Symbolism in 1984
Symbolism in 1984In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, symbolism dominates the structure of the book and makes it a more intriguing book to read, even more than once. One of these symbols is the beautiful paperweight with a piece of coral suspended inside of it, representing the world Julia and Winston have created upon themselves. The Golden Country that Winston dreams of is another symbol that exemplifies freedom from the party. Also there is the place where there is no darkness and Winston’s fear of rats.
Inside Mr. Charrington’s antique shop, a small, magnificent paperweight intrigues Winston. It is clear chunk of glass with an astonishing piece of coral suspended inside. “The coral was Julia’s life and his own,” said the narrator, “fixed in a sort of eternity in the heart of the crystal.” The relationship of Winston and Julia is beautiful, but, like the coral, it was also trapped and suspended in the world of Big Brother. In the end, when the coral is destroyed and shattered into pieces, Winston gives up all hope and the reader knows that the relationship between Julia and Winston, like the paperweight, is also blasted by the power of the Inner Party and Big Brother.
The Golden Country in the novel is an extremely important place for both Winston and Julia. This is the place where they both meet for the very first time in order to make love to each other and also, by doing this, rebel against Big Brother and the Inner Party by ignoring their anti-sex laws. This place is also very much like the Golden Country in Winston’s dreams. It represents a place where Winston can never be hurt and is free from the following eyes of Big Brother. It is his place, along with Julia’s, where he is truly a free man. Winston relates this place in his dreams to the location in which Julia and he first meet.
Another symbolic reference in the novel is the place where there is no darkness. It is to this place Winston expects to go. It is the place where he and O’Brien know they will meet and Winston knows that it is his destiny to end up there. When both characters finally meet there, Winston is faced with his destiny. He has always known that he would be doomed. He is tortured by O’Brien hours upon hours with the goal of having Winston give up all ideas of freedom and rebellion and become a sole believer in the Party. The Party does not simply like to kill criminals of thoughcrime. They first like to make the person believe in the Party before they are vaporized.
When Winston does not give into the torture, he is sent to Room 101, the most evil, scary room in the Ministry of Love, or Miniluv, where no one actually knows what goes on in there. People just know that it is something they don’t want. Winston is brought there to confront his deepest fear above all fears. Throughout the whole novel, Winston is terrified by reoccurring nightmares of rats attacking him and eating away at him, and now, in Room 101, this nightmare becomes reality. Winston’s face is tied to a cage with two rats in it that are going to eat away at his face. Overcome by fear, Winston yells out, “Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don’t care what you do to her! Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Not me! Julia! Not me!” This is exactly what the Party wanted to hear. This betrayal makes Winston has become brainwashed and no longer human. He is now like everyone else in the world, for he is a follower of the Party.
The symbolism in 1984 is one of the main reasons why this novel is as popular as it is today. The paperweight symbolizes Winston and Julia’s relationship that is destined to be shattered. The Golden Country is a dreamed up world by Winston that becomes a reality when he and Julia meet there. The place with no darkness represents Winston’s inevitable doom of his meeting with O’Brien where O’Brien is torturing Winston. Finally, the rats that reoccur in Winston’s dreams signify his deepest fear and the only thing that can make him succumb to the Party as he does when he tells O’Brien to harm Julia rather than himself