1984 Quote Analysis

“For the first time he perceived that if you want to keep a secret you must also hide it from yourself.” (Part 3, chapter 4, page 225 Penguin Books edition)

This quote is one of Winston’s many reflections, which he comes up with during his long stay in the custody of the thought police. This quote gives readers a better understanding of how truly efficient and resourceful the party is when it comes to dealing with thought crimes. To me, it is evident that Winston is informing the readers that the party will, in fact, get a hold of your secret before you even see them coming after you. The secret that any citizen of Oceania has will be extracted from them through torture or external forces, such as Mr. Charrington who turned out be a member of the thought police. Winston also explains that the only way to deny the thought police any access to your secret is by not even knowing what is your secret. This further displays the total control that the party has over the citizens of Oceania since the only way to outsmart them is by forgetting why you wish to outsmart them.

I decided to talk about this quote since it further elaborated how the citizens of Oceania, truly have no freedom. The thought police do their job so well that it seems that they are able to read the minds of their citizens without alerting them. I can only assume that such an efficient and almost unreal level of spying is intimidating to not only the citizens of Oceania but the citizens of Eurasia and Eastasia, where the situation is most likely similar.

Please let me know what is your interpretation of this quote and if you have any further details to add to the analysis feel free to write them down in the comments section.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post, enjoy the rest of your day!

Hi Hans!

This was a very good analysis. I completely agree with everything you said in your post. As you said it shows that the citizens Oceania have no freedom. I find it insane how the part has ABSOLUTE control over their citizens. When I realize that in order to be innocent one must have to continuously lie to themselves until they believe their lie or not even know what their being held captive for because the party holds that much evidence, it freaked me out so much.

I have a question for you: How do you think the book would of continued if Winston somehow got to prove and convince the citizens of Oceania that they are being manipulated ?


Have a nice day

Hi Tiziane!

Thank you for your reply.

Your question is very interesting and something that I had not even thought about since I never saw Winston as the type of person to start a revolution. However, I believe that if Winston had kept any sort of evidence that proves that the Party’s manipulation of its citizens, like the photograph of the old Party members who were accused of treason, Winston would have been met with some serious backlash from his fellow citizens. I feel that the Party has done enough to brainwash its citizens into believing only the Party, so I could see Winston trying to convince the others that the Party is lying to them, only to be ignored and mocked by everyone. In the end, I could see Winston ending up in the same place, the ministry of love and later dead since he would most likely be reported by the others or be arrested by the thought police.

If Winston did manage to convince everyone that they were, in fact, being manipulated, I feel that the Party would them be forced to enact some sort of violent counterattack on the citizens. The Party would most likely silence any sort of uproar from the citizens and instigate fear among the citizens who try to revolt or those who want to revolt by committing public executions on the citizens who betray the party.

All in all, I can only see the Party coming out on top of any situation that they encounter. They have so much control over the citizens and all the weaponry in Oceania, that they would most likely win any sort of confrontation with its citizens.

Hi Hans, good analysis, I agree with what you said. I would add that Winston accepted himself as dead when he started to write in his diary knowing that the thought police would enventually get him prooving Ocenia's control over its citizen before they are captured.