From the back of the Signet Classic edition:
“The year 1984 has come and gone, but George Orwell’s 1949 prophetic, nightmare visiton of the world we were becoming is timelier than ever. It is still the great modern classic of “Negative Utopia” — a startling original and haunting novel that creates an imaginary world that is coompletely convincing, from the first sentence to the last four words. No one can deny this novel’s hold on the imaginations of entire generations, or the power of its admonitions — a power that seems to grow, not lessen, witht he passage of time. ”
Writing Prompts (respond to 2, along with your 5 self-directed responses and 2 peer responses):
1. 1984 is full of images and ideas that do not directly affect the plot, but nevertheless attain thematic importance. What are some of these symbols and motifs, and how does Orwell use them?
2. Discuss the idea of doublethink. How important is doublethink to the Party’s control of Oceania? How important is it to Winston’s brainwashing?
3. Describe Julia’s character as it relates to Winston. How is she different from him? How is she similar to him? How does Julia’s age make her attitude toward the Party very different from Winston’s?
4. Describe Winston’s character as it relates to his attitude toward the Party. In what ways might his fatalistic streak contribute to his ultimate downfall?
5. How does technology affect the Party’s ability to control its citizens? In what ways does the Party employ technology throughout the book?
6. Discuss the idea of Room 101, the place where everyone meets his or her worst fear. Keeping in mind that for most of Winston’s time at the Ministry of Love, he does not know what he will find in Room 101, what role does that uncertainty play in making Room 101 frightening? Does the cage of rats break Winston’s spirit, or does it merely play a symbolic role?
7. What role does Big Brother play within the novel? What effect does he have on Winston? Is Winston’s obsession with Big Brother fundamentally similar to or different from his obsession with O’Brien?
(from SparkNotes)
233 Comments
July 21, 2009 at 12:54 am
1) I believe that Winston is affected by many of the symbols that sourround him, such as his journal where all of his thoughts are placed. The journal emphasizes the idea of limited abilities and although it may seem irrelevent it stressed the importance of the world that Winston finds himself in where he has to hide his thoughts of face the fear of being arrested by the thought police. I believe that symbol, although it does not exsist, the visual memory of his past is also something that shapes him because it brings curiosity to his past as well as gives Winston time to mold his future. At times, he wonders about how is mother is and also about his early life which is something that he would not do if he was given these things.
September 3, 2009 at 12:33 am
I agree with you. Winston is writing in his journal because he is unable to think what he wants to think in his mind because of the thought police. The journal is a major symbol in the book because he has so many things in the book that are taboo to Oceania. Oceania is a very strict town where everyone is being watched. Winston looks back into his past as a way to guide him on who he is going to become in the future. Winston gives a descripition about his past and how it can effect him on who he is going to become. But I have to disagree a bit with the journal not being the relevant. The journal is relevant and plays a major part on the way Winston acts fearing his journal will be found by someone and he will be reported to the police.
September 6, 2009 at 3:01 pm
The journal is an important symbol in the book because it symbolizes resistance in a totalitarian government. It is the only thing where Winston can express his views of Big Brother. The Party suppresses its people from having independent thought because it hinders opposition that will overthrow its reign. The diary is a symbol of independence from corruption and hypocrisy from those with power.
September 3, 2009 at 10:32 pm
I also agree with you. Winston writes in his journal because it is the only way to write what he thinks without getting caught. Because of the journal, he’s able to write about his past life and what’s going in Oceania. The Party wants to limit the citizens’s ability to walk and think for their own. It feels like the Party wants power over its citizens.
September 8, 2009 at 2:53 pm
I agree. If Winston didn’t have his journal I think the book would’ve turned out differently. Winston was able to pore his thoughts onto paper instead of keeping them boiled up inside. Maybe he would’ve expressed his thoughts to the wrong person like Tillton. The journal was Winston’s best friend and helped him cope with his false environment and surrounding.
September 8, 2009 at 6:17 pm
I agree because the journal is like the only gateway out of this abnormal society. The journal is Winston’s only means to rebel since Thought crime is possible. This journal is the only way he can express his point-of-view towards the Party. Since the Party’s power involves manipulating the past by changing records, the journal serves as the sole nemesis to them because the journal can’t be obtain unless someone finds it.
September 9, 2009 at 12:38 am
This commentary has an awfully solid argument, which I agree with. Winston’s dairy is symbolic of his importance in society and opinion. He writes in the dairy, having the past or future as an audience, but no one but himself will ever read his dairy. Winston nor his opinion is important, completely irrelevant to Big Brother’s societal control; his belief is a delusion.
July 23, 2009 at 6:51 am
“Statistics were just as much a fantasy in their original version as in their rectified version” (41).
This quotation reminds me of a book I’m reading called The Confessions of an Economic Hitman in which a man, John Perkins, is an economist forecaster. Perkins goes to under developed countries and creates false economic forecasts for major corporations, like World Bank and IMF, so that they can loan money to poor nations and ultimately force them from poverty to misery because of high interest rates and the destruction of their own economy.
What’s intriguing about this quotation is that Orwell’s depiction of the future has come true. Modern day society is fueled by bias and sensationalist sources of information, such as major newspapers, which misinform the public. It’s disturbing to read such a dementing fictional passage to realize it’s real in one’s own life.
The difference between today and the novel is the reason behind lying to the public. In 1984, the government lies to keep it’s appearance of being infallible: Big Brother is never incorrect. The appearance of perfection helps promote it’s power and stability; no one will rebel against something that seems to work. Meanwhile, today we are driven by the acquirement of money and superficial materials. Ironically, the people of both societies are subsequently damaged by the lies told to them by the ones who are supposed to protect their rights.
Maybe the book should’ve been titled 2009.
August 12, 2009 at 12:49 am
I agree with this comment, because the life that he’s living in now does prove that a life like that is possible. and this is proven through the fact that theres someone watching over you which limits your movements and even goes to the extent of limiting the things that arent physically spoken. Perfection is definatly the goal and therefore life may appear unamusing and very well near restricting. Also agreeing with the preceding comment, the novel does mirror our society today, we are told that we are protected by those with power but at the same time the rules are designed in a form in which they can easily be changed to benefit thse who are in power.
September 2, 2009 at 6:32 pm
I agree with that quotation because it also reminds me of a film called Food Inc. The Food, Inc is a Film Forum that features the understanding of the production of our food. It discusses the flaws that are in a capitalist society has when it come to the production and distribution of food. Food Inc discuss how many Americans don’t know how their food is made and where it comes from. The film provides the viewer with statistic that state that there is an increase of people getting diseases from the food being produced now than in the past.
The Anthropology of Globalization: A Reader is an article that exposes the affects of human hunger and poverty. Poverty is the reason for the majority deaths of human beings, such as babies and sick children. Poverty causes physical disabilities, starvation and most deaths. The idea of the United Nations and the World Bank made it seem possible that impoverished countries would be better off, however hunger is still a major issue. Most people don’t know how to prevent and most Americans don’t do anything about it.
These are two sources of information during this time reminds me of how modern society has become into were George Orwell expected it to be. The difference between now and then is that they have a obsession love towards big brother and he’s never incorrect and the control of the party. We in our modern society are control by money and are damage by the lies the government feeds us. I agree with M.E.L on how our stability status with the book and now are very similar.
September 3, 2009 at 12:41 am
I also agree with this comment. In 1984 the government is hiding many things and Big Brother is there to cover up everything. I never thought about that way in which Big Brother’s appearance of perfection promotes power. I have to agree though because people are made to believe that Big Brother is someone they always have to listen and respect. People are kind of being hypnotized because they will always listen to what Big Brother has to say and when he comes on the telescreen people will stop what they are doing and listen to him.
Today we are like the people in Oceania because we are driven by the things we have. When a new gadget comes out everyone thinks that is the best thing that has happend because it looks nice.
Orwell’s does a nice job in describing how people in the town are being driven by the media. We always believe the things that come out from the TV and newspaper.
September 8, 2009 at 9:57 am
This is quite an intriguing connection. I see the similarity between what Big Brother and his party, as well as John Perkins is doing to their people. It’s basically the same story where the people are being manipulated and lied to until they are eventually helpless and they can’t help but to surrender to their oppressors requests. Either way those who are being subdued have no way of being prevalent. In Oceania, the people are brainwashed to act as robots and do as they’re are told without question. The same goes for the citizens of these small nations that Mr. Perkins is industrializing; they get sucked into debt and no longer have their freedom because they owe a higher power.
September 8, 2009 at 3:01 pm
I totally agree with M.E.L. We are indeed damaged by the lies told to us by our government and other superiors. It’s interesting to see how a book written in 1949 could relate to us so well all the way in 2009 and I’m sure more years to follow. In a way we are at an advantage. Unlike the people in 1984 who were oblivious, we are fully aware that our superiors continuously feed us lies. Because we know of this fact we are able to do some kind of research and attempt to seperate real fact from false fact.
September 9, 2009 at 1:04 am
Media in its entirety is persuasive enough to subdue society or cause mass hysteria. In 1984, Big Brother is the media, the news, the papers, the convincing propaganda and the controlling basis and foundation for everything. At any time the inner party felt the necessity, its “reports and records of all kinds, newspapers, books, pamphlets, films, sound tracks, photographs-all [were] rectified at lighting speed” (182). The allusion of Big Brother being faultless instills confidence within society, thus causing society to trust the government more than it should trust it; giving the government limitless power.
August 4, 2009 at 1:06 am
It seems as if this is Orwells view of either a futuristic communist society, a futuristic fascist society, or basically a governent where people do not have control over themselves and their surroundings. Despite the “telescreens” and other technological advances, this society has reverted to a more primitive society. This is especially seen during the two minutes of hate. They use that time to strip individuality from each person, and simultaneously inflict fear into each person to do what is expected. The government is almost a totalitarian state especially because of the military music that plays. Nevertherless, the government is far from a democracy.
August 23, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Doublethink is the ability to contradict oneself in order to satisfy the party. Many of the citizens of Oceania do not realize that they are engaging in doublethink and those who do acknowledge it are aware that they have to abide by the principles of the party in order to survive. For example, when the ration of chocolate is lowered, the citizens of Oceania are happy, seemingly ignorant of the fact that they are getting less, not more. Winston realizes that and even goes as far as to say that if he had commented on the lower ration, the people would have attacked him for doubting the credibility of party and Big Brother. For Winston, doublethink is a particularly difficult subject to grasp, not because he does not understand it but because he does not wish to defy logic in order to satisfy the party. Take the concept of “2 + 2 = 5,” Winston, knowing that this is mathematically impossible, wants to say that the answer is four, but in order to satisfy the party he has to force himself to give the answer that O’Brien wants to hear. Doublethink is one of the most powerful ways in which the party controls the citizens of Oceania, which is why Winston has to grasp it in order to be released. Although it takes him some time, he is finally able to use the principles of doublethink “appropriately.”
August 30, 2009 at 6:48 pm
I agree, because with doublethink the citizens of Oceania are brainwashed. They are unable to be themselves and may have lost the ability to do so. They are under this power that has taken their rights from them but the people are unable to realize what is happening to them so they enforce and appreciate what is given to them. Winston appears to be the only sane one but at the same time is “voice” means nothing because it would be him against the rest of oceania. as a result he has to adhere to what they believe but keep his own thoughts at the back of his mind.
September 6, 2009 at 9:27 pm
I also agree with this comment as the idea of doublethink is the base of control in Oceania. Without the idea of doublethink, the party would and cannot exist, as doublethink causes one to contradict him/herself in order to favor the side of the party. Also, if a person does not doublethink, he/she is tortured until he/she is able to contradict himself and actually be able to believe that contradiction is true. It is the party’s ultimate way of control over its citizens and also one of the major reasons why a rebellion does not start.
September 9, 2009 at 3:45 am
I also agree with this comment that control on Oceania is based on the principle of doublethink. When doublethink is placed individuals contradict what they believe in order to come to a conclusion thats in favor of the government. One is unable to go against what Big Brother says is right, because even making judgements against wheter the Party is right or wrong is a crime. Doublethink is the ultimate mind game in which the Party always wins.
August 27, 2009 at 4:59 pm
“It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children…some eavesdropping little sneak – ‘child hero’ was the phrase used – had overheard some compromising remark and denounced his parents to the Though Police” (24).
The society structure that George Orwell depicted in 1984 is one some what similar to Nazi Germany; this can be said because of how Big Brother involves the youth. They are brain washed and molded into little spies, subsequently turning them against their parents, just like Hitler and The Nazi Youth. Their “accomplishments” are praised and it seems like their words hold more weight than that of an adult. They are made to feel special and influential but in reality their inability to interpret what Big Brother is doing is manipulated. Adults knowing this are forced to tip toe around their own homes watching ever word they say in fear that it might me taken out of context
“…the Ministry of truth, whose primary job was not to reconstruct the past but to supply the citizens of Oceania with newspapers, films, textbooks, telescreen programs, plays, novels—with every conceivable kind of information…” (43)
Because Big Brother is in the position to control everything the people read and view they can easily twist facts and lead the people blindly. They are in the position to literally change history and pass on their versions of the truth. In the society created by George Orwell no piece of literature is safe from being altered, even children Spelling books aren’t safe from alterations. The folks of Oceania unknowingly accept the lies that are fed and conserve them as the truth. Some American have the notion that news broadcast on several stations are biased and the stories are actually regulated by the government. Unlike the Oceanians the American people for the most part can protest and let their opinions be known without fear of being killed.
“And what he wanted more even then to be loved, was to break down that wall of virtue, even if it were only once in his whole life. The sexual act successfully performed, was rebellion.” (68)
It is understandably difficult for a twenty-first century American to look at something such as sexual activity as an act of rebellion. When the matter of sexuality or sexual activity is discussed the first things that come up are STDs, pregnancy, contraceptives, but never the relation to rebellion (at least since the free love movement). But in some sense I can understand what Winston is trying to expresses, he sees how Big Brother tries to get the its citizens to conform and blindly follow the laws that they set. One can say that Winston considers the removal of the pleasure aspect from sexual activity as an extreme.
“If there was hope it must lie in the proles…if only they could somehow become conscious of their own strengths, would have no need to conspire. They needed only to rise up and shake themselves like a horse shaking off flies.” (69)
The proles are the key to liberating the citizens of Oceania from the control Big Brother. The party underestimates the proles to the extent that they do not even bother to poison then with their Ideology. But unlike the party Winston sees the potential that the proles posses, and is waiting for them to realize their own strengths and revolt. It seems that because of their status in society the proles have been able to escape doublethink and know the truth behind all the lies. Winston knows this and so he holds the proles to a higher standard than the rest of the country, they are the last of a dying breed.
“Under the spreading chestnut tree
I sold you and you sold me:
There lie they, and here lie we
Under the spreading chestnut tree”
It is only at the conclusion of the book that the reader understands the depth of the above quotation. It is more than just a song it represents the most severe aspect of the party’s influence on its citizens. It is in the Chestnut Café where we see Winston still trying to prove that he has conformed to the party’s ideology as he writes “2+2=5” in the dust. He has become another puppet in the party’s grand performance; and a representation of what they can do to those who try to challenge their authority. One might say it is the reason the proles do not revolt, it is better to stay in there area and live as they please than to challenge the party and suffer the consequences. The Chestnut Café is ultimately the meeting place for the party’s conquest; there dwells the ghost of those who were.
August 29, 2009 at 4:21 pm
“do you feel that you have more freedom now than you had in those days? Are you treated like a human being?”
As Winston feels the need to question the old man it makes me think of the dept of his question. Growing up during the revolution must have been better than growing up now because things weren’t so limited. You werent demeaned because of the status that you were not chosen to belong to. It was not necessary to be treated like nothing because of the respect that you must give to those who were considered “wealthy” or “rich”. Although the man is unable to clearly answer the question, i believe that he would say that life during 1925 was definatly better than that way that he is living life now. In my opinion Winston would be an advocate of “ownlife” because with that you may have the ability to be yourself and express what is on your mind without the thought police comming after you. Although he knows what is right and what is wrong he is unable to share it because he would have no one to defend him and he would also be arrested by the thought police. As a result, he is stuck living life now believing what he believes with the inablility to share it.
September 2, 2009 at 7:11 pm
i agree with the fact that Winston’s behavior of being afraid of speaking out on what he believe in, is his only a way to be safe in his society. Winston knows the consequences he will be facing if he disobey the party. E.O. interpretation of Winston’s behavior is correct, in fact i believe that if Winston puts in his mind that everything that’s been happening is okay, people will accept him and not judge him. Winston doesn’t really care what people think he just wants people to know the truth and understand his beliefs.
September 9, 2009 at 2:59 am
I agree with this comment. Winston is such an intelligent man that he does not allow the status qou of society to render his ability to think, or fault his spirit of inquiry. Despite standing firm in his belief that Big Brother is corrupt because of the unique restrictions, and strong limitations that have been placed, he understands that his inadequete abilities and position in the Party leaves him in a predicament he can do nothing about by himself. Winston’s motif that just beacause you are one man and they are many, doesn’t mean they are right is constantly shattered by the constant reminders such as the posters, technology, and fellow citizens.
August 30, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Julia serves as the rebel that Winston needed all along. Although she has to go along with the party and its rules, she has her own beliefs and is aware that things are corrupt. Julia is a “young, strong body”, she is similar to Winston because they both defeat the odds.(126) He hates purity and goodness and doesn’t believe that virtue should exsist andywhere.julia on the other hand is all of these things because she takes time out to sneak away from her party to have an affair with him. They both manage to balance eachother out because she attains certain characteristics that he lacks like her cunning attitude of great sense of direction. And although he is much older than her they are still attracted to one another and as a result, winston is able to come to the realization that julia is a prime example of how bad society is because of the things that the inner party do amoung themselves. Although they are in love, julia still serves as a mystery.
