In which superstate does Winston call home? Winston lives in Oceania, the totalitarian superstate that includes Airstrip One, the former British Isles.
George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four divides the world into three enormous rival powers: Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia. Winston Smith lives in London, which the Party calls Airstrip One. His job at the Ministry of Truth is to rewrite historical records so that the past always matches the Party’s latest claims.
Oceania is governed through Ingsoc, or English Socialism, under the symbolic leadership of Big Brother. Its citizens endure constant surveillance, propaganda, rationing, and the threat of thoughtcrime. A common mix-up is assuming Winston lives in “England”; geographically, London remains recognizable, but politically it is a province of Oceania rather than an independent country.
The novel also makes Oceania’s political reality deliberately unstable. Its enemy can suddenly change from Eurasia to Eastasia, and citizens are expected to accept that the new version has always been true.