The book starts off talking of a man who is walking up the stairs to an apartment where there is another man who is listening to a telescreen and when he notices another person is around he turns it down even though Winston can still hear the words clearly. Then as he is walking down the steps he sees a poster that states: Big Brother is Watching You. This saying has much significance to the story as it goes on.
When Winston is back at his place he is trying to decifer whether or not to write in his journal. Finally he just starts jotting down the first thing that is in his head. When he pauses he is reminded of a story which is the reason he wants to write in his diary. The story takes place earlier that day when her was at work and a meeting or something was taking place and everyone was gathered around in a room with a telescreen and when it came on an enemy to this Big Brother named Goldstein came on and he talked of what he thought was wrong with Big Brother and everyone pretty much freaked out. They screamed and threw things at him, hitting the telescreen, and they shouted their hate towards him even though to him it meant nothing because he was not there to hear it. When Winston stood up he made eye contact with O'Brien and realized that there was someone else who thought the way he did...that Big Brother is not what it seems, it might just be much worse. But the one thing that bugged me is that this Goldstein is saying what he feels is right and using his freedom of speech and preaching to the world but even those who possibly agree with him do not have the guts to speak out themselves, instead they follow what the others are doing and yell about how wrong he is.
Winston goes off in a day dream and when he awakes from it he realizes he has written "Down with Big Brother" which is something that could get him killed but yet he keeps going writing things, bad things, about Big Brother. When there is a knock at the door Winston fears someone has seen what he has written down and he is scared, but he leaves it open anyway and I think it is a gesture toward what he believes in he wants people to know. He's scared but in a way he isn't . He wants to revolt but isn't sure how to. Mrs. Parsons is the one at the door and she needs help with her sink.
The story continues with Winstons day dreaming and I think that this has much importance because it goes into detail about what he believes in and what his thoughts and experiences are which all have much importance for what will happen in the rest of the story.
