In 1984, after a rocket strike, Winston mindlessly kicks the bloody stump of a hand into the gutter. Explain how this might change readers’ impression of the character.

Up until Chapter 8 of Book 1, the reader may have felt that, given the conditions in which Winston lives, he is a better person than the people around him. For example, he helps Mrs. Parsons and bears up under the taunts of her horrible children, and he is friends with Syme even though Syme is an orthodox member of the Outer Party. Winston seemed to represent a ray of hope for humanity in Oceania. Yet he can walk past prole houses that were demolished by a rocket bomb and kick a severed hand into the street without a shred of compassion. With this action Winston seems as insensitive as everyone else in this dystopian world, although his reaction should not come as a complete surprise. When he describes people, especially proles, he focuses on their “parts”—arms, teeth, a nose—rather than on the whole person. The disembodied hand is just another part.