“The room was a world, a pocket of the past where extinct animals could walk.” page 116

This chosen quote from page 116 in the novel, “1984”, is a characteristic of the setting, used to throw the reader into the future, imagining if the room they are in now could be considered ancient and extinct in years to come. What it would be like in that type of a society where books other than the dictionary are unreadable and many everyday things have no purpose in this new lifestyle. The contrast between what its like now and the same sort of idea like this for our future makes it more intriguing for the reader. And considering when this book was written, this would have opened up many questions for the future as the influences from fantasy books and media was far more limited than it is now. This quote is very descriptive and paints a picture as if talking about the time of the dinosaurs millions of years ago with the type of language used, this shows how Winston thinks, the language he still uses in his head despite the eradication of many words. This is an act of defiance and goes along with the idea that Winston Smith is the antihero character of this novel. Using words like these, committing thoughtcrime is something he does regularly and this is why he is the character looked to to make a change or dramatic change in the storyline for the better. In terms of the setting, this shows the technological advances that have made many words and objects obsolete, these advances along with the corruption of the society during and after the war is what the books all about; the removal of expression to control the masses.