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Nineteen Eighty-Four (aka 1984)
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Orwell's claim is that every other liberty depends on the right to state an obvious fact when the state insists otherwise. The sentence is Winston's private act of rebellion, and the novel's last third tests it, since a regime that can make two plus two equal five has nothing left to fear. Today it is quoted whenever someone defends plain truth against official spin, and '2 + 2 = 5' is its dark twin.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Nineteen Eighty-Four (aka 1984)Show the scene
In Part One, Chapter 7 of Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), Winston Smith, who rewrites history for the Ministry of Truth, sits at his secret diary after wondering whether any hope lies in the proles, the 85 per cent of the population the Party ignores. He writes that freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four, and that if this is granted, all else follows. Later the Thought Police catch him, and he ends up imprisoned in the Ministry of Love, where the Party's own arithmetic, 2 + 2 = 5, becomes the book's best-known phrase.
Sources (2)
- Wikiquote: Nineteen Eighty-FourChapter 7Reference checked
- Wikipedia: Nineteen Eighty-FourPlot summaryReference checked
Context reviewed
