Behind him the voice from the telescreen was still talking about
iron. There was now even more iron in Oceania than the Ninth
Three-Year Plan had demanded. The telescreen had a microphone,
so the Thought Police could listen to Winston at any time of the
day or night. They could also watch him through the telescreen.
Nobody knew how often they actually did that but everybody
behaved correctly all the time because the Thought Police might
be watching and listening.
Winston kept his back to the telescreen. It was safer that way -
they couldn't see your face. He looked out over London, the
biggest city in this part of Oceania. The nineteenth-century
houses were all falling down. There were holes in the streets
where the bombs had fallen. Had it always been like this? He
tried to think back to the time when he was a boy, but he could
remember nothing.
He stared at the Ministry of Truth, where he worked. It was an
enormous white building, three hundred metres high. You could
see the white roof, high above the houses, even a kilometre away.
From Winston's flat it was just possible to see the three slogans of
the Party written in enormous letters on the side of the building:
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
The Ministry of Truth was called Minitrue in Newspeak, the
new language of Oceania. Minitrue, it was said, had more than
three thousand rooms above the ground and a similar number
below. The people there worked mainly on news and
entertainment. High above the surrounding buildings, Winston
could also see the Ministry of Peace, where they worked on war.
It was called Minipax in Newspeak. And the Ministry of Plenty —
Miniplenty — which was responsible for the economy. And he
could see the Ministry of Love — Miniluv — which was responsible
for law and order.