1984: Flashbacks 2 key examples

Throughout the novel, dreams and memories share this hazy and dim quality. Winston has no one in his life to talk about the past with, and certainly no life witnesses from before the Revolution. He is alone to piece together both his personal history and the public history of the country.

These reflections lead into one of Winston's earliest memories, as the narrator recounts his flashback to an air raid a few decades before. The air raid felt significant to Winston and thus cemented itself as a memory because it "appeared to take everyone by surprise." Through this detail, Winston is able to surmise that, whereas his country appears to be in a perpetual state of war today, "there had been a fairly long interval of peace in his childhood." 

He did not remember the raid itself, but he did remember his father's hand clutching his own as they hurried down, down, down into some place deep in the earth, round and round a spiral staircase which rang under his feet and which finally so wearied his legs that he began whimpering and they had to stop and rest.

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This flashback continues for over a page, providing gripping fragments from a tragedy in which a family and community gather together in shared hopelessness and fear. The presence of Winston's parents within the flashback, as represented by the clutched hands of father and son, contrast sharply with Winston's solitariness as he recalls the memory. Although the flashback is marked by a sorrowful mood, it nevertheless depicts multiple people coming together and experiencing the sorrow collectively. In the world Winston lives in now, community and compassion have ceased to exist. While the totalitarian government claims to act in the interest of the collective, it has created a world of distrust and isolation.   

Passages that include flashbacks shed light on the difficulty, shame, and loneliness of remembering alone. Winston is frustrated and saddened by the dimness of his memories. Thus, Orwell shows that community is central to the recounting of history. It is when many people come together to tell their stories that it is possible to form a comprehensive understanding of the past.

In the second chapter of the first book, the telescreen announces that "from next week, the chocolate ration would be reduced from thirty grams to twenty." Through this, chocolate is right away associated with scarcity and unavailability. While chocolate often symbolizes everyday luxury, it is equally bound up with deprivation and a decreasing quality of life.

The chocolate ration also appears in Winston's work, as he is given the task to "set right" the "error" in a prior announcement made by the Ministry of Plenty—that there would be "no reduction of the chocolate ration during 1984."  In a move that perfectly encapsulates his job description, Winston substitutes the original promise "with a warning that it would probably be necessary to reduce the ration at some time in April."

Later, in the fifth chapter of the first part, the telescreen announces that "there had been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grams a week." This prompts Winston to wonder whether anyone else in the canteen remembers the announcement on the news the night before:

And only yesterday, he reflected, it had been announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grams a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it.

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For Winston and the reader, the changed chocolate ration is a sign of discernment and awareness. He remembers the news from the evening before, he is aware of the change to the original promise, and he notices the inconsistency of the celebratory demonstrations. Yet, the changed ration simultaneously represents the ignorance of doublethink. The people around him don't seem to care. Ultimately, it doesn't seem to matter whether anyone else realizes that the chocolate ration has gone down rather than up. As long as the Party controls the narrative, people's memories and opinions are meaningless.

Chocolate is also bound up with the forbidden, passionate affair between Winston and Julia. The first time they meet in private, in the second chapter of the second book, she brings chocolate from the black market.

Even before he had taken it he knew by the smell that it was very unusual chocolate. It was dark and shiny, and was wrapped in silver paper. Chocolate normally was dull-brown crumbly stuff that tasted, as nearly as one could describe it, like the smoke of a rubbish fire. But at some time or another he had tasted chocolate like the piece she had given him. The first whiff of its scent had stirred up some memory which he could not pin down, but which was powerful and troubling.

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On the one hand, Julia's real chocolate is decadent and delightful. On the other hand, the chocolate gives rise to a negatively loaded memory, which makes Winston feel troubled and shameful. A few chapters later, he wakes up in tears, having unlocked the memory in his sleep. It turns out that the last time he saw his mother and sister, he took the family's chocolate ration all for himself and ran out of the house. When he returned, they were gone. This flashback imbues chocolate with yet another layer of contradictory meaning. While it represents the loving relationship between Winston and Julia, it also represents Winston's betrayal of his most formative relationship.

In the second chapter of the first book, the telescreen announces that "from next week, the chocolate ration would be reduced from thirty grams to twenty." Through this, chocolate is right away associated with scarcity and unavailability. While chocolate often symbolizes everyday luxury, it is equally bound up with deprivation and a decreasing quality of life.

The chocolate ration also appears in Winston's work, as he is given the task to "set right" the "error" in a prior announcement made by the Ministry of Plenty—that there would be "no reduction of the chocolate ration during 1984."  In a move that perfectly encapsulates his job description, Winston substitutes the original promise "with a warning that it would probably be necessary to reduce the ration at some time in April."

Later, in the fifth chapter of the first part, the telescreen announces that "there had been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grams a week." This prompts Winston to wonder whether anyone else in the canteen remembers the announcement on the news the night before:

And only yesterday, he reflected, it had been announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grams a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it.

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For Winston and the reader, the changed chocolate ration is a sign of discernment and awareness. He remembers the news from the evening before, he is aware of the change to the original promise, and he notices the inconsistency of the celebratory demonstrations. Yet, the changed ration simultaneously represents the ignorance of doublethink. The people around him don't seem to care. Ultimately, it doesn't seem to matter whether anyone else realizes that the chocolate ration has gone down rather than up. As long as the Party controls the narrative, people's memories and opinions are meaningless.

Chocolate is also bound up with the forbidden, passionate affair between Winston and Julia. The first time they meet in private, in the second chapter of the second book, she brings chocolate from the black market.

Even before he had taken it he knew by the smell that it was very unusual chocolate. It was dark and shiny, and was wrapped in silver paper. Chocolate normally was dull-brown crumbly stuff that tasted, as nearly as one could describe it, like the smoke of a rubbish fire. But at some time or another he had tasted chocolate like the piece she had given him. The first whiff of its scent had stirred up some memory which he could not pin down, but which was powerful and troubling.

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On the one hand, Julia's real chocolate is decadent and delightful. On the other hand, the chocolate gives rise to a negatively loaded memory, which makes Winston feel troubled and shameful. A few chapters later, he wakes up in tears, having unlocked the memory in his sleep. It turns out that the last time he saw his mother and sister, he took the family's chocolate ration all for himself and ran out of the house. When he returned, they were gone. This flashback imbues chocolate with yet another layer of contradictory meaning. While it represents the loving relationship between Winston and Julia, it also represents Winston's betrayal of his most formative relationship.