On a bitter April day in London, Oceania, Winston Smith arrives at his small apartment on his lunch break. The face of Big Brother is everywhere. It is immediately obvious, through Winston’s musings, that the political weather of Winston’s London is grim and totalitarian. Winston pours himself a large drink and sets about to commit an act punishable by death—starting a diary. He believes he is fortunate because a small corner of his apartment is hidden from the telescreen—a device that allows him to be viewed and heard twenty-four hours a day by the authorities—or Big Brother. Here is where he begins the diary.
Winston is stuck by a pang of writer’s block when he suddenly realizes that he doesn’t know for whom he is writing the diary. In his panic, he begins to write a stream-of-consciousness account of a recent trip to the movies. While writing this, he has a memory of a significant happening earlier in the week, in which he was simultaneously attracted to and repelled by a young woman working in his building. He felt as though she was following him. He also remembers sharing a brief moment with O’Brien, a member of the Inner Party, an encounter in which Winston believes that O’Brien attempted to show solidarity with him against the tyranny of Big Brother. He continues writing, this time with more substantive material about his feelings on the current environment in which he lives. He is interrupted by a knock at the door.
