#syme

000 - Index Proselyte Syme

Syme is a minor character (introduced in Part 1 - Chapter 5) who works as a language expert who works in the ministry of truth. His job is to write newspeak - a language designed by Orwell to be deliberately confusing and ambiguous. This may also have a deeper meaning of the language not only being intended to confuse the reader, but also the citizens of Oceania (which includes the Americas, the UK and Australia) - an explanation Syme gives helps support this (more on that later). Syme very much enjoys his job and is incredibly passionate about newspeak. The main purpose of Syme in the novel is to explain newspeak to the reader.

Syme is vaporised (that is, to have all evidence that you ever existed removed) later in the novel. As upsetting as his death was to me (he was my favourite character), it was easy to predict and was even stated by Winston Smith (the main character). Syme states that newspeak gets shorter and shorter with every edition of the dictionary. He explains that the reason for this is because the IngSoc (English Socialism) party wants to narrow down the vocabulary which would decrease the ability to think out against the party and therefore increase the support for the party. This shows both Winston and the reader that Syme knows too much for his own good, showing that he understands the party’s true agenda.

Despite Syme being a very evidently intelligent character, he still accepts the propaganda and holds the same values as the party. His dedication and admiration to Big Brother, however, are not enough to stop him from being vaporised.

This means that Syme shows clearly that the party prefers and potentially relies upon its followers being stupid and blindly-loyal.

Syme is also shown to have tendencies that are considered suspicious by the party, such as reading too much and frequenting the Chestnut Tree which is a caffè that is often visiting by artists, musicians and political dissidents.

People like Syme are obviously not meant to survive long in the dystopian world presented in 1984, supporting the party slogan of ‘ignorance is strength’.

Quotes:

“It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.” - this shows Syme’s enthusiasm for his work of essentially making unorthodox thoughts impossible.

“The proles are not human beings.” - proles are the lowest members of society in the novel. Syme’s belief here shows that he is in agreement with the party’s model of the hierarchical society.

“It was a good hanging.” - Syme also expresses his enjoyment watching the Eurasian/East Asian (whoever Oceania is at war with) prisoners tongues turning blue and his disappointment at the fact that the prisoners’ legs are tied together because he likes watching them kick/writhe.

Full quote:

It was a good hanging," said Syme reminiscently. "I think it spoils it when they tie their feet together. I like to see them kicking. And above all, at the end, the tongue sticking right out, and blue a quite bright blue. That's the detail that appeals to me.

“There was something subtly wrong with Syme.” - this shows that Syme makes Winston uncomfortable, showing that all people like Syme make Winston uncomfortable.

“Venomously orthodox” - WOW I LOVE THIS QUOTE SO MUCH <3333. Orthodox shows Syme’s dedication to IngSoc and Big Brother. Venomously could either suggest that the orthodoxy Big Brother/IngSoc creates is harmful OR that his orthodox behaviour makes him a harmful/cruel person in the eyes of Winston.

To finish this off, here’s a list of my favourite newspeak words and their meanings:

• Crimestop - the instinctive desire to rid yourself of thoughts that would be considered a thoughtcrime

• Doubleplusgood - a very strong word for good

• Doubleplusungood - a very strong word for bad

• Blackwhite - the ability to blindly accept anything regardless of its absurdity

• Ownlife - the tendency to enjoy being solitary/individualistic which is considered to undermine the authority of Big Brother

• Prolefeed - the steady stream of mindless entertainment to distract and occupy the masses

If you read all of this, I very much appreciate you listening to my autistic rambling but you didn’t have to do that as I appreciate this won’t be interesting to everybody <3

Why is Sir Ronald Syme so mean to Chickpea? :(

Traditional costume of Syme (an analysis)