Nine of the biggest martyrs in fiction

At The Barnes & Noble Book Blog Nicole Hill tagged nine of the biggest martyrs in fiction, including:

Winston Smith (Nineteen Eighty-Four)

“He loved Big Brother.” Has there ever been a more devastating final sentence? Winston physically lived, but for all intents and purposes, our little freedom fighter died in Orwell’s dystopia. There was no other way: Thoughtcrime is death, and the Proles are not dependably outraged. But while it lasted, you burned bright, Winston.

Read about another martyr on the list.

Nineteen Eighty-four is on W.B. Gooderham's top ten list of books given in books, Katharine Trendacosta and Amanda Yesilbas's list of ten paranoid science fiction stories that could help you survive, Na'ima B. Robert's top ten list of Romeo and Juliet stories, Gabe Habash's list of ten songs inspired by books and a list of the 100 best last lines from novels. The book made Charlie Jane Anders's list of ten science fiction novels we pretend to have read, Juan E. Méndez's list of five books on torture, P. J. O’Rourke's list of the five best political satires, Daniel Johnson's five best list of books about Cold War culture, Robert Collins' top ten list of dystopian novels, Gemma Malley's top 10 list of dystopian novels for teenagers, is one of Norman Tebbit's six best books and one of the top ten works of literature according to Stephen King. It made a difference to Isla Fisher, and appears on John Mullan's lists of ten of the best Aprils in literature, ten of the best rats in literature, and ten of the best horrid children in fiction.

--Marshal Zeringue