September 8, 2009 at 6:08 pm
I agree because in the book, Winston’s only rebellious act is the diary until Julia came along. Winston has only been blending in society while hiding from the Thought polices. Since the Party forbids prostitution, Julia and Winston is the perfect couple to stir up trouble. I also agree how the balance each other because of their personality differences like how they have a huge age gap but that helps since Julia is born into the Party.
September 8, 2009 at 10:00 pm
I agree with EO. Winston believs that the party is corrupt, but he’s afraid to rebell against the system. His diary is the only place he can escape to express his knowledge. Winston believes that one day he will be arrested by the Thought Police, but he continues to write his rebellious thoughts. As Julia came alone, Winston realizes that there are people that also dislike the party just like him. Although julia is much younger than he is, but her experiences in the ministry have transform her into a woman with older thoughts.
August 30, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Julia serves as the rebel that Winston needed all along. Although she has to go along with the party and its rules, she has her own beliefs and is aware that things are corrupt. Julia is a “young, strong body”, she is similar to Winston because they both defeat the odds.(126) He hates purity and goodness and doesn’t believe that virtue should exist andywhere.julia on the other hand is all of these things because she takes time out to sneak away from her party to have an affair with him. They both manage to balance eachother out because she attains certain characteristics that he lacks like her cunning attitude and her military sense of direction. And although he is much older than her they are still attracted to one another and as a result, Winston is able to come to the realization that Julia is a prime example of how bad society is because of the things that the inner party do among themselves. For example having intercourse with other party members is against the rules but they do it regardless. She believes that if u adhere to the smaller rules then the bigger rules can easily be broken will little remorse.
August 30, 2009 at 11:51 pm
Prompt: “…there was no such thing as happiness, that the only victory lay in the far future, long after you were dead…” (135)
Winston states this with the belief that under the two parties that they live in, they represent corpses. The people of oceania are mindless and serve as support of big brother and his outrageous policies. The thought police and the idea of double think both emphasize that the government has complete control over its citizens and although Winston is aware of this he can not acknowledge it unless he is willing to face a severe punishment.along with Winston, Julia is aware of the type of society that she lives in. This enables them to proceed with their affair showing that although big brother may have that power over them they are still able to think for themselves.both julia and winston defeat the odds and the theory of just being corpes,not physically or mentally, through their different ideas of going against their parties to be with eachother even of their marriage is a secret to outsiders. Big brothers use of the citizens is to create a perfect society in the future where those who live today are just the stepping stone for a “perfect society”.
August 31, 2009 at 2:45 am
Prompt: the relationship the Winston has wit Julia as opposed to the one that he has with his wife.
With Julia, Winston had the ability to think freely with the knowledge that she would understand him. With his current wife katherine, he has little to know interest in her and it seemed as if they were unable to relate to one another the way that Julia and Winston do. Katharine was “incapable of thinking a bad thought” and if she was Winston had the belief that she would have already reported him to the thought police. (132)She doesn’t believe in the things that he believes is needed or natural which may have made their marriage life difficult. On the other hand with Julia Winston views things differently and acts differently as well. He no longer drinks or feels the need to critise his government. He begins to take life a lot easier, his “varicose ulcer ha[s] subsided” as well. (150)it appears that she has changed him for the better, they are able to balance on another making life easier for Winston and Julia.
August 31, 2009 at 3:28 pm
5. Technology allows the Party to control the citizens’ actions and words. The telescreen is a tool the Party use to keep an eye on the citizens. It is also used to support propoganda such as pig iron and the Ninth Three-Year Plan (3).
Winston has to turn his back to the telescreen when he wants to have a moment of privacy. Telescreens are evrywhere, including homes, buildings, and cafes, where music and exercise programs are played (31 and 77).
Microphones are also used to listen to the citizens’ conversations without them being aware someone is listening. Microphones are more dangerous than the telescreens because people’s voices can be recorded and recongized (117). This had caused the people to live in fear because they had to avoid getting caught at all times and allowed the party to control the citizens.
August 31, 2009 at 3:38 pm
6. Room 101’s role is used to control people by using their own fears against them. In that room, each person’s torment is different, “It may be burial alive, or death by fire, or by drowning , or by impalement or fity other deaths” (238). People don’t know what they will face in Room 11 and their fears as a weapon agsinst them.
August 31, 2009 at 3:48 pm
6. Room 101’s role is used to control people by using their own fears against them. In that room, each person’s torment is different, “It may be burial alive, or death by fire, or by drowning , or by impalement or fity other deaths” (238). People don’t know what they will face in Room 11 and their fears as a weapon against them.
The Party also uses Room 101 to make people turn on each other when O’ Brien takes Winston to the Room, he starts to scream. O’Brien knows that Winston is afraid of rats and uses that to torment Winston. O’Brien shows him a cage filled with rats and tells him that the rats would tear his face apart. Afraid that rats would bite him, he starts to sell out Julia, “Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don’t care what you do to her” (286). The cage with rats broke his spirit and showed how people would do anything to protect themselves even if it means hurting someone else.
September 8, 2009 at 10:10 am
I agree that the fear of experiencing pain can break a person. No one wants to be the victim of excruciating pain and they will do whatever they have to so that they may avoid it. This is in whole the intentions of the party though. O’Brien knows that by torturing Winston he can ultimately get him to do as he wants him to. Winston is quick to sell Julia out not caring that she will have to suffer instead of him. It goes to show that people will only look out for themselves at the end of the day and no one’s will is strong enough to sacrifice themselves for another being.
August 31, 2009 at 3:49 pm
When Winston tells the story of his past to Julia in reguards to life with both his mother father and sister, it explains why he has developed the type of mindset that he has. It reveals that he was once and still is a cold hearted selfish person and that he has his view on life now as a result of his past. Although he does not have contact with his mother now, he is remorseful because he did not make things easy for her. Aware that she did not really have a source of income he still drained her of everything that she had left especially food until the extent that he stole from his sister. As he may dwell on the past now, he can see that she represented everything that was pure and she did not deserve the treatement that he gave her. Liivng in the society that he lives in today, brings a level of suspense to his mothers disappearence, and although he is aware that he is wrong, it is in the past which is something that can not be changed.
September 1, 2009 at 1:38 am
Prompt: end of the book reaction/thoughts. Talk about main idea and compare and contrast the governments.
The end of the novel was filled with betrayal and lies. Winston who once stood as the most defiant character in the novel and the bravest has now given into the the government and its policies. He breaks his promise to Julia stating that they both would not allow the government to come between them and their love even if it led to a confession. Winston who finds himself about to get eaten by rats in room 101 tells O’Brien that the punishment should go to Julia. Now he is able to live life peacefully giving in to Big Brother, with the belief that he is correct.
The government in 1984 was incredibly corrupt and they managed to make their citizens believe that the were infallible and as a result they turned the minds some of the leveled headed people. Winston who once never believed that “2+2=5″ feels the need to constantly inscribe it in different places to remind himself whose in power. The government that we currently live in does lie to its citizens but with the theory of keeping our materialistic lives in balance. Big brother lied to it citizens to prove that they are infallible. In the end they manage to have that affect on Winston
September 4, 2009 at 10:19 pm
I agree with the similarity this person pointed out between our government and Winston’s government.Our government does tell us lies and majority of us are never aware of it. As I read through the book I was expecting a happy ending with everyone liberated and the Party destroyed. I was really surprised by the downfall of Winston and the real identity of O’Brien. There is no hope in Oceania and people are forever trapped in the totalitarian world. Orwell seems to tell us to take care of ourselves and be aware of our government’s activities before it is too late. Governments often tell their citizens lies and most of the time people let go of them. If we don’t keep up with our current issues and look after our problems, we will gradually transform into a state similar to Oceania’s. Once we are in control by the government, it will be too late for us to rebel or to even have the thoughts of rebellion. Orwell is warning us to be proactive and be aware of our surrounding before it is too late.
September 1, 2009 at 6:13 pm
“It depicted simply an enormous face, more than a meter wide: the face of a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black mustache and ruggedly handsome features. . .it was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move” (1-2).
Off the back when i started reading this quote I thought of Hitler and his power. It reminded me of how he had huge portraits of himself portrayed in car dealerships and around town to show his power, like Big Brother it intimidates the people because they feel as though they are being watched. It shows how even when not present their supremacy still instills fear in the people.
September 8, 2009 at 10:13 pm
I agree with you. When people are being rule under a certain government system, they’ve become a part of it. Citizens live their life upon the gov’t policy in order to stay out of trouble. Hilter was a great example of Big Brothers mention by SE. As time progress, citizens have built the fear of Big Brothers inside them. Everything they do, they’ll assume for the harsh consequences. Even if the image of Big Brothers is not in their eye sight, it will always stay in their mines to create horror.
September 1, 2009 at 6:42 pm
“You’re a traitor!” yelled the boy. “You’re a thought-criminal! You’re a Eurasian spy! I’ll shoot you, I’ll vaporize you, I’ll send you to the salt mines!” (23).
The Party encourages the children to join the Junior Spies, an organization who watches over adults who show disloyalty to the Party. The children would suspect their own family to be traitors as well. This remind me when Mao Zedong organized the Red Guards to get rid of old ideas, cultures, and habits. He encouraged the youth to torture their teachers for showing authority. The Red Guards had power over parents and teachers.
September 6, 2009 at 4:56 am
I agree it does remind me of the Red Guards. Because the children are still young, they are told by the authorities what to do. A child does not deserve to be a video camera for the government. A child represents innocence of humanity and should not be used for political gains. This system of using the young symbolizes a political power which would stop at nothing to block anything negative that could harm itself. It is just wrong to use children like that.
September 6, 2009 at 8:53 pm
This reminded me of the Hitler Youth in which even prepubescent boys were subjected to and forced to believe the idea of the Nazi regime. The children of 1984 are like those of the Hitler Youth because they grow up with an expected admiration of the Spies and Big Brother much like the admiration of the Nazis and Hitler. They are taught the ideologies of Big Brother, they have unquestionable loyalty to Big Brother, they would go to war for Big Brother, and without question, would die for Big Brother.
September 9, 2009 at 1:45 am
I definatly agree with the concept that this can be related to Hitler and his complete power over his society. He altered the lives of those who lived under his reign. He molded them into what he wanted them to be, unlike BNW he was not able to actually genectically create his society but he did have the society fear him so it was more harsh than what the people in world state had to go through. in 1984, the people of oceania are taught what big brother wants them to know and if the government was wrong they managed to teach their people that they were right somehow.
September 1, 2009 at 8:41 pm
“Nearly all children nowadays [are] horrible” (24).
One of the ways in which the party becomes stronger is through the brainwashing and manipulation of children. They become “spies” at a young age, and are taught to report anyone suspicious to the Thought Police. Knowing their parents, probably better than anyone else, they are able to easily report them to the authorities. Instead of preserving the innocence of children, the party encourages the betrayal. The parent – child relationship that we are accustomed to, no longer exists. These young boys and girls enjoy the violence, they are allowed to watch uncensored movies and witness hangings, things that normal children should not do. The party is able to thrive because it knows that when these children grow up they will do anything in the name of Big Brother.
September 1, 2009 at 11:20 pm
“The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely” (2).
The telescreens are like satellites because they follow the citizens of Oceania and watch every move they make. The Party use the telescreens to see if the citizens show rebellion against them. Winston have to turn away from the telescreen for a moment so he won’t get caught writing in a diary because there’s a punishment if a diary is detected. Telescreens are located everywhere, it’s like buildings and homes have eyes anywhere.
September 2, 2009 at 12:45 am
“DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” (18).
Winston’s words show an act of rebellion towards the Party. He witnesses a hating rampage against Goldstein for rebelling against the Party. He starts to have a hatred against the dark-haired girl because he thinks that she’s a spy for the Ministry of Truth. Winston have a rebelling feeling towards the Party because he believes that they are controlling everyone from knowing the truth about everything that’s going on.
September 2, 2009 at 1:11 am
“It may be burial alive, or death by fire, or by drowning , or by impalement or fity other deaths” (238).
Room 101 is a room where the prisoners have to face their worst fears. Each fears is different for other. This reminds me of an episode of Power Rangers: Ninja Storm, where a mosnter put collars on his victims, making them face their fears such as fear of spiders, fear of heights, and fear of disappointment. Fear is something that can prevent people from doing what’s good for them. I think that we can overcome our fears so nothing can crush our hopes and dreams.
September 9, 2009 at 2:23 am
What anthony is saying here makes sense. President FDR said that “There is nothing to fear but fear itself.” Overcoming one’s fears can be done, what makes the room so torturous is the fact that the person doesn’t know what will show up.
September 2, 2009 at 2:55 am
“To do what everyone else [is] doing, [is] an instinctive reaction” (17).
Winston contradicts his feelings in order to avoid trouble with the party. He forces himself to engage in the Two Minutes Hate scene because if he doesn’t, it would be clear to all that he has committed a thoughtcrime. Although Winston takes part in it, the whole scene “disgusts” him. He finds it horrifying that these people would act in such a “subhuman” manner. Even though Winston disagrees with the behavior, he has no choice but to go along with it because in Oceania, there exists no notion of intellectual freedom, but rather of political comradery. All citizens of Oceania are encouraged to blindly believe in the party and most importantly, in Big Brother.
September 4, 2009 at 12:12 am
I agree, since Winston doesn’t want to be known as a Thought Criminal, he would have to obey all the needs that the government wants them to do in order to survive (includes his participation in the Two Minute Hate). I think that the Two Minute Hate is just another way to brainwash the people. The Two Minute Hate is a way for the government to make sure that nobody would go against them and its a way to make people not want to rebel. After The Two Minute Hate, it makes all the citizens riled up and angry so that they wouldn’t be able to think of going against the party, it allows the party to have full control over the people.
September 2, 2009 at 7:45 am
3. Winston and Julia have similar traits that can be related to each other on the other hand, they have many differences. Julia and Winston have an age difference, therefore it makes Julia have more understanding of the party then Winston has. Julia is twenty nine years old while Winston is thirty nine; this age difference between each other shows Winston that Julia knows more about the Party then he does. This can benefit Winston in finding ways to overcome the Party. Julia is born into the Party while Winston can still remember a time when his world wasn’t ruled by the party and people weren’t brainwashed. Winston understanding of people born into the party he thinks they are brainwashed and wont rebel against them. On the contrary, Julia is the opposite from the children born into the party. Winston claims that “nearly all children nowadays were horrible, what was worst of all was that by means of such organizations as the spies they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages, and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the party(24). I think that since Julia doesn’t adore the party it makes Winston gain a respect for Julia and find it weird that she wants to rebel. His judgment about how people around that generation weren’t completely accurate. Julia sees the negatives aspects the Party held and she aware of ways to rebel against. Since she was born around the era of the Party she knows more information about it then Winston. Winston is different from Julia because he wants get rid of the party while her just doing it for pleasure. Winston wants Julia to be a hoe because he wants her to be imperfect in their “perfect world”. Julia is like the proles , she is a part of the demise of the party. In addition, Winston said, the proles don’t know their power but Julia does which attracts him to her. The party’s dose not bother her as much as Winston, she just wants to rebel and still have sex her patience for the destruction of the party is limited. She doesn’t even care when Winston reads to her Goldstein’s book and his beliefs. This shows that she only cares about doing what she wants to do. Julia is similar to Winston because they both want to defeat the corruption. They are each other’s helpers Julia has characteristics traits that are like her attitude and her skills that can help Winston.
September 2, 2009 at 7:46 am
“He was a lonely ghost uttering a truth that nobody would ever hear” (27). This quotation about Winston and his beliefs shows a big impact on him believing in himself and going against on what he believes is right. By referring Winston as ghost it shows how invisible he is to the world and how lonely it must feel when you’re the only person in mind that thinks the way that you do. It explains how Winston is afraid of expressing himself through his diary and he wants other to understand him and have the same belief as him. He is finally realizing that he’s a “dead man” because he knows the truth he need to get out of the misery of lies the type of life he’s living in. he chooses to inform others from the past, future, present anywhere about the truth.
Winston can be compare to John Proctor from the drama The Crucible, they both at a certain point felt as the only ones dealing with the lies about trouble of the society. When John Proctor wants to prove the lies of a young girl and save innocent people, society doesn’t believe him and it may have seem like nobody ever heard the truth. The use of manipulating and brainwash is an issue both characters faced in their society.
September 2, 2009 at 3:54 pm
“They Party did not permit divorce, but it rather encouraged separation in cases where there were no children” (66).
In Oceania, the citizens are not allowed to get a divorce. Winston separated from his wife because she hated sex, revealing that they never had children of the their own. I feel that it’s like a prison where you cannot end your marriage permanently. People today are getting divorce becasue they feel no love in their relationship. They want to search for love again and marry someone else for a change. The Party is being unfair to the citizens’ marriages.
September 2, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Both Winston and Julia wish to defy the party because it denies them the freedom to engage in sexual activities. Julia simply dislikes the party; she is indifferent of their existence as long as she can have what she wants. On the other hand, Winston despises the party and all that it stands for. He is willing to do much more that just engage in sexual relations with Julia in order to encourage the party’s downfall. The biggest difference between Winston and Julia is age, and it is the main reason why their attitudes toward the party are so different. Winston at least attempts to remember the past and tries to learn all he can about the Brotherhood and those who, like him, hate the party. Julia however, seems not to care about the past because the party was already in existence when she was born. Although Winston’s reasons are deeper, one of the only similarities between Winston and Julia is that they both wish to rebel against the party.
