The main character of 1984

Winston Smith, the main character of George Orwell’s 1984, is a 39-year-old employee working in Records Department in the Ministry of Truth. He seems to be a typical middle aged man but hates Big Brother in his mind. My emotion towards Winston has changed as the story goes on. I liked the main character while reading the first part of the novel since he was not brainwashed as most of the other people were. Winston seemed to be the only hope in the dystopian society. Nevertheless, he acts very foolish, such as keeping a diary which is unworthy since nobody will be able to read it, renting a small room above an old curio shop of a man that he doesn’t know enough to trust, and having a relationship with a girl though he knows it will be discovered soon by Thought Police. It seems that Winston do those actions because he is not courageous and confident enough to fight against the Party face to face or because he wishes to revolt against Big Brother but he couldn’t think of any other way to do it. I am disappointed when Winston starts to think that two plus two is five, and is gradually brainwashed by O’ Brein’s obstinate questions and painful torture.

Winston Smith at the end of the novel reveals how weak we are. Our hero has proven that humans are so fragile both physically and psychologically, that we all eventually surrender if we are obstinately brainwashed. Nearly all main characters has something special that will lead them to show readers what writers want people to know, which turns out to be the weakness of human in this novel. Though Winston Smith has defeated, I believe he has done a great job in sending us the message from Orwell.