1984 Q&A

We learn that writing things down for personal use has been outlawed for a significant time and that Winston hasn’t seen a pen in so long that he isn’t quite sure how to do it. Writing has been outlawed because the Party believes that people do not ever need to rely on their memories or their reflections since both of these can be supplied by the Party. The Party needs to control written records since they spend so many of their resources on ensuring that all written records are changed if there is ever any discrepancy in the words of Big Brother.

Winston Smith seems like a reliable narrator throughout most of the book, as he presents a clear and objective view of the reality around him. However, his reliability comes into question when he fails to detect that O’Brien has been trying to entrap him. Winston begins trusting in the fact that O’Brien is a part of the brotherhood because of a dream he has about him. It becomes evident that Winston is rather easy to dupe, as he even fails to search his room in Charrington’s building for the sign of a Telescreen.

The readers learn about the ideology behind Newspeak through Winston’s colleague, Syme, who soon becomes vaporized due to his lack of indiscretion and intelligence. Newspeak tries to convey meaning through a limited number of words that can vary in meaning according to context. The point of reducing the number of words is to limit consciousness. He explains that there would never be a demand for freedom if no such word existed. Newspeak also ensures that the ideas of the previous ages are lost with time, as there would be no one left to read and understand the literature of the past ages.

Winston desperately wants to find a place where he and Julia can be on their own without ever having to worry about being overheard or caught. Charrington tells him that the room had never had a Telescreen because it was too expensive, and since Charrington is a Prole, who isn’t required to have a Telescreen, Winston chooses to believe him.

At first, the Brotherhood seems like an organization that has mounted significant resistance against the rule of the Party, due to the amount of attention the organization is given during Hate time. However, it soon becomes evident that the Brotherhood is a fake organization that is meant to capture the imagination of the secret rebel, and as a means to coax the rebel out into the open. Winston thinks about the Brotherhood often, and he automatically assumes that O’Brien is a member of the organization, without ever trying to discover his true nature. In this way, the Brotherhood proves to be a successful means of finding and accosting rebels.