September 2, 2009 at 6:16 pm
3. Winston and Julia have similar traits that can be related to each other on the other hand, they have many differences. Julia and Winston have an age difference, therefore it makes Julia have more understanding of the party then Winston has. Julia is twenty nine years old while Winston is thirty nine; this age difference between each other shows Winston that Julia knows more about the Party then he does. This can benefit Winston in finding ways to overcome the Party. Julia is born into the Party while Winston can still remember a time when his world wasn’t ruled by the party and people weren’t brainwashed. Winston understanding of people born into the party he thinks they are brainwashed and wont rebel against them. On the contrary, Julia is the opposite from the children born into the party. Winston claims that “nearly all children nowadays were horrible, what was worst of all was that by means of such organizations as the spies they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages, and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the party(24). I think that since Julia doesn’t adore the party it makes Winston gain a respect for Julia and find it weird that she wants to rebel. His judgment about how people around that generation weren’t completely accurate. Julia sees the nega tives aspects the Party held and she aware of ways to rebel against. Since she was born around the era of the Party she knows more information about it then Winston. Winston is different from Julia because he wants get rid of the party while her just doing it for pleasure. Winston wants Julia to be a hoe because he wants her to be imperfect in their “perfect world”. Julia is like the proles , she is a part of the demise of the party. In addition, Winston said, the proles don’t know their power but Julia does which attracts him to her. The party’s dose not bother her as much as Winston, she just wants to rebel and still have sex her patience for the destruction of the party is limited. She doesn’t even care when Winston reads to her Goldstein’s book and his beliefs. This shows that she only cares about doing what she wants to do. Julia is similar to Winston because they both want to defeat the corruption. They are each other’s helpers Julia has characteristics traits that are like her attitude and her skills that can help Winston
September 2, 2009 at 8:46 pm
1) There are many symbols in 1984. One symbol that stands out is his journal and his thoughts he puts in it. Winston knows that they thought police can tell what you are thinking so Winston puts all of his toughts inside the journal. The journal really changes Winston because he thinks about what would happen if someone finds out. His past also is a major symbol. Winston thinks about his mother and his sisters and this has a major effect. This can turn Winston into a different person as he also thinks about what the future holds in store for him. Everyday he questions people’s agenda and why people act the way they do. As he also thinks about who he is writing this journal to we learn what Winston is about. He has mixed feelings with the current government and he always looks at others with questions. He wonders who really follows all the rules and who doesn’t. Winston is also forced to really find out who he is as a person and he is forced to watch out for himself as he does not know who to trust. Orwell uses the symbol of the journal to show how Winston develops as a character and how he is able to live in the current environment.
September 3, 2009 at 5:52 am
I agree, the notebook is a huge symbol in 1984. The notebook is a place where he can write down memories which would be condemned in the society. It’s the only place where he can be himself, and tell the truth as he knows it. He’s able to write down things the Party have already “rectified” and it’s the first place he’s allowed to openly criticize Big Brother.
September 3, 2009 at 11:01 pm
I think that the journal is not only a way from Winston to write down all his thoughts, but it’s also a way for Winston to become who he can’t be in this controlling society. The journal allows Winston to write down his feelings about the party and Big Brother. Even though Winston knows that soon the Thought Police would find out about his journal, he still wants to keep it because it allows him to feel free. When he starts writing in the journal, Winston starts to rebel against his society, he knows that he would be punish but it doesn’t stop him from doing what he really wants to do and what others are afraid of doing. The journal brings out Winston’s strength and his courage.
September 9, 2009 at 1:49 am
Although the notebook may have served as the place whre he could he could truly express himself he seemed as if he still restricted his thoughts in the notebook because of his conscience. If he were to get caught his punishment would have been harsh. As the novel progresses he loses the fact that he had his precious notebook and begins to contradict everything that he wrote that he was against in the notebook.
September 3, 2009 at 1:28 am
“It was curious that the fact of having held it in his fingers seemed to him to make a difference even now, when the photograph itself, as well as the event it recorded, was only memory” (79).
Winston is able to remember specific dates and facts that other citizens of Oceania either forget, or are unaware of. Having the ability to remember specific events is important to Winston because knowing the facts, the real facts, shows that the party has not yet had an effect on him. The party, by constantly updating history, is able to change it as their wish. But as Winston noted, they cannot control a person’s memory. He realizes how detrimental it would be for the party if people knew the reality in which they live and the mere fact that he understands that, is an accomplishment for Winston.
September 3, 2009 at 5:45 am
That’s the hardest part of Winston’s struggle; he knows for a fact that the government has corrupted minds of the people. He knows that events, dates, people, and other things have been fabricated to benefit the Party. It’s what torments him, because he doesn’t know how to get other people to discover the truth. His main goal is to awaken the people by having them try to remember, truthfully. Like said before, the Party can’t completely control one’s memory.
September 3, 2009 at 5:39 am
Winston and Julia share the same desire of opposing against the Party. Julia, although younger than Winston, is more experienced in her rebelling. Her sexuality is her weapon against the Party; she allows herself and other members to liberate themselves through their erotic experiences. She even prides herself on her sexual abilities. She doesn’t see that through her promiscuity there is an underlining of an uprising; Winston is delighted that more people are unhappy and willing to go against Big Brother. But unlike Winston, Julia is “not interested in the finished product” (130). Winston desires for there to be large riots and an uprising against Big Brother. Winston’s vague memories allows him to know that in some time or another that living conditions were better. Julia being completely unaware of any different type of government or society is complacent and excepts the situation for what it is.
September 6, 2009 at 10:15 pm
I agree with you, in that Julia is more naive and sexual while Winston is mature and longs for a change in society. The two are both in agreement about revolution, but Winston seems to be more willing to take part in that revolution. Julia even told Winston she wasn’t interested in the future of society and she was more interested in the future of their relationship. She truly is, according to Winston, “only a rebel from the waist downwards.” (156)
September 3, 2009 at 1:07 pm
“The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of human labor” (191).
The standard of living in Oceania is not increasing, in fact, it is decreasing. The statistics announced by the party are irrelevant because no one knows where all the shoelaces, boots and other items that appear to be produced by the millions, really are. Instead of being used, these products are being destroyed in order to create the illusions that not only the workforce is growing, but also the standard of living. The people of Oceania appear to be working without a purpose, but they are not aware of that. Contrary to their beliefs, the people of Oceania are not progressing.
September 4, 2009 at 2:33 am
I agree that the party are creating an illusion that both the work done by the workers and the standard of living are improving in order to increase the morale of its civilians. Since the Party is able create statistics on the spot, while the residents of Oceania truly believe it, the workers recieve gratification in helping Oceania win the war and it keeps them on track. Without the war going on, there would not be a reason to create that many products and the standard of living would look as if it decreased.
September 8, 2009 at 11:39 pm
This is my post
September 4, 2009 at 2:50 am
I agree with this person and I think the whole purpose of continuous labor is to trap citizens within Oceania to keep the Party alive. The illusion of progress imposes motivation in people because it shows a sign of prosperity and hope. Everyone wants to succeed, and have the social ability to live a better life (despite its impossibility). If there were to be depression and poverty in Oceania then the citizens would revolt against the Party, which is the main cause of most revolutions throughout history. By imposing false hope and progress in people, it prevents doubts and guarantees the continuous well being of the Party.
September 4, 2009 at 5:36 am
I agree with this person and I think the whole purpose of continuous labor is to trap citizens within Oceania to keep the Party alive. The illusion of progress imposes motivation in people because it shows a sign of prosperity and hope. Everyone wants to succeed, and have the social ability to live a better life (despite its impossibility). If there were to be depression and poverty in Oceania then the citizens would revolt against the Party, which is the main cause of most revolutions throughout history. The Party wants to impose trust and confidence in its citizens so that they can be forever trapped in the false perfect world. By imposing false hope and progress in people, it prevents doubts and guarantees the continuous well being of the Party.
September 3, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Prompt:
Our regular or normal life is considered inferior to the party. The life that we all live in would be considered wrong and immoral. The pleasure that most people encountered in our life, wouldn’t be accessible for Winston. The things that we do today well get almost everybody in trouble. Most people in American do protest and create organization to express how they feel. Winston will feel comfortable living in place like this with rebellion and the right to speak against the party. In most cases sex has become an issue for Winston to obtain. Sex for pleasure is forbidden and as a married man he wanted to express his intimacy with his wife. He knew that the Party doesn’t allow people to have sexual attraction to each other. I believe that one of the main aspect of liking someone is that you need to be physical attracted to them. The life that we know today will be wrong and change to the party’s expectations. The freedom of being wrong and different would not exist, therefore a lot of people’s great ideas wouldn’t be acknowledge if everyone thinks the same.
An example of the party having too much control is the right to divorce. The party doesn’t permit divorce but the separation is allow, how can a couple get out an unhealthy relationship if they can’t get divorce, separating is one thing but if one person finds the love of his life and wants to marry again it wouldn’t be possible because of the paper work. I think its unfair and controlling how a person doesn’t has the right to choose to “remarry someone new”. Winston at times doesn’t even remember his wife, therefore shows how the party has control his relationship that it’s distorting the sex instinct and affection towards lovers. When two adults are married, they will usually want to express their intimacy towards each other.
September 3, 2009 at 8:48 pm
3) Winston and Julia has many differences and similarites. Winston and Julia both hate the current party and what the party stands for. Julia and Winston both want the freedom to do anything. They both want to interact with each other sexually but are unable to because of the party rules. Their age difference makes a huge difference. Winston who is older has seen what life was like when the current party was not in power. Now that the current party is in control he knows how it feels to have the freedom to do whatever he wants. Julia on the otherhand was born “into” the party. Julia never really knew how freedom felt like. Winston dislikes everything the party stands for but Julia dosn’t really care unless she gets everything she wants. Winston and Julia have many differences and similarities.
September 3, 2009 at 11:16 pm
“This process of continuous alteration was applied not only to newspapers, but to books, periodicals…photographs-to every kind of literature or documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance”(40).
The alteration of the press in Oceania is to a extreme; however I can somehow apply it to our society and how we run the public media. The citizens of Oceania are misguided with false information and as a result trap in the continuous manipulation of the Party. In comparison to Oceania, the information we received are also altered to fit the political interest of the our government. The news we read are so bias that what we read in the press often does not parallel with what people read in other countries. The press publishes anything that supports the government’s political view and hide any information that are detrimental. Similar to the citizens of Oceania, we are misinformed by our press and hidden from the truth. The government takes advantage of our misunderstandings and influences our ideas and philosophies to be in accordance with its views.
September 4, 2009 at 12:12 am
“In general, the greater the understanding, the greater the delusion: the more intelligent, the less sane” (215).
It is true that in Oceania “ignorance is strength.” The less you are aware of, the less questions you ask, the less personal items you are willing to own, the happier the party is. Very few people are willing to go against established beliefs for fear that they will disappear, along with countless other individuals. In order to survive under the watchful eye of Big Brother, one is better off knowing less. According to Max Weber, one form of legitimate domination is known as charismatic rule; a government in which the leader is able to emotionally attach himself to his followers. I believe that is an accurate definition of Big Brother. Although very few people know him personally, all citizens of Oceania are required to believe, obey and love him.
September 4, 2009 at 5:30 am
3. Julia and Winston are both unhappy with the party and the world they live in. They are aware of the impacts the party has on their lives, and their disdain is mutual. What separates Julia from Winston is the way is the way they want to deal with their situations. Winston has dreams of overthrowing the government and wants change. He wants to get rid of the party while Julia is trying to find loop holes. She intends to sneak around and avoid getting caught. Winston is thinking more the future, but Julia is thinking more of herself. Her self-centered way of thinking is the opposite of Winston’s noble cause.
September 4, 2009 at 6:46 pm
This reminds me of the movie Equilibrium where the main character starts to feel unhappy with the government’s idea of banning any emotionally stimulating materials such as books and music. They believed that emotions were the cause of World War III. While working for the government, the main character Preston starts to feel behind its back. He was feeling emotions such as sadness and anger and got caught for showing these emotions. He also helped the rebels to go against the government to freedom the citizens from their emotionless world.
September 4, 2009 at 5:16 pm
6) Room 101 is the ultimate place to break one’s soul and spirit and to completely shatters his/her independent thoughts. It almost guarantees transformation and royalty to the Party, and if not one will get kill. The uncertainty of Room 101 provokes fear and anxiety. The anticipating of the unknown is dreadful and thus creates fear in people. The cage of rats certainly breaks Winston’s spirit. Room 101 uses fear to conquer Winston’s desire to rebel and asks for obedience. He transforms from a person with his own thoughts to a liveless robot like everyone else. Room 101 completely changes Winston’s wills, personal desire, thoughts, values and personality. He can’t overcomes his fear and as a result lets the Party take over his wills.Winston loses his individuality and becomes a robot who is forever trapped under the Party’s dictatorship.
September 4, 2009 at 5:41 pm
On p.4 of the book there’s extreme, obivous irony. “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength.” Each section within the comma provides contridiction. This quote immediately sets the scene of a very depressing, gray, unhappy book. It forshadows what the future chapters are and how this quote forms the setting and chacaterization of some people. Like Brave New World, this particular quote is given to the citizens in order to, in a way, help them with life, though in a miserable way.
This is completely different than Brave New World. In BNW, the government makes sure that people have all the necessities in life to make insure they are happy. There are no wars, everyone is free, and no one is ignorant. Mustapha Mond also goes the extra mile to provide evryone with soma if ever they need an extra boost of happiness.
September 8, 2009 at 1:39 am
As I started off into the novel I felt the same way, I kept thinking of a dark gray industrial type city. As for the quotation “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength.” looking at it as a person raised in democratic society I immediately thought it was ridiculous, and suppressive. I see it as an invisible restraint the party used to keep its people under control. The whole feel of the book to me can be described as Nazi Germany; with all of the propaganda and junior spies. All in all the book portrays a very corrupt society.
September 4, 2009 at 6:19 pm
2.) When I first heard the concept of “thought crime” on p.19 I thought it was weird and somewhat funny. But as I continued reading I began to realize the severity of it. Thought crime was seriously a crime! It gives true meaning to “Freedom is Slavery.” In order to be free you must be a slave. How does one accuse someone of thought crime? Through Winston’s description it seems as if it is random. The process known as vaporization is kind of used as a way to scare people into thinking that any wrong move or saying the wrong thing will lead you to be vaporized.
The government uses other people to control the way the general population thinks as well. “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought” (52). They control peoples thought through all forms of literature; in this case it’s a dictionary.
September 5, 2009 at 6:10 pm
I also thought it was a bizarre concept, mostly because there is no systematic format used to identify a thought criminal. In reality, the main purpose of thought crime is to keep the people of Oceania “in check.” It is a way to ensure that people are constantly thinking good thoughts and praising the party. With all the Junior Spies, telescreens, and comrades who are instinctively suspicious of every seemingly unorthodox movement or thought, the citizens of Oceania have no choice but to behave and that is exactly what the party wants.
September 4, 2009 at 8:58 pm
The most profound symbols in the book is the picture of the church in the room above Mr. Charrington’s shop. It’s important because the meaning of the picture changes as the story unfolds. In the beginning, when Winston first sees the picture he is elated and it brings a reminiscent feeling to him. St. Clements to Winston symbolizes the “romantic past” in which times were completely different from what they are now. St. Clements even makes Winston think of the old rhyme. The picture embodies what he hopes and desires the future to be like. It is one of his prized possessions from the past that he holds so dearly, like the glass paper weight.
But, as he learns that Mr. Charrington is a Thought Police member and that the telescreen was hide behind his precious picture, the meaning of St. Clements changes drastically. Ironically, the virginal picture of the past has led to Winston’s downfall. The picture no longer symbolized the angelic past, but instead, the corruption of the past. The Party was able to hide itself, and completely destroy and remake the past; which is symbolized in the breaking of the photo when the telescreen appears.
September 4, 2009 at 9:08 pm
“I hate purity, I hate goodness. I don’t want any virtue to exist anywhere. i want everyone to be corrupt to the bones” (126).
Winston is mortified with how the Party has tried to make every individual the same, depending on their position. It’s ironic how he hates purity, when what the Party practices and spreads is corrupt. The quote emphasizes how Big Brother has manipulated the minds of the people, to the point where the conception of pure and evil has been greatly altered. To have opinions, to have faults, and to go against the norm has become the biggest and most dangerous crimes in the society of Big Brother.
September 4, 2009 at 9:18 pm
“If you kept the small rules you could break the big ones” (129).
This symbolizes the view of Julia’s attitude toward rebellion in 1984. She doesn’t believe or has faith in the destruction of the Party, not even in the future. She expects the circumstances for what they are and she’s content with living her life to the best of her ability. Julia and her attitude toward the society reflects the ideas of today’s “Me generation.” The young people of today are more concerned with having a flat screen t.v. than with the problems going on around the world. Youth are merely satisfied with what is, than to try to change it themselves. Hence, the lack of young people voting in last couple of years. Like Julia, modern day youth is ignorantly selfish with no care for the people of the future or interest of those from the past.
September 5, 2009 at 12:15 am
I agree with Mel. I feel that Julila has a “young mindset” and attitude compared to Winston, which makes her have an alternative view to the Party than his. She rather rebel and make love to Winston. Her attitude is different because she is younger, when comparing her views to an older person like Winston his views seem more “orthodox.”
September 8, 2009 at 3:15 am
There is no denying that Julila lacks the ability to interpret Wilson’s way of rebelling, but I wouldn’t exactly say she has a “young mindset”. She thinks the more partners she has in the Party the more of a rebel she is, this causes Wilson to refer to her as “a rebel only from the waste down”. She does not understand why Wilson takes their “rebellion” so seriously because she doesn’t realize to him it’s more than just sex. It about liberation and taking back something that was suppose to be between two people from the control of the party.
