Nineteen Eighty Four

Section: Book Reports

In some cases, the past is changed to make it look like the Party did even better than they had originally predicted. By controlling what happened in the past, the Party, in the eyes of the public, can do no wrong, and no one will ever question the Party or its laws or any of its actions. If the proles believe what the Party says is happening and what happened, then the Party will control Oceania. The proles´ vision of the future is that of an never ending cycle of birth and death. It seems as if the proles could care less about many important things and be traumatized by trivial things. Winston realizes this when he sees the woman outside of Mr. Charrington´s shop who hangs diapers all day every day. He says, in the . . . court below a monstrous woman, solid as a Norman pillar, with brawny red forearms and a sacking apron strapped about her middle, was stumping to and fro between a washtub and a clothesline, pegging out a series of square white things which Winston recognized as babies´ diapers. Whenever her mouth was not corked with clothes pegs she was singing in powerful contralto: . . . This is a perfect example of how the prole population is suppressed by the Party. The Party published songs for the benefit of the proles, as to keep them right where they wanted, drudging on day after day doing the same thing, and being perfectly content with it. Winston´s view of the future and what it held for him changed throughout the course of the novel. At the beginning, Winston´s general mood is a dismal one. All the descriptions in the beginning are glum and colorless, cold and windy. From the description of him waking up that is given, Winston wrenched his body out of bed . . . it is easy to tell that Winston doesn´t look forward to waking up every morning. His routine is much like that of a prole, except that Winston dreads his daily routine, whereas the proles enjoy their routine. Every day Winston must be woken up and do the Physical Jerks, followed by a mundane day of repetitive work, three meager meals, the Two Minute Hate, and various other forced habits. After the loss of his mother and sister, and the unhappy relationship with his ex-wife Katharine, it is quite obvious that Winston isn´t exactly a happy man and doesn´t have much to look forward to in the beginning of the novel. While Winston is being treated in the Ministry of Love, the vision of the future that he learns to believe in is that of what O´Brien described, Children will be taken from their mothers at birth . . . The sex instinct will be eradicated. Procreation will be an annual formality like the renewal of a ration card. We shall abolish the orgasm. There will be no loyalty, except loyalty toward the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. There will be no art, no literature, no science. When we are omnipotent we shall have no more need of science. According to the beliefs of the Party, this is what a perfect society would be described as. Once Winston is treated, he believes this with no doubt whatsoever, and is content with it.

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