"1984 (Translated Classics)" Reading Notes

"1984 (Translation Classics)" Reading Notes#

Author: George Orwell
Reading Duration: 4 hours

These are the notes and excerpts I recorded while reading "1984 (Translation Classics)" on WeChat Reading.

Translator's Preface#

Therefore, in Li Si's view, Orwell is primarily a socialist and secondarily an anti-totalitarian. His "struggle against totalitarianism is a necessary result of his socialist beliefs. He believes that only by defeating totalitarianism can socialism possibly triumph."

I have endured a life of poverty and the feeling of failure. This has intensified my innate hatred of authority.

At this time, it seemed to me that being unsuccessful was the only virtue. Self-struggle, even if it brought in a few hundred pounds a year, made me feel that even the slightest thought of it was spiritually ugly and an act of oppression.

I have tasted the life of poverty and the feeling of failure. This has enhanced my innate hatred of authority, making me fully aware of the existence of the working class for the first time, while my work in Burma gave me some understanding of the nature of imperialism. But these experiences were not enough to provide me with a clear political direction.

Totalitarianism has mastered the means of modern political domination, including political organization, social life, tools of public opinion, artistic creation, historical compilation, and even personal thoughts and privacy, all under the comprehensive and strict control of a tangible and intangible "Big Brother" (the English term "Totalitarianism" refers to this, and can also be translated as "comprehensive powerism").

The dangers of totalitarianism ring alarm bells to the world, making everyone see its harmfulness—destruction of ethics, control of thought, deprivation of freedom, strangulation of humanity, fabrication and distortion of history...—how important it is. If it is allowed to run rampant, human society will soon fall into an irretrievable situation.

Therefore, in Li Si's view, Orwell is primarily a socialist and secondarily an anti-totalitarian. His "struggle against totalitarianism is a necessary result of his socialist beliefs. He believes that only by defeating totalitarianism can socialism possibly triumph."

I have endured a life of poverty and the feeling of failure. This has intensified my innate hatred of authority.

At this time, it seemed to me that being unsuccessful was the only virtue. Self-struggle, even if it brought in a few hundred pounds a year, made me feel that even the slightest thought of it was spiritually ugly and an act of oppression.

I have tasted the life of poverty and the feeling of failure. This has enhanced my innate hatred of authority, making me fully aware of the existence of the working class for the first time, while my work in Burma gave me some understanding of the nature of imperialism. But these experiences were not enough to provide me with a clear political direction.

Totalitarianism has mastered the means of modern political domination, including political organization, social life, tools of public opinion, artistic creation, historical compilation, and even personal thoughts and privacy, all under the comprehensive and strict control of a tangible and intangible "Big Brother" (the English term "Totalitarianism" refers to this, and can also be translated as "comprehensive powerism").

The dangers of totalitarianism ring alarm bells to the world, making everyone see its harmfulness—destruction of ethics, control of thought, deprivation of freedom, strangulation of humanity, fabrication and distortion of history...—how important it is. If it is allowed to run rampant, human society will soon fall into an irretrievable situation.

One#

However, the patrols are not frightening; only the thought police are frightening.

You can only live under such assumptions—starting from habits that have become instinctive, you have long lived this way: every sound you make is heard by someone, and every action you take, unless in darkness, is closely observed by someone.

There are only two situations: if the future is the same as the present, then the future will not listen to him; if the future is different from the present, then his situation has no meaning.

This is because she strives to carry a taste of hockey fields, cold baths, collective hikes, and in general, a sense of pure thought. He dislikes almost all women, especially young and beautiful ones. Women, especially young women, are always the most blind supporters of the Party, swallowing slogans whole, acting as duty spies, and inspectors of unorthodox thoughts.

The two minutes of hatred are terrifying not because you must participate in the performance, but because it is impossible to avoid participation. Within thirty seconds, all restraint is unnecessary. A pleasure mixed with fear and a desire for revenge, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash others' faces with a big hammer, seems to flow through this group of people like an electric current, even making you involuntarily turn into a shouting madman. However, the fervent emotion you feel is an abstract, aimless feeling, like the flame of a blowtorch, capable of shifting from one object to another.

This part is a praise of Big Brother's wisdom and greatness, but more so a form of self-hypnosis, consciously numbing one's consciousness with rhythmic noise. Winston felt a chill in his heart. During the two minutes of hatred, he could not help but mumble along with everyone else, but this beastly "B—B! ... B—B!" shouting always filled him with fear. Of course, he shouted along with everyone: it was impossible not to do so. Concealing your true feelings, controlling your facial expressions, doing what everyone else does—this is an instinctive reaction. But for a second or two, the expression in his eyes might have revealed himself.