September 4, 2009 at 9:30 pm
2）Doublethink is “reality control”in which people accept both sides of a belief despite it being contradictory. Doublethink works against logic, because in Oceania it is no longer about facts but is about what Big Brother says. The Party intentionally sends out lies, and people doublethink to accept it without any doubts and questions. For example, people has always been told that Oceania is at war with Eurasia; however through the midway of the book the Party change to that Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia and is allied with Eurasia. Nobody confronts the party nor did they question the reality of it. They simply change their knowledge to accept the lie. Doublethink requires “an unending series of victories over your own memory” (35). Doublethink prevents questions and doubts and thus leads to trust in people. The easy alteration of the war shows how easily people of Oceania can be manipulated using doublethink. People are willing to believe everything the Party says and as a result leads to full manipulation from the party. Doublethink is important to Winston’s brainwashing because, unlike most people in Oceania, Winston is aware of doublethink, and he is conscious of what is true and what is false. Winston has trouble dealing with doublethink since he has a hard time convincing himself to believe in what the Party says. In order to be brainwashed, Winston must completely let go of his consciousness and be in accordance with the Party’s ideas using doublethink. Doublethink is the greatest method the Party has invented in Oceania for it allows easy manipulation of the people by the Party.
September 4, 2009 at 9:50 pm
“It was only an ‘opeless fancy,
It passed like an Ipril dye,
But a look an’ a word an’ the dreams they stirred
They ‘ave stolen my ‘eart awye!” (138).
The melody sung by the prole woman outside of the hide out seems to be a sort of foreshadowing for Winston. It seems as though she’s singing about the past and how the Party stirred up everyone’s lives with their lies and destruction of the past. It also seems to reflect Winston’s ” ‘opeless fancy” in the past and how it was taken away by the emergence of the telescreen. Also, the melody reassures Winston that the proles are the future of society, because their more natural than the Party members. The proles still sing like the birds and animals; they are the past and future to Winston.
September 4, 2009 at 9:54 pm
“Lottery was the principal if not the only reason for remaining alive. It was their delight…their intellectual stimulant (85).
This quotation can relate to people today with playing the lottery. Some people nowadays think luck will get them to their destiny in life instead of doing something with them. This also shows how Winston doesn’t understand how people can actually believe in this. This is another example, in my opinion how the government runs the people’s mind. Winston mentions how the prizes are imaginary. He knows that the ministry of plenty knows about as well as the Party. It shows how the government manipulates their people when by “rewarding” them.
September 4, 2009 at 10:01 pm
“It was true that she regarded the whole war as a sham; but apparently she had not even noticed that the name of the enemy had changed” (154).
Julia’s unawareness of the war is similar to those of the majority of Americans today. In the early 2000’s the U.S. entered a war based on the allegations of “weapons of mass destruction” as repeated in the media. But, today a large amount of youth, even in the more liberal states like New York, are unaware of what is truly going on. This shows how Orwell wrote the book not only to entertain people but to serve as a sort of warning. The core countries today have been engulfed with greed and the desire of stability, like the Party itself. There are wars going on, with no reason behind it. And the ones who suffer, mostly without realizing it, are the individuals in the countries.
September 4, 2009 at 10:02 pm
“If there is hope[wrote Winston] it lies in the proles”(69)
This symbolizes how Winston is trying to actually do something about the party not by only writing about in his journal, he’s having hope. Hope is the first step to defeating the party. I think this is a significant part of 1984, because it shows how there may be a possibility of destroying the party. It might foreshadows the defeat of the party is by the proles. They can defeat them by rebellion towards them. This is the time where Winston begins to analyze his ideas and hopes for the best. This quote makes me believe that the hope it soon closer then he thinks. I agree with Winston, if people want change, change can be possible only by doing something about it. The proles are the majority in Oceania, therefore if wanting to conquer they can.
September 5, 2009 at 6:20 pm
I agree that this line is symbolic. It is curious to note, however, that once he says this, the authority exposes itself and takes Winston into custody. Once Winston mentions that he has hope, the party knows that his random rambling has gone too far. The thought police had not interfered with Winston prior to him making that statement, but immediately afterward the thought police acknowledged that it must stop Winston before he takes his ideas and turns them into something more concrete. The thought police had to stop Winston before he was able to do something; which, in my opinion, symbolizes the party’s power. Although the party allows people to “dream,” is forced to stop people once a thought criminal says something potentially dangerous.
September 4, 2009 at 11:04 pm
“The point is, these capitalists-they and a few lawyers and priest and so forth who lived on them-were the lords of the earth. Everything existed for their benefits. You-the ordinary people, the workers-were their slaves” (90).
The description above really does reflects upon the true evil of capitalism; however this quote can be applied to Oceania as well, because aren’t people of Oceania slaves of Big Brother and the Party? The description above does apply to a capitalistic society, because the poor are the slaves of the few wealthy ones. Workers from third world countries help keep the economy moving: they are the ones who feed the multinational corporations through the exploitation of their labor and minimum wage. The citizens of Oceania are not better than the workers of a capitalistic society, in fact I believe they are worse. People in Oceania are not aware of their situations and are taught and brainwashed to obey the Party under any circumstances. There are diseases and poverty in Oceania but there seems to be no confrontations and rebellions. The people of Oceania existed for the benefit of Big Brother and the Party. They are slaves who get seduced by false lies and ende up living their whole lives under the watchful eyes of the Party. Every aspects of their lives are controlled by the Party through thought polices, telescreens and children. The Party exploits their labor and offers chocolate as rewards for their hard work. This seems worse than a capitalistic society. If the future is going to be like this I want no part of it.
September 4, 2009 at 11:40 pm
“By lack of understanding they remained sane. They simply swallowed everything, and what they swallowed did them no harm” (156).
When I look at a society like Oceania I can really understand why there is a slogan that reads “Ignorance Is Strength.” In Oceania, the less one knows the better one’s life will be. Having any independent thoughts or ideas threaten the stability of the society, and as a result leads to punishments. Being ignorant means safety. Winston does not lack understanding; he lacks the understanding of the severity of having independent thoughts. When Winston thinks that he and O’Brien share the same thoughts he is gradually lured into a false hope and trapped under the watchful eyes of the Thought Police. His awareness of doublethink and doubts on Big Brother all contributed to his downfall. If he were to “swallow everything” he would’ve been saved. The Party seems to be very sensitive to any suspicious actions. Even though the Party can not read one’s mind but his/her intentions can be thoroughly analyze by the Thought Police and be put under close inspection. The Party wants ignorance because without it there will be a revolution. In our society, the lack of knowledge presents backwardness and shows stupidity; ironically in Oceania, lack of knowledge ensures safety.
September 5, 2009 at 1:04 am
The St. Clement’s Church rhyme “Here comes a candle to light you to bed, Here comes a chopper to chop off your head,” which Winston repeats continously in his head is forshadowing something malicious(98). It seems to forshadow that something bad awaits Winston possibly being discovered by the Thought Police and being vaporized like Syme.
September 5, 2009 at 1:32 am
Another example of foreshadowing is Winston’s fear of rats. In the room above Mr. Charrington’s shop when Julia points out the rat Winton quivers in fear. He closes his eyes and thinks of his reoccurring nightmare of him standing in front of the wall of darkness and on the other side something “unendurable”(144). This foreshadows that perhaps when he goes to meet O’Brien that his nightmare may come true. Perhaps his fear of rats may be his death.
September 5, 2009 at 2:08 am
“Big Brother is the guise in which the party chooses to exhibit itself to the world. His function is to act as a focusing point for love, fear, and reverence, emotions which are more easily felt toward an individual than toward an organization” (208)
I don’t think Big Brother exists in Oceania; he is only there spiritually. The Party invents him as a political propaganda as well as a tool to enforce control among the people. Big Brother is the controlling force who is able to get emotions out of people. People look up to him and believe in everything he says. For example, during Hate Weeks, the appearance of Big Brother was able to make such a huge impact on people’s anger despite the fact that “nobody heard what big brother was saying” (16). By inventing Hate Weeks and have Big Brother’s vivid image, it create further hatred towards other countries and thus lead to deeper royalty from the people. Big Brother is almost God liked and also like a celebrity. People are so obsess with him and rely on him for hopes and comforts. Big Brother is a friendly and approachable political image. The Party invents Big Brother because it is easier to establish a relationship between a admirable leader than to establish one between a entire government.
September 5, 2009 at 2:45 am
“Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don’t care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Not me! Julia! Not me!” (286).
Room 101 breaks Winston down and transforms him into a selfish person who loses all his awareness and becomes a live less human being. I think ultimately this is what the the Party wants Winston to be in because if not, O’Brien would have let go of the rats and kill Winston. I am surprised by Winston’s transformation. I thought he is decent and would rather sacrifices himself to save Julia. Winston’s reaction shows how powerful and manipulative the Party can be. From Winston’s transformation it gives me a insight into how the people of Oceania are. I believe people there only look after themselves and are selfish and careless. They feel indifferent towards others and only care about the well being of themselves. This is exactly what the Party wants, because friendliness and companionship would only lead to unification among people. Public unification creates common thoughts which might threaten the stability of the government.
September 5, 2009 at 6:53 am
Writing Prompt #1: Describe Julia’s character as it relates to Winston. How is she different from him? How is she similar to him? How does Julia’s age make her attitude toward the Party very different from Winston’s?
Julia is a much more straight-forward person than her lover, Winston. As a result of her aggresiveness and getting what she wants, Julia and Winston begin their love affair after she tells him she loves him in a small note she hands him one day. They have very little in common and certain traits of their personalities are opposite of eachother, and can even seem contradicting. One thing that they both enjoy and have in common is their deisre for sex. It is what keeps them interested in eachother. She is interested in rebelling against the Party becuase they are against sex, but her rebellion is not as powerful and meaningful as Winston’s. She does not feel as strongly about rebelling against the Party as he does.
September 5, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Prompt #1: Describe Julia’s character as it relates to Winston. How is she different from him? How is she similar to him? How does Julia’s age make her attitude toward the Party very different from Winston’s?
Julia is a much more straight forward person than Winston. As a result of her being more aggressive than him, they begin their love affair after she slips s note in his hand with the words “I Love You” written on it. Their personalities are similar concerning certain situations but at times can differ in ways that may seem contradicting. Julia does have interest in rebelling against the Party becuase the Party does not believe in sex. She loves sex and does not follow the rules becuase she continues to make love to Winston and she claims to have had sex with alot of the Party members. She rebells against the party for her own pleasure but she isnt as serious about overthrowing it as Winston. He wants to overthrow the Party and join the club “Brotherhood” who have intentions of doing so. This is another reason why they differ but are similar in some ways.
Winston and Julia’s age difference is very large and as a result of this, they do not have the same interest when it comes to history. Winston is interested in finding out how life was before the Revolution. He continues to ask, “What was it like in the old days? Were things better than they are now, or were they worse?” (87). Winston spoke to Julia about history and about how the next generation will not know anything about the times that they are living in now and history before that. Julia was not interested in his converstation at all. As a result of her lck of interest, Winston concluded that she was jus a rebel from the waist down (156).
September 5, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Quote: Who controls the past controls the future: Who controls the future controls the past”(35).
When i read this quote it made alot of sense to me and i interpreted it by using events from the book and from real life events that occured in the past. Back in the days during slavery times and segregation the main goal for the activists was to abolish slavery and to create better living for those of the future. All the changes that people chose to make were so that the future would be better and brighter. This relates to the first half of the quote because those people who controlled the past, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, controlled our future; they controlled what change would be brought about in our future.
The second half of the quote, “Who controls the past controls the present,” relates to events in the book. In the book, the Party controls the present and as a reult of that they also control the past becuase they decide what knowledge about the past is available for the people of oceania. This is why Winston has so many questions about the Revolution and wants to know how it was back then becuase he has no access to information from that time period.
September 5, 2009 at 10:08 pm
“We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness” (25)
When Winston was talking to someone in the dark the person told him that they should talk where there is no darkness. If the thought police would have seen them talking in the darkness they would have been hung because they would assume they were talking about a takeover. It is really sad that Winston and the other citizens are unable to have any freedom and they are watched at every corner. This is also significant because Winston cannot trust anyone so he needs to see who he is talking with because he can tell that person something personal. I also think that the tought police has gotten everyone under their “control” because no one is taking any chances.
September 5, 2009 at 10:13 pm
“Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death” (28)
This quote seems very important because many people were afraid to think about anything. Many people were unable to even think about how bad the party was because if the thought police would have caught you, you were hung. What this quote is also saying is that thoughtcrime is death. Even when you think about anything about the current party many people thought that they were dead because the thought police would have caught them. Many people knew even if they thought about it that they might die the next day. That is why Winston has his own journal instead of keeping everything on his mind. In 1984 the idea of “thoughtcrime” is mentioned everywhere.
September 5, 2009 at 10:21 pm
“Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In every way every prediction made by the party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct” (40)
This quote shows how the government gets the power it has. Many people are fooled by what the party does. The party fixes the past to make it seem like everything they predicted was right. With people believing everything the party says everyone believes what the party does it right. Winston knows that the government is fixed and that what they say can be a lie.
Today we still have things like this. Many people can change the headline of a big story to make it better for themselves or for someone else. For example during the Finacial Crisis in 2008 many newspapers blamed the people they disliked and protected the people they did like. It is sad to say that even though the government doesn’t change the things that happend in the past, they still can change what is printed out.
September 5, 2009 at 10:31 pm
“You did not have friends nowadays, you had comrades; but there were some comrades whose society was pleasanter than that of others” (48)
Winston is describing the people around society. In the world you did not have friends. You did not know who worked for the party and who didn’t. You did not know who hated the party and who favored the party. Winston knew he could call the people who knew as comrades. His comrades are people that are willing to help him but Winston knew he could not tell them how he felt about the party. Winston realized after those people who were hung that he needed to keep quiet in order to live and try to get rid of the party. The people he worked with were friendly people but like I said he knew he could not trust them epsically since Big Brother was watching everyone. Also the thought party could see if you or your comrades were thinking about how bad the current party was and how it is hurting society.
September 5, 2009 at 10:32 pm
“It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran”(p2).
The poster of Big Brother symbolizes how everyone in this society is being watched by one another. By placing the poster of Big Brother around Oceanic, it instills fear into the civilians. Knowing that “Big Brother is watching” they aren’t likely to go against the party. It shows how freedom is limited in this world where everybody keeps an eye out on everyone and there is no privacy. Similarly the Thought Police is like Big Brother, because they are the ones helping the party spy on the citizens.
September 5, 2009 at 10:38 pm
“The terrible thing that the Party had done was to persuade you that mere impulses, mere feelings, were of no account, while at the same time robbing you of all power over the material world.” (165)
This quote tells the whole story in 1984. The party made people believe what they were feeling was nothing; that if they were happy or sad that it didn’t matter as long as you listened and followed the rules of the party. I really believe that this is true. The party has complete control of everything from electronics to the press. People are made to believe that the party is the best and nothing they do is wrong. During this time the party was also looking for stability. Many people like Winston and Julia knew that the party has brainwashed everyone and that something needed to be done. But the thing is that people were taught not to hate the party. This makes things harder for Winston and Julia who hates the party.
Today also we have the government and even our parents who control materialistic things. Like our computers and TV’s. If we do bad in school our parents will threaten to take away our electronics. This is kind of what the party is doing.
September 5, 2009 at 11:05 pm
“This was not illegal (nothing was illegal, since there were no longer any laws), but if detected it was reasonably certain that it would be punished by death, or at least by twenty-five years in a forced labor camp” (p 6).
This shows that Oceanic is a contradicting society because if they say that nothing is illegal, how can people still be punished for something they do. People wouldn’t need to be punished if there are no laws and no crimes for them to commit. When Winston begins to record in his diary, he knows it is going against the party and he would be punished for it; this is because Oceanic doesn’t allow the people to have a mind of their own. Even when people knows that Oceanic is a contradicting society, nobody would go against the party.
September 6, 2009 at 12:07 am
“It was a dark, dirty, miserable place where hardly anybody had enough to eat and where hundreds and thousands of poor people had no boots on their feet and not even a roof to sleep under…” (p 72-73).
This paragraph reminds me of the ideas of communism. Many of the communist countries and Oceanic have similar goals such as ending poverty and bring equality to the people. Even with these good intentions, it sets a limit to the civilians freedom. Although they now have the living requirements like food and a place to sleep, everyone is equal and no one is an individual. Their freedom has been taken away in exchange for a better living conditions. Not only is Oceanic similar to communism, but it is also like other countries around the world because they all believe that they are doing whats best for their society; even if it means taking away the freedom of others.
September 6, 2009 at 12:26 am
“I hate purity. I hate goodness. I don’t want virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones.” (pg 125)
September 6, 2009 at 12:39 am
“‘Who denounced you?’ said Winston. ‘It was my little daughter.’ said Parsons with a sort of doleful pride” (p 233).
Children living in Oceanic resemble the Hitler Youth because both are brainwashed at a young age and raised to help the government. Both would spy on the adults, even their own parents, and report them if they were suspected of revolting against the government. Although Parson is put into jail because of his daughter, he is still proud of her for turning him in. I think its weird that even though he was turned in by his own daughter he is proud of her and is bragging to Winston. In any society, children are a fundamental weapon since they are the future. When raised the right way children can be easily manipulated and used by the government to their advantage.
September 6, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Hitler and many other dictators had the youth trained to turning in their parents. Germany, Russia, and Italy during World War II had similar groups. Training the youth is a sign of a new regime. The older generations already have their customs instilled in them, and those are hard to break. Children are learning these new customs and are going to pick up what they were taught, so when they are older they will be least likely to go against rules embedded in them.
September 7, 2009 at 4:31 am
I agree with TRV and ST because I think that George Orwell is trying to compare 1984 with the war. I think that he feels that some of the events that are happening in this book were going on during WWII. The tactics, the countries teach their people what they wanted them to know. The government didn’t inform to the people everything that was happening. The party brainwashing the young reminds me of propaganda use in World War II. There use of propaganda is for them to instill their customs to the youth. Just like how ST, said the poster is controlling the citizens and in WWII it was of propaganda to brainwash most citizens. So I think George Orwell is using the idea of brainwashing the youth as an example, of the cruelty in the government of the United States and the party.
