In Part One,
Chapter Four, while at work,is tasked with writing a man called Comrade Withers out of history.
(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." Rather ironically, Ogilvy is the complete opposite of his
creator, Winston, who is already beginning to rebel against Party rules and doctrine.
As a result of Ogilvy's existence, Comrade Withers has been written out of history and,
as such, has become an "unperson." But this does not matter since the Party controls
information and can rewrite history whenever it chooses. Ogilvy's significance, then, is exactly
this: he shows just how easily the Party is able to control the past, present and the
future.
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