1984 (AmazonClassics Edition) characters

Appears from the start

A thirty-nine-year-old records clerk at the Ministry of Truth in Airstrip One. His job is to alter old publications so that the Party always appears correct. Troubled by memories that conflict with official history, he secretly begins a diary even though private dissent is punishable as thoughtcrime.

Appears from the start

The distant, mustachioed face presented everywhere as the infallible leader of Oceania. Posters, telescreens, and public rituals make him the focus of compulsory loyalty and connect his image with the Party's constant surveillance.

Appears from the start

A commanding member of the Inner Party whom Winston notices during the Two Minutes Hate. His controlled manner and intelligent face give Winston the unproven feeling that O'Brien may privately share his doubts about the Party.

Appears from the start

The Party's designated enemy, denounced during the daily Two Minutes Hate as a traitor who leads a mysterious opposition called the Brotherhood. Winston cannot know how much of the official account is true, but Goldstein serves as the public target for fear and anger.

First appears in chapter 2

Winston's anxious neighbor in Victory Mansions, worn down by work and family life. Her children belong to Party youth groups and treat suspicion, denunciation, and imagined executions as games.

First appears in chapter 2

Winston's neighbor and colleague, an enthusiastic Party volunteer who organizes community activities and praises his aggressively orthodox children. He is sweaty, dull, and utterly sincere in his loyalty.

First appears in chapter 3

Winston's mother, remembered only in uncertain childhood fragments from the years of upheaval before the Party secured complete control. His dreams associate her with protection, private loyalty, and a kind of feeling that the present society has nearly erased.

First appears in chapter 5

A philologist at the Ministry of Truth who works on the new edition of the Newspeak dictionary. Intelligent and absorbed in his task, he openly explains that Newspeak is designed to shrink the range of possible thought until dissent becomes impossible to formulate.

First appears in chapter 6

Winston's estranged wife, seen in his memories as rigidly obedient to Party teaching. Their marriage failed because she treated intimacy solely as a duty owed to the state and showed no independent affection for him.

First appears in chapter 8

An elderly dealer in secondhand goods who owns a small shop in a prole district. He encourages Winston's interest in objects from the past, sells him a glass paperweight, and shows him an upstairs room without a visible telescreen.

First appears in chapter 9

A young mechanic in the Ministry of Truth's Fiction Department. After previously alarming Winston with her apparent orthodoxy and frequent presence near him, she secretly passes him a note declaring her love, forcing him to reconsider what she wants.