Forbidden City Vs 1984

Alex Jackson from Forbidden City by William Bell and Winston Smith from 1984 by George Orwell illustrate how circumstances that change people irrevocably can influence the way people respond to situations. Alex appears to be a more honorable character than Winston. Alex becomes more sensitive to death while Winston becomes accepting of it. While Alex remains steadfast to his beliefs and values, Winston eventually believes what he once opposed. When both Alex and Winston are given a method to possibly take down the controlled society they are in, Alex approaches it with much more morality than Winston does. When both befriend women, Alex shows more wisdom and respect in his relationship with Xin-hua than Winston does with Julia.

When both Alex and Winston befriend women, Alex shows more wisdom and maturity in his relationship with Xin-hua than Winston with Julia. Alex admires Xin-hua and sees her as "a strong woman with more character than most of the kids I knew" (Bell 232). Instead of "falling in love with her, or any of that soap-opera stuff" (Bell 231), he views her as a hero, revealing his maturity and wisdom. Conversely, prior to even knowing Julia's name, Winston "was kissing the wide red mouth" (Orwell 120). He says to Julia "the more men you've had the more I love you" (Orwell 125) revealing that all he truly cares about at this point is not her personality, but rather her sexuality. After telling Julia that he wants "everyone to be corrupt to the bones" (Orwell 125), she responds "well then, I ought to suit you, dear. I'm corrupt to the bones" (Orwell 125). This demonstrates that his love for her is only ever sexual and corrupt, displaying how shallow and self-serving Winston is. By admiring Xin-hua and loving her as a friend for who she is, Alex proves to be a wiser, more mature and respectful person than Winston.

In addition, Alex is more sensitive than Winston. After being exposed to the merciless deaths of thousands of innocent citizens of Beijing, Alex becomes very sensitive towards the deaths of others. When he is watching the television and hears that the student whom he admired for standing up to the PLA "was arrested. Yesterday he was executed" (Bell 268), he is stunned, then enraged. His sensitivity towards this death reveals that he is caring. His reaction to "The horrible image of human beings burning...pushed all the fear out of my mind and replaced it with searing anger" (Bell 206) reveals that he is more loving and caring than Winston who "is sitting in a blissful dream" (Orwell 297) while listening to "the voice from the telescreen still pouring forth its tale of prisoners and booty and slaughter" (Orwell 297). His admiration and fascination with this news displays his cold-heartedness. Winston's evident pleasure with the death and captivity of an entire continent compared to Alex's