Part one

The book, I feel, is quite grim. It goes into great detail how Winston sees and understands the doings and effects of the party. The way the author describes things, as example ”Two minutes Hate”, are very unsettling.

”The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in. Within thirty seconds any pretence was always unnecessary. A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with a sledge hammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current, turning one even against one's will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic. And yet the rage that one felt was an abstract, undirected emotion which could be switched from one object to another like the flame of a blowlamp. ”

The ways of controlling the population are quite scary, for example the “telescreen” an apparatus that constantly monitors peoples doings in their own homes, and the usage of children as spies on their own parents, and other adults. And then there of course is the thought police, who uncover and punish thought-crime.

In part one, Winston is debating for himself what to write in his diary and whom to write it to, the future, the past or the present. He's thinking about what to write and starts thinking about the two minute of hate, and the persons that sat close to him during the event. O'Brien and the black haired woman, both of whom will be important characters further in the book. He has a feeling that O'Brien, a member of the inner party, is like him. Someone who secretly hates the state, in sense a thought criminal.

Unconsciously, while thinking about things, he writes:

DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER

And he comes to the realization that he already is a dead man, the thought police would get him sooner or later, and what left is to just stay unnoticed for as long as possible.

“On coins, on stamps, on the covers of books, on banners, on posters, and on the wrappings of a cigarette Packet — everywhere. Always the eyes watching you and the voice enveloping you. Asleep or awake, working or eating, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or in bed — no escape. Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters inside your skull. “

Later on, in his sleep, he dreams about his mother and baby sister. How he feels that they sacrificed themselves so that he could live on. And he felt that tragedy belonged to the ancient time, the time before the party. And after waking up he tries to remember things from his childhood, how things were before, and how the party has altered history.

“If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event, it never happened — that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death? “

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed -if all records told the same tale — then the lie passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past,' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.' And yet the past, though of its nature alterable, never had been altered. Whatever was true now was true from everlasting to everlasting. It was quite simple. All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. 'Reality control', they called it: in New-speak, 'doublethink'. “

Doublethink = dubbeltänkande, dubbelspel.            Principle = princip, grund, grundsats.

Entail = medföra, föra, innebära.                             Comrade = kamrat.

Consciousness = medvetande, medvetenhet.        Unorthodox = oortodox, okonventionell.

Mingle = blanda.                                                     Despicable = föraktlig, usel, lumpen.

Childish = barnslig, enfaldig.                                    Scrutinize = noga undersöka, granska

Ulcer = sår, rötsår                                                   Scarlet = scharlakansrött

Alcove = alkov, nisch                                              Polysyllabic = flerstavig, polysyllabisk

Cabbage = kål                                                        Unalterable = oföränderlig

Heretic = kättare.                                                   Cubicle = hytt, skrubb, bås, avbalkning

Pneumatic = pneumatisk, tryckslufts-                       Bugger = sodomit, jävel, fan.