Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.
Quote Analysis
This quote appears several times in the book “1984” written by George Orwell. We meet these words for the first time in Chapter II at page 44. This phrase is said by Winston to O’Brien and is the motto of the Party that explains it strategy in a nutshell. It is the motto of the Party that rewrites history on daily basis to meet the current goals. The first part - “who controls the past controls the future” - may be about making people forget, or sincerely pretend to forget the past and though stripping them of any certainty and will to change, because they don’t know what is normal life anymore. The second part may refer to the work of Ministry of Truth directly. They are undoubtedly controlling the present as an executive organ of the Party, and so they initiate the changes of the history making people shift their opinions to the direct opposite every day. The past looks like anything the Ministry of Truth wants it to be.
Author: Cody Owens