Doublethink is the practice of accepting two opposing ideas at the same time. In 1984, we see this clearly during Winston's ordeal in the Ministry of Love. In Part Three, Chapter Two, O'Brien exhibits doublethink when he burns a photograph of Jones, Aaron, and Rutherford, three Party members accused and found guilty of treachery (among other crimes) but later pardoned. (Winston discusses these men in Part One, Chapter Seven, and the photograph is important because it proves that they could not have committed such crimes.) By possessing a copy of this photograph, then, O'Brien acknowledges the innocence of these men, but he then incinerates the photograph in a memory hole and tells Winston that it "does not exist." Winston wonders if O'Brien is lying but then realizes O'Brien may actually not remember the photograph ever existed:
If he could have been certain that O’Brien was lying, it would not have seemed to matter. But it was perfectly possible that O’Brien had really forgotten the photograph.
O'Brien, therefore, becomes a living example of doublethink because he first accepts the existence of the photograph and then promptly forgets it. This also provides a stark reminder of the Party's power: it is so powerful that it can distort reality and make anyone, even O'Brien, believe its version of the truth.
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