What parts of the plot and which characters seem related to a possible theme in the novel 1984?

is a unified, tightly
constructed novel, in which there are no superfluous scenes or characters. It would be accurate,
then, to say that the entire plot and all the major characters are used byto express his basic .
But, as with any literary work, there is no absolute agreement among critics and general readers
as to what those themes are. In answering this question, we need to be selective and limit our
focus. Volumes of criticism and commentary have been written about 1984
since it first appeared seventy years ago, and an absolutely comprehensive response
about characters, plot, and theme would be beyond the scope of our answer.

Most readers would agree, however, that one of Orwell's important themes is that our
awareness of objective reality is a tenuous thing that can be manipulated or destroyed by those
who hold political power. In our own time, we have heard references to "alternative
facts" and the statement that "truth is not truth." In
1984,himself is a participant in the continuing process of rewriting and
falsifying history in his job at the Ministry of Truth. He knows that what he's doing is wrong,
of course, and he hates the Party for its oppression of the people. But he is powerless to do
anything about it. Orwell's theme is not merely that of the powerlessness of the individual, but
one of isolation and alienation. Even , though she's rebelling against the Party as Winston is,
doesn't seem to care when Winston tells her that he's held in his hands objective evidence of
the Party's obliteration of historical truth. Her reaction seems to be that everything happening
in the world is nonsense and lies anyway, so who cares?

A recurring theme of
dystopianis the hope that resistance can somehow be achieved against the system, or that there
exists some remnant of the past world, the one that existed prior to the dystopia, in which a
rebel such as Winston can find refuge. Though Mr. Charrington is a relatively minor character in
the story, he and his shop seem to symbolize this vanished life that existed before the
cataclysm that destroyed the old world. But it's a mere illusion for Winston and Julia:
Charrington turns out to be a Thought Police agent, and not only is the seeming idyll of Winston
and Julia destroyed, but their lives as thinking people are destroyed as well when they are
arrested, tortured, and brainwashed. The interactions of Winston, Julia, Charrington, and
ultimatelyillustrate these themes of the distortion of objective truth, the individual's
alienation, and the illusory nature of hope in a totalitarian society.