Week 2

Down in the street the wind flapped the torn posted to and fro, ad the word INGSOC fitfully appeared and vanished. Ingsoc. The sacred principles of Ingsoc. Newspeak, doublethink, the mutability of the past. He felt as though he were wandering in the forests of the sea bottom, lost in a monstrous world where he himself was the monster. He was alone. The past was dead, the future was unimaginable. What certainty had he that a single human creature now living was on his side? And what way of knowing that the dominion of the Party would not endure forever? Like an answer, the three slogans on the white face of the Ministry of Truth came back to him: 

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

(pg 26)

The dismal tone of this passage parallels the tone of the entire book thus far. The world that Winston is living in, is a terrifying place, and he has no desire to live. In this passage, Winston's feeling about his lfie really come out through the use of metaphors and rhetorical questions. For example, Winston's feels "as though he were wandering in the forests of the sea bottom." This strong metaphor is followed by the symbol of a monster. The monster represents Winston, and how he is destroying his own life. If Winston were to be like the others, and believe in the Party and Big Brother, he would not dread waking up every day. But because he has his own beliefs and knows the life he is living is not right, he is struggling to make it through life. The rhetorical questions asked, are answered, but in such a vague way. These questions show the reader that they are not the only ones that are confused, but in fact, Winston doesn't really understand how this story of his life, is going to end. The syntactical arrangement of this passage, makes the message that this futuristic life is not worth living, even more clear. For example, Orwell writes a long sentence with the metaphor of a sea monster, and then writes "He was alone." Although this sentence is only 3 words long, those three words add so much to the meaning of this novel.