A man who rewrites history dares to write one true sentence — and the state rewrites him back.
Who drives the story
A 39-year-old Outer Party clerk at the Ministry of Truth who rewrites history by day and commits thoughtcrime by night. He wants truth and the past back — and loses both, along with Julia, in Room 101.
A dark-haired Fiction Department worker and Junior Anti-Sex League member who hates the Party and rebels for pleasure, not politics. She loves Winston fiercely until torture makes them betray each other.
An Inner Party official who poses as a Brotherhood recruiter to draw Winston in. He is Thought Police all along, and personally tortures Winston into loving Big Brother.
The Party's face on every poster — BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU — and its object of worship. Whether he exists is never revealed.
The Enemy of the People, reviled in the Two Minutes Hate and credited with the resistance's book. O'Brien claims the Party wrote the book itself.
A kindly antiques dealer in the prole quarter who sells Winston his diary and rents the lovers their room. He is an undercover Thought Police agent, and the room is the trap.
Also in the story
Winston's brilliant philologist colleague, compiling the Newspeak Dictionary that will make thoughtcrime impossible. Too intelligent to be safe, he becomes an unperson exactly as Winston predicted.
Winston's devoted, dim neighbour, the Outer Party's ideal member. His seven-year-old daughter denounces him for talking against Big Brother in his sleep — and he is proud of her.
Winston's cold, orthodox wife, married out of duty to the Party and separated from him because they could not conceive. He once fantasised about pushing her off a cliff into a quarry.
How they are connected
He wants truth and the past back — and loses both, along with Julia, in Room 101.
An Inner Party official who poses as a Brotherhood recruiter to draw Winston in.
He is Thought Police all along, and personally tortures Winston into loving Big Brother.
O'Brien claims the Party wrote the book itself.
A kindly antiques dealer in the prole quarter who sells Winston his diary and rents the lovers their room.
Winston's brilliant philologist colleague, compiling the Newspeak Dictionary that will make thoughtcrime impossible.
Winston's devoted, dim neighbour, the Outer Party's ideal member.
His seven-year-old daughter denounces him for talking against Big Brother in his sleep — and he is proud of her.
Winston's cold, orthodox wife, married out of duty to the Party and separated from him because they could not conceive.
Go deeper
Total control of reality · Surveillance and self-censorship · Language as a weapon · Power for its own sake
Themes explainedThe full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.
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