Search results
Sitting in an alcove out of sight of the telescreen, Winston takes out a penholder and nib, a bottle of ink, and a blank book. Since there are no laws in Oceania, it's not illegal to keep a diary, but Winston knows that if he's discovered the punishment will be death or 25 years in a forced-labor camp.
- Book 1, Chapter 2
Carelessly leaving the diary open on the table, Winston...
- Book 1, Chapter 2
- Plot summary
- Synopsis
- Themes
On a cold day in April of 1984, a man named Winston Smith returns to his home, a dilapidated apartment building called Victory Mansions. Thin, frail, and thirty-nine years old, it is painful for him to trudge up the stairs because he has a varicose ulcer above his right ankle. The elevator is always out of service so he does not try to use it. As h...
Winston looks down and realizes that he has written DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER over and over again in his diary. He has committed thoughtcrimethe most unpardonable crimeand he knows that the Thought Police will seize him sooner or later. Just then, there is a knock at the door.
The first few chapters of 1984 are devoted to introducing the major characters and themes of the novel. These chapters also acquaint the reader with the harsh and oppressive world in which the novels protagonist, Winston Smith, lives. It is from Winstons perspective that the reader witnesses the brutal physical and psychological cruelties wrought u...
The opening image of the work sets the foreboding tone that prevails throughout as the reader is introduced to Winston Smith, the fatalistic protagonist of the novel, on a "cold day in April," when "the clocks were striking thirteen." Immediately, the author depicts a society in decay by describing a setting of "gritty dust," "hallways [smelling] of boiled cabbage and old rag mats," elevators ...
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary. Winston Smith, the protagonist, arrives home at Victory Mansions. The setting is dismal: Vile wind pushes gritty dust into the building as Winston enters, and the smell of boiled eggs and cabbage overpowers the hallway. The elevator is inoperable, so Winston takes the stairs to his seventh-floor flat, resting along ...
The opening chapter of George Orwell’s dystopian classic Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) introduces our Everyman hero Winston Smith, a mid-level worker in the all-powerful Party of the state of ...
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary. Readers can realize at the very beginning that the world George Winston, the protagonist, inhabits is very different from ours; it’s a world where the clock “strikes thirteen.”. In a rather depressing tone, we find out that Winston works in the Ministry of Truth, that the politics of his time is quite different ...
People also ask
What is a knock at the door in 1984?
What is the main theme of 1984?
What were Orwell's main goals in 1984?
Why does Orwell use 'party' in 1984?
How does Orwell see a parallel between 1984 and Hitler?
What happened on April 4th 1984?
1984 Book 1, Chapter 1 Summary. It all starts on a cold, bright day in April 1984. At 1 p.m., Winston Smith, a small, frail man of 39 years drags himself home for lunch at his apartment on the 7th floor of the Victory Mansions. The face of Big Brother, the leader of the Party and a heavily mustached and ruggedly handsome man of about 45 ...
