George Orwell's '1984' remains highly controversial to this day as one of the fundamental warnings against totalitarian regimes. This arises from the repressive regime of the 'Party', which is inspired by both the Soviet and Nazi regimes at the time of Orwell's writing the novel. Hence, Orwell's work serves as a warning against totalitarianism, but it can also relate to the modern day - whereby advancements in surveillance are now a significant contentious issue as it intrudes on citizens' everyday lives and is possibly even argued to be a breach to privacy which is a fundamental human right. Through Winston's subversion and rebellion against the state, he serves as a beacon of hope for the reader, which makes them aware of the bleakness and intrusiveness of what reality could potentially become. Thus, the novel also serves as a platform for a warning against the possible current and future dangers of surveillance as the state becomes more increasingly involved in private lives and edges closer to the reality of totalitarianism presented in '1984'.
Winston's rebellious and subversive nature is immediately revealed to the reader in the beginning as the theme of the individual versus the state is deliberately established by Orwell. To understand the significance of Winston's rebellion and his embodiment as the hope of humanity, the setting and the regime must first be understood by the reader. The Party's total state is one which uses the many common aspects of totalitarianism through the principles and tools of 'doublethink', 'Newspeak', 'telescreens', 'Thought Police', 'Two Minutes Hate', and 'Big Brother'. Consequently, a constant climate of terror and paranoia is created in Airstrip One as surveillance reigns upon every citizen of Oceania, and if 'thoughtcrime' was ever to be committed, then that person would be subject to the 'Ministry of Love' and the 'Thought Police'. Alongside the terror, the manipulation and attack on the language are perhaps as bad or even worse since “Orwell's insight was to see that attacks on the nature of language are intimately connected to attacks on our fundamental nature”. Orwell realized the dangers of fabrication when working for the BBC during World War II where censored information essentially represses and restricts people of their liberty and truth, while the total conversion of language from 'Oldspeak' to 'Newspeak' is self-destructive on the individual since it narrows their ability to think. Thus, the meaning of words is lost, preventing conspiracy and rebellion against the state. The state, therefore, has control over the truth and defines it, an example being their motto: 'War is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength'. Doublethink, therefore, subjects the individual like Winston to two contradictory realities - a form of brainwashing. The Party also uses the perpetual state of warfare as a scapegoat for the citizens of Oceania since they blame their issues onto them, like the 'Two Minutes Hate' which marginalizes Goldstein and labels him as a traitor since “The voice of Goldstein had become an actual sheep's bleat, and for an instant the face changed into that of a sheep”, symbolizing that he is a sacrifice - a scapegoat to enhance the Party's control via emotion like fury. Ultimately the cruelty which the Party subjects to humanity is brutal and hopeless as they enforce the status quo to maintain control and power - a clear warning from Orwell against totalitarianism, and that modern readers must realize that national crises and conflicts often lead to the marginalization of groups, like with American security and foreign policy. They often label groups to justify wars abroad and instill authoritarian control on the population, such as the War on Terror where George Bush was able to carry out the Terrorist Surveillance Program that enabled mass surveillance on the American population on the rhetoric of national security, but it clearly breached the basic right to privacy. Therefore, contemporary society must realize that national crises and conflicts can be used to authorize unparalleled and unprecedented powers that need to be checked by the people to prevent tyranny and the extreme scenario of the novel.
Winston as a rebel is a deliberate choice from Orwell to create hope for humanity to contrast with the bleakness of reality in '1984'. This is presented through his many acts of direct subversion like using a pen, “an archaic instrument”, with “smooth creamy paper [...] that had not been manufactured for at least forty years past”. The act of writing is forbidden and since Winston dissents against the Party covertly, he attempts to maintain his autonomy and individuality as he opposes conformity. The significance of the rebel is to highlight that humanity can still thrive in an inhumane regime - to present that the cruelties of the state being subjected to society is intolerable. Winston thus becomes a voice for the marginalized since most citizens conform, but the limited third-person narration of the novel does mirror the internal and external experience of life under a totalitarian government, that the power of the Party is all-encompassing as the reader wonders about time and location, especially when Winston is tortured in the Ministry of Love, saying, “There is no difference between night and day in this place. I do not see how one can calculate the time”. This creates the feeling of powerlessness for the reader, as though they remain close to Winston, they also feel subject to the Party's control. The audience must realize that while the rebellion can seem exciting and liberating, it comes with immense harm and danger, whereby most people will choose to conform to the Orwellian society. Therefore, the public must scrutinize the government constantly in order to prevent them from exceeding their powers.
