1984 He Yang Lao Tzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher, mentioned that he who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened. In the book 1984, Winston Smith is this kind of enlightened person. Winston Smith lives in Oceania, one of three inter-continental super states that divided the whole world after a global war. As a member of the Outer Party, he works in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth as an editor. Generally, his work is to revise historical records and to make the past conform to the ever-changing party line and deleting references to “unpersons”, people who have been “vaporised”. Therefore, we can infer that Winston’s life is surrounded by lies. However, this situation doesn’t limit his thoughts but inspires him to be himself. At first, we need to know that it’s quite hard and dangerous for Winston to know and keep himself in Oceania, a totalitarian country. “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”, this slogan shows the reality: Big Brother is the truth; you won’t have any privacy in this country. If there is any evidence showing that you might betray the party, you will be caught by the thought police. The only way to survive in this dark place is to love “Big Brother”, deeply love. Therefore, most of the citizens follow the rules. They are loyal to Big Brother; they cheer every “victory” of the country. However, Winston Smith is different from the others. He often attempts to figure out the truth and keeps his mind clear. Writing diary is one of his habits. Winston sits beside the telescreen to avoid being watched by the party. In the diary, he shows his true feeling, that he doesn’t like Big Brother at all. He knows that if the party finds the diary, he won’t have any chance to be alive. Even though there is high risk being caught,
Winston still carries on. It might not be the best choice, but his diary records his anger, his confusion, his sadness …It records truth. In my opinion, Winston is an enlightened person, as he knows himself: He realizes that what he needs is the truth, and the first step he needs to do is recording the truth on his own. Winston’s enlightenment is also shown by his eagerness of true love. In Oceania, it’s illegal and immoral to find the love by himself. In the book, Winston bumps Julia on her way from the Fiction Department and receives a small paper from her. He unfolds the note and reads what Julia wrote: "I love you." He doesn’t reject the love but lives with her in a penthouse which belongs to Mr Charrington's shop. Both of them know that this love can be ruined by Thought Police anytime, but they won’t stop it. I think Winston is eager for the true love for a long time (even though it wasn’t mentioned in the book).Love is a necessary part of person’s life,it brings you the pure emotion .This high risk love gives me a feeling, that Winston thinks it deserves to win the true love ,even though he might die. However, on some points , I don’t think Winston is a wise person , as he doesn’t know others clearly at all. At first , Winston met O’Brien, a member of the Inner Party who poses as a member of The Brotherhood.Winston trusted him easily and showed all his power to fight against “Big Brother”. In fact , this is a trap : O’Brien aims to catch the evidence of Winston’s betrayal.He gave Winston a book , which earns Winston’s trust easily.There’s another spy in the book :Mr Charrington. His real identity is an officer of Thought Police.He sold the old stuff to Winston provided him an old room to live with Julia.Winston never doubt about him, even though there are so many suspicious points: Why does he own the old things but still be safe ?Why is he willing to provide the room with such a high risk?Unfortunately,Winston never think about that.At last , he was betrayed by Julia, his true love.This is really ironic,as even though Julia said she loves him so much, she still
chose to betray immediately when she was facing the death.It might be in nature,that people are always care more about themselves and are afraid of death so deeply.In conclusion, Winston doesn’t know the real parts of these 3 people, and this leads him to fail.Winston is a naive person,he is willing to trust others.However,in his society,being naive is being stupid.Therefore, I would say he is a nice person , but definitely not a wise man. Eventually Winston became a loyal member of the party. He was proud of Big Brother and totally lost his own battle.If he can be wise, he might have chance to keep being himself in Oceania