ith's world, there exists one objective concept of "the truth," which happens to be whatever the State proclaims it is at the moment: "If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event, it never happened - that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture or death" (Orwell, 1949/1984, p. 32). When individual memory contradicts that truth, the memory is at fault; Smith's insistence on clinging to his own version of truth brings his sanity into question. Recent events, from Watergate to the Bosnian tribuna
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