What role does Big Brother or Emmanuel Goldstein have in the book? Do they exist? Must they exist? How do they affect Winston? Is Winston’s obsession with Big Brother really the same as his obsession with Goldstein?
So someone somewhere said that one who controls the past also control the present, and therefore, the future. True, or not so true? What role does memory play in an accurate account of history? Can history ever be objective, after all?
Winston says at one point that he “understands the how, but not the why” behind the Party. This is before he is apprehended, tortured, and converted. At any point during this marathon of unfortunate events does he get to know the why? Do we, the readers, get to know the why? If so, what is it?
