In 1984, why does Winston say that he must have some "ancestral memory that things had once been different"?

Asis
eating in the overcrowded canteen, he listens as the telescreen spews fabricated statistics
regarding food rations and he is astonished by the way that all the Party members consciously
accept the message. Winston then looks around the canteen and cannot help but notice how
depressing, old, and ruined everything is that surrounds him. Winston becomes painfully aware
that the environment is dirty, cold, and uncomfortable. In addition to the outdated, filthy ,
Winston takes note of the nasty food, bad coffee, and grimy tables. Winston thinks to
himself,

Always in your stomach and in your skin there was
a sort of protest, a feeling that you had been cheated of something that you had a right to. (,
76)

Tragically, Winston has never known anything other
than the terrible, depressing conditions and has no memory that anything was better before the
Party's reign. Winston then asks himself,

Why should one
feel it to be intolerable unless one had some kind of ancestral memory that things had once been
different? (Orwell, 76).

Winston wonders why he is so
dissatisfied with life and believes that he possesses some type of "ancestral memory,"
which suggests that life was once better. Winston acknowledges that he has no reason to be
dissatisfied with his current life since he has nothing to compare it to. However, his
"ancestral memory" inside his conscience informs him that life should not be lived
this way.