Christian Response to Orwell’s 1984 Essay Example

How many unfavorable instances could Winston have avoided if he had the spirit of Christ in him?  “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”(Romans 3:23). Winston Smith is a man who struggles with sin.  Alot of his bad experiences could have been avoided if he had the Christian spirit in him. Winston sinned mainly in his life through these three aspects Winston struggled with three main areas of sin: hatred, adultery, and disobedience which all could have been avoided if he had a relationship with Christ.

A spiritual offense that Winston committed was having hatred in his heart for Big 

Brother and towards the Party. At the beginning of the book, we see Winstons detestation towards the Party because of how they restricted the people of Oceania from their right to privacy, causing him to live in a state of paranoia, fear, and unsafety. “ You had to live - did live, from habit that becomes instinct - in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every moment scrutinized. Winston kept his back turned to the telescreen. It was safer” (Orwell 5). In the quote above we discern that Winstons’ loathing towards the Party came from the restrictions and perilous environment around him. The comfortless circumstances he had to endure gave a rise to his aversion toward the Party.

As a secret rival and a low-profile detester of the Party Winston had admired all things rebellious to the Party and rejected any form of orthodoxy towards the Party. “Listen. The more men you’ve had, the more I love you … I hate purity. I hate goodness. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones'' ( Orwell 132). Winston said this when he and Julia had set up a plan to meet for the first time. In their conversation, Julia recounts all the times she has had sex with other men in Oceania. When Winston hears how Julia has rebelled against the Party it encourages him to continue his rebellion that is driven by his enduring hate for the Party. His love for anything or anyone is dependent on the hate they share towards a common contrivance. 

The readers of nineteen eighty-four can deem it evident that Winston has a gross amount of hatred in his heart towards the Party. All humans have felt anger simultaneously with hatred at one point in their lives, the way they respond to their feelings is what truly matters. Winston let the rage inside of him take control and it led ultimately to the demise of his soul and internal beliefs. Christians are cautioned to refrain from acting on their anger and to commit all their struggles, pain, suffering into the hands of God. “If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest” (Ecclesiastes 10:4). The Bible is a guide to life given by God himself. This verse would have been a reassurance to Winston that he should not let his hatred of the Party get the best of him and he should not react to them but he should stay reserved and stay silent because a silent and calm spirit overcomes problems. 

A lesson to Christians in this aspect of sin in Winstons’ life is that stay calm and seek peace in your father when angered. Even after Winston had sinned he could turn to Christ because God is a very forgiving God and would never judge his children in any way.

A very common sin not only in nineteen eighty-four but in the world we live in is that Winston took part in adultery. Winstons wife Katherine is announced in ( Orwell 67) and because there is no divorce in Oceania they are legally still married. Winston does not follow the rules of marriage and is unfaithful to Katherine while committing adultery numerous times. Winston acknowledges that he has a wife but continues to have sex with other ladies and does not abide by the rules of marriage. “Simultaneously with the woman in the basement kitchen he thought of Katherine, his wife. Winston was married- had been married at any rate: probably he still was married, so far as he knew his wife was not dead” ( Orwell 6). Till death do us apart is a vow made by partners getting married and Winston states his wife is not dead but still engages in physical and emotional relations with other women which is the literal definition of adultery.

Lust is as common as every other sin, the Bible has many verses we can and should refer to whenever we feel we are tempted by the spirit of lust or when we have succumbed to lust. Winston, unfortunately, had no access to these and had nowhere to look or run before or after committing adultery. “ He pressed her down upon the grass, among the fallen bluebells. This time there was no difficulty. Presently the rising and falling of their breasts slowed to normal speed, and in a sort of pleasant helplessness they fell apart”( Orwell 132). Winston had become more comfortable with the idea of pursuing a relationship with Julia. For Christians, their most valued relationship is the one with Christ and if Winston put more effort into commencing his relationship with God there would and could have been a barrier to stop his relations with Julia. Katherine was observed to be absent in the duration of Winstons’ life that was shown in the book. He speaks of her in an ill-mannered way, he was not satisfied with her sexually or emotionally. He may have not chosen her to marry but if he had Christ in his heart he would have told him to be satisfied with what and who he has. “Be satisfied with your spouse”- Proverbs 5:15-20. If  Winston was neither satisfied nor patient with Katherine and went to look for all he wanted for somewhere else which was not fair to her and it is not what God wants his children to do. This Bible verse would have reminded Winston that he need not perform lustful acts with Julia or if he has already he can go to God for advice. 

Winston, who was against all rules set out by the Party, was not going to follow the rules set by them. Winston on several occasions disobeyed the Parties’ laws. There legally were not any rules or laws in Oceania but there were actions that they would vapourize you for. Winstons very first act of disobedience that is shown in nineteen eighty-four is buying his diary. This is seen as an act of rebellion because it gives the individual a sense of individualism. In his diary, he then wrote afflictions against the Party. “ The thing that he was about to do was to open a diary.  this was not illegal  (nothing was illegal, since there were no longer any laws ), but if detected it was reasonably certain that it would be punished by death, or at least by 25 years in a forced-labor camp” (Orwell 9). “ He dipped the pen into the ink and then faltered just for a second. A tremor had gone through his bowels. To mark the paper was the decisive act. ( Orwell 9). The quotes above are evidence of how Winston knew buying the diary could and would be a punishable offense if he got caught but he still did it which shows how he disobeys the law (Party). They also show even after he had already disobeyed the “law” he decided to further his actions by writing in his diary which he knew would get him vapourised, sent to a labor camp, or thrown in jail. 

Winston continued to disobey the laws of the Party when he decided to have sexual intercourse with a prostitute while fully knowing it was a punishable offense, showing how strong the will to go against them was. “ Consorting with prostitutes was forbidden” ( Orwell 68). “When I saw her in the light she was quite an old woman, fifty years at least. But I went ahead and did it just the same'' ( Orwell 72). Winston felt disgusted with himself after having sex with the prole and wrote about it in his diary. Winston tried to stop himself from screaming out foul words while under the anger. God has a plan for all people and things; everything is done according to his own will. Christians are meant to believe that everything that happens is all a part of his ultimate plan. “Let every soul be subject unto higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever, therefore. resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation (Romans 13;1-2). There is no man in power that God himself did not put there. If Winston had turned to God during his time of doubt towards the Party he would have realized that God is truly the one in power and not Big Brother or the Party. Winston disobeying the people who God puts in power is relatively the same thing as disobeying God, which is not what anyone should be doing. God gives wisdom to all his believers and Winston would have had all of it if only he believed in Christ.

Winston struggles with sin throughout  nineteen eighty-four but the three main areas that this essay gives advice and counsel to are adultery, disobedience, and hatred. Winston is a married man having sex with a woman nearly half his age and partook in adultery. Winston makes unwise decisions throughout the novel; he knows these things are wrong but carries on to do them anyway. The final area of sin in Winstons’ life is hatred directed at the Party which made him so vengeful that a relationship with Jesus was out of the realm of possibility. Winston, like many Christians, has sinned but it is no one’s place to judge him because according to Romans 3:23 “ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”.

Works cited

Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. Secker and Warburg, June 8, 1949.

The Bible. Authorized King James Version, Oxford University Press, 1998.