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"It [the poster] depicted simply an enormous face, more than a meter wide: the face of a man of about forty five, with a heavy black mustache and ruggedly hansom features." (pg. 1) This is the most in depth physical description we are afforded.The reader is presented with a doubt to his actual existence, as nothing more substantial than words or images of him suggest that he is a living, breathing man somewhere. Big Brother is the unshakable oppressor, the yoke about all who live in Oceanas neck. He is all of historys dictators rolled into one, all of the most stringent traits of government multiplied. Perhaps Big Brother is merely an idea, a construct of the very ideals he is portrayed to hold. He is a figure of ultimate power, of an infallible dictator, a lofty ideal to admire and give your very soul for. Julia: Julia is a fanatic, who is presented as a distraction and puzzlement to Winston. Or so we are initially led to believe. She fascinates him with her femininity, yet repulses him with her zealous behavior. She appears to be a perfect example of her times, her upbringing of celibacy and fervor apparent in her everyday behavior. Yet Julia is defying Big Brothers regime as surely as Winston with his diary. Her defiance of the Party is a purely self-indulgent one, with no political overtones. When Winston is reading her Goldstiens book, she falls asleep. It is made clear that she has no qualms with sleeping with Party members for her own furthering; indeed Winston sees this as a virtue. Her hedonistic behaviour is indicative of the only rebellion left in her generation. Indeed, in the eyes of the Party, her insurgence is relatively minor. She has no political standpoint of any depth, no real interest in overcoming the regimes ties. She simply wants to have the fun and pleasure denied her. O'Brien: O'Brien is one of the most pivotal and complex characters of 1984. When we first meet him, at once we are alerted to Winstons uncertain hopes of a rebellion. "Winston had seen O'Brien perhaps a dozen times in almost as many years. He felt deeply drawn to him, and not solely because he was intrigued between OBriens urbane manner and his prize-fighters physique. Much more of it was because of a secretly held belief or perhaps not even a belief, merely a hope that OBriens political orthodoxy was not perfect." (pg 12) Winston trusts O'Brien, and is led to believe him to be one of the members of the resistance. It is later revealed that OBrien is actually very happy with the Partys leadership indeed. He personally oversees Winstons Curing, performing many of the reforming procedures himself. Despite the fact that OBrien is the one chiefly torturing him, Winston still feels a connection to him. O'Brien is everything the Party wants in a human being, indeed he and his kind is the party. His Party ideals and love of Big Brother are strong and doublethink is effortless to him. He is intelligent, but not too intelligent as to break through his indoctrination. OBrien is a symbol of what humanity in Orwells world is going to become. Emmanual Goldstien: Emmanual Goldstien is in the simple position of bastardized public leader. An enemy of the Party, and therefore demonized regularly, Goldsteins presence is never concretely confirmed. He is a bit like Big Brother in that he is a distant figure, there to emote about but never to see or hear in person. The average person is led to hate him on the Partys behalf with such venom that, should the individual question the Party, Goldstien is the logical figure to turn to. He is a symbol of rebellion, of hope, no matter how falsified or crushed by the Party. Mrs Parsons and Parsons: This couple is portrayed as the average, hopeless family. They have lived their life in the strict style that the Party dictates. Their personalities are bland and projected, if you pull back the smokescreen of their words you are presented with tired, dusty shells. Their actions are always automatic, no spontaneity peppers their movements. More so than his wife, Parson projects a jolly and curiously British manner, perhaps to be more agreeable in public situations. It is suggested that the world weary Mrs. Parsons rarely leaves their home. They have brought up their children as they have been told to, and now live in fear that they will be betrayed by the very fanaticism that they have raised. Indeed, Mrs Parsons is taken by the Thought Police relatively early on in the book. Later, Mr. Parsons follows his wifes fate and we meet him in the ministry of love. "What are you in for? said Winston. Thoughtcrime! said Parsons, almost blubbering. The tone of his voice implied at once the complete admission of his guilt and a sort of incredulous horror that such a word could be implied to himself." (pg 187) His daughter, who had supposedly heard him muttering Down with Big Brother in his