The opening sentences of the novel depict the world as cold, gritty, lacking privacy, and pleasure. Winston is in constant pain from the ulcer on his leg, and his only way to calm that pain and his constant depression is the dreadful gin, supplied by the party, to dull pain and motivation. Winston needs to hide in a corner of his apartment to do open his diary, and when he walks in his building there is the picture of Big Brother staring at him. Work is boring, he lacks love, a session of the day is reserved for hating, and yet he has a small spirit of resistance, and this is what the Party must destroy.