1984: Book 1, Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis

In the canteen at lunch, Winston talks with Syme, a linguist who is working on the Eleventh Edition of the Newspeak dictionary. Winston suspects that Syme, despite his political orthodoxy, will one day be arrested by the Thought Police because he's simply too intelligent. Drinking Victory Gin, they talk about the Eleventh Edition, which will be definitive, and much shorter than previous dictionaries. Syme believes the "destruction of words" is a beautiful thing, saying enthusiastically that thoughtcrime will eventually be impossible because there will be no words with which to express disloyal thoughts. The Revolution, he says, will then be complete.

Winston becomes aware of a man speaking to a girl at a table to his left in a quacking voice. Syme tells him that there is a word in Newspeak, duckspeak, that refers to propagandistic speech uttered almost unconsciously. "Orthodoxy is unconsciousness," Winston thinks.

Parsons, Winston's pudgy, sweaty neighbor, sits down at their table. Syme studies a column of words on a scrap of paper while Parsons demands a donation for Hate Week from Winston. Parsons proudly relates that his daughter followed and then reported a suspicious man to the patrols.

The telescreen announces that the standard of living in Oceania has gone up by 20 percent, and reports that people are demonstrating in the streets in gratitude to Big Brother for having raised the chocolate ration. Winston is appalled that doublethink has made it possible for people to swallow obvious lies: No one has enough to eat, there are shortages of clothing and cigarettes, the buildings are all dilapidated and underheated, and the Party actually reduced the chocolate ration just the day before.

As the quacking voice of the man at the next table continues, Winston thinks to himself that Mrs. Parsons will one day be denounced by her children and vaporized, and that Syme, himself and even O'Brien will be vaporized, but not Parsons, the quacking man or the dark-haired girl from the Fiction Department. He realizes that it is she who is sitting across from the quacking man and that she is staring at him, Winston. He is terrified and worries that he has committed facecrime, the wearing of an expression that betrays feelings disloyal to the Party. A whistle blows and all return to work.