Assignment 1&2: 1984

In the first half of 1984, George Orwell introduces the reader to a middle aged man named Winston Smith who lives in the dystopian London in the year 1984 (he thinks) and works at the Ministry of Truth. At the very beginning of the book Winston committed thoughtcrime by opening a diary. His world is ruled by the Party and the head of the party is Big Brother. His pictures are posted all over the city, as well as the party’s slogan: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength.  There are telescreens within every room that record everything. So people in the Republic of Oceania must always watch the faces they make, the words they say. If they don’t the Thought Police will come and take them away. They will essentially be erased from existence

This is the fate Winston resigned himself to as soon as he opened the diary. Winston was unhappy with his life. He spends his days altering newspaper articles, speeches, anything that could make the Party look bad. In essence he, and the other people within his branch, is “rewriting history.” He spends his nights drinking victory gin in his filthy apartment. That is until he meets Julia. She works in other branch of the Ministry of Truth. Winston begins to see her around and fears she maybe a member of the Thought Police tracking him. Then, after she sends him a secret message, he realizes that she’s in love with him and they start a forbidden affair. After meeting in odd places at infrequent times, Winston rents out the room above the thrift store from which he bought his diary, owned by a man named Mr. Charrington, who is a prole, which is basically a the lowest of the lows in the Republic. They are seen with such little humanism that they do not have to follow the rules that the people of the Party do and are rarely put under surveillance. This is why Winston decides that the thrift store is a great place to have a secret hideout.

“’Do you remember,’ he went on, ‘writing in your diary ‘Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two equals four?

‘Yes,’ said Winston

O’Brien held up his left hand, its back toward Winston, with the thumb hidden and the four fingers extended.

‘How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?’

‘Four.’

‘And if the Party says that it is not four but five-then how many?’

‘Four.’

The word ended in a gasp of pain. The needle of the dial had shot up to fifty-five….

‘How many finger Winston?’

‘Four.’

The needle went up to sixty…

‘You are a slow learner, Winston,’ said O’Brien gently.

‘How can I help it,’ he blubbered. ‘How can I help what I seeing what is in front of my eyes? Two and two are four.’

‘Sometimes, Winston. Sometimes they are five. Sometimes they are three. Sometimes they are all of them at once. You must try harder. It is not easy to become sane.’”

I think this passage is really profound. I mean, what stops two plus two from being five, really? The Party has the ability to control the past, which means they can make the future whatever they want it to be. If you know, with all your heart, that two plus two equals four, but you can’t prove it, then what good is that? What if everyone around you says it equals five, and they can give you “proof” that it has always been that way, then aren’t you the crazy one? Maybe sanity is whatever the majority says it is.

“Winston, sitting in a blissful dream, paid no attention as his glass was filled up. He was not running or cheering any longer. He was back in the Ministry of Love, with everything forgiven, his soul white as snow… The long hoped-for bullet was entering his brain. He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark mustache! O cruel, needless misunderstanding. O stubborn, self willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.”

This passage was poignant to me. I don’t know why, but I thought good would triumph over evil and somehow Winston and everyone else oppressed by the Party would rise together and rebel. Unfortunately, Winston was caught by the thoughtpolice and broken down, just like everyone else. It was sad, beginning this book with Winston writing “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” in his forbidden journal and ending it with him loving the very person he was willing to do anything to take down. I would’ve thought that the human spirit was stronger, more resilient than that. I was hoping that the experience would make Winston stronger. Instead, it broke him so completely that what was left was not really a person anymore. Just like the rest of the Party citizens.