A novel’s ending plays a very important role on the way it is perceived; for example, a novel could have a great plot and character development but having a dissatisfying ending will just make the reader want to toss it directly into the trash can. In his novel 1984, George Orwell manages to link the events throughout the novel into the most satisfactory ending I’ve read so far: Winston’s death. When reading the novel for the first time I thought O’Brien actually belonged to the brotherhood and was somehow trying to help Winston, then, after reading a few more pages I’d go back and in a way battle that thought with the idea that at the end, Winston would end up inevitably dead. It’s that what makes the ending so great, it was caused by
It was after all his ideas; his hate for big brother which lead to that. It was his hate towards the party which lead him to believe in O’Brien’s convincing talk where he eventually states the brotherhood does exist and claims to be a part of it “’No, it is real. The Brotherhood, we call it.”. His desire to destroy the party lead him to O’Brien who later has him captured and makes the reader’s thoughts fight about what’s about to happen next; was Winston right? is O’Brien really trying to help Winston? eventually leading to room 101 where his mind is finally corrected, becoming once again a blind follower of the party, and he gets his finishing shot. Its ending will often make a book either memorable or disposable, a bad ending kills even the best story and a great ending makes a good novel even better. George Orwell manages to create a highly satisfactory ending for Winston Smith’s story in his novel 1984 by chaining up events in a way that they lead to the ending while still managing to surprise the reader. It seems as it was built backwards or writing to achieve that inevitable conclusion to which Winston’s actions and thoughts against the party lead: his own death. 1984 concludes in the most appropriate way and will leave the reader completely satisfied and even with a desire to read more