I’m reading Orwell’s 1984 for the first time, for the sole purpose of finding some quote from the novel I saw somewhere. (It’s for a paper and the quote nicely illustrates my point.) Something about altering language to mean what we want it to.
Does ANYONE know the darn quote I’m looking for?
1984 doubleplus good.
Newspeak perhaps? That was what the inner party had wanted everyone to start speaking and it was part of Winston Smith’s job at the Ministry of Truth to write things in newspeak.
Or it could be doublethink, where a person has learned how to disremember anything that the Party now tells them to be untrue.
Here’s a link that talks a bit about both:
http://www.k-1.com/Orwell/1984.htm
Ahh… 1984. One of my favorite books. Which makes me wonder why I can’t place exactly what you’re talking about… It sounds like Asylum is right, though. It sounds like something to do with Winston’s job… something that he was talking about, or explaining, perhaps…
My suggestion? Read it, continue to read it, even if someone gives you the answer here. Cause it is a REALLY great book, and well worth it.
(Not to change the subject, but if anyone has any suggestions about another book similar to 1984, that has that utopian-like feel, could you tell me? 
)
I thought he was talking about when the man working on Newspeak was telling Winston about Newspeak. Stines, I think his name was? I’ll go look it up.
Either that or it was in the “appendix” of the book where Orwell wrote a sort of dissertation about Newspeak itself. Perhaps the OP could be a little more clear…? I’d be happy to look it up, but Newspeak is a topic discussed at more than a few places in the book, and without further information I can’t say much.
Personally, I never cared for 1984. Just my opinon, of course.
I did like Ira Levin’s This Perfect Day, though. It’s similar to 1984 in that it takes place in a supposedly utopian future. The future-world of This Perfect Day is much more what I always pictured the future as, rather than the future of 1984. It’s a very good story, and I’ve read it 3 or 4 times.
I think it may be out of print, but I’m sure your library could get a copy for you. Or you could find one on Ebay.
At some point in the book Winston is talking to his acquiantance in the canteen and the other guy (I think Syme is his name) who works on the language tells him all about Newspeak and how it’s used, and stuff like it’s the only language that is decreasing instead of increasing. It’s near the beginning of the book I believe.
Also in the middle of the story Winston is reading the book by Goldstein that tells all about the society and government of 1984 and that might have told some more about Newspeak.
I really like 1984 and had to read it again recently for school so I have practically everything about the book memorized.
Uh, they mention that many times through out the book. And Orwell is a doubleplusgood writer.
Loved that book.
Found it. It’s the part where they’re playing the “how many fingers do you see” torture game.
The specific quote is this:
You believe reality is something objective, external, existing in its own right. You also believe that the nature of reality is self-evident. When you delude yourself into thinking that you see something, you assume that everyone else sees the same thing as you. But I tell you, Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes; only in the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal.
For the curious, I’m writing a legal paper where, in part, I discuss a trend of jurists altering the meaning of words to make them fit their own definitions. The above quote drives my point home.
Thanks anyway!
I always thought it had more of an anti-utopian feel, but whatever. 
I suggest Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. It has the same sort of “idealized” (in a twisted way) future, and it is also a fantastic book.
1984 … one of the truly great Van Halen albums.
My favorite Quote was [paraphrase]Imagine a boot stomping on a human face Forever… that is the future[/paraphrase]
Dark nasty and cruel, something about that book still appeals to me even though I’m not a fan of the ending. [April] The rebel alliance wins and frees Winston from the evil thought police and he helps blow up the minitry of truth before they can destroy the rebel base[/fools]
Huge fan. Always flamboyant but not-yet-a-self-parody DLR vocals, and Eddie’s first foray into keyboard composition. Alex was a god on Hot For Teacher.
I used to lip-synch Drop Dead Legs for my mom and sister to their unending amusement. Ahh, sweet nostalgia. Thanks for the reminder – I’m picking up the CD today.
The book on the other hand, while eminently quotable and clever with the compound words, bored the piss out of me. I agree with ** Joe_Cool:** Huxley created a superior dystopia. Frankly though, it’s been a while. I need to give it another shot.