The title year of George Orwell's most famous novel was nineteen years ago, but the dystopian vision it depicts has retained its ability to grip readers with a haunting sense of apprehension about the future. At the heart of many of the issues discussed in 1984 is a topic of contemporary debate: the conflict between the individual and the state. In the totalitarian world painted by Orwell, the position of the all-powerful state only reinforces the importance of the individual as a counterweight. In 1984, the characters that Orwell embodies are all the more important because the only possible rebellion is personal rebellion, so there are no heroic plots, only heroic people. Orwell’s anti-hero protagonist Winston Smith notes that “rebellion meant a look in the eye, an inflection of the voice; at most, an occasional whispered word” (60). The personal has become political, thus increasing the importance of the character in the novel tenfold. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Although the character is of primary importance, the novel is also an expression of Orwell's own political ideas. The novel contains a long digression in the form of an illicit book that Winston reads, apparently written by Emmanuel Goldstein, a mythical leader of the "resistance." Orwell appears to use the episode to further expound on the details of the described ultra-fascist government and describe how it came to be (although the book turns out to have been written by the same men he criticizes, perhaps more for pleasure). plausibility of the plot than anything else). Orwell writes that “throughout recorded time, and probably since the end of the Neolithic era, there have been three types of people in the world, the high, the middle, and the low. [...] [No] progress in terms of wealth. , no softening of morals, no reform or revolution has ever brought human equality one millimeter closer” (166-67). This seems to be a more articulate expression of Orwell's socialist view of class conflict and his fear of fascism in the midst of an entire novel that is a vaguer warning of it. Thus, we can plausibly interpret the character of Winston Smith, our protagonist, within this framework of class conflict and motivations exposed by Orwell. Although he is certainly an individual, Winston is also an example of the middle class that Orwell describes in Goldstein's book. The society that Orwell created in 1984 is clearly three-tiered, with an upper class, a middle class, and a lower class. The lower class is made up of the proletarians, the illiterate and mistreated masses who lead a somewhat medieval existence. The two upper classes contain members of the so-called Party which, in turn, is divided into members of the Outer Party and the Inner Party, the latter being far more powerful. Winston is a member of the Outer Party, and therefore clearly a member of the middle class. Winston's fundamental motivation in the novel is not entirely clear from his character alone, but becomes more understandable if we understand that he is acting within the confines of Orwell's world. theory of class conflict. For most of the book, Winston is driven to undermine the Party by his hatred of Big Brother and the Party itself, but aside from nostalgia for the past, the reader does not know precisely why he does this. In Goldstein's book, Orwell writes that “[t]he objectives of these three groups [classes] are totally irreconcilable. The Top's goal is to stay where they are. The Middle's goal is to change places with the Top. The goal of the Stockings, when theyaim [...] is to abolish all distinctions and to create a society in which all men will be equal” (166). Thus, Winston's desire to act against the Party comes from his desire to overcome its power over him and take that power for himself. Such desire is, at most, unconscious and subtly expressed. In class conflicts, one form of power generally coveted is economic power. Orwell shows that Winston has very little economic power over his own life, such as when he "drew out of bed - naked, because an Outer Party member only got three thousand clothing coupons a year, and a pair of pajamas was worth six hundred dollars.” " (29). Orwell juxtaposes the mention of Winston's status as a member of the Outer Party with the mention of a small but uncomfortable physical detail and specific figures to reflect the kind of discomfort that permeates Winston's existence in as a member of the middle class Less tangibly, Orwell also sees the quest for power as a legitimate motivation in class conflict. O'Brien, Winston's teacher and torturer, tells him: "The Party seeks power. for himself” (217). Winston also seeks to seize power from those superior to him The first time he wrote in his journal, “[he] discovered that while he was. sitting helplessly thinking, he had also written, [...] printing in large, neat capital letters - DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER" (19). Orwell shows that the expression of this thought was almost subconscious , coming out of Winston's hand without her being aware of it, but with force. Winston lacks even the most basic personal freedoms and economic powers. He aspires not only to acquire these powers, but also to destroy those above him, seeing this as the only way to acquire the tangible and intangible things he lacks. In this, he is an excellent example of the middle-class motivations described by Orwell. Another powerful motivator for Winston is his nostalgia for the past; however, his nostalgia informs his desire for more power. He is obsessed with the past not only because it is difficult to prove or discern, but also because he cannot be sure that his desire is valid. He was a small child when the Party began governing and therefore cannot remember anything sufficient to refute the Party's claims. Winston reads in a history of the Party that before the Party came to power, "[t]he capitalists owned everything in the world and everyone else was their slaves" (63). This idea troubles Winston because if it is true, it means that the leaders of the Party have simply replaced "the capitalists" in their position, and that in the past to which Winston vaguely aspires, he would not have more power than he did has some in the past. Today. He even questions an old proletarian, at the risk of his life, about the past in general and about the ruling class in particular, but he is unable to obtain a clear answer. This is incredibly frustrating for him because he cannot be sure if, in another time, he would find himself in the same position of bourgeois servility as before. Winston's methods are also typical of the middle-class psychology expounded by Orwell. Through Goldstein, Orwell writes that “throughout history a struggle which is the same in its broad outlines occurs again and again. For long periods, the High appears to be solidly in power, but [...] [they] are then overthrown. by the Middle, which enlists the Bottom at its side” (166). Winston, even before reading the book, has already come to a similar realization. He concludes: “If there was hope, it must lie in the proletarians, because.