1984 what is the significance of comrade ogilvy

Withers, however, was already an unperson. He did not exist: he had never existed. Winston decided that it would not be enough simply to reverse the tendency of Big Brother's speech. It was better to make it deal with something totally unconnected with its original subject. He might turn the speech into the usual denunciation of traitors and thought-criminals, but that was a little too obvious, while to invent a victory at the front, or some triumph of over-production in the Ninth Three-Year Plan, might complicate the records too much.

What was needed was a piece of pure fantasy. Suddenly there sprang into his mind, ready made as it were, the image of a certain Comrade Ogilvy, who had recently died in battle, in heroic circumstances. Withers has been vaporised and is now considered to be an enemy of the Party. To do this, Winston creates a substitute figure called Comrade Ogilvy.

This man has no factual basis whatsoever; he is completely drawn from Winston's imagination but, by writing him into history, he has come to life. Ogilvy is a model citizen of Oceania and the perfect Party member.

As a boy, he was a Troop Leader of the Spies, for example, and he reported his own uncle to the Thought Police. He does not smoke or drink and his only conversational interest is the "Principles of Ingsoc.

As a result of Ogilvy's existence, Comrade Withers has been written out of history and, as such, has become an "unperson. Ogilvy's significance, then, is exactly this: he shows just how easily the Party is able to control the past, present and the future. Winston desperately wants to have an enjoyable sexual affair, which he sees as the ultimate act of rebellion. In his diary, he writes that the prole prostitute was old and ugly, but that he went through with the sex act anyway.

He still longs to shout profanities at the top of his voice. With the belief of the workers, the records become functionally true. Winston struggles under the weight of this oppressive machinery, and yearns to be able to trust his own memory. Winston realizes that his own nervous system has become his archenemy. The dingy, nasty memory makes Winston desperate to have an enjoyable, authentic erotic experience.

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