He has committed— even if he has not written it down on paper, he has still committed—the fundamental crime that encompasses all other crimes. This is called thoughtcrime. Thoughtcrime cannot be hidden for long. You may temporarily evade it, even for years, but they will eventually catch you.

Always at night—arrests always take place at night. Suddenly waking from a dream, a rough hand grips your shoulder, light shines directly into your eyes, and a circle of fierce faces surrounds your bed. In most cases, there is no trial, no report of the arrest; people simply vanish, and it is always at night. Your name is removed from the register, all records of everything you have done are erased, your existence is denied, and then forgotten. You are canceled, erased: the usual term is "vanished."

However, the patrols are not frightening; only the thought police are frightening.

You can only live under such assumptions—starting from habits that have become instinctive, you have long lived this way: every sound you make is heard by someone, and every action you take, unless in darkness, is closely observed by someone.

There are only two situations: if the future is the same as the present, then the future will not listen to him; if the future is different from the present, then his situation has no meaning.

This is because she strives to carry a taste of hockey fields, cold baths, collective hikes, and in general, a sense of pure thought. He dislikes almost all women, especially young and beautiful ones. Women, especially young women, are always the most blind supporters of the Party, swallowing slogans whole, acting as duty spies, and inspectors of unorthodox thoughts.

The two minutes of hatred are terrifying not because you must participate in the performance, but because it is impossible to avoid participation. Within thirty seconds, all restraint is unnecessary. A pleasure mixed with fear and a desire for revenge, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash others' faces with a big hammer, seems to flow through this group of people like an electric current, even making you involuntarily turn into a shouting madman. However, the fervent emotion you feel is an abstract, aimless feeling, like the flame of a blowtorch, capable of shifting from one object to another.

This part is a praise of Big Brother's wisdom and greatness, but more so a form of self-hypnosis, consciously numbing one's consciousness with rhythmic noise. Winston felt a chill in his heart. During the two minutes of hatred, he could not help but mumble along with everyone else, but this beastly "B—B! ... B—B!" shouting always filled him with fear. Of course, he shouted along with everyone: it was impossible not to do so. Concealing your true feelings, controlling your facial expressions, doing what everyone else does—this is an instinctive reaction. But for a second or two, the expression in his eyes might have revealed himself.

He has committed— even if he has not written it down on paper, he has still committed—the fundamental crime that encompasses all other crimes. This is called thoughtcrime. Thoughtcrime cannot be hidden for long. You may temporarily evade it, even for years, but they will eventually catch you.

Always at night—arrests always take place at night. Suddenly waking from a dream, a rough hand grips your shoulder, light shines directly into your eyes, and a circle of fierce faces surrounds your bed. In most cases, there is no trial, no report of the arrest; people simply vanish, and it is always at night. Your name is removed from the register, all records of everything you have done are erased, your existence is denied, and then forgotten. You are canceled, erased: the usual term is "vanished."

Two#

He is a fat-bodied, stupid-minded person, but active in every way, filled with low-level enthusiasm—belonging to those loyal foot soldiers who never ask why, on whom the Party relies to maintain stability, even more than on the thought police.

A bit frightening is that they seem like two little tiger cubs, soon to grow into man-eating beasts.

The worst part is that through organizations like the Young Pioneers, they are systematically turned into uncontrollable little savages, but this does not create any tendency among them to oppose the Party's control. On the contrary, they worship the Party and everything about it. Singing, parading, flags, hiking, wooden gun drills, shouting slogans, worshiping Big Brother—all of this is very entertaining for them.

Aside from a few cubic centimeters in your head, nothing belongs to you.

A monotonous era, a lonely era, an era of Big Brother, an era of doublethink, salute to the future, salute to the past, salute to an era of free thought, where people are different but life is not lonely—salute to an era where truth exists, and what has been done cannot be erased!

He is a fat-bodied, stupid-minded person, but active in every way, filled with low-level enthusiasm—belonging to those loyal foot soldiers who never ask why, on whom the Party relies to maintain stability, even more than on the thought police.

A bit frightening is that they seem like two little tiger cubs, soon to grow into man-eating beasts.

The worst part is that through organizations like the Young Pioneers, they are systematically turned into uncontrollable little savages, but this does not create any tendency among them to oppose the Party's control. On the contrary, they worship the Party and everything about it. Singing, parading, flags, hiking, wooden gun drills, shouting slogans, worshiping Big Brother—all of this is very entertaining for them.

