The Development of Winston Smith in 1984 by George Orwell

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The 20th century novel 1984 by George Orwell is a dystopian text where a totalitarian government has taken full control of its populous. It is in this world crafted by Orwell where we as readers are immersed into the life of the protagonist, Winston Smith. The novel may have been written as a warning to the people against the adverse effects of a totalitarian government as Orwell wrote his novel in the wake of World War II and in the face of fascism. This message is conveyed throughout the novel but it is most effectively portrayed through the characters that inhabit the world of 1984 and this is explored none more so than through the main protagonist himself Winston Smith. This character’s development is highly significant as it contributes to the novel and Orwell does this in a variety of ways. Winston’s growth can be seen throughout the novel and one such development is his changing physical appearance that he experiences along with how Orwell constantly alters and adjusts his way of rebelling against the Party the novel progresses. But Winston’s greatest development occurs at the end of the novel, when all of his previous character development is utterly destroyed and is left with a husk of the man he once was. All of these aspects of development add a great deal to the novel and so Winston’s growth is essential to the novel as a whole. Although Winston is the protagonist in 1984, Orwell does not describe him as the stereotypical hero. Instead, he is conveyed to be more of an anti-hero with features that include “a smallish, frail figure” as well as having “a varicose ulcer above his right ankle”. This image of a very weak human being is not something we as readers are accustomed to when imagining the hero of a novel and this unconventional description is Orwell way of portraying the fact that there are no more heroes in this dystopian future and those that do

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