Winston Smith on the Couch

This book seeks to analyze and understand, in light of psychoanalytic literary criticism and under the parameters of Freudian psychoanalysis, the dreams of the main character in the most famous dystopia of the 20th century. As the only one able to perceive the reality around him and all the repression in which Oceania society is immersed, Winston Smith will try at all costs, in the name of the individual freedom that has been taken from him, to maintain his sanity. To this end, he conceals all his actions and words during the day, pretending to be an exemplary citizen in line with the Party's wishes. But in his thoughts and when he goes to bed, Winston frees himself from the shackles imposed on him and his true self is revealed. By analyzing the dream life of the anti-hero of George Orwell's work, we discover what is hidden in his unconscious; what are his repressed desires, traumas, phobias, and neuroses. Through the interpretation of Winston's dreams, we are able to see unknown traits of his personality, aspects of his mental life that are repressed, the reasons why he insistently and rebelliously maintains his memory, and answer the question: Who is Winston, after all? Dreams never lie.