In
totalitarian states like Oceania, privacy is virtually nonexistent. The government seeks to
control not just how people behave, but also their thoughts. The totalitarian state will not
allow any spheres of privacy for the individual. This makes it easier for the state to subject
all citizens to constant surveillance. Given the purported omniscience of the state, starting a
journal is a very risky thing forto do. If caught, he runs the serious risk of being
vaporized.It is not in the least bit surprising that he hesitates before writing in his
diary.
In Winston's world, setting down one's thoughts in written form is not
a simple case of putting pen to paper; it is an act of subversion, an act of liberation, and an
act of defiance against a state which will never truly be able to plumb the innermost depths of
the human soul. In Oceania, harboring independent thoughts is cause for suspicion. Committing
those thoughts to paper is tantamount to treason. Winston knows he is about to cross a very
dangerous line. This is why he hesitates.
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