The Truth Behind Oceania

Winston Smith, the main character in 1984 by George Orwell, is a cog in an oppressive socialist state called Oceania, run by The Party. The first major portion of the story follows Winston as he carries out his daily activities and questions the idea of truth in his society. The premise of the society that has been created is that the figureheads, namely Big Brother, can manipulate society in whatever way they want, and everyone must agree with it or they will be “vaporized.” Winston is employed to edit documents so that Big Brother is always right: “Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong.  Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones” (39). It seems very strange that this society is so obviously fabricating their history. Winston recalls things that occurred earlier that are now not a part of history, and that nobody else in society recognizes as truth: “Even the names of the countries, and their shapes on the map, had been different” (32). This provides Winston with a weird dilemma. He understands that the past is being manipulated, but he struggles with whether or not it matters, and what he should do about it.

Winston’s view on truth gets manipulated throughout the book based on who he meets and what their opinions are. The first major outside opinion that Winston encounters is that of Julia, who doubts many of the aspects of The Party. She denounces the existence of the war, “She startled him by saying casually that in her opinion the war was not happening” (153). While Winston generally doubted the validity of the facts that The Party expressed about the past, he had never doubted the facts about the present state of Oceania. The idea that The Party is directly lying to him is a shocking idea.

Winston gains additional input on the truth from The Book, written by The Brotherhood (the underground resistance movement). The Book claims that, “This day-to-day falsification of the past, carried out by the Ministry of Truth, is as necessary to the stability of the regime as the work of repression and espionage carried out by the Ministry of Love” (213). The Brotherhood solidifies how Winston feels about the manipulation of truth and provides justification. They argue it is a necessary step towards the stability of the state.

The end of this book is wild. Winston is captured by the Ministry of Love, and the philosophy of The Party is explained to him. O’Brien, his torturer and overseer(?), makes the argument that the only way for society to properly function is through the process of “doublethink.” He claims, “‘We, the Party, control all records, and we control all memories. Then we control the past, do we not?’” (248). After serious torture, it seems that Winston’s view on truth rapidly shifts. He starts to agree with the Party on the premise that the “truth” can be manipulated by convincing society of a different idea. The truth is essentially whatever Big Brother dictates.