Were things better before

When Winston was questioning the old man in the proles section bar he wanted to know what things were like when the man was younger. The problem was that the old man honestly had no clue whether things were better in the past or not. The reason we learn about history is not only so that we can make sure we don't repeat mistakes, but also to have something to compare the present to. We are able to see if there are better ways of doing something or if people enjoyed their lives more in another time. The problem in 1984 is that Big Brother makes it so that the citizens of Oceania have no way of knowing what happened in the past. They are able to control them so that they have no idea that they are living in a world of no privacy or freedom. They are constantly told that things are better than they used to be but with Big Brother hiding things and changing history to what they want people to think happened nobody really knows if things are better than they were before.

I think the significance of this scene is much more than that. This sypmbolizes Orwell's use of history as a comparison. History has been erased so no one will actually ever know if things were better. Big Brother wants people to only remember since he has been in power and therefore he is better because Big Brother is all they know.