Superman, Terry Fox, and Mother Teresa are well-known people that are considered heroes in today’s society. A hero is typically someone in society who is strong, good looking, and stands out over the average person. From the beginning, in George Orwell’s novel 1984, Winston has been portrayed as a fat old man with a gross varicose ulcer above his ankle. This shows that right from the start he is not the average hero. Winston’s name is ironic because it stands for the greatness of Winston Churchill, but on the other hand his surname is very common. Winston maintains heroic qualities that lead one to believe he will defeat the party, but against their public demands, he is just another one of the many citizens who conform to society. The government controls Winston through doublethink, mutability of the past and love, even though he is a man who can maintain his private virtue, he never stood a chance.

The government makes public demands on Winston through forcing him to doublethink, changing the past and love. Doublethink is the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. It is not lying because lying is saying something that is wrong and knowing that it is wrong but still saying it. The party forces Oceania too accept both beliefs for example one week when the chocolate ration was 30 grams and the very next week is was lowered to 20 grams. Even though the ration is lowered drastically the party holds such a great amount of power over the people and their perception, “The telescreen-perhaps to celebrate the victory, perhaps to drown the memory of the lost chocolate- crashed into ‘Oceania, ‘tis for thee’.” (Orwell 28) The party forces them to watch the telescreen and it starts to play the national anthem in celebration. Everyone around Winston is happy, but Winston keeps his believes to himself, knowing that he will get less chocolate is appalling. He keeps his private virtue against the party. The government also uses “Mutability of the past” as a way of control by changing the past in order to remain infallible. Winston works at the ministry of records and constantly works at changing the past, but he often wonders if he is the only one who realizes the truth. Nobody realizes what the truth is because the past is mutated so much and, “the chosen lie would pass into the permanent records and become truth.” (Orwell 48) By controlling all information through memory holes, re-writing history, and forbidding Winston to think about what his own memories may recall, they are able to mutate the past. The party also sets public demands on Winston through love. In the novel love is a term that describes the most basic human emotions. The party feels that sex is a waste of energy, and instead that energy can be used to benefit their society. They demand that men and women must only have sex to reproduce. There shall be no pleasure in sex, and it is the man and the woman’s obligation to the party to have a child. The party holds enormous power in citizen’s personal lives because their aim “was not merely to prevent men and women from forming loyalties which it might not be able to control. It’s real, undeclared purpose was to remove all pleasure from the sexual act.” (Orwell 68) The party did not want anyone forming loyalties; therefor you must have permission to marry. Winston maintains his private virtue by loving Julia even though it goes against the governments demands on him. At the end the only remaining love is for Big Brother.

