1984 Chapter 2-3

2/10/09

"Who controls the past," ran the Party slogan, "controls the future: who controls the present controls the past"(Orwell 34).

This quote is significant because here we get the sense of how the Party has been using false history to control the people. This is saying that whoever controls the past can alter it in which ever way they want to set up the future, and whoever controls the present can set up the past. With the Party sustaining all of the power in the present (1984) they were able to alter the past and inform people of the false history they wanted them to believe; one of dismay, ultimately making the people help the Party fulfill their goals of an ideal society. Because the citizens of Oceania were not and are not able to keep things like Winston's diaries and things of the past, they were not able to recall much of the past, making it easier for the party to emerge this false history.

Stupendous: astonishingly great or large.

Cylindrical: having the shape of a cylinder.