1984 SYMBOLS

Big Brother

• posters showing a man gazing down over the words “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”
• Winston can never determine whether or not he actually exists
• In any case, the face of Big Brother symbolizes the Party in its public manifestation; he is a reassurance to most people (the warmth of his name suggests his ability to protect), but he is also an open threat (one cannot escape his gaze).
• symbolizes the vagueness with which the higher ranks of the Party present themselves—it is impossible to know who really rules Oceania, what life is like for the rulers, or why they act as they do.
• Winston thinks he remembers that Big Brother emerged around 1960, but the Party’s official records date Big Brother’s existence back to 1930, before Winston was even born.

The Glass Paperweight And St. Clement’s Church

• party weakens mems with propaghanda
• nearly impossible for people to question the Party’s power in the present when they accept what the Party tells them about the past
• that the Party arose to protect them from bloated, oppressive capitalists, and that the world was far uglier and harsher before the Party came to power
• He struggles to recover his own memories and formulate a larger picture of what has happened to the world. Winston…