The importance of history in 1984Time is an extraordinary element of the universe in which we find ourselves. It's a driving force: we can't speed it up or slow it down, it's continually moving forward at a constant speed. After a moment has passed, it becomes past and we have absolutely no way of returning to it to experience it again in a new way. Once time has passed, all that remains is our perception of it. History is nothing more than our collective perception of the past. And perception is not like time: it is not constant, it can be altered. In George Orwell's 1984, Party leaders use written documents to alter people's perceptions of history, ultimately as a means of control. Everyone has different perceptions of the same reality. Everything we experience is altered by our individual perceptions. There is a reality, but each person experiences slightly different versions of that reality. The source or reason for this is each person's individual experiences. Everything we experience in our life accumulates to form our past. Our memory brings back experiences from this pile of the past. These memories combine with the reality we are experiencing in the present to form our individual perception of reality. Everything is perceived differently by each person and different perceptions of reality vary greatly. A potato is a completely different thing from a farmer and a chef. The idea of ​​music is completely different for a musician and for a deaf person. Hitler was a completely different person from a Nazi and a Jew. While there is actually only one real idea of ​​a potato, one definition of music, and one Hitler, many different realities of these exist in people's perceptions. History is twisted by perception. There are two ways of looking at history: through our own memories and perceptions, and through those of others. It is impossible to preserve history in its ideal form. If we look at the story through our memories, we will not see the reality of the story, we will see our individual version of reality. The same thing happens when we look at history through the memories and perceptions of others. Sometimes the media is used to preserve history, but even this is only a perceived version of history.