DJ for Book 3 Chapters 4-6

“He would have to start all over again. It might take years. He ran a hand over his face, trying to familiarize himself with the new shape. There were deep furrows in the cheeks, the cheekbones felt sharp, the nose flattened. Besides, since last seeing himself in the glass he had been given a complete new set of teeth. It was not easy to preserve inscrutability when you did not know what your face looked like. In any case, mere control of the features was not enough. For the first time he perceived that if you want to keep a secret you must also hide it from yourself. You must know all the while that it is there, but until it is needed you must never let it emerge into your consciousness in any shape that could be given a name. From now onwards he must not only think right; he must feel right, dream right. And all the while he must keep his hatred locked up inside him like a ball of matter which was part of himself and yet unconnected with the rest of him, a kind of cyst” (229).

In this passage we see how people who are tortured become and are put back in the world. Winston thinks of how is life will be like when he is returned to society. Being put back into the real world means having your life reset. The beatings from the guards and the repairs to Winston’s face by the medical team in Ministry of Truth have almost gave him a new look. All of what he learned and the secrets he knows of will have to be kept inside of him. You can only let these thoughts exist in your mind and can never leave your mouth. Now he must make sure when he appears to be a loyal citizen from now on by thinking right, but also feeling and dreaming right, but yet holding on to the hate so that he’ll never forget who he really is.

I found this type of thinking to be similar to the lifestyle of World War II Germany. During the time of the Hitler’s rule, the german citizens conformed and helped with the war effort against the Allies. Many of the German people were moved by Hitler and his speeches but knew something seemed wrong. The mass killing of Jews caused the some people of Germany to feel disgusted with the way things were ruled but they knew they had to conform and follow Hitler so they would not be arrested or killed. In many ways, the same threats work on the people of Oceania and I feel that in this passage, we see that likely everyone has some form of hate for the party deep down inside of them that helps them from being complete slaves to the party.

The new face and chance at life for people in Oceania is a reset for them but it just causes them to pretend to be more loyal and be a lot more cautious of their surrounding. When you're put back in the real world, the party will be watching and surveying you more than ever before and one slip up in showing loyalty to the party, could mean your life.