Flaming Rebellion - an Essay on George Orwell's "1984"

All fires contain a source of fuel and an initial spark of energy. Winston, the protagonist of George Orwell's novel, 1984, has rebellious thoughts against the overruling 'party' (in an alternate society) that resembles a fire. Inevitably, Winston's rebellious ideas are direct results from internal and external pressures.

First of all, Winston suffers from human nature for his main internal pressure is his own curiosity. The first build up of Winston's curiosity was while he was easting a party - served lunch: "Had it always been like this?" (59). Winston becomes curious to whether or not the terrible food he was eating was caused by the party. Later on, Winston writes in his diary that "[he understands] HOW:" but not "WHY" (80). It is apparent that Winston is frustrated at the party for not revealing their overall purpose thus satisfying his curiosity. Eventually, Winston cannot hold it in any longer; he asks an old man at a pub if "things [were] better than they are now, or [if they were] worse" (87). Winston gets the impression that the party is not all that the party propaganda makes it out to be and Winston is desperate for answers so he risks himself to ask a stranger at a bar. Clearly, the questions Winston asks himself and others lead credence to his curiosity building inside.

Secondly outside forces instigate certain rebellious notions Winston makes. The first occurrence of outside influences is when Winston finds "a piece of evidence" proving the party's lies (79). Since evidence existed, Winston knew for sure that there was something fishy about the motives and events of the party. This initiates the possibility for rebellious thoughts to build up inside Winston. Years after, Winston glares at an inner party member, O'Brien for a small amount of time: "there was a fraction of a second when their eyes met... Winston knew - that O'Brien was thinking the same as himself" (17). When Winston got the impression somebody was on his side, there was little turning back. Winston's plan to take action becomes slightly more justified since he is now rebelling for more than himself. Lastly, Winston remembered how "only yesterday... it had been announced that the nation was to be reduced to twenty grams a week" when that particular day, rations were said to be raised to twenty grams a week (72). Winston does not like that no body reacts to this and it gets Winston thinking bad thoughts of the party's control on people. Overall, outside forces on Winston instigate rebellious thoughts towards the party.

In Conclusion, both internal and external occurrences in Winston and out of him contribute to his rebellious nature. Winston's internal curiosity is similar to fuel in a fire; they cannot do much harm alone. Likewise, the external instigators on Winston act as a burst of energy like a match or a lighter. When both the match and fuel lie near each other in Winston's life it is inevitable that a fire will ignite. In total, Winston's rebellious thoughts exist as a fire brought on by fuel and burst of energy coexisting as part of a person.