Hate Week - Plot Summary

Plot Summary

During one particular Hate Week, Oceania switched allies while a public speaker is in the middle of a sentence, though the disruption was minimal: the posters against the previous enemy were deemed to be "sabotage" of Hate Week conducted by Emmanuel Goldstein and his supporters, summarily torn down by the crowd, and quickly replaced with propaganda against the new enemy, thus demonstrating the ease with which the Party directs the hatred of its members. This ease of direction could also be partially attributed to the similarity in the terms "Eastasia" and "Eurasia" because they are more easily confused. All members of Oceania must show appropriate enthusiasm during Hate Week as well as the Two Minutes Hate, ensuring that they are very against the opposing party and still very much allied with Big Brother.

Hate Week is celebrated in late summer. The events during that time include waxwork displays, military parades, speeches and lectures. New slogans are also coined and new songs are written. The theme of the Hate Week is called the Hate Song. It is mentioned that a unit from the Fiction Department was assigned to make atrocity pamphlets (falsified reports of atrocities committed by Oceania's enemies against her) designed to stimulate Oceania's populace further into enraged frenzy against all enemies. The aggregate effect of Hate Week thus is to excite the populace to such a point that they "would unquestionably have torn to pieces" if given the opportunity.

Hate Week is introduced to the reader for the first time in the second paragraph of the first page of Nineteen Eighty-Four; however, at this point in time, readers have no idea what Hate Week is. "It was part of the economy drive in preparation for Hate Week."