Daily Life of Party Members

Outer Party Members
Each Party member has a telescreen within their home that monitors and scrutinizes each and every move they make.  It cannot be turned off.
Forced to wear an expression of quiet optimism when facing the telescreen.
Had to wear blue overalls, the uniform of the Party.
Given a small amount of coupons to trade in for clothing, food, etc.
They are constantly under the watch of the Thought Police.
Not much food to eat in their homes.
Forbidden to enter ordinary shops, however they were forced to do so due to a lack of necessities such as razor blades and shoelaces.
Forced to participate in the “Two Minutes Hate” (p13):
Began with a hideous, grinding screech
Face of Emmanuel Goldstein, “the Enemy of the People”, flashed onto the screen
Goldstein then delivered “usual venomous attack upon the doctrine of the Party…denouncing the dictatorship of the Party” (p14).
Party members then broke out in rages and leap up and down, ending by chanting “B-B…B-B”.
They were always being watched for “symptoms of unorthodoxy” (p26).
Each morning, they awoke to “an ear-piercing whistle” (p33) from the telescreen.  They were then prompted to take part in various exercises from an instructor on the telescreen.  When doing these exercises, known as Physical Jerks, they could never show any dismay or resentment (p39).
Party members worked in one of the four ministries: Minitrue, Minipax, Miniluv, or Miniplenty.
Main character in 1984, Winston Smith, worked in Minitrue.  His job was to “rectify” (p40) history.
Other co-workers did not speak with each other.
The Party members were brainwashed into believing anything that the Party told them to believe.  This was achieved through doublethink.  They believed what the Party told them even though they knew that the opposite of what was being told to them was true as well.
The result of the use of doublethink on Party members caused their quality of life to decrease.  The Party lied to them, telling them that the quality of life was increasing, even though they knew it was decreasing.  Although they knew the truth, they were forced to believe what the Party told them (p62).
Party members could not possess memories (p62).
Everyone lived in horrible conditions (p62).
Could not trust anybody in fear that they would report you to the Thought Police and have you vaporized (p65).  This held true within families as well.
Could not let your thoughts wander in public places or in front of telescreens because facial features may not be perfectly under control (p65).
Women who worked for the Party never painted their faces and never “used scent” (p67).
Winston described his daily life as “slogging through dreary jobs, fighting for a place on the Tube, darning a worn-out sock, cadging a saccharine tablet, [and] saving a cigarette end” (p77).
Day and night the “telescreens bruised your ears with statistics that people today [were better off] than the filthy people of fifty years ago” (p77).
The Party told its members to reject the evidence of their eyes and ears (p84).
Party members could not do anything that suggested a liking for solitude (p85).  They were expected to be at the Community Center or participating in some kind of “communal recreation” (p85) in their spare time.  It was dangerous to have an “ownlife” which, in Newspeak, referred to individualism and eccentricity.
Winston constantly escaped the horrible world he was living in through his Victory Cigarettes and his Victory Gin (p107).
Inner Party members had always been deprived of quality foods.  When Winston and his lover, Julia, taste the food of the Inner Party members’ when they are alone, they are overwhelmed by the taste.  The food they eat within the Outer Party is a symbol of the horrible and tasteless life they lead as members of the Outer Party.  When they are finally given the chance to experience a life of privacy and freedom, they are overwhelmed by it in the same way they are taken back by the taste of the food.
Winston’s body dealt with his frustration through the varicose ulcer and his fits of coughing.  Life was intolerable (p137).
Winston felt the only way to escape was suicide.
Party members were forced to believe what the Party told them simply because they didn’t understand “the enormity of what was demanded of them” (p163).  By lack of understanding, they remained sane.
They continually suppressed their feeling and did not let themselves express themselves in fear of giving themselves away.  “Your worst enemy…is your own nervous system” (p67).
It was an unforgivable crime to have promiscuity among Party members (p68).
“Marriages between Party members had to be approved by a committee appointed for the purpose…[and] permission was always refused if the couple concerned gave the impression of being physically attracted to one another” (p68).
The only purpose for marriage among Party members was to beget children for service of the Party.
The Party tried to kill the sex instinct, to distort and dirty it for the purpose of suppressing sexual feelings among Party members.
The suppression of Winston’s feelings and the frustration that he felt was evident in the actual writing of the text.  For example, Winston would end sentences with “--!” (p71) whenever he felt frustrated.
They could not travel long distances because their papers were always being checked (p123).
Party robbed them of pleasure (p138).
Party members had no privacy.  “Privacy…was a very valuable thing” (p144).
Worked sixty-four hour weeks and during Hate Week they worked over ninety hours in five days (p187).
Inner Party
Better quality of life than any other citizen in Oceania.
Privileged with good food, drinks and servants to wait on their every need (p178).
Allowed to turn off their telescreens, giving them privacy.