1984 Victory Gin

[jbor]

on 13/5/03 12:12 PM, pynchonoid wrote:

> It's not the gin that crushes the human spirit in
> 1984, it's being forced to adopt the Party's
> particular set of doublethink priorities, and being
> tortured if you don't. The Proles seem to use gin as a
> buffer against dystopian life in general,

The proles swill beer, members of the Outer Party drink "Victory gin", and
O'Brien, a member of the Inner Party, serves wine.

There is a strong sense in the novel that Victory gin is used by the regime
as a drug to deaden the spirits of minor Party bureaucrats like Winston.

best