George Orwell
1984

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen”, this is how the novel "1984", written by George Orwell, begins. The author introduces us to the story in this way. “Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions”; with this sentence the author presents the character in his simplicity, in his absolute authenticity, illustrating a man trying to shield himself from the spring cold, a man who may seem like one of the many, but who instead has a story behind him, a past he barely remembers or not at all, a past that in his only memories is sad: the death of his mother and his little sister, his phobia of rats.

It is on that distant April day that Winston's story begins, “The Last Man in Europe”, the man who managed to maintain an ideology despite the oppression and constant surveillance over him and the populace. Telescreens everywhere, airplanes spying into people's homes, everywhere one is watched, unable to nurture the slightest feeling of humanity, there is no freedom to think freely or to realize one’s own ideas. In a world subjugated by dictatorship, where citizens are slaves to a greater force, in a world where war is a means to maintain peace, where ignorance is the best weapon, ignorance is that force that turns you into a sheep in the immense flock controlled by that god whom Big Brother represents, in a world where freedom is understood as slavery, a man, “one among the many” has the courage to maintain a bit of humanity even though he cannot express it and secretly rebels thanks to the help of his lover, Julia, with whom he commits one of the most serious crimes possible: making love, living carnality. In fact, according to the Party (the political organ that controls the world), a person could not make love except to produce children who would then serve the Party as spies, from a very young age.

Winston and Julia trust Mr. Charrington, a seller of antiques, who sells them a room above his shop. The two lovers use it as a hideout to be alone and avoid being discovered, but Mr. Charrington turns out to be an agent of the Thought Police. Both will be imprisoned and forced to speak, and under torture to betray each other, thus losing the last small crumb of humanity. As interrogator and torturer, there is O'Brien, a member of the Inner Party, one of the most influential officials of the Party, whom the two lovers had trusted. From a certain point of view, O'Brien seems to be Big Brother himself, but the true identity of the latter is not revealed in the book. Winston and Julia, after being “cured” and converted to the Party, meet for the last time at the Chestnut Tree Café, where the story of 1984 ends.

Winston's last words will be “I love you” directed at the image of Big Brother: Winston is now converted and has become an individual with no shred of mind, a puppet about to be destroyed.