A few qns here to clarify

1. Why did Goldstein use more Newspeak words than any party member? If he was an invention of the Party, shouldnt he be using Oldspeak instead to remove any doubt of his existence? Is it meant to be ironic?

2. How was the doubt of the reality of Goldstein removed at the sight of the Eurasian Army? Its not very convincing, isnt it?

3. How could there be a link of understanding between Obrien and Winston when Winston did not even know for sure that Obrien said they would meet in the place where there was no darkness? Why would it not matter whether Obrien was friend and foe? He ended up being a foe and torturing Winston.

All qns are from Chapter 1 of the book and are qns I thought of when reading.

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Originally Posted by litnoob

1. Why did Goldstein use more Newspeak words than any party member? If he was an invention of the Party, shouldnt he be using Oldspeak instead to remove any doubt of his existence? Is it meant to be ironic?

2. How was the doubt of the reality of Goldstein removed at the sight of the Eurasian Army? Its not very convincing, isnt it?

3. How could there be a link of understanding between Obrien and Winston when Winston did not even know for sure that Obrien said they would meet in the place where there was no darkness? Why would it not matter whether Obrien was friend and foe? He ended up being a foe and torturing Winston.

All qns are from Chapter 1 of the book and are qns I thought of when reading.

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You'll find most of this is answered later in the book, but the reason Goldstein uses Newspeak is to lose the fluency his speech would have in English. The idea is to ensure that his speech is garbled and uneven; like fingernails on a blackboard, his speech is only to be hated, not listened to.

"DuckspeaK', to give it its Newspeak description, is discussed later on in the book.

2 and 3, you'll clear up further along in the book.

will do. This is my 2nd time reading the book. Need to study for my mid yrs here in Singapore and its in 1 wk time.

Ok!

I'll just expand on the O'Brien/Winston link for you. It was important that Winston saw O'Brien as an ally before he ever met with him. Had W not felt there was some kind of bond, he may not have gone to O'Brien's house; he could possibly have made a run for it to hide amongst the proles.

It does raise an interesting question; was O'Brien "in" W's mind long before the book starts and was that "We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness" implanted in W's mind subliminally? I think it does show this and it goes back to similar discussions as to why the Party would go to such lengths. The main theme behind this is that the Party must know, understand and expunge every trace of unorthodoxy from dissenters and use of mind tricks is a way to make sure nothing is hidden by the arrested person.

Unless O'Brien knew what questions to ask and which unorthodoxy to pursue, a trace may have been left - a situation which is untenable for the Party.

That helps. Thanks.