Register to read the introduction…
Dust is everywhere in Oceania. It is in Winston’s apartment, on the streets, and even in the creases of Mrs. Parson’s face. The dust, and the ruin it represents, symbolizes the level of the decay of the physical world prevalent in Oceania. It gives the impression that the quality of life in Oceania is constantly being made worse be the rules of the government. This reinforces the theme of “the destruction of the human spirit.” Orwell was trying to impose upon his readers just how dreary and hopeless Oceania really was. He wanted everyone to see how these people really were completely under the control of The Party, and how there really wasn’t any hope for them left. The Party was using the decay of the physical to aid in the decay of the mental. They rightly assumed that it would be extremely difficult for anyone to maintain any sort of hope in such a dreary setting as Orwell paints in his novel, where “a swirl of gritty dust” (Orwell 1) and a woman with “dust in the creases of her face” (Orwell 22) are
