George Orwell: 1984 Chapter Summaries

Make sure you are receiving the most out of 1984 with these chapter-by-chapter reviews for books 1, 2, and 3.
Use this 1984 Study Guide to review Orwell's classic. Find more novel study guides at Brighthub.com.
Chapter One: The novel's first chapter introduces the various readers to the novel's protagonist, Winston Smith of Airstrip One, Oceania. Winston is surely an unimportant person in Ingsoc, the controlling party of Oceania. As he labors up the stairs to his apartment, he passes several posters of Big Brother, the embodiment of party leadership, who in reality represents oppression, but to citizens represents everything is good. Winston commits



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thoughtcrime by writing DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER as part of his diary, the possession of which constitutes thoughtcrime.
Chapter Two: Winston hears a knock with the door and fears it's the thought police. It's actually his neighbor whose sink he unplugs and whose kids are junior spies to the party.




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Chapter Three: Winston hopes for his mother, of a naked girl running toward him, and also Shakespeare, the three of which represent thoughtcrime. He awakens to the telescreen's shrill cry of exercise time.
Chapter Four: Winston visits work at The Ministry of Truth. His job is to falsify past records to be conform to current reality.
Chapter Five: Winston eats lunch with Syme, a professional on Newspeak, the official language in the party, whose purpose is always to reduce the quantity of words and render thoughtcrime impossible.
Whatsapp girls numbers Chapter Six: Winston records his most recent sex act in the diary, a disgusting affair which has a Prole prostitute without any teeth. He longs for the meaningful relationship, what he considers the greatest rebellion up against the party.
Chapter Seven: Winston writes in his diary that the only hope is within the Proles, the running class. He longs for a sense from the past, picks up a children's history book, and realizes any record in the past is controlled with the party and has been falsified.
Chapter Eight: Winston wanders in the Prole district and buys a paperweight on the same store he bought the diary. He notices a female from the Ministry of Truth and fears he or she is being followed. He contemplates smashing her face in using a cobblestone.
Analysis: The party controls its citizens through media manipulation, language manipulation, psychological trickery, the dissolving of family ties, and torture. The party makes illegal as much as possible that make life enjoyable: family ties, sex, romantic love, the freedom to consentrate, great literature, and anything that involves introspection. Although Oceania has no specific laws prohibiting any one of Winston's actions, his actions are outward signs that they has committed the best crime, thoughtcrime.
Book One introduces the various readers to the novel's other two significant characters, Julia, your ex in the blue overalls, and O'Brien, the inner party member who Winston believes is often a fellow conspirator.
Chapter One: The girl who earlier Winston planned to strike within the face having a cobblestone passes him a communication that says "I love you." It takes several attempts, nevertheless the two can easily converse and schedule a meeting at Victory Square. Winston feels he has a reason to reside in.
Chapter Two: The two meet in the country and engage in romantic love acts.
Chapter Three: The two come back to normal party lives and manage to meet only for short durations. They rendezvous at an abandoned church. Winston realizes that Julia is not interested in a broad rebellion. She is only enthusiastic about outsmarting the party and having intercourse.
Chapter Four: Winston rents a place above Mr Charrington's shop, where he purchased the diary as well as the paper weight. He realizes it's a huge risk but he feels it's worth it.
Chapter Five: Syme disappears (as WInston predicted earlier). Winston constantly acknowledges the room above Charrington's shop, considering what goes on there, I think we understand.
Chapter Six: O'Brien stops Winston inside the hall and provide him his address. Winston just isn't sure if this is a sign through the underground or if he's a measure closer to his doom.
Chapter Seven: Winston and Julia visit their rented room frequently. They know they'll eventually be captured and tortured and that renting the space is stupid. They always rent it anyhow and promise each other they are going to remain loyal.
Chapter Eight: Winston and Julia visit O'Brien and discuss the underground with him. He promises Winston that he will deliver the sunday paper containing the secrets in the underground.
Chapter Nine: Oceania is not really at war with East Asia. It's at war with Eurasia. This forces Winston and the Ministry of Truth coworkers to log 96 hours during the next few weeks. Finally, Winston has the capacity to escape to his rented room where he reads the book given him by O'Brien. The book explains the worthiness and concept of War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength, and Freedom is Slavery.
Chapter 10: As it turns out, Mr. Charrington is a person in the Thought Police and there's a telescreen behind the picture inside the room above his shop. Winston and Julia are arrested.
Analysis: The moment WInston, Julia, and the reader have all been looking forward to finally occurs with the end of chapter 10. The only question remaining is if Winston and Julia betray the other person. Don't you hate it when you buy illegal items from an undercover thought policeman? I imagine Winston feels pretty stupid. That whole "Here comes a chopper to cut off your brain poem" has haunted me since part one and will have been a hint to Winston that both Charrington and O'Brien just weren't to be trusted.




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Chapter One: Winston awaits his punishment in a cell with prisoners, victims of starvation and beatings. His coworker Ampleforth continues to be arrested, as has his neighbor Parsons. O'Brien enters and reveals himself being an agent in the Ministry of Truth. A security guard smashes Winston's elbow which has a club. It hurts. Bad.
Chapter Two: O'Brien tries to "cure" Winston's "insanity" with torture. Winston agrees to anything O'Brien tells him and begins to love O'Brien because he can stop the anguish. O'Brien explains that this party has perfected something that will keep them in power forever. They do not kill any prisoners until they may be "cured."
Chapter Three: O'Brien tortures Winston more. He tells Winston that the party's true aim is to remain in power forever by controlling everything. Winston argues that this party cannot control external events. O'Brien thinks otherwise, explaining that so long as the party controls the mind, anything may be possible. O'Brien admits that Winston has yet to betray Julia, but doesn't come off as too upset by it, understanding that eventually many people are cured.
Chapter Four: Winston is delivered to a more comfortable room, is fed regularly, and is no longer tortured. He still hates Big Brother and wants to die hating Big Brother like a last act of rebellion. He wakes up coming from a dream and shouts Julia's name several times. O'Brien arrives and orders Winston to room 101.
Chapter Five: Winston's face is strapped to a cage made up of starving rats. Just before O'Brien pulls the lever to produce them, Winston asks that Julia take his place. With the final betrayal complete, the torture stops.
Chapter Six: Winston sits in the Chestnut Tree Cafe drinking Victory Gin and accepting everything Big Brother says. He has met with Julia once since released but neither had any curiosity about continuing their relationship. After news of a great war victory, Winston acknowledges he loves Big Brother.
Analysis: Evil wins. All it took was weeks of torture, a cage brimming with rats, and enough gin to paralyze a rhinoceros. I love Big Brother.