A Lack of Color

“Outside, even through the shut window pane, the world looked cold.  Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no color in anything except the posters that were plastered everywhere. The black-mustachio’d face gazed down from every commanding corner.” (2)

Orwell uses imagery to show how the Party, with Big Brother at its head, has taken life out of the world. Color is used to represent life, which society has lost due to Big Brother’s control. The man on the poster that Winston describes is Big Brother, the leading figure of the Party. Winston sees color in the poster, but in nothing else because Big Brother has removed all of the pleasures, interests, and benefits of life.  When Winston looks out into the street, he sees despair and drear because of a lack of color.