Aside from a few cubic centimeters in your head, nothing belongs to you.

A monotonous era, a lonely era, an era of Big Brother, an era of doublethink, salute to the future, salute to the past, salute to an era of free thought, where people are different but life is not lonely—salute to an era where truth exists, and what has been done cannot be erased!

Three#

He is in the light and air, while they are sucked down to die; they are below because he is above. He knows this reason, and they know this reason; he can see from their faces that they know. There is no reproach in their faces or hearts; they just know that in order for him to live, they must die, and that is the inevitable law of things.

Today there is fear, hatred, and pain, but no dignity of emotion, no deep or complex sorrow.

With this elegant, indifferent posture, she seems to have wiped out the entire culture and thought system, as if Big Brother, the Party, and the thought police could be swept away with a wave of the arm. This posture also belongs to ancient times.

The current enemy always represents the forces of absolute evil, and therefore there can be no possibility of agreement with it, whether in the past or the future.

If the Party can intervene in the past and say that this or that event never happened, then this is certainly more terrifying than mere torture or death.

One of the Party's slogans says, "Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past."

Whatever is correct now will always be correct. It is that simple. All that is needed is to repeatedly and endlessly overcome your own memory. They call this "reality control"; in Newspeak, it is called "doublethink."

Knowing and not knowing, being aware of the entire truth while telling some airtight lies, holding two mutually canceling viewpoints, knowing they contradict each other yet believing both, using logic against logic, professing support for morality while denying morality, believing that democracy is impossible while also believing that the Party is the defender of democracy, forgetting everything that must be forgotten and remembering it when necessary, and then forgetting it again immediately, and especially applying this practice to the practice itself—this is truly brilliant: consciously entering the unconscious and then not realizing the hypnosis you just completed. Even to understand the meaning of "doublethink," you must use doublethink.

If there are no records other than your own memory, how can you be sure of even the most obvious facts?

He is in the light and air, while they are sucked down to die; they are below because he is above. He knows this reason, and they know this reason; he can see from their faces that they know. There is no reproach in their faces or hearts; they just know that in order for him to live, they must die, and that is the inevitable law of things.

Today there is fear, hatred, and pain, but no dignity of emotion, no deep or complex sorrow.

With this elegant, indifferent posture, she seems to have wiped out the entire culture and thought system, as if Big Brother, the Party, and the thought police could be swept away with a wave of the arm. This posture also belongs to ancient times.

The current enemy always represents the forces of absolute evil, and therefore there can be no possibility of agreement with it, whether in the past or the future.

If the Party can intervene in the past and say that this or that event never happened, then this is certainly more terrifying than mere torture or death.

One of the Party's slogans says, "Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past."

Whatever is correct now will always be correct. It is that simple. All that is needed is to repeatedly and endlessly overcome your own memory. They call this "reality control"; in Newspeak, it is called "doublethink."

Knowing and not knowing, being aware of the entire truth while telling some airtight lies, holding two mutually canceling viewpoints, knowing they contradict each other yet believing both, using logic against logic, professing support for morality while denying morality, believing that democracy is impossible while also believing that the Party is the defender of democracy, forgetting everything that must be forgotten and remembering it when necessary, and then forgetting it again immediately, and especially applying this practice to the practice itself—this is truly brilliant: consciously entering the unconscious and then not realizing the hypnosis you just completed. Even to understand the meaning of "doublethink," you must use doublethink.

If there are no records other than your own memory, how can you be sure of even the most obvious facts?

Four#

The Ministry of Truth not only needs to satisfy the Party's various demands but also has to create a whole set of low-level things for the proletariat to enjoy.

It is likely that there are now more than a dozen people separately modifying what Big Brother has said, and in the future, one of the core Party's think tanks will select one version, re-edit it, and then have it repeatedly verified as necessary. After this complex procedure, the final selected lie will be recorded permanently, becoming the truth.

He finds it strange that you can create the dead but cannot create the living. Comrade Ogilvy, who never existed in reality, now exists in the past; once the forgery work is forgotten, he will exist as truly as Charlemagne or Julius Caesar, based on the same evidence.

The Ministry of Truth not only needs to satisfy the Party's various demands but also has to create a whole set of low-level things for the proletariat to enjoy.

It is likely that there are now more than a dozen people separately modifying what Big Brother has said, and in the future, one of the core Party's think tanks will select one version, re-edit it, and then have it repeatedly verified as necessary. After this complex procedure, the final selected lie will be recorded permanently, becoming the truth.

