Winston Smith
The 39-year old protagonist. Winston is a minor functionary in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth. His job is re-write news articles so that they conform to the Party’s current version of truth and history. He is intelligent, meek, and introspective. Winston can see that the ultimate goal of the Party is gain absolute control over the people through an oppressive totalitarian system.
He secretly hates the Party and seeks to rebel. Orwell develops the introspection of this character to contrast the individual and the collective as well as the inner life of people against the totalizing scheme of ruling power. Winston is an intellectual who even takes the time to study the Party’s own system of justification. He is undermined by his own feelings of love, which renders him vulnerable.
Julia/ The dark-haired girl
Winston’s love interest. She is the 26-year old sexually rebellious girl who works in the Fiction Department of the Ministry of Truth. Julia is practical, rebellious, but uninterested in politics. She believes that the Party is unbeatable through open rebellion and that private disobedience is the only way to defeat them. Her rebellious nature inspired Winston to continue taking risks. She contrasts with Winston in that her wild nature is masked by her orthodox appearance in life.
O’Brien
The antagonist in the novel, O’Brien is a corrupt bureaucrat. He is a member of the Inner Party. O’Brien embodies the dehumanizing and dehumanized force of totalitarianism. Due to the fact that he is charismatic and is able to win the confidence of Winston early in the novel, he remains a paradox in the end. He is the immediate source of all of the torture and he is the voice of the Party for Winston. Yet, Winston begins to admire him in the end and even sees him as a salvation. The corruption of the human spirit is complete in O’Brien.
Mr. Charrington
Charrington is the owner of the junkshop where Winston buys the diary and the glass paperweight. He also owns the room that Winston and Julia rent for their secret meetings. He appears as a mild older man when in fact he is a member of the Thought Police. He is the one who turns Winston and Julia over to be arrested. Mr. Charrington symbolizes the omnipotent power and reach of the Thought Police and of the Party.