September 6, 2009 at 12:40 am
“I hate purity. I hate goodness. I don’t want virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones.” (pg 125)
This quote emphasizes how the party has affected the morals of its civilians. Being “pure” or “good” in the story is to follow the government without doubt or children telling others their parents did something suspicious, so they can be taken away and never be seen again. The party has deformed the meaning of purity and goodness into its opposite meaning.
September 6, 2009 at 2:07 am
5. Technology in 1984 is one of the ways that the party induces fear into the people of Oceania. Though the use of the telescreen, hidden microphones, and cameras, the party can watch Oceania’s civilian’s every move, and what they say. If they’re caught doing something that the party doesn’t agree with, they will be taken away and this fear of getting caught is strong enough to keep its residents to not rebel or even talk about it. Also, since the cameras and microphones can be hidden anywhere, that fear still exist wherever anyone goes and many would not risk being caught so there is really no way of talking about rebellion without a huge chance of being discovered.
September 11, 2009 at 5:29 am
i agree, the people were in so much fear they were not able to rebel against the party. they could not even think without their thoughts being heard, which is actually quite scary.
September 6, 2009 at 4:23 am
“Who controls the past,” ran the Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” And yet the past, though of its nature alterable, never had been altered. Whatever was true now was true from everlasting to everlasting” (35).
This quote is an important example of the Party’s hypocrisy where it uses a false history to hinder the independence of the public. Control of the past ensures control of the future because the past can be treated as conditions that justify or encourage future goals: if the past was calm, then people will act to re-create it; if the past was terrifying, then people will act to prevent it from recurring. The control of history emphasizes the corruption authority has on its people. The Party creates a past that was a time of misery; therefore, it claims to have freed humanity, thus compelling people to work toward the Party’s goals. This way the Party justifies itself to hamper freedom from its citizens.
September 6, 2009 at 11:58 pm
I agree with the this. But as much as the slogan is hypocritical it also is true. The Party has a great deal of power over the people, so they can get away with a lot of things. One of those things is making up information and having everyone believe it. It is immoral to it, but there was a point in time when the people allowed them to get this much control over them. Also, the Party gives itself away with this slogan. They obviously it is understood people know the truth, but that is why they have the thought police and ways to keep the people from rebelling.
September 6, 2009 at 4:41 pm
“But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won victory over himself. He loved Big Brother” (297).
This quote is important because it explains the feelings that Winston had at the end of the novel. When he dies, he finally feels that he is free from the Party. He feels like he doesn’t have to be afraid of the world any longer. All the rebelling that Winston has done shows that he did it so that he can be free from this world; “He had won victory over himself” shows that Winston is not sad when he dies because he acknowledges it as what he wanted all along. This is also significant because Winston has learned to love Big Brother and its because Big Brother has set him free from his struggles with the world.
September 6, 2009 at 4:42 pm
“It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children. And with good reason, for hardly a week passing in which…overheard some compromising remark and denounced his parents to the Thought Police” (24).
This quote signifies the use of children as tools to control the people in Oceania. This reminds me of child labor during the Industrial Revolution. These children were exploited to work for low wages, long hours, and often dangerous jobs. This quote reminds me of child labor because children are used as tools so that the person in charge can benefit from them working. In this case, the Party uses the children to spy on their parents to make sure nothing can overthrow its reign. By using children, it controls society from being independent. This is to make sure the Party does not lose power.
September 6, 2009 at 8:41 pm
2.) The idea of doublethink is significant throughout the book and is one of the main factors that keep The Party in control of Oceania. Every citizens is required to believe any idea or principle that The Party feeds them even if they know it to be false. Doublethink ensures the complete brainwashing of all of its citizens by keeping them ignorant of their own thoughts and opinions. When applied, doublethink forces people to believe a false truth even though the real truth could have been as concrete as the ground they walked on. Members of The Party are brainwashing into believing any thought that is given to them by Big Brother. It is key to Winston’s brainwashing because it forces him to believe complete absurdities. He is tortured to the point of believing 2 + 2 makes 5 even though he knows wholeheartedly the answer is 4. He is also made to believe that he does not exist and is forced to acknowledge that he doesn’t exist.
September 6, 2009 at 9:59 pm
“Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past” (pg 34)
This quote emphasizes the party’s control over Oceania. Since the party controls the present, they can alter history by creating false documents, and teaching untrue events and with that power, they can lie about how Oceania has improved under their reign. As a result of the citizens actually believing this lie, they continue to support the party’s rule over them because they truly think the standards of living is constantly improving. This is an endless and unbreakable cycle of the party’s domination over Oceania and they aren’t afraid to show it as Winston read this on a public poster.
September 6, 2009 at 10:33 pm
4.) Winston’s character truly objects with the ideals and practices of the Party yet he still identifies with them. He does not agree with the activities they conduct such as Hate Week and the altering of the past yet he doesn’t openly reject them. By him taking small steps to oppose the Party; buying the diary, roaming around prole quarters, sneaking around with Julia, buying the glass decoration, he only dug his grave deeper and let himself become susceptible to Party capture. If he had chose to just leave the party and possibly become a prole he would have been able to live a life without secrecy and oppose the Party without the possibility of being captured by the Thought Police.
September 6, 2009 at 10:41 pm
6. Room 101 is basically the room which contains one’s worst fear. If one is able to survive through the brutal beatings and the excruciatingly painful interrogations and still have some pride within himself, then it will be all lost in Room 101. In Winston’s case, he does not know whats inside Room 101, only that its so horrible it causes the chinless man to rather see his family’s throat be cut open right in from of him or being shot instead of going into that room. This event shows Winston that Room 101 is certainly not a pleasant place to be, but he still does not know whats in the room and this uncertainly increases the fear within him. Fear dramatically goes up once it turns to reality and that fear breaks Winston’s spirit. Throughout all the beatings and torture, not once did he betray Julia, but once the rats were about to burst out of its cage, he tells them to “do it to Julia!”. After that event, Winston has been transformed into what he hated. All the beliefs he had before, are now the beliefs of the party. Room 101, in short, is the room of no escape.
September 6, 2009 at 11:02 pm
“And perhaps you might pretend, afterwards, that it was only a trick and that you just said it to make them stop and didn’t really mean it. But that isn’t true. At the time when it happens you do mean it. You think there’s no other way of saving yourself and you’re quite ready to save yourself that way. You want it to happen to the other person. You don’t give a damn what they suffer. All you care about is yourself” (292).
After what happened in Room 101, Julia confronts Winston. She tells him that she wants her torture to be shifted to him, and he responds that he feels the same way. This betrayal is important because it shows that the Party uses torture as a way to control its people. Because of their “conditioning”, both Winston and Julia no longer pose as a threat to the Party. By inflicting pain, the Party proves to Winston and Julia that independence or emotional loyalty is strong enough to withstand torture. This symbolizes that through fear, pain, and suffering people will accept the corruption of government. In the end, it is “everyone to him/ herself.”
September 6, 2009 at 11:38 pm
6. The reason why society is so wrong is because the people are conditioned and told what to do, what to like and what to say. From the beginning children are taught everything they ought to know; there is little room for self discovery and for finding out what they truly want in life. Most people are ignorant to another form of life besides Brave New World, yet John, Bernard, and Helmholts do know more. This is what separated them form the rest. John not only comes from a different place, but he also read Shakespeare. Bernard knows the importance of the brainwashing, and he also know what life could be like without. Because of their knowledge, all three men do not use soma like the others. They realize it is not a solution to problems, only an escape. They know it will not change their circumstances, and they would be happier without it.
September 6, 2009 at 11:39 pm
wrong book. please ignore this response.
September 7, 2009 at 12:16 am
5. Technology plays a big role for the party. Technology helps the Party to instill control over the citizens. Technology is use to make the Party stronger by making the citizens feel useless. It makes them have fear towards the Party because they know that they are using technology to control them and know everything they are doing. The party uses propaganda and with the use of technology their propaganda is more beneficial. Winston describes his surroundings being control by technology. There is no source of privacy in the party world and they use telescreens to invade the citizen’s privacy. So now citizens are afraid of doing anything because they know that it’s everywhere. The telescreens are everywhere and people are being monitored of all their actions. The party employs technology by controlling the citizens and limiting them on conversations and what they do that can go against the party. Microphones are an example how the party uses technology to control the citizens by listening to their conversations and using it for their benefits. Two mintues of hate is another way the party use to control the citizens. Technology only benefits the party because it can get a lot people into trouble and it also destroys evidence of a time where the party wasn’t in charge. Like that they can control people more by making them think that the party always “existed”. It even created the idea of double think because they use technology to destroy documents and make new ones.
September 7, 2009 at 12:35 am
“To die hating them, that was freedom” (281).
I think that this quote shows how Winston is finally recognizing the importance of letting his emotions out. He has so much hatred towards the Party that he doesn’t realizes that the only way to set him free is by accepting his hatred. He knows that if the party kills him, he will die hating them and big brother and that will be his freedom. To know the truth is freedom and to live in a lie is death. He chooses to not hide his feelings and allow his hatred towards big brother be his way of freedom. I agree with Winston at times, it better off to die for something you believe in then live a lie. He should follow his hate toward the party and big brother because he knows what’s right; therefore, he won’t lie to himself. I think dyeing for a purpose is a very heroic thing to do, Winston reminds me of John Proctor of The Crucible, when he decides to die for what he knows is right, for the freedom of others. Winston knows the truth and won’t obey the party’s rules because it wouldn’t be the moral thing to do.
September 7, 2009 at 3:54 am
While i do agree with what you are saying, I have to ask, is it really best to die while feeling emotion when the emotion that you are feeling is hatred? I do get that the feeling of these emotions are a form of freedom, considering the party’s work to restrict those emotions, i feel that negative feelings restrict more than cause freedom.
September 7, 2009 at 1:18 am
“WAR IS PEACE” (4)
This party slogan represents the use of war as a method of delivering the illusion of peace. Citizens of Oceania believe they are safe because the war is away from the living quarters of Oceania. By being at war, the Party brainwashes its citizens into believing that the war is what allows people to live as they do and without it unity and stability in Oceania would not exist. With this slogan burned into the minds of every citizen no one objects to the constant rationing of food and shortages of common items like razor blades. Every citizen is convinced that there is peace because they do not see the war and only know that they have a common enemy.
September 7, 2009 at 1:51 am
“FREEDOM IS SLAVERY” (4)
This party slogan tells the citizens that to be free they have to slaves to the ideas of the Party and Big Brother. As long as the citizens of Oceania work toward the ideals of the Big Brother then they are free. They make the people believe that if they are not slaves to the Party then they are not free. The Party make the Oceanians believe that if they are not slaves to Big Brother than they are not a citizens with rights when in all actuality being a slave removes all rights.
September 7, 2009 at 2:35 am
“IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (4)
This party slogan is key to the brainwashing of the citizens. By keeping the citizens of Oceania ignorant they ensure that the citizens don’t question the Party. They tell the people not to seek knowledge other than the knowledge the Party supplies because the Party would weaken if people began to believe other things. They make the people of Oceania believe that Oceania is a strong unified society by keeping them uninformed and preventing them from learning the truth.
September 7, 2009 at 3:37 am
6. Room 101 is a torture room in which is said to be the worst thing to the prisoner inside. Throughout Winston’s time in the Ministry of love, he does not know what he will find inside the room itself which just adds to the fear of the room. This increasing of fear makes perfect sense. When people are given a lack of knowledge, they have a tendency to expect the worst, especially when placed in a situation that they know is supposed to be bad. Not knowing is considered to be the worst torture of all because it allows the person to contemplate all of the possibilities and assume the worst is coming.
When inside the room and confronted with the cage of rats, Winston begs that his torture be inflicted on Julia, showing that the torture in room 101 had indeed broken his spirit.
September 7, 2009 at 3:38 am
“WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (4).
These words are the slogan for the Party and symbolize the control it has over the people. This quote reminds me of the Russian Revolution where the slogan “Peace, Bread, and Land” used by Lenin to campaign for his political party. His propaganda was used to revolutionize Russia, which was neglected from a corrupted government ran by the tsars. The promise of peace, land, and bread were essentially what the Russians desperately needed after being weaken from WWI. This quote reminds me of the Russian Revolution because the slogan used by the Party is also a promise it uses to appeal to the public. The importance of their party is shown by the immense size of the poster.
September 7, 2009 at 5:09 am
“A peace that was truly permanent would be the same as a permanent war” (199).
I find this quote interesting because it contradicts itself and questions whether we can really achieve peace. This quote suggests that we can never find peace because there is always conflict. Orwell proposes that peace is a word used often to justify actions one thinks is right. I believe that a permanent peace is unattainable but I do not think that it would bring a “permanent war.” War is an extreme form of conflict. It is the reason why peace is never attained because a killing a person leads to more killing. This quote suggests that killing is really what peace is therefore the Party uses the slogan “war is peace.”
September 8, 2009 at 12:47 am
I agree with you becuase i do not feel that there is such thing as a permanent peace becuase something will always lead up to conflict. Also in order to get most of the things that we need inorder to survive, we hav to go to war for them. It is an example of survival of the fittest; we all have to fight for what we want and it isn’t possible to have peace forever. I’m not saying that it is right for us to not have permanent peace, but i jus feel it isn’t possible to have that. Orwell uses alot of irony in this book and alot of his slogans contradicts themselves such as “war is peace” like you mentioned in your response. If you really think about the slogan it does make sense though becuase in order to have peace you have to have war so therefore “war is peace.”
September 7, 2009 at 5:37 am
“Whether he went on with the diary, or whether he did not go on with it, made no difference.” (19).
I find this quote interesting because at this point, Winston already realizes that he will be prosecuted for this eventually. After writing down “down with Big Brother” repeatedly in the diary, Winston has committed thought crime which is going to draw the attention of Thought polices toward him. This quote also shows that there’s no turning back from his crime, he knows he can’t undo it and if he continues, the likelihood in which a Though police appears increase so he decides there’s no point in continuing. The importance of this quote also reveals a part of his personality as reckless. Winston does not realize his crime until after he wrote it.
September 7, 2009 at 5:54 am
“The eyeless creatures with the quacking voice would never be vaporized” (61).
This quote shows the way Winston sees who survives in this era and who wouldn’t make the cut. In this era of Big Brother, the people are suppressed to the point where thoughts can become crimes because rebelling against the society is not allowed. This means that the intellectual ones who would always question the way this society runs are the ones being targeted. The people who just goes along with everything and does not bother to question are the “eyeless creatures” which means that they’ll most likely survive since they are brainwashed already.
September 7, 2009 at 7:09 am
In the novel 1984, Julia is a twenty six year old young woman who grew up under the Party’s rule. Unlike Winston , she does not have close ties with her family and the only relative she remembers is her Grandfather, who disappeared when she was eight. Outwardly she is a fine example of a Party youth. She was very athletic and excelled at hockey and gymnastics at school, she was troop leader in the Spies and a secretary in the Youth League. Later she joined the Junior Anti-Sex League and does a lot of work for them like attending lectures, distributing information and wears their red sash emblem. But Julia hates the Party. Unlike Winston who believes that a revolution can take down the Party, she is not interested in politics and believes that a revolution is doomed to fail, she is only concerned about what she can do to have some fun and freedom for herself. She explains to Winston that “ the clever thing was to break the rules and stay alive all the same” (131), she also tells him that you “should obey the big rules and then you can break the small ones. Julia is “cunning” and learned how to avoid the police and find things in the black market, she is the one who approaches Winston first and organizes their meetings at different places before he rents the room above Mr. Charrington’s shop. She also has many sexual partners, and although she says she enjoys being “corrupt” this is also a kind rebellion against the Party which expects all the girls to be pure. In the end they both betray each other under the torture and pressure at the Ministry of Love. They both knew from the beginning that they were going to caught and executed. Instead they both come out physically and mentally changed and there is nothing left between them any more.
September 7, 2009 at 8:22 am
“Christianity without tears – that’s what soma is” (240)
This quote reminds me of how soma can be a powerful drug. How Mustapha Mond is trying to enforce this drug to the people and is very controlling. He describes Soma in his own unique ways and I think that that’s just a way for him to be controlling. To describe soma as Christianity without tears its implying that’s is the right to do and its better because it wont bring sufferings. He uses his powers of manipulation to keep the society with the control of the World state by trying to imply people to use soma. I think Christianity is a way to escape from reality and going to faith. John says it’s natural to turn to God when one is alone, which I agree with him and Soma is a way to make people believe everything will be okay but not dealing with reality. Soma keeps individuals from experiencing the stressful negative affects of conflicts that the society cannot prevent. Such as stress or anything unpleasant life can offer. When people use soma it’s like forgetting about reality but the purpose of it isn’t used correctly. Mustapha is trying to make people forget about reality and make them go to unrealistic happiness. Since he knows about the history that must don’t, his only way to make them take what he wants is being persuasive in his own style. His idea about soma is convincing and shows how he has different views of freedom, happiness and society.
September 7, 2009 at 8:27 am
oops, sorry wrong book ^^
September 7, 2009 at 5:13 pm
September 7, 2009 at 2:05 pm
“Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don’t care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Not me! Julia! Not me!” (pg 286)
This is the final transformation of Winston. The heavy torture he suffered before Room 101 was not able to make him betray Julia and also was not enough to make him love Big Brother, but, his worst fear did. This definitely shows what fear can do to us as we can abandon the ones we love because we are so frighten. Fear and love are the two strongest emotions that humans possess and these emotions were battling out in Winston’s mind during Room 101. In the end, his fear overpowers his love for Julia and he gives in to O’Brien.