He finds it strange that you can create the dead but cannot create the living. Comrade Ogilvy, who never existed in reality, now exists in the past; once the forgery work is forgotten, he will exist as truly as Charlemagne or Julius Caesar, based on the same evidence.

Five#

However, interacting with certain comrades is more pleasant than with others.

"It was very clean and neat," Syme recalled. "But I think they tied their feet together, which is a pity. I like to see them jumping around with their feet. Especially at the end, when the tongue sticks out, turning blue—very blue. I like to see such little details."

The whole purpose of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? Ultimately, we want to make it so that no one can commit thoughtcrime in practice, because there will be no vocabulary to express it in the future.

Winston looked at the mouth on that eyeless face, busy opening and closing, and felt a strange sensation, thinking that this was not a real person, but a kind of dummy. What was speaking was not that person's brain, but his larynx. What came out, although composed of words, was not real speech, but noise emitted in an unconscious state, like a duck quacking.

It seems that some even parade to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grams a week. He thought to himself that just yesterday it was announced that the ration would be reduced to twenty grams a week. Only twenty-four hours apart, could they forget? Yes, they have indeed forgotten.

However, interacting with certain comrades is more pleasant than with others.

"It was very clean and neat," Syme recalled. "But I think they tied their feet together, which is a pity. I like to see them jumping around with their feet. Especially at the end, when the tongue sticks out, turning blue—very blue. I like to see such little details."

The whole purpose of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? Ultimately, we want to make it so that no one can commit thoughtcrime in practice, because there will be no vocabulary to express it in the future.

Winston looked at the mouth on that eyeless face, busy opening and closing, and felt a strange sensation, thinking that this was not a real person, but a kind of dummy. What was speaking was not that person's brain, but his larynx. What came out, although composed of words, was not real speech, but noise emitted in an unconscious state, like a duck quacking.

It seems that some even parade to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grams a week. He thought to himself that just yesterday it was announced that the ration would be reduced to twenty grams a week. Only twenty-four hours apart, could they forget? Yes, they have indeed forgotten.

Six#

He thought to himself that your greatest enemy is your own nervous system. The tension within you can leak out at any moment through an obvious symptom.

The Party strives to suppress the sexual instinct; if it cannot be suppressed, it must be made abnormal and dirty.

Rather than saying he wants a woman to love him, he would rather say he wants to break down that wall of chastity, even if only once in his life. Satisfactory intercourse is, in itself, rebellion. Sexual desire is thoughtcrime.

He thought to himself that your greatest enemy is your own nervous system. The tension within you can leak out at any moment through an obvious symptom.

The Party strives to suppress the sexual instinct; if it cannot be suppressed, it must be made abnormal and dirty.

Rather than saying he wants a woman to love him, he would rather say he wants to break down that wall of chastity, even if only once in his life. Satisfactory intercourse is, in itself, rebellion. Sexual desire is thoughtcrime.

Seven#

They will never rebel until they become aware; they will not become aware until they rebel.

Everything has disappeared into the fog. The past has been erased, and the erasure itself has been forgotten, and lies have become the truth.

Under the shade of the chestnut tree, I betrayed you, you betrayed me; they lie there, we lie here, under the shade of the chestnut tree.

Their philosophy not only implicitly denies the validity of experience but also denies the existence of objective reality. Common sense has become the heresy of all heresies. What is terrifying is not that they will kill you because you do not think so; what is terrifying is that they may be right.

If the past and the objective world exist only in consciousness, and consciousness can be controlled—what then?

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two equals four. Once you accept that, everything else follows.

They will never rebel until they become aware; they will not become aware until they rebel.

Everything has disappeared into the fog. The past has been erased, and the erasure itself has been forgotten, and lies have become the truth.

Under the shade of the chestnut tree, I betrayed you, you betrayed me; they lie there, we lie here, under the shade of the chestnut tree.

Their philosophy not only implicitly denies the validity of experience but also denies the existence of objective reality. Common sense has become the heresy of all heresies. What is terrifying is not that they will kill you because you do not think so; what is terrifying is that they may be right.

If the past and the objective world exist only in consciousness, and consciousness can be controlled—what then?

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two equals four. Once you accept that, everything else follows.

Eight#

We can only see from books, and what is said in books may not be true. I would really like to hear you talk about it. History books say that life before the revolution was very different from now.

They are like ants, able to see small things but not the big ones. In a situation where memories are absent and written records have been altered and forged, the Party claims it has improved the people's lives, and you must believe it, because there is no measurable standard that exists or will ever exist.

There is no dark place that is an imagined future; you will never see it, only mysteriously share it due to foresight.

