George Orwell: 1984 Chapter Summaries

Make sure you are getting the most out of 1984 with your 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 your reader to the novel's protagonist, Winston Smith of Airstrip One, Oceania. Winston is an unimportant part of Ingsoc, the controlling party of Oceania. As he labors inside the stairs to his apartment, he passes several posters of Big Brother, the embodiment of party leadership, who actually represents oppression, but to citizens represents everything is good. Winston commits



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thoughtcrime by writing DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER in their diary, the having which constitutes thoughtcrime.
Chapter Two: Winston hears a knock on the door and fears it's the thought police. It's actually his neighbor whose sink he unplugs and whose children are junior spies for that party.




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Chapter Three: Winston desires his mother, of an naked girl running toward him, in addition to Shakespeare, the three of which represent thoughtcrime. He awakens on the telescreen's shrill cry of exercise time.
Chapter Four: Winston goes to work at The Ministry of Truth. His job is usually to falsify past records to ensure they are conform to current reality.
Chapter Five: Winston eats lunch with Syme, an authority on Newspeak, the state language of the party, whose purpose is to reduce the amount of words and to render thoughtcrime impossible.
Chapter Six: Winston records his most current sex act as part of his diary, a disgusting affair which has a Prole prostitute without having teeth. He longs for a meaningful love affair, what he considers the best rebellion up against the party.
Chapter Seven: Winston writes in his diary that this only hope is within the Proles, the significant class. He longs to get a sense in the past, accumulates a children's history book, and realizes any record in the past is controlled from the party and contains been falsified.
Chapter Eight: Winston wanders in to the Prole district and buys a paperweight on the same store he bought the diary. He notices a woman from the Ministry of Truth and fears he is being followed. He contemplates smashing her face in having a cobblestone.
Analysis: The party controls its citizens through media manipulation, language manipulation, psychological trickery, the dissolving of family ties, and torture. The party has made illegal everything that make life enjoyable: family ties, sex, romantic love, the freedom to think, great literature, and anything involving introspection. Although Oceania doesn't have specific laws prohibiting any one of Winston's actions, his actions are outward signs that they has committed the supreme crime, thoughtcrime.
Book One introduces your reader to the novel's other two significant characters, Julia, the lady in the blue overalls, and O'Brien, the inner party member who Winston believes may be a fellow conspirator.
Chapter One: The girl who earlier Winston wanted to strike in the face using a cobblestone passes him an email that says "I love you." It takes several attempts, but the two can easily converse and schedule a meeting at Victory Square. Winston feels he's got a reason to reside.
Chapter Two: The two meet inside country and embark on romantic love acts.
Chapter Three: The two return to normal party lives and find a way to meet limited to short amounts of time. They rendezvous at an abandoned church. Winston realizes that Julia is just not interested in a broad rebellion. She is only considering outsmarting the party and achieving intercourse.
Chapter Four: Winston rents a place above Mr Charrington's shop, where he purchased the diary and the paper weight. He realizes it's a huge risk but he feels it's worth the cost.
Chapter Five: Syme disappears (as WInston predicted earlier). Winston constantly thinks about the room above Charrington's shop, considering what goes on there, I think we understand.
Chapter Six: O'Brien stops Winston inside hall and provide him his address. Winston is not sure if this is the sign in the underground or if he's a stride 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 bedroom is stupid. They carry on and rent it anyhow and promise each other they'll 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 of the underground.
Chapter Nine: Oceania is not really at war with East Asia. It's at war with Eurasia. This forces Winston and his Ministry of Truth coworkers to log 96 hours in the next month or so. 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 value and concise explaination War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength, and Freedom is Slavery.
Chapter 10: As it turns out, Mr. Charrington is a part of the Thought Police and there is a telescreen behind the picture in the room above his shop. Winston and Julia are arrested.
Analysis: The moment WInston, Julia, and the reader have all been expecting finally occurs at the end of chapter 10. The only question remaining is actually Winston and Julia betray each other. Don't you hate it if you buy illegal items from an undercover thought policeman? WhatsApp Numbers I imagine Winston feels pretty stupid. That whole "Here comes a chopper to reduce off your brain poem" has haunted me since part one and really should have been an idea 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 very cell to prisoners, victims of starvation and beatings. His coworker Ampleforth may be arrested, as has his neighbor Parsons. O'Brien enters and reveals himself being an agent with the Ministry of Truth. A security guard smashes Winston's elbow which has a club. It hurts. Bad.
Chapter Two: O'Brien efforts to "cure" Winston's "insanity" with torture. Winston agrees to anything O'Brien tells him and actually starts to love O'Brien because he can stop the pain. O'Brien explains that the party has perfected a process 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 always to remain in power forever by controlling as much as possible. Winston argues that the party cannot control external events. O'Brien thinks otherwise, explaining that so long as the party controls your head, anything can be done. O'Brien admits that Winston has yet to betray Julia, but doesn't come off as too upset by it, if you know eventually everyone is cured.
Chapter Four: Winston is taken up a more comfortable room, is fed regularly, and has stopped being tortured. He still hates Big Brother and wants to die hating Big Brother as a last act of rebellion. He wakes up from your 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 which has 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 with 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 desire for continuing their relationship. After news of an great war victory, Winston acknowledges he loves Big Brother.
Analysis: Evil wins. All it took was weeks of torture, a cage filled with rats, and enough gin to paralyze a rhinoceros. I love Big Brother.