September 7, 2009 at 3:57 pm
The children in 1984 are no longer a joy as it is today or the past. Many of them are in the Junior Spies and in that group, they are taught to report any suspicious acts of their parents or any other person they meet to the party and as a result of this, they are now a menace to anyone who does not like the party. Children use to be loved and considered a gift, but now, they have changed into curse and this shows how society has changed because of the party’s rule over Oceania. The children are not the only thing that has changed; goodness and purity have a different meaning in the book. It means to follow the government without question and also to report anyone who’s seems suspicious. Clearly, the party has altered the principles and morals of what we consider to be a society.
September 7, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Quote: “Privacy, he said, was a very valuable thing. Everyone wanted a place where they could be alone occasionally” (137).
This quote stood out to me becuase of its irony; there is no such things as privacy for the people of Oceania. It is interesting to me becuase it doesnt make sense as to why privacy isnt allowed. It is hard to live your life as a human in Oceania becuase you cannot be affectionate with others and every move that you make is being watched by the telescreen and the thought police know all of your thoughts. This is the reason why it is hard for Winston and Julia to be open with their relationship becuase it is not allowed in Oceania. Privacy is a very valuable thing to the people of Oceania becuase if they had their privacy than they would be much happier.
September 7, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Quote: “Already we know almost literally nothing about the Revolution and the years before the Revolution. Every record has been destroyed of falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date has been altered. and that process is continuing day by day, and minute by minute”(155).
The party is trying to brainwash the people of Oceania and wants them to have no knowledge of their history. This quote made me ask myself how would i feel if this was to happen in the U.S. If our President Obama was to erase all knowlede of our history I honestly do not know how i would feel. I do not know if I would be upset or if i would trust his new set of rules. I personally feel it is important to know your history becuase history repeats itself and in order to prevent the bad events from happening again we should know our past. It is also good for children to know their history becuase it gives them a better understanding and more of an appreciation for the life that they are living. Times were really rough back then and believe it or not, we have it easier now.
September 7, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Quote: “In the end the Party would anounce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it”(80).
It amazes me that the Party has so much power and that they have the ability to change everyone’s mind the way how they want to. Any sane person knows that two and two make four but the Party can make it equal any number that they want it to. In the quote it says that the logic of their position demanded it, this is a very powerful line because it shows that the Party has all authority of the people in Oceania. It isnt fair to them becuase they are being lied to and they are being brainwashed by the Party. They arent allowed to think for themselves and express how they feel because the Thought Police will hear them and they will be commiting “Thought Crime.”
September 7, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Quote: “Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shape of your own choosing”(267).
Many people may not agree with this quote because they may feel like in order to have power you shouldn’t have to try to brain wash people into listening to your commands. Others may disagree but according to history and events in this book, the quote is true. Lets take Napoleon for example, he was a man who gained full control of many people and made them believe that what the Nazi’s were doing was right. He turned alot of people against Jews and as a result of gaining power, he made people believe in what he believed. It isn’t right to brainwash others and using human beings as puppets to do what you want them to do.
September 8, 2009 at 12:09 am
1. 1984 is full of images and ideas that do not directly affect the plot, but nevertheless attain thematic importance. What are some of these symbols and motifs, and how does Orwell use them?
Two of the most prominent symbols in the novel are the woman singing and Winston’s journal. The singing woman can be seen as a representation of the envy Winston has towards the proles and their life style. The way he listens intently to the woman as he lays in bed cause the reader to think that he is quit fond of her and holds her at a higher standard than his society. He sees so much potential in not only her but the people of her social class and one can even say he wishes to be like then and take part in their normalcy’s. One can interpret Winston’s journal as an outlet and even a forum for his opposition of the party. His journal is where we see the side of Winston that is suppressed by the party’s watchful eye. It contains the burning truth, from his experience with the old haggard out prostitute to him wanting to kill his wife. The simple purchase of the journal was an act of rebellion and so its purpose is clear.
2. Discuss the idea of doublethink. How important is doublethink to the Party’s control of Oceania? How important is it to Winston’s brainwashing?
Doublethink is a powerful method used by the Party to control the citizens of Oceania. Doublethink can be best explained as the “ability to hold two contradictory ideas in one’s mind at the same time and believe them both to be true”. It forces the people to recognize what they know about the country’s history as false and the altered facts spread by the Party as the only truth. Winston is portrayed as one of the only characters in the novel that realizes that the method is actually in use, unlike the general population of Oceania who cease to believe that their memories are real. An example of the citizen’s willingness to follow the Party blindly came at a rally where they threw down their signs and began to protest against issues they were all in favor of at the start
September 8, 2009 at 12:32 am
I chose this prompt also but in my prompt i forgot to answer the last question about Winston. Doublethink is important to Winston’s brainwashing becuase he knows about Doublethink like you stated. I agree with your response to this prompt and i feel that it was more difficult to use Doublethink on Winston becuase he is aware of it. Many other people in Oceania aren’t aware of Doublethink so it was easier to persuade them into believing the Party’s ideas.
September 8, 2009 at 12:25 am
Prompt #2: Discuss the idea of doublethink. How important is doublethink to the Party’s control of Oceania? How important is it to Winstons’s brainwashing?
Doublethink is when ideas that are in a persons head contradicts eachother. This technique is very important to the Party’s control of Oceania becuase they use it to take advantage of the people’s minds. The Party controls their ideas by placing two contradictory ideas in their heads, making it easier for the party to persuade them into believing everything they say. They have the ability to do this becuase the person no longer has the capability to think on their own; which leaves more space for the Party to force their ideas into the person’s mind. Doublethink is very important to the party of Oceania becuase without it, they would not be able to manipulate people’s minds and take full contorl of their thoughts.
September 8, 2009 at 12:53 am
1. In 1984, Orwell uses many symbols like the journal and the telescreen as a way to emphasize the freedom and restriction that Winston feels. The journal symbolizes freedom because Winston is able to criticize the party and Big Brother. By writing in the journal, it gives Winston the ability to think and have the right to say whatever that he desires. Since people in Oceanic aren’t allowed to think or say things that go against the party, the government has full control of the people and this brings Winston to want freedom. Even though, Winston knows that this kind of action wouldn’t last long because the Thought Police would be able to find out his action and he would be punished but he still writes in his journal because he wants to think just like a normal person: “Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death” (28). The journal is an important part in 1984 because it is the first step that Winston takes in rebelling against the party. This is when Winston decides to be different from other people and take advantage of the freedom that he can earn from it.
By contrast, the telescreen symbolizes resistance. The Thought Police uses the telescreen to detect the every move that people make and what the people are thinking. With people being restricted all the time, people aren’t able to think or rebel against the governments, which is what they want. Even when the telescreen is turned off by party members it only lasts a few minutes, this shows how controlling this environment is: “It is unwise even for members of the Inner Party to turn off the telescreen for more than half an hour” (171).This also shows how the government uses the highly advance technology to spy on its people. It brings no freedom and no rebelling against the party.
September 8, 2009 at 12:54 am
3. Winston and Julia are similar in that they both hate the party and wants to rebel against them. They both rebel against the party by sneaking around and having meetings with each other; however, Winston and Julia also have their differences. Winston is older than Julia so the way they act and think are different from each other. Since Winston is older, he knows about the past and what it was like to live in a place where everything isn’t restricted. He cares more about the past and asks questions because he is more curious about what changed the society. He also thinks about the future and wonders what it would be like to have freedom again. Unlike Winston, Julia grows up in the party. She only knows about things that exsist now; Julia doesn’t know about the past and doesn’t care much about anything but herself: “I’m not interested in the next generation, dear. I’m interested in us” (156). She has never experienced what Winston had experienced when he was little; however, she does have more knowledge about the party than Winston. She interacts with the party members by using her sexuality and this helps her know and hate the party even more.
September 8, 2009 at 1:51 am
2.Doublethink is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in one’s mind at the same time. The idea of “doublethink” emerges as a way the Party controls or manipulates the people of Oceania. As the Party’s mind-control breaks down an individual’s independent thought, it becomes possible for that person to believe anything that the Party tells them, even while possessing thoughts that are opposing the Party’s ideas. At the Hate Week rally, for example, the Party shifts its diplomatic allegiance. Meaning the nation it has been at war with suddenly becomes its ally, and its former ally becomes its new enemy. When the Party speaker suddenly changes the nation he refers to as an enemy in the middle of his speech, the citizens immediately accepts his words and is ashamed to find that it has made mistakes during the event.
Furthermore, doublethink is important to the Party’s control of Oceania because it is a way to brainwash the people to be less independent. By manipulating the people, there would not be opposition against actions the Party makes. The residents would accept the Party even if they think that it is wrong. It is important to Winston’s brainwashing because his thoughts are filled with ideas against Big Brother. His ideas pose as a threat to the Party’s reign. It is important for the Party to manipulate Winston because if the Oceania residents pursue their freedom, the Party would lose their authority. In the end, Winston “loves Big Brother” which shows that the Party’s exploitation is a success.
September 8, 2009 at 2:28 am
1. The symbols in 1984 revolve around Winston’s desire to connect to the past and the future. Winston’s diary is a “peculiarly beautiful book. Its smooth creamy paper, a little yellowed by age, was of a kind that had not been manufactured for at least forty years past” (6). Winston had a strong connection to the diary which is why he bought it in the first place. This diary is a way for Winston to express his feelings to the future, but we find out later that it ends up in the hands of the enemy. Another object from Mr.Charrington’s shop is the glass paperweight. Winston bought it because the paperweight’s “air it seemed to possess of belonging to an age quite different from the present one.” Winston is attracted to all old items because he longs to connect to the past he never had.
September 8, 2009 at 2:49 am
1- “The children, on the other hand, were systematically turned against their parents and taught to spy on them and report their deviations.” (33)
I made a text to world connection when I read this quotation. Ingsoc has a system set up to brainwash the minds of children. First children join the Spies and then the Youth League. Children learn about the rules of society and also learn how to point out unorthodox behaviors in society. Hitler, Mussolini and Mao all had youth groups of their own o help track down anyone that might want to oppose their power. These dictators knew that children would be much easier to control because their minds are malleable and can take on any form they want it to be. Ingsoc knows that too which is why they created this system. Children in the Spies would look for any signs from their parents that might be a threat to society and send them to the Thought Police. Many youth groups in history have done the same thing to people close to them and didn’t let their relationships get in the way. The Thought Police knows that by removing relationships, the children are a very powerful source to capturing people.
September 8, 2009 at 3:58 am
Yes, and not only a source to capture people, but also like Julia, they grow up with no feelings of remorse and no past or future to relate to. She is against the Party only as far as her own freedom is concerned, but she still does everything she is asked to do.
September 8, 2009 at 2:50 am
1. The red-armed prole woman is an important symbol Orwell uses in 1984 to show a small light of hope of freedom in a controlled society. Winston hears her singing which represents a legitimate hope for the future: the possibility that the people of Oceania will eventually come to recognize their troubles and rebel against the Party. He describes her determination where “there seemed to be no hour of daylight when she was not marching to and fro … gagging herself with clothes pegs and breaking forth into lusty song” (200). Her will power to protest against the Party is evidence that she has resistance against the Party’s reign. Orwell uses the symbol of the red armed prole woman to emphasize that there is still hope of independence even if society is brainwashing us. This reminds me of the quote “war is peace” where Orwell shows us that there can never be peace (4). We must have conflict in order to bring us closer to an ideal peace.
September 8, 2009 at 3:04 am
“Its is a warfare of limited arms between combatants who are unable to destroy one another, have no material cause for fighting, and are not divided by any genuine ideological difference.” (186)
Oceania is always at war with either Eurasia or Eastasia and they change the books to keep the wars the same throughout history. Eurasia, Eastasia and Oceania go against each other for control over the territories that have slaves. These slaves are disposable to the three powers and they constantly switch over to each other. This reminds me of the “scramble for Africa” when European countries tried to colonize as much of Africa as possible and raced to see who was in control. In our world and the society in 1984 slaves have no value and can easily be replaced. It’s sick to see how people can view themselves as being higher than others. In 1984, I view the slaves as some of the strongest people. They have no control over what happens to them, but they at least have a mind of their own unlike the rest of the world.
September 8, 2009 at 3:28 am
“And what he wanted more even then to be loved, was to break down that wall of virtue, even if it were only once in his whole life. The sexual act successfully performed, was rebellion.” (68)
I love the relationship Winston had with Katherine because it was a great way to show how hard it is for Winston to express his true emotions. Being with someone so dedicated to the Party was very hard for Winston because he actually wanted their relationship to blossom into something, but it can’t because marriage was just a way for Katherine to try and have a child. In our society sex is idealized to be this passionate thing even though it always isn’t and in 1984 sex is just strictly for reproduction. Winston looked forward to sex because he wanted to have some sort of emotion that was close to feeling passion. Since he could never reach that passion, he viewed sex as a way to rebel against the rules of the party. Since desire is considered a thoughtcrime, Winston had successfully broken that “wall of virtue”.
September 8, 2009 at 3:31 am
3) In the novel 1984, Julia is a twenty six year old young woman who grew up under the Party’s rule. Unlike Winston , she does not have close ties with her family and the only relative she remembers is her Grandfather, who disappeared when she was eight. Outwardly she is a fine example of a Party youth. She was very athletic and excelled at hockey and gymnastics at school, she was troop leader in the Spies and a secretary in the Youth League. Later she joined the Junior Anti-Sex League and does a lot of work for them like attending lectures, distributing information and wears their red sash emblem. But Julia hates the Party. Unlike Winston who believes that a revolution can take down the Party, she is not interested in politics and believes that a revolution is doomed to fail, she is only concerned about what she can do to have some fun and freedom for herself. She explains to Winston that “ the clever thing was to break the rules and stay alive all the same” (131), she also tells him that you “should obey the big rules and then you can break the small ones. Julia is “cunning” and learned how to avoid the police and find things in the black market, she is the one who approaches Winston first and organizes their meetings at different places before he rents the room above Mr. Charrington’s shop. She also has many sexual partners, and although she says she enjoys being “corrupt” this is also a kind rebellion against the Party which expects all the girls to be pure. In the end they both betray each other under the torture and pressure at the Ministry of Love. They both knew from the beginning that they were going to caught and executed. Instead they both come out physically and mentally changed and there is nothing left between them any more.
September 8, 2009 at 3:37 am
2.Doublethink is “the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” The Party uses this method to replace the facts about history and making the people of Oceania find those facts false and the Party’s facts correct. Without doublethink, the Party wouldn’t be able to have as much order as they do in society and controlling minds would be harder because doublethink is way to brainwash the people of Oceania. Winston becomes brainwashed in the end by the method of doublethink. Doublethink changed Winston’s beliefs completely. He only thought what the Party wanted him to think and he only saw what the Party wanted him too. Doublethink took the last bits of Winston that made him an individual.
September 8, 2009 at 3:38 am
5 ) The Party uses technology to be able to control and watch everyone, even in their homes. There are telescreens in every home that can transmit and receive, this way the Party knows what the people are doing all the time. There is a constant dissemination of Party rules, fabricated news and orders from the time they get up in the morning with an “ear splitting whistle”, followed by the Physical Jerks and everyone lives under the assumption that “every sound you made was overheard, and except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.” (3)
The Party also used technology to build huge furnaces where they burn records and then create new ones by utilizing the speakwrites to record invented news and events that never happened but which are now accepted as true events and conform to the current needs of the Party.
They also installed microphones in many parts of the city and even in the woods to control the people. The way they watch everyone is a big concern, even today there are now cameras installed in many parts of the city to control traffic violations and crimes. It is possible that the government’s control can reach the extent that they have in the novel and with different purposes.
September 8, 2009 at 3:40 am
“Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make though crime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.” (52)
The Party is creating a new language to be able to stop the people from expressing their thoughts and feelings. By limiting the vocabulary, controlling printed information and constantly spreading propaganda with the telescreens, pamphlets and rallies the Party is ensuring that they have absolute control over people. Today we live in a world where we are constantly being exposed to thousands of advertisement, commercials and billboards that tell us to buy, eat or use many products, and the more effective ones do convince people. It is not difficult to see how the Party can effectively do the same.
September 8, 2009 at 3:42 am
“But it was perfectly possible that O’Brien had already forgotten the photograph. And if so, then already he would have forgotten his denial of remembering it, and forgotten the act of forgetting.” (247)
Doublethink is used in this novel to confuse people. To make them believe that things they think were real before, now are not. Even the Party’s slogan is contradictory , War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery and Ignorance is Strength , to us it makes no sense, but to the Party the hidden meaning is that they will be able to destroy people like Winston and convince them to they accept Big Brother on their own.
It has happened before with people like Hitler and Mussolini, but the sad thing is that it could possibly happen again if we are not careful.
September 8, 2009 at 3:44 am
“What appealed to him about it was not so much its beauty as the air it seemed to posses of belonging to an age quite different from the present one.” (96)
To Winston, the paperweight became a symbol of how he wanted life to be. It reminded him of the happy life before the war and the days with his family. In his dreams he and Julia are inside of the glass protected from the kind of life they have now. In the end when they finally are arrested someone smashed the glass and Winston realizes “how small it always was” (223) referring to the piece of coral and how small his hope for a different way of life really was. Many people keep something like a piece of jewelry, a book or
a toy that reminds them of their past and helps them look toward the future. In Winston’s case his future ended when the glass was broken.
September 8, 2009 at 3:49 am
“You know what is in room 101, Winston. Everyone knows what is in Room 101.”(260)
Room 101 is the final stage of a person’s conversion and where they finally accept their defeat and they learn not only “to obey Big Brother” but “to love Big Brother.” The breakdown of their bodies and minds is complete and they have nothing left to fight with. It is the place where they face their greatest fears, which for Winston is the rats and where he finally betrays Julia. Room 101 is not something new, from very early in history we know that people discovered how to break people’s will by torture and mind games. Even now there is a debate whether water treatments to get information from political prisoners in detention camps by the Americans are a form of torture.
