Chapter four was an interesting chapter. It was really kind of a day in the life of Winston at work. We have seen a little bit about the people that he works with but not necessarily what he does or how he does it.

We learn that work is Winston’s greatest pleasure, how newspeak is decoded and how you would go about putting it into function. We also hear speculation that people may work on the same items and after submission, the best version might be chosen for use. There is no way to tell exactly.

I suppose that the greatest refining that is done in this chapter is the description of what the propaganda is that Big Brother generates and how it is put into play. Below are the concepts that I drew as the highlights in the chapter.

Double standards – As with many totalitarian societies, the propaganda arm engages in the very activities that it prohibits the members from owning or viewing. The Ministry of Truth is involved in making material for the proles that has severe punishment for party members.

I do not know exactly why that is done. But I could speculate that it possibly brings in cash to the government. Likely, also the higher ups probably have access to the prohibited material and probably enjoy it at their whim. The principle being that control is much more important than actual morality.

The unperson– Individuals that cross the party risk becoming an ‘unperson’. Speculation from Winston is that person is dead rather than becoming reprogrammed. But it also means that all references to that individual are expunged. They sort of disappear through the Newspeak process.

Hero building – Comrade Ogivly– In some cases, it is necessary to to build people up in Newspeak. Interestingly enough, Winston is given some discretion to to create a character with (potentially) false commendations and a romanticized background. He knows enough about the system to carefully craft the hero’s bio because getting too extravagant can cause a lot of extra work and potentially causing Winston problems in turn.

We are getting a good handle on the dreary landscape of Winston’s world. Hero’s are not real, what we see is a made up as an uber caricature of the values of society. Villain’s do not exist other than the fictionalized and amorphous, race representatives. The effects of propaganda are working as all the misinformation leaves people to believe nothing.

For all of you Newspeak fans out there, I leave this today.