Winston rectifies the chocolate pledge

One of Winston's routine tasks is to correct a promise made by the Ministry of Plenty in February that there would be no reduction of the chocolate ration during 1984. Since the ration is actually to be reduced from thirty grammes to twenty at the end of the week, Winston substitutes a warning that it may be necessary to reduce the ration in April. He drops the original message and his notes into the memory hole. He reflects that such falsification is applied not only to newspapers but to books, films, photographs and every kind of record. History is a palimpsest, scraped clean and re-inscribed as often as necessary.