A Short Summary of 1984 by George Orwell

Winston Smith, a member of the Outer Party, works in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth, where his job is to rewrite history to make Big Brother and the Party look better. He starts a diary, knowing that if the Thought Police catch him, he’ll be punished by death for his thoughtcrimes. There are telescreens in every house and public building, allowing the Though Police to watch everyone. During the Two Minutes Hate one day, Winston catches the eye of an Inner Party Member, O’Brien, who he thinks is also against Big Brother. Later, Winston catches a girl, Julia, from the Fiction Department following him around, and thinks she is working for the Thought Police, but a couple days later, she hands him a note saying she loves him. Winston and Julia meet a few times where they think the spies won’t be watching. They eventually rent a room from the junk store owner (where Winston bought the diary) so that they have a place to meet.

Cover of Nineteen Eighty-Four

Winston’s friend at work, Syme disappears just before Hate Week, and O’Brien approaches Winston to talk about him, even though you aren’t allowed to talk about “unpersons.” Winston thinks that means O’Brien is on his side. Later, Winston and Julia go to O’Brien’s house and confess that they are enemies of the party. O’Brien initiates Winston and Julia into the Brotherhood (a group that is trying to overthrow the Party). O’Brien makes arrangements for Winston to be given a copy of “the book” written by Goldstein, the leader of the Brotherhood.

Winston and Julia go back to the room they were renting to read “the book.” They fall asleep, only to be awoken by a voice coming from behind the picture saying “You are the dead.” They see that behind the picture there is a telescreen, and they find out that the owner of the junk shop was a member of the Thought Police. Winston is taken to a cell inside the Ministry of Love. His cell mate has the same last name as him, and he thinks she might be his mother (who disappeared when he was still a kid). O’Brien comes into the cell to get him, and he realizes that O’Brien was with the Thought Police the entire time, and was watching him for the last seven years. Winston is tortured for the next few months. When O’Brien was going to torture Winston with rats (Winston’s worst fear), Winston cries out “do it to Julia!” and they let him go. In the end, Winston, like everyone else, loves Big Brother.

You may also be interested in:

A Historical Analysis of 1984 by George Orwell

The Historical Context of Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Get Paid to Write