Original artwork, not a still
1984 · 1949
The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The Party's worst demand is that you stop trusting your own senses. The line is quoted when people are told to disbelieve what they plainly saw or heard, from altered records to official denials, and it is the setup for Winston's attempt to hold on to simple facts.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for 1984Show the scene
In Part One, Chapter 7, Winston is writing his diary and thinking of O'Brien, whom he imagines as a reader of it. He reflects that the Party told him to reject the evidence of his eyes and ears, its final and most essential command. His heart sinks at the power arrayed against him and the arguments of any Party intellectual. Yet he decides that he is in the right, and that the obvious, the silly and the true must be defended.
Sources (1)
- Nineteen Eighty-Four, full text (Project Gutenberg Australia)Part One, Chapter 7Reference checked
Context reviewed
