Psychoanalysis

The main character in the novel, “1984” by George Orwell, is Winston Smith.  He works on one of the four branches of government in Oceania. These four branches are the “Ministry of Truth”, where they correct all past documents such as books, newspapers, magazines, records, tapes and everything else that contains information about the past.  Even though he realized that what he was doing immoral, he just couldn’t resist it. Winston lives a very normal life, until he joins an underground party the Brotherhood. He joins this party because he does not believe in what the Big Brother is doing, and he thinks that it’s wrong. The Brotherhood is against the Big Brother, and is trying to end it’s power.

Winston Smith’s character is shown as a criminal but he is actually a victim of a system that is criminal.  The first mistake he made was bringing an illegal diary and bottle of ink to record his thoughts.  The diary was an old, yellow paged ancient book purchased from the owner of the Antique Store. It was supposedly a book created before the great revolution and this is symbolic, because most books before the revolution were destroyed. In his journal he wrote about daring ideas about how one can get free from the party’s region. This all indirectly led to his meeting with a woman called Julia who shared his feelings. Regarding Winston’s general health that was shown horrible at the beginning of the book, it continually got worse and more difficult. But when he got together with Julia, he suddenly felt much better and he became healthier. This also show’s how Winston needed just a little bit of love and understanding to lead a proper life, without any strangles. Winston wasn’t satisfied with the Big Brother’s decision regarding sexual intercourse. When he first met Julia, he thought she was a spy and he didn’t like her as much. But, when he read her message saying, “I love you” he was stunned, but at the same time pleased that somebody had feelings for him, which shows that he was dying to love again. It also tells about his personality that he was very passionate, he needed love, and attention as well as tender touch.

Winston hated the Big Brother so much that he was willing to murder, commit acts of  sabotage, to cheat and commit suicide. Which shows that he was going through a very depressive period. Winston who was sane, was more logical than the party. Since Winston thought things through logical manner, and that helped him using his own mind that the party was evil and he focused on not giving up and not letting Big Brother win. He was aware of the fact that Big Brother could not control everything  such as diseases, illnesses, the climate, or people’s mind. Everything that the party tried to make Winston believe he fought back through logical thinking.

When Winston’s mind was totally brainwashed, he was killed as a person. He existed only as a material being, he existed just as a piece of furniture. He was not a person thinking with his mind. He was murdered not as Winston Smith, but as an accomplishment of the party. His mind was lost the minute he was brainwashed, and all that remained was his shadow.