We can only see from books, and what is said in books may not be true. I would really like to hear you talk about it. History books say that life before the revolution was very different from now.

They are like ants, able to see small things but not the big ones. In a situation where memories are absent and written records have been altered and forged, the Party claims it has improved the people's lives, and you must believe it, because there is no measurable standard that exists or will ever exist.

There is no dark place that is an imagined future; you will never see it, only mysteriously share it due to foresight.

One#

As for writing to her through the post office, that is simply impossible. Because all letters must be checked during the mailing process, this necessary procedure is no secret. In fact, very few people write letters. Sometimes, when it is absolutely necessary to convey information, they use printed postcards, which have a long list of ready-made phrases; you just need to cross out the ones that do not apply. Anyway, he does not even know the girl's name, let alone her address.

Two#

It is not just a person's love, but the animal instinct, simple and indiscriminate desire: this is the power that can bring down the Party.

But now there is no pure love or pure desire. No feeling is pure because everything is mixed with fear and hatred. Their embrace is a battle, the climax is a victory. This is a blow to the Party. This is a political act.

It is not just a person's love, but the animal instinct, simple and indiscriminate desire: this is the power that can bring down the Party.

But now there is no pure love or pure desire. No feeling is pure because everything is mixed with fear and hatred. Their embrace is a battle, the climax is a victory. This is a blow to the Party. This is a political act.

Three#

A man's sexual instinct is harder to control than a woman's, and therefore more likely to be corrupted by the obscene works they create themselves.

What a smart person should do is break its rules without endangering your life. He vaguely thinks that among the younger generation, there are countless people like her. This generation has grown up in a post-revolutionary world, knowing no other world, viewing the Party as something eternal, like the sky above, never rebelling against its authority, only trying to evade it in every possible way, like a rabbit dodging a hunting dog.

This is simply because the sexual instinct creates its own realm, which the Party cannot control, and therefore must be destroyed as much as possible. It is especially important that the deprivation of sexual life can cause hysteria, and this is a good thing because it can be transformed into war frenzy and leader worship.

She does not understand that there is no such thing as happiness in the world; the only victory lies in the distant future long after you have died, and from the moment you declare war on the Party, it is best to consider yourself a corpse.

A man's sexual instinct is harder to control than a woman's, and therefore more likely to be corrupted by the obscene works they create themselves.

What a smart person should do is break its rules without endangering your life. He vaguely thinks that among the younger generation, there are countless people like her. This generation has grown up in a post-revolutionary world, knowing no other world, viewing the Party as something eternal, like the sky above, never rebelling against its authority, only trying to evade it in every possible way, like a rabbit dodging a hunting dog.

This is simply because the sexual instinct creates its own realm, which the Party cannot control, and therefore must be destroyed as much as possible. It is especially important that the deprivation of sexual life can cause hysteria, and this is a good thing because it can be transformed into war frenzy and leader worship.

She does not understand that there is no such thing as happiness in the world; the only victory lies in the distant future long after you have died, and from the moment you declare war on the Party, it is best to consider yourself a corpse.

Five#

One day at a time, one week at a time; although there is no future, one still tries to prolong the present time, which seems to be an uncontrollable instinct, just like as long as there is air, human lungs must breathe.

She did not feel the abyss opening beneath her feet when she thought that lies had become truth.

It can be said that the Party has successfully instilled its worldview in those who lack understanding. The most obvious violations of reality can convince them because they never understand how absurd the demands on them are, as they have no interest in major social issues and never pay attention to what is happening. It is precisely due to their lack of understanding that they do not go insane. They swallow everything whole, and what they swallow does not harm them because there are no residues left, just like a corn kernel passing through a bird's body without digestion.

One day at a time, one week at a time; although there is no future, one still tries to prolong the present time, which seems to be an uncontrollable instinct, just like as long as there is air, human lungs must breathe.

She did not feel the abyss opening beneath her feet when she thought that lies had become truth.

It can be said that the Party has successfully instilled its worldview in those who lack understanding. The most obvious violations of reality can convince them because they never understand how absurd the demands on them are, as they have no interest in major social issues and never pay attention to what is happening. It is precisely due to their lack of understanding that they do not go insane. They swallow everything whole, and what they swallow does not harm them because there are no residues left, just like a corn kernel passing through a bird's body without digestion.

Seven#

If you love someone, you love him; when you have nothing else to give him, you still give him your love. When the last piece of chocolate is taken away, he is holding a child in his mother's arms. This does not help, it does not change anything, it cannot create a piece of chocolate, nor can it save that child or herself from death; but she still holds her, as if this is very natural. The woman escaping on that sinking ship also protects her child with her arm, which is as thin as a piece of paper, unable to withstand bullets. What is terrifying is that what the Party does is make you believe that mere impulse, mere love and hate have no meaning, but at the same time strip you of all power to control the material world.

