Syme is a highly intelligent philologist working on the 11th edition of the Newspeak dictionary at the Research Department of the Ministry of Truth. His job is to destroy words. He has perfectly understood the goal of the Party—the philosophy of narrowing thought—and has carried out this task with great passion. He is a colleague whom Winston encounters and converses with in the canteen, where he hears the chilling nature of the Party's ideology straight from the source. However, Syme's problem is that he is too intelligent for the system and expresses his thoughts too openly. Simply because he is 'honest' and conspicuous, he is one day 'vaporized' and completely erased from historical records. No matter how useful one is to the Party, intelligence is an element that must be controlled, and Syme is a victim of this rule.
No specific history is given for him within the novel. He is merely an intelligent linguist who has dedicated his life to the creation of Newspeak.
He is a small man, shorter than Winston, with large protruding eyes and black hair. There is a mischievous yet unsettling darkness on his face.
Winston Smith
Winston is a friend who understands him but is also afraid of him.