People’s everyday actions in today’s society would be considered the largest crimes in the world of Oceania. Winston commits rebellious actions because he wants to attain freedom and will go against the party’s public demands at any cost. Throughout the novel Winston commits unthinkable acts including writing in his diary, committing sexual acts, indulges in past memories and secretly indoctrinating into the Brotherhood. Winston buys the diary knowing he’s going to die eventually this was the start to his rebellion. Winston starts opposing the party by writing in his diary to fight double think. Fortunately for Winston “he was able to remain outside of the range of the telescreen” (Orwell 7) so that the party is unable to see his rebellious actions. He writes multiple times “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” (Orwell 20) unleashing all of his anger. Winston finally triumphs over fear by setting pen to paper in the disobedient act that contains all other crimes in itself – thoughtcrime. Winston goes against doublethink by disagreeing with the party and hating Big Brother. It is a terrible act to even have thoughts against the party. The fact Winston wrote his true feelings against Big Brother, the head of the party itself, shows he is courageous and stays true to his beliefs. Winston also goes against the party by committing sexual acts. Winston is separated from his wife Katharine because he was never satisfied with her or their sex life. The only times they have sex it is not enjoyable because Katharine insists that they must perform their "duty to the party"(Orwell 70) and try to have a child. His desire for actual love and his distaste for Big Brother lead him to rebel with Julia. Winston has the deepest love for Julia and does not let the party get in his way. Party members control couples, and if a couple is physically attracted to one another they are not approved by the party. Winston uses sex to rebel, and he is thrilled when he learns about Julia’s past sex, “Scores of times she had done it: he wished it had been hundreds-thousands. Anything that hinted at the corruption always filled him with a wild hope. (Orwell 131) Sex is viewed as such a negative thing in Oceania, for anyone to actually enjoy the act of sex, and be physically and emotionally in love with someone else, is a way of fighting the very foundations of the Party and Big Brother. Winston fought for love throughout the novel by secretly going to Charrington’s as a place for them to escape reality. This allowed them to have privacy, and Winston was able to express his private virtue. Winston fights public demands by not giving into mutability of the past and remembers the picture he found of the three men Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford. The party blamed the three men for a crime they did not commit and the picture is proof that the men were on different soil when the crime was committed. He explains to Julia his thoughts on how the photo was evidence against the party, “It might have planted a few doubts here and there, supposing that I’d dared to show it to anybody…resistance springing up here and there” (Orwell 162- 163). By thinking of the photograph this proves Winston does not fall for what the party is saying and can indulge in past memories. Lastly Winston’s major act to overthrow the party is when he joins the Bother Hood. From the start of the novel Winston’s eyes met O’Brian’s and he had a feeling inside of him that O’Brian was on his side. Winston shows a major heroic act by committing his life to the Brother Hood, and he was prepared to do “Anything that [he is] capable of” (Orwell 179) to go against the party. O’Brian gives him Goldstein’s book and was indulged by it, and it stood for everything he hoped of existing. Winston had moved from thoughts to words, and now from words to actions. Now that he is acting against the party he is doomed because in Oceania no action goes unseen.

In Oceania the citizens are constantly being scrutinized through the telesreens. Winston too was always being watched by the party from the beginning, he knew he never stood a chance against them, and ultimately shared the fate of his fellowmen. Winston falls into the hands of the party and ends up betraying Julia, giving into O’Brian, and pushing away past memories. Winston has such an immense love for Julia, but once they are separated and taken to the ministry of love the party changes them. Winston always remains true to Julia until O’Brian faces him with his biggest fear, rats. By placing him face to face with his biggest fear this breaks him down mentally “Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don’t care what you do to her. Tear off her face, strip her to the bones. Not me! Julia! Not me!” (Orwell 300) And this destroys his private virtue. He knows the only way to live life after the torcher of room 101 is to betray his only love. Winston ends up being brainwashed just like the rest of Oceania due to the parties’ public demands and gives into O’Brian. O’Brian clears all thoughts that go against the party out of Winston’s mind through the process of torcher, and in turn replaces his thoughts with what the party wants him to think. Winston starts believing in the party and “unconsciously traced his finger in the dust on the table: 2+2=5” (Orwell 303). Though this is a mathematically false statement, the party has control and physical reality is unimportant. The party has so much control that even Winston, the potential hero, cannot fight doublethink. Lastly Winston mind was changed at the end of the novel when he could no longer allow himself to think of the past because it was going against the party. He remembered the day when his mother bought the game snakes and ladders, “they played eight games… they had all been happy together…He pushed the memory out of his mind. It was a false memory.” (Orwell 309) In the past Winston had maintained his private virtue and remembered how he used to steal chocolate from his family members and never forgot about his upbringing. Prior to what happened in the ministry of love Winston could never remain the same person.

Even though Winston is a man who maintains his private virtue, he does not stand a chance at attaining the hero status, because the government controls him through doublethink, mutability of the past and love. George Orwell’s 1984 is a dystopian novel and the most disconcerting aspect of the novel is the sheer inevitability of the outcome and of Winston’s failure. Winston nearly achieves hero status and as a result, his failure is substantially more devastating. Winston stays true to himself, his beliefs and rebels against the party throughout the novel, but the government holds the power to change anyone. In the end Winston never stood a chance, over powering the government is impossible and as his surname portrays he is just as common as the citizens that surround him.

Works-Cited
Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. England: Penguin, 1954.