Book 2 Chapters 3-6

Syme had vanished. A morning came, and he was missing from work; a few thoughtless people commented on his absence. On the next day nobody mentioned him. On the third day Winston went into the vestibule of the Records Department to look at the notice board. One of the notices carried a printed list of the members of the Chess Committee, of whom Syme had been one. It looked almost exactly as it had looked before-nothing had been crossed out-but it was one name shorter. It was enough. Syme had ceased to exist; he had never existed (122).

Syme was an acquaintance of Winston and was quite the intelligent man. Winston had noticed that his name as removed from the list of members of the Chess Committee and yet no one seems to question his name being off the list. Although, I have to admit that many people could have missed a detail like that but should people really ignore the fact that Syme is gone?  It is as if they have complete faith in Big Brother and their doings; they assume that Big Brother has a purpose and they do but, it is not the purpose for the greater "good" but rather maintaining the dominance that they have.

This can also be an example of "ignorance is strength" because Syme was deemed too intelligent and he could have disrupted the system weakening Big Brother. Because he is a threat to Big Brother, if he were to be vaporized from existence then he will not be able to spread the knowledge that he has to others making them ignorant of what is really happening. The ignorance of others gives strength to Big Brother. 

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