In this section of the reading we learn more about what it is that Winston does. Winston gets messages and then needs to go back through the articles in the "Times" and rewrites history in the way that Big Brother wants him to write it. Winston says that his work is his "greatest pleasure"...what is that all about. Winston first says he hates his work because he doesn't agree with it and then he says it is his pleasure. It's quite confusing, but in a way I think that maybe it makes sense. Maybe he is trying to do what everyone else is doing by following Big Brother but when he is going against it maybe that is his way of staying sane with the way the world is supposed to be. He needs to be able to get away from what he is told and do what he thinks is right.
Syme, a writer of the Newspeak dictionary, is introduced to us. He eats lunch with Winston and in a way is his friend. Syme tells Winston of how the dictionary is getting smaller, and smaller. Big Brother is trying to limit the amount of words people are able to speak of so that they will no longer be able to have bad thoughts. I wonder, is everyone expected to read the dictionary in order to know of the certain words they are and are not able to speak or even think of?
At the end of the section Winston speaks of his wife. The first time that we hear of Winston having a wife, and he says that she was under their control. They were unable to have a child so she left. How is it possible to even think in that way. In a way this book kind of reminds me of the movie "The Truman Show" where Jim Carrey lives in a world and in a way, even though he doesn't know, is being controled. His wife doesn't actually love him, everyone is nice to him because they are on TV, and his world is not even an actual world. In a way the book just reminds me of this movie and how you never know who is out there watching...
3 comments:
I thought the same thing about Winston and his love/hate relationship with his job...it kind of makes us appreciate what we have because living in that society, I suppose his job is the only thing that makes him feel like he has worth.
I think he loves his job because he actually understands what is going on with the government and its people, he knows that the history isn't the truth, he knows that history has been altered, whereas the common person is clueless. He knows how to make sure he doesn't get "vaporized" and/or understands that whatever he does affects whether or not he lives.
I thought it was very interesting that Winston was one of the people who change history. In a few instances, we hear how he is unsure of the past, but he is the one who changes it.
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