Changing the Past

"Who controls the past control the future: who controls the present, controls the past." (pg 34)

This quote represents another major theme in the novel. Before reading about Winston's job, I had the vague idea after reading this quote that maybe time travel was being used. Since this is a novel about the future, I thought maybe the Party had invented a time machine in which they were continually going back and changing the past, in which they change whatever they want in order to control the future. Also by controlling the present and having control of this time machine, they then are the ones in control of the past. At the time, this is the only thing I thought this quote could have possibly meant. However, the real meaning of this quote is much more realistic and, in my opinion, much more realistic. Instead, the Party controls the past by changing any sort of media that occurred in the past and changing it to suit the desires of the Party and of Big Brother better. This is very interesting because it only requires people who will "swallow" anything that is thrown at them, and the Party has controlled the people enough that a vast majority of them will. People except those like Winston who takes part in this, but doesn't swallow everything the Party throws at him. While this may be because of his nature, I also think it is in part because of his job. He must realize what the Party does, so whenever he hears something on the news, he will be inclined to secretly question it. Controlling the past and future in this way is a very interesting method that has never crossed my mind before.