orwell’s 1984 Summary or 1984 Synopsis

1984 Characters

Winston Smith — An average, intelligent man, a minor employee in the Ministry of Truth, Oceania’s propaganda mill.

Julia — A beautiful, rebellious young mechanic in the Fiction Department of the Ministry of Truth.

O’Brien — Ugly, highly intelligent, and a member of the Inner Party.

Mr. Charrington — The old proprietor of a London junk shop field with charming relics of the past.

Big Brother — The all-seeing, all-powerful ruler of Oceania whose magnetic eyes stare out from every billboard.

Emmanuel Goldstein -The semi-mythical arch-enemy of Oceania.

1984 Summary and Synopsis

At lunchtime on April 4, 1984, Winston Smith takes time off from his job at the Ministry of Truth to go home and begin a secret journal. He has a lovely old notebook bought at Mr. Charrington’s junk shop a few days before, a dangerous act in 1984, when secret thoughts and relics from the past are forbidden.

Winston Smith lives in London, now the principal city of Airstrip One, part of Oceania which comprises Britain and North and South America. Like the two other massive power blocs of the world, Eurasia and Eastasia, Oceania is a completely totalitarian police state, rigidly adhering to the principles of Ingsoc, or English Socialism.

The majority of the population are called Proles; they are considered too stupid to matter. To ensure the complete loyalty of its members, the Party has placed a two-way telescreen in every room. Winston, a minor white collar worker in the Outer Party, has a room so peculiarly shaped that he can hide in a corner from the ever-watchful tetescreen. And he hides as he opens his journal and several times writes the highly treasonous statement, “Down with Big Brother”. Big Brother, whose heavy, moustachied face glares down from every billboard, is the mysterious leader of Oceania in its endless wars with Eastasia and Eurasia. No one has ever seen him, but in the torture rooms and dungeons of the Ministry of Love, his power is made clear to anyone defying the State.

Returning to the Ministry of Truth, Winston settles down to his job, which consists of falsifying back numbers of the Times in order to keep them in line with present policy in Oceania. History is a plaything of the Party. Objective truth no longer exists. Winston is an expert at his job, but he loathes it and most of his zealous fellow workers who are compiling a new edition of the Dictionary of Newspeak, the official language of Oceania. Read More