Idolization In 1984

In 1984 the most insidious aspect was “changing the past” because of the complex ways in which it manipulates the trust of Oceania's people. It creates loss of identity, idolization of big brother and confusion among the citizens of Oceania. When talking about loss of identity, I mean that changing the past creates a lack of understanding of oneself for the people of Oceania. Changing the past causes them to lose who they are, and furthermore, causes others to not recognise them, eliminating trust. When I speak about the idolization of big brother, I'm referring to the ways that the citizens view big brother. I'm talking about how he isn't seen as someone capable of error, how he’s seen as a god. And when I mention confusion, I mean the internal

This quote, which proves this, is from page 57 of the text; “More commonly, people who had incurred the displeasure of the Party simply disappeared and were never heard of again. One never had the smallest clue as to what had happened to them”. In this quote we see one of the major aspects of a dystopian society playing out, and that is loss of identity. During this quote, Winston is doing some thinking while he's at his job, where he gets a special assignment. The assignment, like almost all that Winston does, is to change the wording in newspapers and physical copies of speeches, to make sure the party (or more specifically big brother) never says anything incorrect (politically, socially, ethically, etc). But the only way that this can be done without inconsistencies is by also getting rid of people who say things that contradict the party, or make them look bad. This is where the idea of loss of identity comes in, the party gets rid of people through changing the past. Most of the time we mean loss of identity akin to loss of sense of self, where a person doesn't know who they are anymore. The story takes it to a whole other level by erasing all concepts of the person in the first place, this is known as being an unperson. Changing the past is what creates the concept of an unperson, which represents loss of identity. Not only does that person no longer know who they are (because no one else can live), but there is no longer any record for anyone else that they exist. Changing the past also causes confusion, as the quote addresses. If people “never had the slightest clue what happened to them” as a result of changing the past, isn't that confusing for the people? Changing the past causes confusion among the citizens of Oceania, they don’t trust each other, and they don’t trust themselves. Doing this makes them easier to control, it's hard to start a rebellion if you don't trust anyone, not even