Ministry of Truth

Senate House, London, where Orwell worked at the Ministry of Information, was his model for the Ministry of Truth

The Ministry of Truth (or Minitrue, in Newspeak) is one of the four ministries that govern Oceania in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. As with the other Ministries in the novel, the Ministry of Truth is a misnomer and in reality serves an opposing purpose to that which its name would imply, being responsible for the falsification of historical events; and yet is aptly named in a deeper sense, in that it creates/manufactures "truth" in the newspeak sense of the word.

Description

The Ministry of Truth is where Winston Smith, the main character of Nineteen Eighty-Four, works.^[1] It is an enormous pyramidal structure of glittering white concrete rising 300 metres into the air, containing over 3000 rooms above ground. On the outside wall are the three slogans of the Party: "WAR IS PEACE," "FREEDOM IS SLAVERY," "IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH." There is also a large part underground, probably containing huge incinerators where documents are destroyed after they are put down memory holes. For his description, Orwell was inspired by the Senate House at the University of London.^[2]

Role in information

The Ministry of Truth is involved with news media, entertainment, the fine arts and educational books. Its purpose is to rewrite history and change the facts to fit Party doctrine for propaganda effect. For example, if Big Brother makes a prediction that turns out to be wrong, the employees of the Ministry of Truth go back and rewrite the prediction so that any prediction Big Brother previously made is accurate. This is the "how" of the Ministry of Truth's existence. Within the novel Orwell elaborates that the deeper reason for its existence is to maintain the illusion that the Party is absolute. It cannot ever seem to change its mind (if, for instance, they perform one of their constant changes regarding enemies during war) or make a mistake (firing an official or making a grossly misjudged supply prediction), for that would imply weakness and to maintain power the Party must seem eternally right and strong.

Departments

The following are the departments of the ministry mentioned in the text:

• Records Department (Recdep in Newspeak)
• Fiction Department (Ficdep in Newspeak)
  • Pornography department (Pornosec in Newspeak. Pornosec is part of the Fiction Department)
• Propaganda Department (Propdep in Newspeak)
• Tele-programmes Department (Teledep in Newspeak)
• Research Department (Resdep in Newspeak)
• Music Department (Musdep in Newspeak, may not belong to the Ministry of Truth)

References

1. ^ "Literature Network, George Orwell, 1984, Summary Pt. 1 Chp. 4". http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/1984/5/. Retrieved 2008-08-27. 
2. ^
   • Stansky, Peter (1994). London's Burning. Stanford: Stanford University Press. pp. 85–86. ISBN 0804723400. 
   • Tames, Richard (2006). London. Oxford Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press. p. 126. ISBN 0195309537. 
   • Humphreys, Rob (2003). The Rough Guide to London. Rough Guides Limited. p. 146. ISBN 1843530937. 
   • "Orwell Today, Ministry of Truth". http://www.orwelltoday.com/senatehouse.shtml. Retrieved 2008-08-27. 

• The Literature Network's online summary of Nineteen Eighty-Four