If you feel that maintaining humanity is worthwhile, even if it cannot have any results, you have already defeated them.

If you love someone, you love him; when you have nothing else to give him, you still give him your love. When the last piece of chocolate is taken away, he is holding a child in his mother's arms. This does not help, it does not change anything, it cannot create a piece of chocolate, nor can it save that child or herself from death; but she still holds her, as if this is very natural. The woman escaping on that sinking ship also protects her child with her arm, which is as thin as a piece of paper, unable to withstand bullets. What is terrifying is that what the Party does is make you believe that mere impulse, mere love and hate have no meaning, but at the same time strip you of all power to control the material world.

If you feel that maintaining humanity is worthwhile, even if it cannot have any results, you have already defeated them.

Eight#

We are the dead. Our only real life is in the future. We will participate in future life as a handful of yellow earth, a few dry bones. But how far away that future is from now, no one knows. It could be a thousand years.

Nine#

The important purpose of modern warfare (according to the principles of doublethink, the guiding think tank in the core Party both acknowledges and denies this) is to use up the products of machines without raising the general standard of living.

If everyone can enjoy leisure and life security, the vast majority of people who were originally ignorant due to poverty will learn culture and think independently; once they do this, they will eventually realize that the privileged minority is useless, and they will sweep them away. In the long run, a hierarchical society can only exist on the basis of poverty and ignorance.

If he has the opportunity to come into contact with foreigners, he will find that foreigners are also human beings just like himself; most of what he hears about foreigners is lies. The closed world he lives in will be broken, and the fears, hatreds, and self-righteousness that his spirit relies on will vanish.

Inefficient nations will eventually be conquered; to improve efficiency, there can be no illusions.

War is conducted by a ruling group against its own people; the purpose of war is not to conquer foreign territory or defend one's own territory, but to maintain the social structure intact.

The goal of the upper class is to maintain their status. The goal of the middle class is to exchange status with the upper class. The characteristic of the lower class is that they are always too busy to look around, occasionally paying attention to matters outside of daily life; therefore, if they have goals, they are merely to eliminate all differences and establish a society where everyone is equal.

The key to an oligarchy is not hereditary succession but a worldview imposed on the living by the dead, a continuation of a way of life. A ruling group is a ruling group as long as it can designate its successor. The Party is not concerned with maintaining bloodlines but with maintaining the eternal existence of the Party itself. Who holds power does not matter, as long as the hierarchical structure remains unchanged.

For Party members, this means that when the Party's discipline requires you to say black is white, you have such conscious loyalty. But it also means the ability to believe that black is white, even knowing that black is white and forgetting that you once had the opposite understanding. This requires constant alteration of the past, and to alter the past, only that method of thought which actually includes all other methods can do so; this is called doublethink in Newspeak.

The past does not exist objectively; it exists only in written records and human memories.

Because the secret of domination is to combine the ability to believe in one's own consistent correctness with the ability to learn from past mistakes.

The Ministry of Peace is responsible for war, the Ministry of Truth is responsible for lies, the Ministry of Love is responsible for torture, and the Ministry of Plenty is responsible for hunger.

Where there is truth, there is untruth; if you adhere to the truth, even if the whole world disagrees with you, you are not insane.

The important purpose of modern warfare (according to the principles of doublethink, the guiding think tank in the core Party both acknowledges and denies this) is to use up the products of machines without raising the general standard of living.

If everyone can enjoy leisure and life security, the vast majority of people who were originally ignorant due to poverty will learn culture and think independently; once they do this, they will eventually realize that the privileged minority is useless, and they will sweep them away. In the long run, a hierarchical society can only exist on the basis of poverty and ignorance.

If he has the opportunity to come into contact with foreigners, he will find that foreigners are also human beings just like himself; most of what he hears about foreigners is lies. The closed world he lives in will be broken, and the fears, hatreds, and self-righteousness that his spirit relies on will vanish.

Inefficient nations will eventually be conquered; to improve efficiency, there can be no illusions.

War is conducted by a ruling group against its own people; the purpose of war is not to conquer foreign territory or defend one's own territory, but to maintain the social structure intact.

The goal of the upper class is to maintain their status. The goal of the middle class is to exchange status with the upper class. The characteristic of the lower class is that they are always too busy to look around, occasionally paying attention to matters outside of daily life; therefore, if they have goals, they are merely to eliminate all differences and establish a society where everyone is equal.

