Motif:

Apparent as it is, victory acts as an ever-present symbolic force within George Orwell’s 1984. With Victory Gin, Victory Cigarettes, the “greatest victory in human history — victory, victory, victory!'”(3.6), one cannot escape the drive to win in Oceania. What makes the concept truly peculiar for 1984, though, is the fickle definition in which the characters interpret victory. Winston constantly holds “equivocation in his heart as he wonder[s] whether the news from the front would be of victory or defeat”(3.6), as any news could be interpreted as a loss or a win. A victory for the Party means gaining power, brainwashing a new victim, successfully controlling the future. Whereas a victory for Winston, at least in the beginning of the novel, would involve rebelling against the societal ideals. Yet as the novel continues, as Winston is exposed to his plights and his definition of victory changes, colliding with the party’s and Julia’s ideas, the fallacious equivocation of victory becomes a major plot catalyst.

Title: 

A title can be just as crucial as any other literature element within a novel. It can round out the meaning as a whole or foreshadow a major plot point, but whatever its role may be, a title will always have meaning. Except for 1984, in which the purpose of the name is to actually convey a lack of meaning or importance. Throughout the novel we see an intense presence of numbers and their specific symbolic meanings, but as we reach the end of the novel, O’Brien dissolves this ideal as he reveals that nothing really has any significance besides what the Party says, stating that “2+2=5”. With the title, the readers are led to believe that the year 1984 has some importance, only to have that ripped away later when Winston is unsure if that’s even the year that it is. If the Party was to say it was 2006, he would need to believe. So, in actuality, Orwell sadistically implies that the title, the numbers, everything has no real implications and no real meaning.

Archetype:

In 1984, we see the recurring dichotomy of good vs. evil that appears in every hero’s journey. Sometimes this battle is conveyed by good vs. bad deeds, or by light vs. darkness like in this novel. Usually black represents death or despair and white represents goodness or safety, but due to the paradoxical nature of 1984, the roles are reversed. The Party, or the “bad” in the story, is often portrayed in “light” with O’Brien even stating, in reference to the Party’s MiniLuv compound, “I will meet you in the place where there is no darkness” (3.2). The never-ending brightness during Winston’s torture there does well to amplify the discomfort and lack of privacy that he feels. And although the Party may claim to be righteous in this situation, its lack of “darkness” (which symbolizes hope and protection for most of the characters) proves it to be even more villainous. It’s just as Winston says, the power-hungry “white [the Party] always mates” (3.6).