1984 - Planet eBook

Chapter 5Syme had vanished. A morning came, and he was missingfrom work: a few thoughtless people commented onhis absence. On the next day nobody mentioned him. Onthe third day Winston went into the vestibule of the RecordsDepartment to look at the notice-board. One of thenotices carried a printed list of the members of the ChessCommittee, of whom Syme had been one. It looked almostexactly as it had looked before—nothing had been crossedout—but it was one name shorter. It was enough. Syme hadceased to exist: he had never existed.The weather was baking hot. In the labyrinthine Ministrythe windowless, air-conditioned rooms kept their normaltemperature, but outside the pavements scorched one’s feetand the stench of the Tubes at the rush hours was a horror.The preparations for Hate Week were in full swing, andthe staffs of all the Ministries were working overtime. Processions,meetings, military parades, lectures, waxworks,displays, film shows, telescreen programmes all had to beorganized; stands had to be erected, effigies built, sloganscoined, songs written, rumours circulated, photographsfaked. Julia’s unit in the Fiction Department had been takenoff the production of novels and was rushing out a seriesof atrocity pamphlets. Winston, in addition to his regularwork, spent long periods every day in going through back