The key to an oligarchy is not hereditary succession but a worldview imposed on the living by the dead, a continuation of a way of life. A ruling group is a ruling group as long as it can designate its successor. The Party is not concerned with maintaining bloodlines but with maintaining the eternal existence of the Party itself. Who holds power does not matter, as long as the hierarchical structure remains unchanged.

For Party members, this means that when the Party's discipline requires you to say black is white, you have such conscious loyalty. But it also means the ability to believe that black is white, even knowing that black is white and forgetting that you once had the opposite understanding. This requires constant alteration of the past, and to alter the past, only that method of thought which actually includes all other methods can do so; this is called doublethink in Newspeak.

The past does not exist objectively; it exists only in written records and human memories.

Because the secret of domination is to combine the ability to believe in one's own consistent correctness with the ability to learn from past mistakes.

The Ministry of Peace is responsible for war, the Ministry of Truth is responsible for lies, the Ministry of Love is responsible for torture, and the Ministry of Plenty is responsible for hunger.

Where there is truth, there is untruth; if you adhere to the truth, even if the whole world disagrees with you, you are not insane.

Ten#

You are the dead; the future is theirs. But if you can maintain the life of your mind as they maintain the life of their bodies, passing down the secret doctrine that two plus two equals four from generation to generation, you can share in their future.

One#

Down with Big Brother

Two#

Their truly powerful weapon is the relentless interrogation hour after hour, making him slip up, trapping him, distorting every word he says, seizing on every lie and every contradiction until he cries, not so much out of shame as from mental exhaustion.

Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.

Before publicly trialing the victims, they deliberately undermine their dignity. They use severe torture, solitary confinement, and torment them into becoming pitiful creatures begging for mercy, willing to confess to any crime, to insult themselves, to attack others.

We are not satisfied with passive obedience; we do not want even the most servile obedience. Your final surrender must come from your own free will. We do not destroy heretics because they resist us; as long as they resist for one day, we do not destroy them. We want to transform them, win their hearts, and make them reborn. We want to burn away all their evil thoughts and illusions; we want to win them over to our side, not just outwardly, but sincerely and wholeheartedly stand with us. We will transform them into our people before we kill them. We cannot allow there to be a place in the world, no matter how hidden or ineffective, where a wrong thought exists. Even in death, we will not allow any deviation from orthodox thought.

Their truly powerful weapon is the relentless interrogation hour after hour, making him slip up, trapping him, distorting every word he says, seizing on every lie and every contradiction until he cries, not so much out of shame as from mental exhaustion.

Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.

Before publicly trialing the victims, they deliberately undermine their dignity. They use severe torture, solitary confinement, and torment them into becoming pitiful creatures begging for mercy, willing to confess to any crime, to insult themselves, to attack others.

We are not satisfied with passive obedience; we do not want even the most servile obedience. Your final surrender must come from your own free will. We do not destroy heretics because they resist us; as long as they resist for one day, we do not destroy them. We want to transform them, win their hearts, and make them reborn. We want to burn away all their evil thoughts and illusions; we want to win them over to our side, not just outwardly, but sincerely and wholeheartedly stand with us. We will transform them into our people before we kill them. We cannot allow there to be a place in the world, no matter how hidden or ineffective, where a wrong thought exists. Even in death, we will not allow any deviation from orthodox thought.

Three#

It seeks power because the masses are weak, cowardly creatures who neither know how to use freedom nor face the truth, and must be ruled by stronger people who engage in planned deception. The choice before humanity is freedom or happiness; for most people, choosing happiness is better. The Party is the eternal guardian of the weak, a faction that commits evil to bring about good, sacrificing its own happiness for the happiness of others.

For such a madman, he is smarter than you; he calmly listens to your arguments but still insists on his madness. What can you do?

We understand very well that no one seizes power in order to abolish power. Power is not a means; power is an end. The establishment of a dictatorship is not to defend the revolution; rather, the revolution is carried out to establish a dictatorship. The purpose of persecution is persecution. The purpose of torture is torture. The purpose of power is power.

Have you ever thought that this slogan can be reversed? Slavery is freedom. A person alone and free is always defeated. It must be so because everyone must die; this is the greatest failure. But if he can completely and absolutely obey, if he can rid himself of personal existence, if he can merge with the Party and become the Party, then he is omnipotent, eternally immortal.

Power lies in causing pain and humiliation to people. Power lies in tearing human thought to shreds and then reassembling it in the way you choose.

