In Part II, Chapter 5 Winston’s acquaintance at work, Syme, is apparently vaporized. Or at least he disappears, is eliminated or cancelled. Winston knows he must “no longer exist” because his name has vanished from the list of those belonging to a chess club. It is only a brief reference, but nonetheless chilling, because in the Big Brother state, like an episode of The Twilight Zone, people can be whisked away by the long arm of the state, and it is as though they never lived at all.
We also learn that Julia does not share Winston’s passion for remembering and maintaining objective truth and factual history; she only knows she hates the Party and its control and wants to live to resist it.
It is also fascinating that Winston knows his rebellion against Big Brother cannot continue without the inevitable intervention of the Thought Police. He knows it in his mind, he feels it in his soul, but he chooses to walk on.
