Nineteen Eighty-Four

English A1 Language and Literature (HL)

Written task 1 – Critical essay

Creative Writing

Session: 26/01/2018

Number of words in task: 1024

Rationale

I have chosen to change the ending of the novel “nineteen eighty-four”. The ending of the novel doesn’t fully explain what occurred between Winston and Julia after the incident in Room 101, and I think that by creating a new ending, it would give fans of this novel more information about the events after the horrible events that occur in Room 101. The ending involves mainly Winston and Julia who after the incident in room 101 meet once again. Only that Julia doesn’t remember the mentally instable Winston who remembers her after looking at walk next to his table at a café.

I will use the vocabulary used by the characters in the novel, attempt to the personalities that Orwell created. The use of vocabulary from when this novel was set is also important to give a feeling of authenticity and to situate the reader in that time period. The audience this text is directed towards, are readers that have read 1984 and that are interested in an alternative ending to the novel. The two characters that will be interacting are Julia and Winston, and the text will be written in a Free Indirect Discourse style of writing, which Orwell uses through out 1984.

 (204 words)

The moment he realized he and Julia had been tricked from the beginning and were most certainly dead, was the memory that he most vividly remembered from his past. Winston didn’t even know who parents is were and what their names were, he didn’t remember anything of his childhood for that matter. That wasn’t what unsettled him though. What made him sit in the usual café next to the big oak tree was his need to remember the face of Julia. All he remembered was her name and what she made him feel. Love? He thought to himself. No. He concluded. Excitement. Wholeness. But most of all passion. It was these memories that made Winston wonder what his life was like when he had the disease. But one memory seemed to be stuck in mind like a leech to a dog.

He remembered the day as if it had been yesterday. The walk towards the area where the proles lived. An area in horrible conditions that made Winston doubt the effectiveness of the regime to provide for their citizens, whilst spending lots of money and effort in trying to control and eradicate opposition. The streets with filth everywhere and some buildings still had enormous whole in the buildings where a bomb shell had broken through the wall. He remembered walking into a gathering place where many proles gathered around drinking and shouting and had talked to an old man whose face was stamped to back of his mind. He didn’t remember why he had gone there and what the man had told him, but the memory was felt like a pain that would never go away, contrasting with his love for Big Brother. It was moments like these where he became worried and had to concentrate his mind to his job which he was good at.  

Ever since he had left Room 101, Winston was not the same person that he had once been. That much he understood about himself. His mind felt like it had been split into a thousand pieces. Sometimes Winston’s head would hurt so bad that at times it felt like a bullet was splintering in his head and had blasted apart the pieces that held it intact.

The Memories came and went, but one vivid memory stayed with him. One that he constantly saw in his dreams. One of making love with Julia in a peaceful opening in a lush forest. Memories such as these affected Winston and his devotion to his country which he loved and trusted in. But it was memories like these that tore Winston apart. It was memories like these that made Winston shudder and wonder whether O’Brien had not completely cured him of his disease. That his political re-education had been flawed and was unsuccessful. It was internal conflicts like these that made Winston spend much of his free time in his usual spot at the café next to his Victory home. The day he reunited with Julia was one of those days.

He had been listening to the telescreen for quite some time listening to the news whilst drinking some gin. That was when he began to reflect per usual on is emotions as O’Brien had instructed him. He acknowledged the presence of the screen and he came to the conclusion that it made him feel safe, gave a sense of comfort. It made him understand that he was a citizen of the most powerful nation in the world and that he would forever be free from the grasp of the corrupt states of Eurasia and Eastasia that were enemies from the begging of times. This made him glad and had a calming effect over him. It was during this time that a woman walked by next to the table Winston was sitting at. The woman looked strangely familiar. The green eyes. The dark hair which was as black as night. It was at that moment that everything clicked. The memories came rushing in like water gushing out of a broken tap. The many times they had met in secret, the first meeting they had and the awful events that occurred in Room 101. It was then that he noticed that his heart was racing.