Quote:
“She brought the glass paperweight over to the bed to have a look at
it in a better light. He took it out of her hand, fascinated, as always, by the
soft, rainwatery appearance of the glass.
‘What is it, do you think?’ said Julia.
‘I don't think it's anything – I mean, I
don't think it was ever put to any use. That's what I like about it. It's a
little chunk of history that they've forgotten to alter. It's a message from a
hundred years ago, if one knew how to read it.’” (Orwell, 145).
Paperweight symbol:
The paperweight is symbolic, for Winston, of the
past. Since Winston remembers some of the past before the Party came to power, he
sees meaning in the paperweight. However, Julia, who never knew of life before
the Party, does not see the same meaning in the paperweight. Since the
paperweight is made of glass, it is transparent and easily seen through, unlike
the claims of the Party, which are murky and opaque, distorting and hiding the
truth rather than showing it. The coral at the center is another link to the
past, since coral is natural (unlike almost everything in Oceania) and takes a
long time to develop. It must be nurtured by the right conditions to grow into
a full adult, and appears to symbolize Winston in this respect. The coral is
also rare, and Winston compares it to the lives of Julia and himself, two
uncommon people, Outer Party members rebelling against the Party’s practices
and trying to get to a place where Big Brother is not watching them. But it is in vain. When the Thought Police enter
the room, the paperweight is smashed, showing how all of Winston’s hopes of
regaining the splendor of the past and rebelling against the Party have been
smashed.
