The Western canon, as a rule, presents the truth as a value that can almost always triumph over deceit. George Orwell's [1984] takes this convention and violently smashes it in Room 101. The narrative presents the reader with Winston Smith, a man "[alone] in the possession of a memory" (52). He is the only citizen of Oceania who seems to realize the past is literally being rewritten - word by word, day by day - to best suit the needs of The Party. Even worse than this monumental mutilation of the truth by the government is the fact that only Winston is horrified by it. In doing so, Orwell shows that the most dystopian element of [1984] is not its widespread poverty or never-ending war. No, its how the populous is numb to "the mute protest