1984: Plot Summary (OCR A Level English Literature)

Plot Summary

One of the most important things you can do in preparation for the exam is to “know” the plot of 1984 thoroughly. When you are familiar with all of the key events, you can then link them to larger ideas. Having an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the text will also help you to gain confidence in finding the most relevant references to support your response.

Below you will find:

• a general overview of the novel

• a detailed chapter summary

Overview

Published in 1949, George Orwell’s 1984 (Nineteen Eighty-Four) is a chilling vision of a possible future for our planet under an authoritarian, totalitarian regime. As the name suggests, the novel is set in the year 1984, and the protagonist, Winston Smith, is a citizen of Oceania. Oceania is one of three perpetually warring superstates, along with Eurasia and Eastasia, and is governed by the all-controlling Party, which uses propaganda, surveillance, fear and violence to indoctrinate its population into unquestioning obedience to its leader, Big Brother. The Party rules under the principles of Ingsoc (English Socialism), and consists of Inner Party members, who are the ruling elite, and Outer Party members, who are the citizens of Oceania. Outside of this exist the Proles, who are non-Party members living on the fringes of society in poverty, but who have more freedom than Party members as they are considered to be unimportant and insignificant.

The Party’s three slogans are: “War is Peace”, “Freedom is Slavery” and “Ignorance is Strength”. It has created its own language, called “Newspeak”, which is designed to limit freedom of speech and expression and promote the Party’s doctrines, and governs through fear in the form of “Thought Police”, telescreens and a culture of spying and reporting on anyone considered to be guilty of “thoughtcrime”. The Party also imposes a daily “Two Minutes Hate”, during which every person in Oceania is required to drop everything and scream abuse and hatred at Oceania’s foreign enemy and its domestic traitors - Emmanuel Goldstein and the Brotherhood.

Winston Smith lives in Airstrip One, which used to be known as Great Britain, and works for The Ministry of Truth, re-writing history and changing photographic evidence to fit the Party’s propaganda and version of events. However, Winston secretly believes in an unaltered past, and wishes for privacy, intimacy, freedom and love. He cannot express any of this openly, or else he would be arrested, tortured and probably killed. Instead, he obtains an old diary from a junk shop, and he manages to write down his thoughts in it in secret. He meets a co-worker called Julia and begins an illegal affair with her. They rent a room in a Prole district, and as his affair with Julia develops, his hatred for the Party grows. He and Julia are contacted by a powerful Inner Party member named O’Brien, whom they eventually meet and who gives them a copy of Goldstein’s manifesto. However, Winston and Julia have been reported, and they are arrested. Winston is taken to The Ministry of Love, where he discovers that O’Brien is in fact a Party spy. Winston is tortured and brainwashed into eventually sacrificing Julia to save himself and admitting that he loves Big Brother.

Chapter Summary

Part I – Chapters 1–8

• Winston Smith returns to his apartment in Victory Mansions

• He sees the posters on the stairs of an enormous face, underscored with the words “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”

• Winston keeps a secret diary in an alcove in his apartment which is hidden from the telescreen

• Winston knows that, by writing in his diary, he is committing “thoughtcrime” and therefore risking his life

• He records that day’s Two Minutes Hate, during which he observed a dark-haired girl whom he often sees at the Ministry of Truth, and an Inner Party member called O’Brien, with whom he made eye contact

• Winston knows from the outset that he will be arrested, and that this is only a matter of time

• He helps his neighbour, Mrs Parsons, by unclogging her sink, and meets her two children, who are both members of the Party’s youth league, the Spies

• The next morning, Winston performs his “Physical Jerks”, an exercise regime enforced on all Party members via their telescreens

• Whilst doing this, Winston recalls that four years ago, Oceania was at war with Eastasia, even though it is currently at war with Eurasia and doublethink requires all citizens to accept that this has always been the case

• Winston works at the Ministry of Truth, where his daily assignments are sent to him in the form of small, cylindrical paper rolls

• He is tasked with “rectifying” certain news articles to ensure the Party is always proven right

