Winston is the central protagonist of Nineteen Eighty-Four. His name is an homage to Win- ston Churchill, who was a British Prime Minister from 1940–1945 and 1951–1955. However, Churchill’s aristocratic last name is replaced with a common last name “Smith,” which can be said to represent the ‘everyman’ and the broader population of England. In life, Winston is 39 years old, and an insignificant Outer Party member working in the Ministry of Truth, deprived of real pleasures and enduring an extremely poor quality of life. While he is legally married to Katharine, they separated and no longer live together. His only excitement in life comes from nursing a varicose ulcer just above his right ankle, and drinking sickly, oily “Victory Gin,” until he begins writing in his secret diary. The diary is his small, internal rebellion against the Party, and is where he vents about his unfortunate awareness and working knowledge of the horrors of the Party in Oceania. Winston is also very paranoid that he is going to get caught for his thoughtcrime, and for his eventual affair with Julia.
