Significance of this quote

[omni29]

“It struck him as curious that you could create dead men but not living ones.”

I don't even understand it. Please help! :)

[jorgis]

“It struck him as curious that you could create dead men but not living ones.”

I don't even understand it. Please help! :)

where is the quote from?


judging by the quote alone, i think it means man has the ability to murder man. we do not have the ability to make sure another man really lives.

hence. create deads ones and not living ones.

[Lokasenna]

It's been a wee while since I read 1984, but if memory serves, then its talking about Winston's job. He creates the fictional biographies of dead heroes for propaganda purposes, who must perforce not exist to qualify their statements.

Part of this also rests on the government's need for constant warfare to maintain a controllable population - it is the fear of death (the creation of the dead men, if you will) that is one of their main tools.

Hope my fuzzy recollections help!

[omni29]

where is the quote from?

It's when Winston has to create a fictional character (Comrade Ogilvy) in order to replace an 'unperson' in an article.

[Leonard_K]

"...you could create dead men but not living ones.”

I dwelled on it some myself when I came across it.

Living men exist in truth and cannot be so easily created. A dead man no longer exists and may be formed to adhere to Party orthodoxy.

It is a singular anomaly in Winston's world that the past is controlled; truth is not 'esse' or 'what is' in the classical way we understand it. Truth, in Winston's world, including in an astonishing way even the physical laws, belong to the Party and are shaped by control of thought. The is also in the meaning of "two plus two equal five"

What is frightening, is that there is indeed a modern politico-intellectual orthodoxy. We see this in that something can be overtly true but nevertheless "politically incorrect."