Nineteen Eighty-Four/Part 1/Chapter 1

A depiction of Big Brother propaganda.

In the first chapter we are introduced to the world of Winston Smith, an Outer Party worker in Oceania. The quality of his life is meager, and he is secretly dissatisfied with Big Brother. He buys a diary from a Proletariat shop and starts writing in it. This action is considered a "Thoughtcrime", and those accused of it are never seen again. Nobody knows what happens to them. During Two Minutes Hate, a traitor to the party known as Emmanuel Goldstein appears on the telescreen, and is subject to the hatred of the government workers. For some reason, an Inner Party member, O'Brien, catches his eye as someone who's "political orthodoxy was not perfect." Meanwhile, Winston subconsciously writes "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER" in his diary, and despairs because the Thought Police would find out and punish him.