sleep, betrayed Parsons. Such was his devotion to the Party he was glad to be caught, pleased that he had not been able to develop any more thoughts down this path. They are the defeated parents of a loveless family, trodden on and thanking the Party for everything all the while. The Parsons Children: Nameless, the girl and boy of the regime. They have been brought up to live, eat and breathe Party slogans, to hate the Enemy. So engrained is their loyalty to Big Brother, they unthinkingly condemn their parents to death for almost non-existent signs of rebellion. They are significant in showing that the children of the future are shaped by the present, the present of Big Brother. Big Brothers hold becomes stronger with every generation. Winston's Mother: Winstons mother is a niggling memory, a symbol of the lost softness and love that Big Brother crushes in families. He has hazy recollections of her face and the dark circumstances that separated them. This flares his disquiet with the regime of the Party. Gym Instructress: The gym instructress is the Partys tool for keeping people fit. If the need did not exist, she would not exist. If she exhibited any faults, she would be replaced. I believe that she is important in showing the way that the Party treats humanity as nothing more than a useful machine. Syme: Syme is someone who, though devoted to the Party, is too intelligent and may pose a threat to the regime. He is too openly honest with opinions, too vocal in public places to be a perfect citizen. The party does not like such people. One day, he will disappear Predicts Winston, and indeed Syme does disappear. He is there to show that, in the world of Big Brother, intelligence is usually a curse. Katherine: Katherine is Winstons first wife, and is nearly forgotten. She hated intimate contact with her husband, only had sex to conceive a baby as the Party instructed. Her fanatical devotion to the Party sickened Winston, to the point where he even conceived of murder. She is another form of Orwell hitting home just how desensitized families are in this society. Middle-aged prostitute: Though only mentioned once in Winstons diary, I believe that she is very important. She shows how the desperate lower classes were, how they coped, how humanitys filth could never be cleaned and was instead tolerated. She is indicative of the people that are simply dust swept under the Partys rug of society. Rutherford, Jones and Aaronson: Here are three people, their presence an island that has almost borne the waves of the Party and the Partys abolishing of the past. People living on borrowed time due to standing up to what they believed, upholding the past as an unalterable fact. They have mentally, and most probably physically, been beaten into submission and are awaiting death. They are a symbol of how the Party trod over everything to get into power, but they still present a faade of hope to people who question, like Winston does. Mr. Charrington: Mr. Charrington is yet another symbol of betrayal. He sells Winston the diary, then a paperweight, and then provides room for Winston and Julia to safely meet in secrecy. For the larger part of the novel, the reader is lead to believe him to be a good person, an innocent old man, withstanding the cruelly and harshness of the Partys world. Alas, he is revealed to be an agent of the Thought Police. Again, the reader and Winston have been reminded of the harsh reality of the world of 1984. Comrade Oglivy: Oglivy is the only character that we are told outright is fictitious. He is an invention, a perfect citizen in every aspect, to inspire others. He is invented by Winston simply for the purpose of covering the Partys tracks. He is the embodiment of the Partys power to change the past, to create or destroy people. The fact that someone can be haphazardly invented merely to promote a political belief is appalling, and drives home the absolute power of the Party. Ampleforth: Ampleforths job is to re-write poetry to follow the Partys ideals. The poems are chiefly in oldspeak, perhaps signifying that Ampleforth is a mind from a prior time to the Party. He does, however, end up in prison with Winston for a crime he does not fully understand. Despite being condemned to the terrible room 101, he is consistently vague and gives the impression that he is just glad to get things over and done with. "His [Ampleforths] eyes focused themselves slowly on Winston. "Ah, Smith!" he said. "You too!" "What are you in for?" "To tell you the truth" He sat down awkwardly on the bench opposite Winston. "There is only one offence, is there not?" He said. "And you have committed it?" "Apparently I have." Ampleforth is the dreamer, the character who doesn't like what is happening and chooses a path of clouded reality, only peeking into reality with proper insight every now and then.
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