1984 Characters: Winston, Julia, O'Brien and the Rest
The main characters of 1984 are Winston Smith, a 39-year-old Party worker who secretly rebels; Julia, the young woman he falls in love with; and O'Brien, the powerful Inner Party member Winston trusts, who turns out to be his torturer. Above them all looms Big Brother, the face of the Party.
Around them are a handful of minor characters, each showing a different way that people live under total control.
| Character | Who they are |
|---|---|
| Winston Smith | Outer Party clerk at the Ministry of Truth |
| Julia | Young Party worker who becomes his lover |
| O'Brien | Inner Party official who traps and breaks Winston |
| Big Brother | Face of the Party, perhaps not a real person |
| Emmanuel Goldstein | The state's official enemy |
| Mr. Charrington | Kindly shopkeeper, secretly Thought Police |
| Syme | Clever Newspeak expert who vanishes |
| Tom Parsons | Enthusiastic, dull neighbor |
| Mrs. Parsons | His tired wife |
| The Parsons children | Young Spies who adore the Party |
| Ampleforth | Poet who works on old verses |
| Katharine | Winston's estranged wife |
Who is Winston Smith?
Winston is a thin, frail man of 39 with a varicose ulcer on his ankle. He works at the Ministry of Truth rewriting old newspaper articles to match the Party's current version of events. He hates the Party and longs for proof that the past was different. He begins a forbidden diary, falls in love with Julia and seeks out a resistance movement. Arrested and tortured, he betrays Julia and ends the book loving Big Brother.
↑ Back to the topWho is Julia?
Julia is 26 and works on the novel-writing machines in the Fiction Department. She wears the red sash of the Junior Anti-Sex League and appears to be a model Party member, but in private she breaks every rule she can for her own pleasure. She is practical and brave but not interested in ideas or history. After their arrest she, too, is broken, and when she and Winston meet afterward they feel nothing for each other.
↑ Back to the topWho is O'Brien?
O'Brien is a large, cultured member of the Inner Party. Winston senses that he is secretly a rebel, and O'Brien seems to confirm it, inviting Winston to his luxurious flat and welcoming him into the Brotherhood. In fact he has been watching Winston for years. In the Ministry of Love he personally tortures and reeducates him, explaining that the Party seeks power purely for its own sake.
↑ Back to the topWho are Big Brother and Goldstein?
Big Brother is the leader whose face appears on posters everywhere, with eyes that seem to follow you. No one has ever met him, and he may be only a symbol. Emmanuel Goldstein is the opposite figure, a former leader turned traitor who is said to lead the Brotherhood and is hated daily in the Two Minutes Hate. Like Big Brother, he may not exist in reality.
↑ Back to the topWho are the minor characters?
Mr. Charrington runs the junk shop where Winston buys his diary and rents a room; he turns out to be an officer of the Thought Police. Syme, a brilliant philologist working on the Newspeak dictionary, is too intelligent to be safe and disappears. Tom Parsons, Winston's loyal and stupid neighbor, is arrested after his little daughter reports him for saying down with Big Brother in his sleep. Ampleforth, a dreamy poet, is arrested for leaving an old word in a poem. Katharine, Winston's wife, left him years earlier; she was a perfect, empty believer in the Party.
↑ Back to the topMore about 1984
This guide discusses the whole plot, including the ending.