Can anyone explain the symbolism in the three following topics and how they could connect to one another.
i.) The glass paperweight
ii.) The chess board
iii.) Snakes and Ladders game with his mother
Thank you!
The paperweight is a "useless" (now, since paper is not kept) item from the past. Winston buys it because it is pretty. To have something that is not practical is unorthodoxy. It also symoblizes Winston and Julia in the upstairs room--all protected by the glass. When they are discovered and the paperweight is broken, it is shattered like their life together; Winston also notices how tiny that piece of coral is--insignificant, as he and Julia are.
The chess games are the classic good and evil. White always mates--"good" (i.e., Big Brother) always wins.
The game is Winston's ONE happy memory of his childhood . . . and he dismisses it as a false memory. We all have SO many memories of games and family time, and they sustain us in tough times. Winston has nothing except the Party. Very sad, actually, but once he loves Big brother, he is the happiest of his life. Now THAT's the sad part.
All these point out the omnipotence of the Party.
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