Friday, September 6, 2019

How is Goldstein's book organized?

Emmanuel Goldstein's book is called The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism. Goldstein opposes the predominant political philosophy of the society in 1984 and uses his book ("The Book") to directly target and challenge key elements of The Party's philosophy.
Chapter 1 of the book is called "Ignorance is Strength." This chapter explains how authoritarianism is being allowed to rise under the conditions imposed upon society by The Party. This chapter tackles issues such as doublethink and newspeak, both key tenets of The Party's philosophy.
Chapter 3 of the book, "War Is Peace," takes another of The Party's slogans as its title and explains how the superstates of the earth came to be. It also explains how the various warring continents came to be in conflict with each other and why The Party is attempting to spin this situation to its advantage.
Chapter 2 of the book refers presumably to the other Party slogan, "Freedom is Slavery," but Orwell does not expound upon this point; Winston does not gain an opportunity to read and describe the remaining parts of Goldstein's book for the purposes of the reader.


In 1984, Goldstein's book is organized into chapters that have titles based on Party slogans. Chapter I of Goldstein's book, for instance, is called "Ignorance is Strength," as we see in part 2, chapter 9. Similarly, Chapter III is called "War is Peace."
The organization of the book is, therefore, significant because it takes a systematic approach to explaining how the Party maintains power over the people of Oceania. Moreover, by using Party slogans as chapter titles, Goldstein not only exposes the contradictions of these slogans but also explains how these contradictions directly benefit the Party and help them to maintain their supremacy.
Unfortunately, Winston is arrested before he has time to read any more than two chapters of Goldstein's book, but this is enough time to understand exactly how the Party controls the people.

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