"The Book"

"The Book" is given to Winston by O'Brien. It was written by Goldstein and is entitled: The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism. The book essentially is a detailed and lengthy overview the party's history and how Oceania came to be. Two chapters of the book are entitled after party slogans, they are "war is peace" and ignorance is strength". Winston reads these two chapters while up in Mr. Charrington's shop in chapter nine. These chapters are described in detail by Orwell in 1984. First the social classes are traced as well as the Inner Party, the Outer Party and the proles. It described how Eurasia, Oceania, and Eastasia came to be what they are known as today. Goldstein says in the book that the war never progresses and will remain at a standstill since no one country has a leg up on another. In this way the book does reveal something, it reveals why there is constant war and why the enemy is constantly changing.

Orwell's purpose for the book seems to be to critique his current society, however in the context of the book it does not seem to be worth as much as Winton believes that it is. If anything the book just seems like a ploy to drag Winston increase Winston's curiosity and keep his interest. Although the book seems as if it is a glimmer of hope to Winston, in reality it just seems like it is repeating everything that he had already known and does not seem to have much real value to Winston although he makes himself believe that it does, even though it seems as if he may be disappointed by what little it had to offer him in his search for seemingly non-existent hope and answers to his many questions.