Ministry of Plenty announces rising living standards

A trumpet call from the telescreen announces a glorious production victory: the standard of living has risen by no less than twenty per cent over the past year. The announcement claims that there have been spontaneous demonstrations thanking Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grammes a week, although only yesterday it was announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grammes. Parsons swallows this easily, and the eyeless creature at the next table swallows it fanatically. Winston wonders whether he is alone in the possession of a memory.