September 8, 2009 at 3:51 am
5. Technology gives the Party and upper hand when it comes to controlling its people. It gives the party the ability to make the people feel monitered. Also, with the use of technology, the people lose their ability to think. They no longer need to use their intelligence, and eventually the citizens become like the technology itself. The importance of technology is abundant in the book. They use the telescreens to brainwash with their propaganda and to make the people feel that they are watching them. This feeling instills fear and obedience in the citizens. The use of the speakwrite is important. Not only does it take away from ones intelligence by not having to spell or use proper punctuation, but since it involves speaking people can hear what is being said. I think that is most important because it helps monitoring the people easier and the people become more accustomed to censoring themselves. The significance technology has in the Party’s manipulation of its citizens is grand.
September 8, 2009 at 4:00 am
“But it had been the element he swam in. It was his life, his death, and his resurrection. It was the gin that sank into stupor every night, gin that revived him every morning.” (294)
I think that the victory gin in 1984 symbolizes the poverty people have to live in. Throughout the book, victory gin is served to members of the outer party and the proles. In Chapter 1, Winston’s fridge didn’t have anything but a small piece of food and victory gin. Many of the proles spent their time in the bars getting drunk from victory gin. During lunch, the workers get served victory gin with their meals. Victory gin is seen anywhere where a member of the lower classes are. Only when Winston and Julia go to meet O’Brien, they get a chance to drink wine, but find no pleasure in it because the gin took away the flavor from the wine since they weren’t used to it at all. The inner party has access to a higher standard of living and products that the outer party and proles have to try so hard to get. Victory gin represents the lifestyle they have and it will always stay with them.
September 8, 2009 at 4:05 am
The telescreen in 1984 made me think of a text to world connection between that society and ours. Television is like the telescreen. The telescreen projects information that the Party wants their people to hear and it brainwashes the minds of the people. Television does the same exact thing, but through different programs. The news channels put out information they want the public to see in order to control the perceptions people have of different places, ideas and problems. The telescreen watches everyone in Oceania and in our world the television has become so connected to people that they can’t live without it. The Party uses the telescreen to attach themselves to the thoughts of the people in Oceania and television becomes apart of people in our society. It seems like pieces of 1984’s world wouldn’t be so distant in our future.
September 8, 2009 at 4:09 am
“Syme had vanished. A morning came, and he was missing from work; a few thoughtless people commented on his absence. On the next day nobody mentioned him.” (147)
This is an example of how conditioned people are by the Party. Someone can vanish and nobody cares, even Winston who goes to check for Syme’s name and knows that it has been erased. They are powerless to do anything about it and go on as if nothing happened. Friendship does not exist in this society, it can be dangerous and very painful..
September 11, 2009 at 5:25 am
its amazing how the party was capable of brainwashing the people in the society. the “doublethink” concept is another horrible way the party conditioned the people.
September 8, 2009 at 6:19 am
“If there is hope, it lies in the proles” (82)
I think this quote is interesting because it shows the solution to overthrow the Party but no one would follow it. The proles are the the people who haven’t been influenced by the Party because they decided that the proles were too insignificant. Winston is able to realize that the proles can overthrow the Party if they decide to unite and retaliate. He knows of their potential because they can’t be affected by double-think which makes them superior. This quote means that since the party can’t be damaged from within, it’s up to the citizens of Oceania to stop the Party.
September 8, 2009 at 4:16 pm
I agree with you O.C becausde double think take a major toll on the mind of the people in the Party. In order to overthrow the Party they need the proles. I dont think the Party can ever truly be overthrown by the proles because they could care less about it since nothing is being inflicted on them and their daily lives as it is on Julia and Winston.
September 8, 2009 at 6:29 am
“Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past” (248)
This quote is the party slogan on controlling the past. O’ Brien reveals to Winston that the Party’s technique is by controlling the past that connects to the present and future. The Party is able to change a person’s past by controlling people’s memories and records. They are able to alter history by changing written records so that they can control the past which allows them to control the present. If they can control the present, then they can control the future so this quote made a lot of sense to me.
September 8, 2009 at 6:53 am
“In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it” (80).
This quote interests me because it shows that the Party is very powerful since they are able to force an incorrect math statement into a correct one. Winston had written down in his diary that freedom is the ability to say two and two made four so that symbolizes how the Party does not give freedom to their people. This quote makes me think of a small sized bully preying on a shy muscular man. The bully represents the Party while the man represents the citizens of Oceania. The only way the bully wins a fight against the man is to attack him psychologically and that is exactly how the Party controls their people.
September 8, 2009 at 7:04 am
1) I think the diary is a major symbol that George Orwell uses in this book. Diaries are written thoughts that expresses one’s feelings. In the Era of Big Brother, diaries are the only way to express a person’s thoughts because of the Thought police. His diary symbolizes the only loophole in the society of suppressed thoughts. It also symbolizes the way to rebel against society since this society has to control everyone’s thoughts but writing it in the diary lets him escape from the Thought police so he can’t be stopped.
September 8, 2009 at 7:26 am
“War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength.”
The ideology of “doublethink” plays a major role in this slogan created by the party. “Doublethink,” as it pertains to the novel, is made up by the party so that those in society may be tricked into believing the outrageous things that the party may put out. For example, war is peace; most people would disagree. How could war be peace? The philosophy of the party is that if Oceania is at war with another nation it will bring peace to their nation because they would have to unite to protect themselves from their enemies. Although the actual war itself can not be peaceful the nations unity is most important to the party because without their unification the party will not prevail in mainting it’s totalitarian state. The party maniuplates it’s people by brainwashing them into believing that everything the party says is the truth. In Oceania, society is taught to believe that individualism could not exist without failure and that knowing less is best to keep people from knowing the horrors of the past.
September 8, 2009 at 7:54 am
Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.
The party controls history and by doing so is able to manipulate people’s memories. According to Big Brother and the party, the past was full of suffering and hardships. They have altered all documents of the past which now read that it was full of slavery and misery. The party in turn is made to look good because they would be the force that liberated it’s people from the horrors of the past. Every scrap of evidence about the past is transformed to look as though life back then was so devastating that people soon believed that this was actually the way things were. They are forbidden to keep documents or memorabilia from their own pasts which make it only more possible for people to forget which is the intentions of the party. They begin to forget their own pasts until eventually their memories are so fuzzy that they have no choice but to believe the party.
September 8, 2009 at 8:36 am
“It was something in your face. I thought I’d take a chance. I’m good at spotting people who don’t belong. As soon as I saw you I knew you were against them.”
With Winston’s hightened paranoia of being caught by the thought police it is understandable as to why he was so worried about associating himself with Julia in the first place. Any sign of rebellion against the party could mean both of their lives and yet Julia was so bold to send Winston the note which read, “I love you.” If I were Winston I would have been trying to protect myself at all times and this would have made me suspicious that Julia was planning to conspire against me. He doesn’t really know her at all and all she really has to offer is that she too is against the party and all its beliefs.
September 8, 2009 at 9:14 am
“You want it to happen to the other person. You don’t give a damn what they suffer. All you care about is yourself.”
Julia says these words to Winston after they both go through torture in room 101. Both of them were willing to sell eachother out in the face of pain. No one wants to feel pain or be scared and this is how the party breaks Julia and Winston down. Neither of them wanted to experience the torture themselves, and they were willing to have the other person be tortured to save themselves. In a way the party wins because Julia and Winston can not stand their ground together against the party in room 101. Inflicting physical pain upon a human body gives you ultimate control over that person because they will do or say whatever you want them to not feel that pain anymore. Initially this is what the party wants; total control over everything and everyone in Oceania.
September 8, 2009 at 9:29 am
“Syme had vanished. A morning came and he was missing from work; a few thoughtless people commented on his absense. … It was enough. Syme had ceased to exist; he had never existed.”
It’s mind boggling that people are so nonchalant about the murder of someone they once knew and have interacted with on multiple occasions. In Oceania people end up disappearing so often that it becomes normal after a while to just forget the people whom are no longer around. Syme was a peer, one of their coworkers, and no one questioned his disappearance; they just went on about their usual business with no care in the world. You would think that a missing person would raise a lot of questions and that his disappearance would spark hysteria or atleast sadness that he is now gone, but nothing.
September 8, 2009 at 10:31 am
5. How does technology affect the Party’s ability to control its citizens? In what ways does the Party employ technology throughout the book?
Throughout the book the party employs technology by its constant use of the telescreens. The telescreens are in all public places as well as in Oceania’s citizen’s homes. No one has any type of privacy nor do they get to be themselves. Someone is watching at all times ready to catch anyone slipping up by saying something against the party. If you do something unusal or it isn’t to your full potential the voice coming through the telescreen will call you out.
The telescreens primary use is to keep a close eye on everyone at ALL times. Winston finds himself often times trying to talk in very crowded areas only to avoid being overheard by the telescreens since this could mean his life. Instead of the party using these telescreens for something positive, all the telescreens do is spew propaganda and are used to ensure that everyone’s behavior is complying with the party.
September 8, 2009 at 10:43 am
6. Discuss the idea of Room 101, the place where everyone meets his or her worst fear. Keeping in mind that for most of Winston’s time at the Ministry of Love, he does not know what he will find in Room 101, what role does that uncertainty play in making Room 101 frightening? Does the cage of rats break Winston’s spirit, or does it merely play a symbolic role?
Winston does not know what to expect from Room 101 which makes the room even more frightening than he could have ever imagined. Room 101 is the place where everyone is to meet their worse fear, which in Winston’s case is the cage of rats, but more significantly it’s the room where O’Brien is able to take back Winston’s rebellion against the party. Winston isn’t strong enough to hold his ground against O’Brien’s torture. He even goes as far as selling Julia out and telling O’Brien to let the rats eat her face instead of his.
The cage of rats plays a symbolic role in breaking Winston’s spirits. No one will be willing to be tortured if they could avoid it and O’Brien had this knowledge prior to bringing Winston in there. Room 101 is meant to eradicate all thought of rebellion and obviously it was quite useful in doing so since Winston could not withstand O’Brien’s torture. In the end, the party got what they wanted which is total loyalty to the party and they are willing to employ any method to make sure that that remains secure.
September 8, 2009 at 11:09 am
3.) On pgs.39-45 the narrrator describes Winston’s job. He retifies history for the government in order that each person in society lacks the chance to learn the truth about their history. One thing he changes frequently is Big Brother’s speech. Big Brother mis-predicts certain events. In order to insure that people believe that he is always right he changes his speeches and puts the corrected version in archives. Though the people know that this occurs they do not contest it. For example the chocalate ration; one day the ration is cut from 30 to 20 grams. The next day, the government speaks of how well they are doing and tells the comrades that they should thank Big Brother for raising the rations to 20 grams a week though the previous day it was reduced.
In a way, the concept of preventing people from learning te truth about their history, is text-to-world. I compared this to the Chinese government. The Chinese goevernment didn’t change history but it does prevent its people from learning the truth about their government in regards to Tinammen Square. As our global teacher told us last year, if you Goggle Tinammen Square in the U.S. dozens upon dozens of articles will come up. However if you Google Tinammen Square in China nothing will come up. They are preventing people from learning about how their ancestors stood up against their government. In 1984 they are preventing people fro, learning about their entire history.
September 8, 2009 at 7:39 pm
I agree with you Brittany. I was making this connection in my head also. The Chinese government does everything possible to censor the truth about its country’s history and the Party does that in Oceania, but have been more extreme than the Chinese. They change history to make sure there won’t be any opposition towards their power. In history, nce people have the knowledge they need to revolt they won’t need the power that’s controlling them, but of course there will most likely be a higher power again afterward.
September 8, 2009 at 12:42 pm
4.) “Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them” (214).
The Party uses this to the best of its ability, and quite successfully. Doublethink is evident through setting as well as characteriztion. In the first few pages the setting is perceived as grim, depressing, and gray; like the opening scene of a horror film. In reality the conditions in which they live is horrible, undeniably disgusting and in many ways uninhabitable. But when doublethink is practiced, the comrades learn to accept their conditions as a way of normal life. The process of doublethink hinders Winston’s growth. He knows that the life in which he and his fellow comrades lives is a lie but excepts it. He continuously wonders how life was before the Party but because of doublethink he cannot think surpass his ability.
September 8, 2009 at 1:06 pm
5.) Winston’s past contributed to his ability to not accept his government. On p.161 it talks about his father’s disapperance and how it changed his mother. She continued fulfilling all her motherly responsibilities and duties but “with a curious lack of superfluous motion.” His mother became “spiritless.” Winston could see that she was waiting for something she thought must happen and it made her distraught. He also remembered how selfish his was; he always demanded more food from his mother, knew that he was starving his mother and sister but couldn’t help it, and always took his sister’s ration of chocalate. All this he remembers which effects him in the present. The life he lives, until Julia, is miserable and depressing. He has no faith and belief in his government but, of course, it doesnt last.
September 8, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Winston and Julia have very few similarities and many differences. One huge difference is their age. Julia is born during the era of the Party while Winston is born before the Party came into existence. Though their only similarity is to get rid of the corrupt Party, their reasons as to why is different. Julia knows more about the government that Winston could use to his benefit but Julia’s desire to rid the Party is for pleasure and excitement. Her reasoning isn’t at all productive for Winston. As for Winston, he dwells on the time period before the Party came into existance and knows that the unhappy conditions in which they live is false. Julia is too ignorant to see how learning about the history before the Party gained its power is somewhat crucial. On the contrary she doesn’t care and she believes dearly that all she needs is her love for Winston and sex. Breaking the little rules and not the big rules is all the effort she wants to contribute to the revoltuion. He knows the Party is a lie and thus wants to get rid of the government as to see a time where they can live in truthful happiness, non-depressing but abundant in hope and prosperity for all.
September 8, 2009 at 2:26 pm
I believe the journal that Winston writes in is not only place where he can truly express his thoughts and feelings, but, also to lessen his loneliness. There were times in the book where Winston felt a strong urge to yell out “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER”, but after discovering Julia loves him and also hates the party, that urge diminishes. The feeling of being alone is very strong and takes a toll on the person who feels lonely. If Julia did not give him the piece of paper that said “I love you”, I believe Winston would’ve yelled out how he hates the party and Big Brother. Also, since he ran off with chocolate in his past, not only did he not have anyone to share his thoughts, but he didn’t have a mother either, which increases his loneliness. Overall, everyone needs to be able to express themselves, even with a risk of being vaporized.
September 8, 2009 at 2:49 pm
I agree. I feel like Winston regrets the way he treated his mother and sister after his father was vaporized. He blames it on selfishness and being young. To add on to his loneliness, his wife is gone and they weren’t able to produce children. He would like a friend that could share the belief that the Party is false and life wasn’t the way it seems but everyone around him is oblivious. In the end his only true friend is his journal. Something that would listen to him whenever he wanted, wouldn’t turn him in unless it was found, and didn’t share the same thoughts but he could always look back to his book to see what he expressed earlier. In a way Julia substituted the journal for quite some time but she was sufficent enough; in the end Julia is gone and Winston still has his journal.
September 8, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Winston is both a combination of Randle McMurphy from “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and Reverend Hale from “The Crucible.” In the beginning Winston is himself. He simply knows that the government is false but through doublethink he sort of accepts it. He doesn’t have the idea of a revolution yet but often wonders “were things better than they are now.” When Julia enters his life McMurphy’s characteristics are evident. He becomes more zealous in trying to get rid of the Party with the help of Julia. He has his mind set on having a revolution and getting things back to the way they ought to be. Unlike McMurphy, whose drive to get rid of Nurse Ratched and her staff and who dies fighting for what he believed was right, Winston’s zeal dies down and he is unable to successfully fulfill his dream of having a revolution. When McMurphy characteristics die down, Reverend Hale’s traits is excerised through the remainder of the book. In the beginning Reverend Hale wasn’t fully aware of what was going on in Salem but when it became evident of the crime that was beging committed by Abigail and her friends, he disregards his belief in order to save the lives of those who were wrongfully accused. As a reverend one of his beliefs is to never lie but when lives were being taken away senselessly, he took away that belief so that people like John Proctor could live. Like Reverend Hale, when Winston sees that he and Julia can no longer be together, he loses hope in the revolution. He strong mentality withers away and he becomes the way the Party wants each individual to be; obedient and subjected to all their lies.
McMurphy wasn’t able to have a revolution the way he wanted but he certainly made a dent in the governing body and had an impact on the other men in the ward. It would’ve been interesting if the book would’ve ended like McMurphy rather than Reverend Hale
September 8, 2009 at 4:14 pm
“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four.” (81)
This quote from Winston’s journal represents his desire for a true freedom for himself and the rest of Oceania. He rejects the Party’s control of the media and information and secretly wants change. The “freedom” given to the people of Oceania is not actually free it is monitored and patrolled by telescreens and the Thought Police. There is no actual freedom in Oceania just a slightly liberal form of slavery.
September 8, 2009 at 4:41 pm
1. In 1984 there are so many symbols that one comes across. The more obvious ones that reoccurred throughout the novel were: the paperweight, Big Brother and the prole woman. The paperweight that Winston comes across in Mr. Charrington’s shop is a symbol of Winston’s attempt to get connected with the past. When Winston decides to rent the room above the shop he had found the paperweight and feels that it will be a way for him and Julia to have a relationship like those in the “freer times.” He says, “the paperweight was the room he was in, and the coral was Julia’s life and his own, fixed in a sort of eternity at the heart of the crystal” (147). Big Brother is one of the main symbols in 1984. “Big Brother is Watching You” symbolizes the constant surveillance over the people. Even when alone they sense that they are being watched, the idea of Big Brother has instilled fear in the minds of the people that they are constantly being spied on. For example Mr. Parsons in the comfort of his own home while in his sleep his daughter exposes him to the Thought Police for committing Thought Crime. Parsons being denounced by his own daughter shows the manipulation that “Big Brother” and the Party has over the people. Another symbol can be the prole woman in the yard next to Mr. Charrington’s shop. The woman is a symbol for hope, the hope of overthrowing the Party one day, the hope for Winston and Julia to be together openly, the hope to be able to think without the fear of committing a crime. As Winston wrote in his diary, “any hope for the future must come from the proles”(69).
