The third chapter mostly takes place in Winston’s mind, thereby allowing the reader to understand the psychological effects of the totalitarian regime on its subjects. To the Party, the past has to be altered regularly to suit and enhance its propaganda. Given the extent of brainwashing and propaganda, the future appears especially grim and dystopian to him. Winston, however, remembers that London was once a part of England; he also has some memories of his parents and his sister. He remembers that his mother sacrificed herself for him, though he cannot remember the details of the sacrifice. He dreams of an idyllic pastoral landscape he calls the Golden Country. Notably, the dark-haired woman features in his dreams, and in an event that is not sexual yet powerful, she strips off her clothes as he watches on. The stripping is a gesture that belongs to another, freer time. Winston wakes up from this dream with the word “Shakespeare” on his lips.

Readers learn that the subjects are daily awoken by the piercing telescreen. The Outer Party members lead the Physics Jerks (an exercise regimen), another daily routine to be followed by the subjects. The routine is mindless, and it allows Winston to think of how the present world came to be. In a distant time, he remembers the dropping of an atomic bomb. He knows, though, that this reality exists only in his mind. The history sanctioned by the Party, the history that Winston himself helps the government write as part of his work at the Ministry of Truth, is different and does not acknowledge a time before the Party rose to power. The reader soon starts to realize that this is a world without any real history. Whatever is presently normal and acceptable is presented as unchanged, eternal truths.