Goldstein's Book

Goldstein’s book was very dense in terms of the amount of material but it was very interesting at the same time. While trying to decipher all of the information, I realized that the Party is doing exactly what Winston, Julia, and Goldstein thinks they are doing- manipulating the citizens. In the chapter that Winston reads titled WAR IS PEACE, Goldstein details how each of the three superpowers came to be. He also describes the theory of the lower, middle, and high classes that distinguish and categorize people based on wealth and status. The goal of the fighting was to merely distract the lower and middle classes in order to maintain power in the high classes. No two countries could take down another country or vice versa. The ongoing and never ending war is also used to keep the populations of each nation ignorant to other populations. Basically, Goldstein is describing the political themes that we know of today such as capitalism, socialism, classism etc. I also find it funny and ironic that the first few chapters that Winston reads are titled after the Party’s slogan. I do think that it was intentional for Goldstein to do that; in a way it is like he is poking fun at this slogan by then explaining each phrase and what they really mean. It is very clear that Winston is excited about obtaining the book and feels as though the rebellion is actually beginning but it seemed as though after reading one chapter he felt like it was all a little underwhelming. Goldstein was just writing facts about the past that many people do not remember given that the past is virtually destroyed. I think that information being printed and recorded is vital, but it is not anything new according to Winston. He still does not know what to do in terms of actually acting on rebelling. I still feel the same way about the Party, in terms of being very opposed to what they believe in and how they run society but, like Winston, I am unsure what Goldstein is trying to get across in his book. Luckily, there are more than just three chapters.