"[1] Winston Smith works in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth, where his job is to rewrite historical documents so they match the constantly changing current party line.

However, his spirit finally breaks when he is taken into Room 101 and confronted by his worst fear: the unspeakable horror of slowly being eaten alive by rats.

Any possibility of resistance or independent thought is destroyed when Smith is forced to accept the assertion 2 + 2 = 5, a phrase which has entered the lexicon to represent obedience to ideology over rational truth or fact.

By the end of the novel, O'Brien's torture has reverted Winston to an obedient, unquestioning party member who genuinely loves Big Brother.

Like other major characters, he is a smoker and drinker (his gin and tobacco are of the low-quality "Victory" brand available to Outer Party members).

Winston also has a varicose ulcer on the back of his leg, a point repeatedly touched upon seemingly to exacerbate the sense of the poverty in which he lives.

Even before he begins an affair with Julia, he develops a rapport with the seemingly harmless Mr Charrington, who sells him a diary and a distinctive coral ornament.