1984 #3: The Party’s Hypocrisy in Relation to Syme

            Most all of the ministry workers in Airstrip One are essential to the Party’s mission, but many of those same people are at the most risk of being vaporized for thoughtcrime.  People like Syme, the genius tasked with eliminating adjectives for the Eleventh Edition of the Newspeak dictionary, are irreplaceable to the Party.  For the Party’s mission to succeed the Newspeak dictionary must be cut down as much as possible and all alternate meanings stripped so that thoughtcrime becomes impossible.  However, those stripping words of all their meaning are the same people in direct contradiction to the Party’s slogan “IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (Orwell 4).  Syme and his dictionary-making colleagues know way too much information about Oldspeak to be safe from a thoughtcrime conviction, but are also essential to the end goal of the Party.  Winston sees this contradiction when Syme talks to him about the future of Newspeak: “Syme will be vaporized.  He is too intelligent.  He sees too clearly and speaks too plainly.  The Party does not like such people” (53).  The irony in this thought is that the Party has to like Syme because he is creating the language that achieves the end goal, but they cannot like him because he knows too much about it.  Although the Party has a use for Syme now, he will soon be out of a job because they are currently working on the Eleventh and “definitive edition” of the Newspeak dictionary (50).  The publication of the final dictionary will mark a time when those, such as Syme, that know too much about Oldspeak can finally be vaporized because their knowledge is no longer needed.  The elimination of Syme and his colleagues is inevitable because of their knowledge of Oldspeak, which can threaten the Party’s goal to communicate solely in Newspeak and eliminate thoughtcrime.  Although an unknowledgeable bystander might think that killing the same people that help you accomplish your goals is unfathomable, it must be done for the goal of the party to be achieved.  The hypocrisy behind who the Party has working for them is astonishing because they need extremely intelligent people to eliminate all intelligence in people, but these same intelligent people know way to much to be considered ideal party members and must be vaporized.