The Brotherhood's Book

Winston receives a mysterious book that is supposedly written by Goldstein to be the manifest of the Brotherhood. When Winston reads the book, he realizes that it merely restates everything he already knows about the Party. He was expecting to learn a lot of information about the Brotherhood and what it stands for, yet he learns nothing.

            It is then revealed that O’Brien does not work for the Brotherhood, and he instead works for the Ministry of Love. This leads me to believe that the book Winston received was written by the Party for the sole purpose of being a trap. Branching off that theory, I do not believe that the Brotherhood actually exists. I think that the Party invented the Brotherhood and Goldstein to rally a common enemy, just like the hate rallied by the war. I also believe that Goldstein was created to be a scapegoat for the Party and the people. This is shown during Hate Week, when the citizens blame Goldstein for sabotaging them by making them rally against the wrong enemy.

            This theme of invention by the Party makes me question the existence of Big Brother. I do not believe Big Brother actually exists. I think the Party created Big Brother to make the people feel protected and belonging in a community.

            However, the book does go into a great amount of detail about the purpose of the Party. I think the reason the Party goes into so much detail is because they know that Winston will never have the opportunity to share this knowledge with anyone.

            The book particularly emphasizes the class system and doublethink. I think this is because these two ideas are of the utmost importance to the Party. The Inner Party members enjoy the fact that they have a nice home and plentiful amounts of food meanwhile proles are dying of starvation. They are proud of their place in the social hierarchy, and they want to flaunt their wealth. Doublethink is also crucial to the workings of the Party because the citizens are required to think a certain way, even if they know the information is wrong.