protagonists

Home

Home genre Home Dystopias Home narrative studies

//**Nineteen Eighty-Four**// (sometimes written //**1984**//) is a 1949 [|dystopian novel] by [|George Orwell] about an[|oligarchical], [|collectivist] society. Life in the [|Oceanian] province of [|Airstrip One] is a world of [|perpetual war], pervasive government [|surveillance] , and incessant public [|mind control]. The individual is always subordinated to the state, and it is in part this philosophy which allows the Party to manipulate and control humanity. In the [|Ministry of Truth] (Minitrue, in [|Newspeak] ), protagonist [|Winston Smith]  is a [|civil servant] responsible for perpetuating the Party's [|propaganda] by <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|revising] historical records to render the Party omniscient and always correct, yet his meagre existence disillusions him to the point of seeking<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|rebellion] against <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|Big Brother], eventually leading to his arrest, torture, and reconversion. <span style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em;">As literary <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|political fiction], //Nineteen Eighty-Four// is a classic novel of the <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|social science fiction] subgenre. Since its publication in 1949, many of its terms and concepts, such as //<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|Big Brother] //,//<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|doublethink] //, //<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|thoughtcrime] //, //<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|Newspeak] //, and //<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|Memory hole] //, have become contemporary <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|vernacular]. In addition, the novel popularized the adjective //<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;">[|Orwellian] //, which refers to lies, surveillance, or manipulation of the past in the service of a totalitarian agenda.