Winston is an intriguing character. He has some terrible characteristics,
such as his blatant sexism and objectification of other people, so that
presents a barrier to me caring about what happens to him or liking him. And
because of this, I struggled to get into the novel.
I can point out the exact place where I start to care about what
happens to Winston: beginning of part 2, page 106. Winston sees Julia (who at
this point is potentially a member of the thought police) trip. He considers:
“In front of him was an enemy who was trying to kill him; in front of him,
also, was a human creature, in pain and perhaps with a broken bone. Already he
had instinctively started forward to help her. In the moment when he had seen
her fall on the bandaged arm, it had been as though he felt the pain in his own
body” (105-106). This is the first time where Winston does something for
another person, not because the party tells him that he must, but because he
can. In this moment, he shows that he’s still a human who is capable of
empathy. It’s interesting that Winston sees it as something that’s not a big
deal, that’s just common sense for humans, when the structure of Oceania (and
the rest of the world, for that matter) is based on forcing people to disregard
empathy entirely. I had to reread this paragraph because I was so surprised. I
remember thinking “Wow, he actually can empathize.”
Still, it takes him the entirety of part 1 to get to this. (I’m
not impressed.) Perhaps this is why it’s so hard to relate to/care about Winston
in the beginning of the novel: he is mostly controlled by Big Brother. He goes
to work, he doesn’t care who gets vaporized, he participates in two minutes
hate. He questions, but not openly. Rather than take up the act of rebellion
himself, he always says that the proles must do it.
Winston directly addresses his humanity in a conversation
with Julia just before they go to find O’Brien. He says that Big Brother “can’t
get inside you. If you can feel that
staying human is worth while, even when it can’t have any result whatsoever, you’ve
beaten them” (166). By this point, he is not only invested in himself, he’s
invested in Julia and the possibility of undermining Big Brother. He actually cares
about things.
When we had to make predictions about what happens next, I
said that Winston and Julia would get caught. That happened. I also thought
that they would “lose their humanity” somehow—a loss of empathy, a horrible
crime, something. What happens with that remains to be seen. However, once they
were caught, Winston phrases his feelings similarly as in his first interaction
with Julia: “Even in his terror it was as though he could feel the pain in his
own body” (223). I don’t know if Orwell meant for there to be a such strong
parallel in the phrasing, but it would be interesting if these encounters
functioned as bookends to “empathetic Winston.” I wonder what side of Winston
we’ll see now that he’s in captivity.
Do you struggle with Winston? Do you think humanity is a
main theme in the novel, and is it dealt with enough for you?
I didn't really like Winston either, especially because he seemed kind of violent. He imagined smashing a pickax into a girl's just because she called him over to sit with them. But as the book goes on you see how he can empathize with others and how he's aware that people in the party lose their humanity which I think makes him easier to like. I do think humanity is a main theme because of how Winston talks about it and how important it seems to him.
ReplyDeleteI never really hated Winston. I think it's natural (unfortunately) for people to think terrible and violent things, especially when they are under extreme stress. It's important that he never actually hurts Julia and is honest with her. His actions, while sometimes indifferent, aren't actively violent, which makes it much easier to sympathize with him in the long run. I think humanity is a big theme in this novel, and Winston's character growth is centered on trying to embrace it while distancing his mind from the Party's control. He thinks about that himself, when comparing Party members to proles and deciding that proles were better people because they retain their humanity.
ReplyDeleteNow that we've finished the book, I think this comment, and this post, ring especially true. Despite many of the outward pressures from the Party (e.g. if you're stifled in every way you'll probably have violent thoughts. it's just natural), Winston was becoming a more "human" person. In the end, the Party corrupts that and prevents him from really caring about anyone but Big Brother/the Party.
DeleteWinson's character development is all about his humanity. He was removed from our society before he really came of age, and his entire adult life has been spent under this repressive regime. He gets flashes of empathy with Julia, which improves slowly as they simply spend time together as people. In the end, it's removed from him, leaving us to wonder what he learned and what we should learn.
ReplyDeleteI think humanity is a main theme in 1984. What makes this regime so oppressive is they have turned these humans who live in Oceania into something that isn't quite human, the fact that we see Winston's humanity is proof that he isn't like the other people around him. Humanity is what the party is attempting to destroy, they essentially want to turn the population into robots.
ReplyDeleteI really struggle with whether I am disgusted by or am empathetic towards Winston's character. I definately don't agree with a lot of his thoughts and actions, but I also think that might be the point? I'm not sure. As Betsy said, we do get glimpses of Winston's development and growth throughout the novel, but I'm not sure if that alone constitutes him being a moral person. Anyways, very thoughtful work!
ReplyDelete