Nineteen Eighty-Four Airstrip One, Oceania's four government ministries are in pyramids (300 m high), the façades of which display the Party's three slogans. The ministries' names are the opposite (doublethink) of their true functions: "The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation." (Part II, Chapter IX – "The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism") The Ministry of Peace supports Oceania's perpetual war against either of the two other superstates: The primary aim of modern warfare (in accordance with the principles of doublethink, this
The Bell (novel) related meanings". Elizabeth Bowen described the book as "a masterpiece of direct narrative", both "more remarkable" and "more orthodox" than her previous books, but retaining Murdoch's characteristic "dynamic strangeness". In "The New York Times", Gilbert Millstein described "The Bell" as "an addition of consistent excellence" to her body of work. His review noted thematic parallels with Mary McCarthy's 1949 novel "The Oasis". Writing in "Partisan Review", Irving Howe found the novel as a whole unrealistic and overly symbolic, but praised Murdoch's ability to write "convincingly, without rant or affectation" about love, including homosexual love, which he described as a "rare