"Because it is impossible to build civilization on fear, hatred, and cruelty. Such civilization can never last." "Why not?" "It will lack vitality. It will fall apart. It will self-destruct."

It seeks power because the masses are weak, cowardly creatures who neither know how to use freedom nor face the truth, and must be ruled by stronger people who engage in planned deception. The choice before humanity is freedom or happiness; for most people, choosing happiness is better. The Party is the eternal guardian of the weak, a faction that commits evil to bring about good, sacrificing its own happiness for the happiness of others.

For such a madman, he is smarter than you; he calmly listens to your arguments but still insists on his madness. What can you do?

We understand very well that no one seizes power in order to abolish power. Power is not a means; power is an end. The establishment of a dictatorship is not to defend the revolution; rather, the revolution is carried out to establish a dictatorship. The purpose of persecution is persecution. The purpose of torture is torture. The purpose of power is power.

Have you ever thought that this slogan can be reversed? Slavery is freedom. A person alone and free is always defeated. It must be so because everyone must die; this is the greatest failure. But if he can completely and absolutely obey, if he can rid himself of personal existence, if he can merge with the Party and become the Party, then he is omnipotent, eternally immortal.

Power lies in causing pain and humiliation to people. Power lies in tearing human thought to shreds and then reassembling it in the way you choose.

"Because it is impossible to build civilization on fear, hatred, and cruelty. Such civilization can never last." "Why not?" "It will lack vitality. It will fall apart. It will self-destruct."

Four#

He obeys the Party, but he still hates the Party. In the past, he hid heretical thoughts beneath the surface of obedience. Now he has taken a step back; he has surrendered in thought but wants to keep his inner self intact.

To hate them and die, that is freedom.

He obeys the Party, but he still hates the Party. In the past, he hid heretical thoughts beneath the surface of obedience. Now he has taken a step back; he has surrendered in thought but wants to keep his inner self intact.

To hate them and die, that is freedom.

Six#

There are some things that your own actions cannot be undone. Something in your heart has already been strangled, burned, corroded away.

"Sometimes," she said, "they threaten you with something you cannot bear, and you cannot even think about it. So you say, 'Don't do this to me, do it to someone else, to so-and-so.' Later you might pretend that this is just a tactic, that you said this to make them stop, but that is not true. At that moment, you really meant it. You thought there was no other way to save yourself, so you were very willing to use this method to save yourself. You really wanted this to happen to another person. Whether he can bear it or not, you do not care at all. You only care about yourself."

Under the shade of the chestnut tree; I betrayed you, you betrayed me—

This is because the discussion about what the issues they are discussing is has led to increasingly complex and profound debates, nitpicking definitions, and wandering off-topic, arguing to the point of even threatening to consult superiors. But suddenly, they deflated, and so they sat around the table, staring blankly at each other, much like the ghosts that vanish when the rooster crows.

He looked up at that massive face. It took him forty years to understand what the smile behind that black beard looked like. Oh, the cruel, unnecessary misunderstanding! Oh, the stubborn, unyielding exile from a loving heart! Tears flowed down his nose, tinged with the smell of alcohol. But it was nothing; everything was fine, the struggle was over. He had conquered himself. He loved Big Brother.

There are some things that your own actions cannot be undone. Something in your heart has already been strangled, burned, corroded away.

"Sometimes," she said, "they threaten you with something you cannot bear, and you cannot even think about it. So you say, 'Don't do this to me, do it to someone else, to so-and-so.' Later you might pretend that this is just a tactic, that you said this to make them stop, but that is not true. At that moment, you really meant it. You thought there was no other way to save yourself, so you were very willing to use this method to save yourself. You really wanted this to happen to another person. Whether he can bear it or not, you do not care at all. You only care about yourself."

Under the shade of the chestnut tree; I betrayed you, you betrayed me—

This is because the discussion about what the issues they are discussing is has led to increasingly complex and profound debates, nitpicking definitions, and wandering off-topic, arguing to the point of even threatening to consult superiors. But suddenly, they deflated, and so they sat around the table, staring blankly at each other, much like the ghosts that vanish when the rooster crows.

He looked up at that massive face. It took him forty years to understand what the smile behind that black beard looked like. Oh, the cruel, unnecessary misunderstanding! Oh, the stubborn, unyielding exile from a loving heart! Tears flowed down his nose, tinged with the smell of alcohol. But it was nothing; everything was fine, the struggle was over. He had conquered himself. He loved Big Brother.

Appendix: Principles of Newspeak#

The purpose of Newspeak is not to expand but to narrow the range of thought, reducing the choice of words to a minimum, indirectly helping this purpose.

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