Chapters 2-4

Chapters 2-4 Analysis: 

Winston’s quick interaction with Mrs. Parsons’s children hinted at the idea of what the future generation would be like in this world. He was afraid of how much faith and undying loyalty the children had for Big Brother and the Party, creating more information-fed, brainwashed members. Winston is beginning to realize how long he has truly feared the Party in these chapters and worries about how big of a grip their hand of power has on the world. His guilt starts to consume him so much that he feels it even in his subconscious during his dreams. We find that Winston is old enough in age that he was able to witness a part of his early life when Big Brother and the Party weren't created yet. As Winston recalls bits and pieces of his past while in his dreams, the reader is able to understand a bit more of Oceania’s history and that the world was not always so gruesome. In a way, it seems that he truly never woke up from these dreams as their themes and questions began to haunt him for the duration of the book. Winston understands that he is already a dead man for committing treason with his diary, so he decides since it doesn’t matter, to stay alive as long as he possibly can. Then we move into Winston’s work life and truly see how manipulative the Party is as he has to update and change records so that they match what information the Party is feeding to its civilians. Winston’s faith in the Party begins to quiver even more as he feels stuck on a massive question: if there is no proof, then how do you know what is truly real or not?