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Julia, Winston's lover, is another significant character in the novel. She is perhaps regarded as a round character that represents the elements of humanity that Winston does not. Explicitly, she seems like a devout tool for the Party with her “scarlet sash” being an “emblem of the Junior Anti-Sex League” - clearly adhering to the Party's guidelines of celibacy to prevent sexual pleasure and remaining chaste, like the “odious scarlet sash, aggressive symbol of chastity”. The sash clearly represents her uniformity and supposed loyalty to the Party, however, as the novel progresses, she is discovered to be a rebel like Winston, indulging and enjoying sexual acts and pleasure with Winston in order to maintain autonomy from the state, and she uses it as a political act of subversion. By the Party controlling and restricting sexual acts, bonds nor intimacy can be formed consequently hindering unity and assembly, which could pose a threat to state control as eventual rebellion. However, the stark difference between Winston and Julia is that her rebellion is atomistic and pragmatic, whereas Winston acts for the greater good as he constantly holds the 'Brotherhood' in high regard, describing it as 'legendary' and 'fabulous'. Winston is willing to sacrifice his own life since “Until [the proletariat] become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious”, proving to O'Brien that he is willing to rebel and commit atrocities for the Brotherhood that will topple the system. Julia follows Winston into the Brotherhood, but only perhaps to maintain her relationship with Winston, and thus immediately answers no when asked if they are “prepared [...] to separate and never see one another again?”. Therefore, Julia's character, being succinctly different from that of Winston is used by Orwell to highlight the missing parts of humanity under the regime - that not everyone acts rebellious for the greater good like society, but rather for themselves.
Orwell's deliberate choice to adopt the hopeless, ambiguous ending as Winston “loved Big Brother” clearly demonstrates that the rebel is defeated and the individual has lost against the state. This inflicts a terrible loss and tragedy for humanity in the novel as well as the reader since he had ironically “won the victory over himself”, but far from it as it highlights the vast power that the Party has over its citizens, especially those who are conscious and try to rebel. The defeat of Winston is potentially seen as the defeat of humanity since the reader questions if the Brotherhood or Emmanuel Goldstein are just a fabrication by the Party in order to pinpoint dissidents. However, while the reader is left in despair by Winston succumbing to Big Brother, the ending isn't wholly depressing nor futile, as the Party expended many resources to re-educate him and Julia. Therefore slight hope remains as they're unable to subject this to everyone in society - hence the proletariat revolting will topple the system and totalitarian government as there will always be lingering thoughtcrime and subversion. Modern contemporary society must learn this lesson from Winston's narrative, as a society should never reach this point of restricted control and limited freedom, subject to those in power.
Ultimately Orwell's '1984' remains significant to this day as it clearly serves as a warning against political complacency and alerts the reader of the dangers of totalitarianism as a result of passiveness. The dystopian genre amplifies this message as Orwell has set up a story whereby humanity suffers at the hands of the corruption of power and control, so there needs to be a protagonist with the courage to rebel and dissent to create hope for humanity. Orwell's personal experiences in the BBC and the POUM have conveyed the dangers of the manipulation of language and the truth by those in power. Overall, the reader can compare many aspects of the novel to reality as it has been based on prior examples like Stalin and Hitler's regimes, while also reflecting in the modern day as seen with re-education imposed on Uighurs in China, with also their social credit system determining and monitoring citizens' lives as they are required to conform to the status quo. Therefore, the reader can essentially relate the construct within '1984' to reality as Orwell's warnings slowly become real.
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