1984: pg 81-117

I somewhat enjoyed these chapters. Winston is starting to become a little more rebellious. I was kind of curious about his meeting with the first old man at the pub though. Winston keeps on trying to get him to simply answer if the times were better long ago than they were now, just so he could make sure that the Ministry of Truth was lying in the history books. The man never really answered his question directly because he kept going off on different subjects and had trouble comprehending Winston's questions, but weren't some of the things he said somewhat of an indication that times were better before? The man said:
[a] that the beer was better (okay, not a big deal for the society),
[b] that he went to his sister's funeral (are they allowed to have funerals now?),
[c] that he used to hear people talk about "lackies" in parks every Sunday (do they have any parks anymore?),
[d] that he had to tip his hat to people he saw (a gesture more of respect than servitude)
[e] and that he got in a fight with a guy that shoved him off a the pavement (could he really get away with shoving someone of higher authority now?).
I'm not really sure if these things mean anything or not, but Winston should know that even if the times weren't better, the Party was lying to the people because I don't think that anything Winston said about the opression matched up with what the old man said (no matter how senile he may have seemed).

I was also wondering about the man in the antiques store, Mr. Charrington. Wasn't he old enough to tell Winston about the past? If not, his antiques surely would have revealed someting. For example, the glass paper-weight that Winston thought was beautiful was crafted long ago and should give Winston the hint that they are being way more oppressed now than people were back then because they aren't allowed to be creative now.

I find it ironic how this whole time in the story Winston thought that the dark-haired woman from the fiction department was out to get him and was spying on him to turn him in to the Thought Police. It turns out that she shared the same desires he felt for her. I'm kind of curious to what might happen next. Them meeting and talking and plotting and holding hands even is the start of some sort of rebellion, I believe. I did find their free, ten-second, romantic hand embrace a little disheartening, though, because of the sad eyes of the prisoner that Winston was looking at. Is there something symbolic here about the prisoner procession that I'm missing? I kind of wonder if they signify anything by the way the crowd was treating them...