• He does this by dictating the corrections into the speakwrite at his desk, which translates spoken word into written word, and he puts all related documentation into a “memory hole”, removing any evidence of the altered data

• He meets his fellow workers, Syme and Tom Parsons, at lunch

• That evening, he uses his diary to record a visit he made to a prostitute three years ago

• After work one night, Winston finds himself walking through the streets of London in a Prole district

• He finds himself at the antique shop where he bought his diary

• The owner, Mr Charrington, remembers Winston and suggests that Winston take a look at another room, above the shop

• The room contains some simple furnishings and, notably, no telescreen

• Winston purchases a coral paperweight

• On his way home, he spots the dark-haired girl from the Ministry, and believes she might report him to the Thought Police

Part II – Chapters 1–10

• On a bathroom break at work, the dark-haired girl passes Winston a note upon which is written “I love you”

• They are able to arrange to meet in Victory Square, where there is a crowd watching a convoy of war prisoners

• The girl whispers a plan to Winston to meet in the country on Sunday afternoon

• They meet, and Winston learns that the girl’s name is Julia

• Winston recognises the countryside scenery from a dream he had

• The pair have sex, and Winston is inspired by Julia’s freedom and rebellious nature

• Julia arranges how their relationship will work and they pursue their secret relationship, learning more about each other

• Eventually, Winston rents the room above Mr Charrington’s shop as a place for him and Julia to meet

• During their first meeting there, Winston is horrified to discover that there are rats in the room, revealing that he is terrified of them

• As time passes, a more fanatical atmosphere seems to be building, and Syme disappears

• O’Brien makes contact with Winston whilst at work, reaffirming to Winston his suspicions that O’Brien is a member of the resistance group, the “Brotherhood”

• O’Brien invites Winston and Julia to visit him at his home

• As Winston and Julia’s relationship continues, they agree that the Party will never be able to force them to stop loving each other, and this is their ultimate rebellion

• Winston and Julia visit O’Brien at his home, where they are astounded at the fact that O’Brien, as an Inner Party member, is able to turn off his telescreen

• Winston reveals their hatred of Big Brother and the Party, and O’Brien explains that the Brotherhood exists and Goldstein is real

• They are then “inducted” into the Brotherhood, and Winston reveals the location of their hiding place above Mr Charrington’s shop

• O’Brien tells Winston that he will send him a copy of Goldstein’s manifesto, which Winston receives and reads in the room above the shop

• A voice comes from the picture above the bed, saying “You are the dead” and the picture falls to reveal a hidden telescreen

• Winston and Julia have been betrayed by Mr Charrington, and as the Thought Police enter the room to arrest them, Winston realises that Mr Charrington is secretly a member of the Thought Police as well

Part III – Chapters 1–6

• Winston is held in a white cell and he assumes he is in the Ministry of Love

• Before this, he was held in a crowded cell with other Party political prisoners, as well as Proles and common criminals

• He overhears fearful talk about being sent to Room 101

• In the white cell, he is briefly joined by two former work colleagues, one of whom is Parsons, before they are sent to Room 101

• Eventually, O’Brien enters Winston’s cell, and Winston realises that O’Brien is actually one of his captors

• O’Brien oversees Winston’s torture and forces him into admitting to a long list of crimes

• O’Brien explains that the Party desires total control of reality, and via a combination of torture and drugs continues to indoctrinate Winston into total obedience, which initially Winston resists

• He refuses to accept defeat, asserting that he has still not betrayed his love for Julia

• When Winston calls out Julia’s name in a dream, O’Brien decides that it is time for Winston to love Big Brother and sends him to Room 101, which contains the worst thing in the world depending on the individual

• For Winston, this is being trapped in a head cage with rats

• This is too much for Winston, and he eventually screams for O’Brien to do it to Julia instead, thereby betraying her

• After his “re-education”, Winston becomes one of the former traitors who sit in the Chestnut Tree Cafe awaiting their eventual execution

• Winston admits that he loves Big Brother

Appendix

• The Appendix explains the principles of Newspeak

• It is written in the past tense and in Oldspeak, which could imply that the novel finishes on a note of hope

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