#12- 1984

"He examined the chess problem and set out the pieces. It was a tricky ending, involving a couple of knights. 'White to play and mate in two moves.' Winston looked up at the portrait of Big Brother. White always mates, he thought with a sort of cloudy mysticism. Always, without exception, it is so arranged. In no chess problem since the beginning of the world has black ever won. Did it not symbolize the eternal, unvarying triumph of Good over Evil? The huge face gazed back at him, full of calm power. White always mates" (238). 

Orwell uses this passage to confirm the fact that Winston has been "broken" meaning that he no longer questions the Party. After reading the chess problem Winston looks at the picture of Big Brother and connects the two. Looking at the face of Big Brother assures Winston - he is sent into a mystic state and the belief "white always mates" is drilled into his head as an eternal truth. Orwell uses chess to symbolize this change. The pieces are white and black which can represent both Good and Bad or Right and Wrong. The transition can be seen in Winston as he is persuaded by Big Brother to believe that the phrase "white always mates" means that there is everlasting Good and Rightness in the world. In chess, a player is in an imaginary battle and can play this out without it actually happening. Winston's constant chess playing in the last few pages of the book symbolize his shift from being in the real world to being a part of the virtual world of Big Brother.

Work Cited:
Fine, Reuben. "The Psychology of the Chess Player." New York: Dover, 1956. 24 Aug. 2010
 <http://chess.eusa.ed.ac.uk/Chess/Trivia/psychology.html>.

Photo Credit:
Gullete, Alan. "Chess Problems by Lord Dunsany." 18 Oct. 2004. 26 Aug. 2010 <http://alangullette.com/lit/dunsany/chess/problems.htm>.