Symbolism in 1984

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Some of the most important symbols and motifs in 1984 include Winston’s paperweight, the St. Clement’s Church picture and the rhyme associated with it, the prole woman singing outside the window, and the phrase “the place where there is no darkness.” In addition to unifying the novel, these symbols and motifs represent Winston’s attempts to escape or undermine the oppressive rule of the Party. Winston conceives of the singing prole woman as an incubator for future rebels; she symbolizes for him the eventual overthrow of the Party by the working class. The St. Clement’s Church picture is a double symbol. For Winston it symbolizes a stolen past, but it also symbolizes the Party’s complete power and betrayal of humanity, since the picture hides the telescreen by which the Party monitors Winston when he believes himself to be safe. The St. Clement’s song is a mysterious, ominous, and enigmatic relic of the past for Winston and Julia. Its ending—“Here comes the chopper to chop off your head!”—foreshadows their eventual capture and torture. Winston’s paperweight is another symbol of the past, but it also comes to represent a kind of temporal stasis in which Winston can dream without fear, imagining himself floating inside the glass walls of the paperweight with his mother. The phrase “the place where there is no darkness” works as another symbol of escapist hope throughout the novel, as Winston recalls the dream in which O’Brien tells him about this place and says that they will meet there one day. The phrase therefore orients Winston toward the end of the novel, when the phrase becomes bitterly ironic: the place where there is no darkness is the Ministry of Love, where the lights remain on in the prisons all day and all

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