“We are taught that the hero's journey is the journey from weakness to strength. But... [it's] false. The true hero's journey is the journey from strength to weakness. The true hero shows the ability to overcome challenges, even in a weak state, and achieve victory. The true hero has flaws, but his courage, his selflessness and his sacrifices for the common good will come first. Winston Smith from 1984 is described as a "small, frail character" with a "varicose ulcer above his right ankle". This is obviously not the image conjured up when we imagine a hero, but because of the deceptive nature of appearances, we must consider his actions. What is Winston doing? He writes "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER" several times in his diary, he engages in carnal knowledge with a woman he barely knows, and when given the chance to show the strength of his will despite When he is beaten down to his weakest state, he betrays the person he promised to always love. Winston Smith is not a hero. His purchase of the journal was a bold move on his part, but it recorded nothing of significance. He even admits that he had “dumped…[a] flood of rubbish”. Someone who writes for a living should be able to write with some eloquence. His job, in fact, was to rewrite history according to the whims of the Party, which was strange for someone who claimed to greatly hate the principles of Big Brother and who wanted the right to individuality and freedom to 'expression. Even stranger, although Winston constantly worried about how the story was developing and yearned to know what really happened, he had never even dared to consider any form of keeping a personal record of real events. Winston knew that “every record had been destroyed or tampered with, every book had been... middle of paper... and hating Big Brother would be his greatest revenge; it would become another broken promise. Winston would also break Julia's trust, whom he had previously promised never to betray. Winston's poor relationship choices, weakening willpower, and hypocritical view of history would be the main factors that lead to his demise. Initially, he seemed like someone the reader could root for, someone who would be brave enough to start a revolution, but he turned out to be extraordinarily weak. Winston Smith presents no heroic qualities; he shows no strength to break out of his journey from strength to weakness, never goes beyond what is expected of him, and never risks his life for the chance to help others. Winston would be conquered by his fear and transform into the person he claimed to hate, a lover of Big Brother..