"Victory"

[thanosmario]

In Oceania, the names of many common products are preceded with "Victory" (Victory Cigarettes, Victory Gin, Victory Coffee, etc). I think Orwell is bringing a couple different ideas to the table with this.

One reason that this might be the case is that the Party wants to make their products sound better than they actually are (because the "Victory" products are actually very low quality-the Inner Party gets all of the higher quality goods). This would mean that Orwell is trying to say that in the future, customers may only start to care about the name brand of something, regardless of the actual quality of the product. In my opinion, this is the most valid conclusion, however, there are other possibilities as to what Orwell was insinuating with "Victory."

Another possible reason for this phenomena might be that the Party is trying to evoke the people's sense of nationalism in yet another way (they do this in many other ways as well). By labeling all of their goods with "Victory", they are inspiring the people that they are winning the war, further brainwashing and manipulating them.

Relating to the first point, Orwell may also be trying to make a point on monopolies. He is implying that "Victory" has a monopoly on many goods in Oceania, because there are no other brands to choose from. This would also explain why the quality of "Victory" products is so low, because they completely control the market. There is no competition, so they don't have to put as much effort into improving their product, not to mention they can raise and lower the price however they want also.

Many of the goods in Oceania are labeled "Victory" as a means of showing how dangerous a monopoly can be, and also the power of a name brand. Since "Victory" is the only choice for the consumers, the quality and the price of the product are easily manipulated by the seller. And, even if there were other brands for goods in Oceania, consumers would still choose "Victory" en masse (at least initially), since it's a name brand. Orwell is speaking to the power of the manipulation of the selling of goods with this piece of 1984.

[Celestial Orb]

Interesting post. Is it possible that there is a sadistic motivation behind the idea of selling victuals branded "Victory" to the masses whom have clearly "surrendered"? The Inner Party gets the higher quality goods along with a nice esteem boosting laugh at the expense of the conquered masses... Those arrive at Inner party status due to inate and unbridled sadism... Sadism is the vehicle to power and masochism is the natural counter part.

[bookwyrm12]

I didn't get the sense that it had to do with monopolies because there is no price. There isn't even a company. The "Victory" goods do, however, seem to serve the purpose of propaganda with low-quality items. Similar to a monopoly, it seems to warn more of just one group controlling resources, but also reinforces the theme that a lack of truthful education and past is dangerous.

[Limoncello]

I think that the government have “victory” items because they wanted people,like you said, to inspire the people that they are winning the war. I think that the government may think that labeling items with victory might also make them think or believe that they may be winning a war that they’re actually not. The government could use it in a lot of different ways but I definitely think it was used to inspire people about the war.

[Bnny Rbbt]

It’s also a tie into things done during real wars, Victory gardens for example. A real thing where the US told people to plant there own food to keep goods for the war, it could be a short way of saying “think of the troops” so pople don’t complain over its quality. The good stuff is for the troops! Meanwhile the good stuff is real for the inner party.