September 8, 2009 at 4:56 pm
“By 2050–earlier, probably–all real knowledge of Old-speak will have disappeared” (53)
The old method of living is being changed by the Party. They are reshaping life to the point that they are destroying language and creating their own. The Party is taking knowledge, ideas, and even language and changing them to the point that they either don’t exist or are something completely different. With the destruction of Old-speak and old knowledge the Party is reforming the life into a world completely controlled by the Party and their beliefs.
September 8, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Its sad to see this happening in the book because they have no care in the world for anything in the past since it would jeopardize the power of the Party. Language is a very powerful thing and do destroy it down to such mediocre forms of expression is ridiculous and it shows how people will do anything to maintain their status and power in society.
September 8, 2009 at 6:37 pm
5. How does technology affect the Party’s ability to control its citizens? In what ways does the Party employ technology throughout the book?
Technology gave the Party the ability to instill fear and control the people. The telescreen gave the Party the ability to monitor people’s activities throughout the book. The telescreen also helped with the propaganda of Big Brother: “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran” (2). They also used microphones to listen to what people are saying so the citizens have to live their lives in fear since they have to constantly choose words to say carefully in order to not get caught.
September 8, 2009 at 7:39 pm
2. Discuss the idea of doublethink. How important is doublethink to the Party’s control of Oceania? How important is it to Winston’s brainwashing?
“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them” (214). Doublethink was a form of trained, willful blindness to contradictions in a system of beliefs. In the case of Winston Smith, it meant being able to work at the Ministry of Truth deleting facts from public records, and then believing in the new history which he himself had written. Doublethink’s self-deception allowed the Party to maintain both huge goals and realistic expectations: “If one is to rule, and to continue ruling, one must be able to dislocate the sense of reality. For the secret of rulership is to combine a belief in one’s own infallibility with the power to learn from past mistakes” (215). Doublethink is the way to control the minds’ of the people and manipulating them in believing what they want to instill in their mind, like “2+2=5.” Its played a major role to the brainwashing of Winston because they were inflicting pain on him although he knew 2+2=4 and not 5 he knew that according to Newspeaks’ doublethink he must say it was 5. Doublethink confines Winston from thinking beyond what he is told, it hinders him from growing mentally and emotionally.
September 8, 2009 at 7:46 pm
“The long-hoped-for-bullet was entering his brain. . . he had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother”(296).
This part confused me a bit. Winston is now dead and had died loving Big Brother. At first I had interpreted it as he came to mends with what O’Brien and the Ministry of Love was trying to convey to him, I thought it was that he died emotionally because he let go of his belief and his thoughts when the bullet enter his head; and he finally found a new profound love for Big Brother and it was the beginning to a new life.
September 8, 2009 at 8:04 pm
“The children, on the other hand, were systematically turned against and taught to spy on them and report their deviations. The family had become in effect an extension of the Thought Police”(133).
This reminds me of totalitarian dictators such as Hitler and Stalin, they manipulated the youth into turning their family members in. The youth in Oceanic resemble the Hitler Youth in the fact that both are brainwashed at a young age and raised to help the government. Both would spy on the adults, even their own parents, and report them if they were suspected of revolting against the government. Like Parsons, his little girl overhead him saying “down with Big brother” while sleeping and turned him in to the Thought Police(233).
September 8, 2009 at 10:38 pm
1. The place where there is no darkness symbolizes the hope of the future. Winston believes that the Brotherhood exists; a place where people is free. He hates the party and secretly hides his rebellious thoughts and feelings in his diary. Winston is curious about the period before the revolution when the government system is very much different compare to Big Brother. In his dream, Winston sees O’Brien in a place where there is no darkness. He remains faithful to his dream and continues to seek for the revolutionary group. He believes there is a future where Big Brother doesn’t exist and that’s in a place where there is no darkness.
September 8, 2009 at 11:29 pm
3.Winston and Julia are different in many ways. Julia is at the age of twenty-nine while Winston is thirty-nine. Their age difference shows the understanding of the party. Julia is born in the party, therefore she understand the party better than Winston. Winston is born before Big Brother even exists. At times he remembers the period before the Party when the government was very different compare to the present. Winston realizes that people are being brainwash in the party in order for the government to content their needs in the society. He builds hatred toward the party because there is no freedom. Unlike Julia, she has never experiences what freedom is like, so she is not as rebellious.
Winston and Julia also have many similarities. Julia and Winston both like to sexual interact with one another. Both afraid to get caught by the Thought Police but cannot resist the harsh feeling of living without sex. They both hate the Party and have committed numerous crimes against the policy. In addition, they both perceive the pessimistic aspects of the party and have the desire to see a brighter future that freedom exists.
September 9, 2009 at 12:22 am
Pg. 201 – “The aim of the Middle is to change place with High.
One of Marx’s main purposes for writing the Communist Manifesto was to end the ongoing struggle between social classes. Marx writes, “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” (34). Throughout history there has always been opposition between opposing factions within society. Marx sees society increasingly splitting into only two classes: the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat; similar to the high and middle in 1984. The Bourgeoisie being the rich land owning class and the Proletariat being the wage earning class. The proletariat was the workforce of the bourgeois enterprise. The middle class constantly strives to be superior to the high class.
September 9, 2009 at 12:23 am
Pg. 204 – “The idea of an earthly paradise in which men should live together in a state of brotherhood, without laws and without brute labor, had haunted the human imagination for thousands of years.”
A utopia is unattainable. It’s incredibly rare for a large mass of people to come to a consensus where as everyone is blissful. Some will strive for greatness, which often leads to becoming competitive and controlling; thus creating conflict. A law-less land often leads to chaos and hysteria among society. The only achievable aspect of this proposal will be the imbrute labor. This dream will stay haunting the human imagination for a few thousand more years.
September 9, 2009 at 12:23 am
Pg. 211 – “… persons who might perhaps commit a crime at some time in the future.”
Legally speaking, entrapment occurs whenever a police officer or other government agent deceives an innocent person into committing a crime he or she had no prior intention of committing. The laws against police or governmental entrapment are intended to prevent law enforcement agencies from coercing a citizen into committing a crime, then arresting him or her for the act. However, this belief is argumentative, one’s actions was all intended prior to being entrapped; therefore the illegal act is inevitable. Similar to entrapment, Crimestop prevents one from committing a future crime, though it’s merely based on detected thoughts and actions.
September 9, 2009 at 12:23 am
Pg. 265 – “The Earth is the center of the universe. The sun and the stars go around it.”
The Geocentric theory was the belief that Earth was the center of the universe and the rest of the universe moved about the motionless Earth. The Catholic Church was in charge prior and during the Scientific Revolution. The term heresy was thus fashioned; unorthodox rebellion against the established order. The heretic few where forced to recant their beliefs, in spite of it being accurate to a certain extent, and where then later exterminated. Similar to Big Brother, God was the reason and explanation for everything. And also, citizen in 1984 whom where heretic: vanished, got reconditioned and then were exterminated.
September 9, 2009 at 12:25 am
Pg. 269 – “Men are infinitely malleable.”
Big Brother, the inner party, controls life at all levels thus being able to control human nature in itself. A human’s natural set of characteristics, instinct, behavior, logic and emotions can all be controlled by Big Brother’s suppressive indoctrinating ways. A well-known philosopher, John Locke, believed that individuals are born without mental content, born a blank slate, and their knowledge comes from perception. However, in the novel 1984, one’s perception is influenced, sabotaged and even created by Big Brother. Thus, one’s knowledge and memory is given by the inner party and at any time can be changed and be reestablished.
September 9, 2009 at 12:56 am
“was the party’s hold upon people less strong. . . because a piece of evidence which existes no longer had once existed” 79
The Party uses the present to control their past because they know the past can bring an end to their future. The connection between the past and the present is symbolic. It represents the importance of remembering ones past to have a better future or else life is a circle. The party uses time to give the illusion of perfection, but I feel it is unnecessary. I think the citizens wouldn’t even dare to question the Party.
September 9, 2009 at 12:56 am
“I betrayed you she said”
“I betryed you he said”
She gave him a look of dislike.
Winston and Julia had no chance against the Party. They are not he first to realize the truth and won’t be the last. Despite their failures, they were noble, and they went through with what they wanted. Winston was able to fulfill his desires and as did Julia. It is important they did so because they would have been miserable if they didn’t, and Winston might have commuted suicide.
September 9, 2009 at 1:16 am
“The proletarians will never revolt, not in a thousand years or a million. They can not.”
The proletarians can revolt, but they are to scarred to. They are constantly shown what happens to people who are against the Party, and they won’t risk their lives. During Stalin’s reign in the Soviet Union things were similar. There is more of a connection with the Soviet Union and the book then any other reign in history. Changing the past, The Five Year Plans and the purges were things Stalin did to get power and to stay in power. He would change photographs of Leon Trotsky and replace them with pictures of himself to gain support of the people. He developed three five year plans. During the purges anyone suspected of not supporting him died. The county became a world power, but there was still poverty. It is very similar to the Party and 1984.
September 9, 2009 at 1:32 am
“Even the Catholic Church of the Middle Ages was tolerant by modern standards. Part of the reason for this was that in the past no government had the power to keep its citizens under constant surveillance. The invention of print, however, made it easier to manipulate public opinion, and the film and the radio carried the process further. With the development of television, and the technical advance which made it possible to receive and transmit simultaneously on the same instrument, private life came to an end.”
This is the most scariest, real quote in the book. It is dictating our life. News has become propaganda. It not about the truth; it is a bout what the government wants us to hear. Television has advertisements for everything and it persuades to buy what you buy and think what you think. Reality television has put camera crew into out lives and broadcast it on a mass scale. And most importantly, the Internet has shared out information to the world. People can Google themselves and find their own addressees. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter has us broadcasting out EVERY movement: what we did, what we wanted to do, what we are going to do, what we FEEl, ect. The government has come up with acts to monitor our cell phone calls. We are more like 1984 than we can comprehend. Though our rights are protected by the constitution there will always be loop holes, and people will find them. There is no such think as a private life any longer, and at this point there is no turning back.
September 9, 2009 at 1:46 am
1. In 1984, George Orwell uses many symbols, themes, and motifs not only for thematic importance, but also to emphasize his own vision of a future ruled by an absolute rule government. In a government where Big Brother is the face of the Party, Orwell uses posters showing a man looking down over the words “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”, to depict the constant presence and absolute power the ruling party of london possessed and eagerness to enforce their high position. In any case, the face of Big Brother symbolizes the Party in its public apparence. It’s a reminder for citizens that even though big brother has the ability to protect and offer comfort, one cannot avoid it’s prescence which causes a threatning atmosphere. Another example of symbolism Orwell uses, is The Red- Armed Prole Woman who represents freedom and hope within a restricted society. Orwell presents an individual who displays behaviors that do not co-exist with the status qou of Oceania. Party members of Big Brother never sing, but hearing her song through the window of his rented room fills Winston with hope for the future. Winston’s hope is ignited by the thought of the proles becoming informed of their rebel against the Party, because the Proles are the only group capable of a successful rebellion because of their size in numbers.
Orwell also uses the prole woman as a symbol of reproductive strength, which also means hope for the future. The prole woman’s wideness, largeness, and toughness all indicate her ability to give birth to future generations of rebels that are willing to overtake the Party’s rule.
September 9, 2009 at 2:10 am
Big Brother, a symbolic head figure of the inner party, is typically located on posters throughout London. He has “an enormous face, more than a meter wide: the face of a man about forty-five, with a heavy black mustache and ruggedly handsome features” (1). With a contrive face, his eyes appear to always follow you, under constant surveillance. “Every success, every achievement, every victory, every scientific discovery, all knowledge, all wisdom, all happiness, all virtue, is held to issue directly from his leadership and inspiration. Nobody has ever seen Big Brother” (208). Big Brother is a “superman” to its citizens, a brave and impervious male figure. The allusion of Big Brother being faultless instills confidence within society, thus causing society to trust the government more than it should trust it; giving the government limitless power.
The telescreens are symbolic and a direct clarity of the Inner parties’ constant surveillance upon it citizens. The telescreens facilitates the perfection of society by forcing its views to exercise and stay fit. The telescreens are ubiquitous: in the streets, public meeting squares and even in the comfort of one’s home. The concept of “doublethink” is a motif. “Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them” (214). The inner party alters the mind, causing one to think his/her mind is playing tricks with reality, replacing one’s memory with a memory newly created and falsified. The ability to rely on the newly given information as the truth, use it to oppose the old information which is the truth and forget it all again.
September 9, 2009 at 2:45 am
2. Like so many Newspeak words, Doublethink has two mutually contradictory meanings. “Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” (214) Given to an opponent, it means the habit of boldly claiming that something is in actuality another, in contradiction of the plain facts. Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that something is another when Party discipline demands this. But it means also means to forget that one has ever believed the contrary. This presents a continuous alteration of the past, made possible by the system of thought which really embraces all the rest, and which is known in Newspeak as doublethink. George Orwell uses Doublethink as the Party’s primary tool to control Oceania, and eventually Winston’s brainwashing. Doublethink imposes a constant internal battle on the mind while at the same time requiring the mind to forget the battle is even taking place. It enables the Party to impose its desires without responsibility to the citizens of Oceania who constantly undergoe a mental excercise, because according to the principles of doublethink, there is nothing for the Party to justify. This is significant to Winston’s brainwashing because it completley renders his understanding of what is moral and what is not moral. Double think therefore allows an individual to question their own beliefs and understanding of in contrast of the Big Brother Party. For the Party, it is their single greatest tool of manipulation that renders every thought any citizen aquires.
September 9, 2009 at 2:46 am
“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them” (214). The inner party alters the mind, causing one to think his/her mind is playing tricks with reality, replacing one’s memory with a memory newly created and falsified. The ability to rely on the newly given information as the truth, use it to oppose the old information which is the truth and forget it all again. This is systematic brain washing. Since the inner party control’s the media, it also controls the past, and whoever controls the past controls the future. The party is able to control Oceania because the party is suppressive and able to produce stability by its cruelly secret actions. Whomever becomes heretic just ups and vanishes; either murdered or sent to a work camp for numerous about of years. The concept of “doublethink” brain washes Winston and causes him to even believe that two plus two can equal four, five or six; whatever the inner party desires it to equal.
September 9, 2009 at 3:39 am
“A day never passed when spies and saboteurs acting under his directions were not unmasked by the Though Police.” (13)
Everywhere in Oceania, spies would follow you like little chemicals that surround us and never disappear. It’s absolutely impossible for a citizen to find a place where they can escape from the Thought Police. It’s impressive to see the amount of knowledge and intellectual that Julia holds because she’s able to flee from the spies and committed crime against the party without being caught. For Winston, he is caught by the Thought police under O’Brien’s tricks him into believing that he is a member of the Brotherhood.
“All real knowledge of Old speak will be dissapeared. The whole literature of the past will have been distroyed.”(53)
The World State is so powerful that nobody can escape crimes. Winston’s hope for the future is impossible because citizens fear to go against the government. The World is changing and everything in the past is being slowly destroyed. By the time “2050″ appears, Oldspeak will obliterate, and Newspeak will be replace. In fact, people in the future will be reading books that have been rewritten numerous times that the whole story behind the book will be completely erase and change into a different story.
“All over Oceania … workers marched out of factories and offices and paraded through the streets with banners voicing their gratitude to Big Brother for the new, happy life which his wise leadership has bestowed upon us.” (58)
Citizens of the World State celebrate Big Brother’s creation. They are brainwash about the past which leave them only the positive thoughts of the new government. Basically the government has created their own people through technology. Nobody remembers the past but for those who do, dare not to speak a word about it because they fear the consequence. Citizens live their life by the government’s policy and not so many has the courage to go against it.
“You lived half your life before the Revolution….Would you say, from what you can remember, that life in 1925 was better than it is now? If you could choose, would you prefer to live then or now?” (92)
Winston is curious about the past. He believed that there is a life he lived before where people have freedom and citizens are not brainwashed by the government. Winston is eager to know about the past in order to make sure the “place where there is no darkness” does exist before and will continue it’s existine in the future. He remains faithful to his hope that will bring him troubles which he’d already know before-hand.
“He wished above all that they had some place where they could be alone together without feeling the obligation to make love every time they met.” (139)
Both novel the BNW and 1984 express social relation with sexual interaction. Ever since Winston receives the love letter from Julia, he has not stop thinking about her. After the first time they make love, Winston begins to examine her on every aspect of the body. He loves the “smell of her hair, the taste of the mouth, [and] the feeling of her skin [that] seemed to got inside him.” Every time he meets her, his desire to have her increases. In the BNW, Lenina interacts sexually with multiple men. It is said that one is better to have multiple lover than to concentrate on one. Compare to BNW, the government in 1984 is less open about sexual interactions.
September 9, 2009 at 3:56 am
In 1984, Winston’s diary functions as a literary device. It’s a way for Orwell to allow us to see “inside” Winston’s mind; it gives us a way to feel some of the things that Winston is feeling. It also provides several layers of dramatic irony. It’s where Winston notes that as long as we can say that 2 + 2 = 4, then there is hope; but we find that later 2 + 2 can be anything the Inner Party says it is. Winston’s comments about the Proles are similar, because he thinks that he is engaged in a private act, a successful personal revolution against the Party. Unfortunately, it was never a private rebellion as indicated by O’Brien’s remarks to the fact that the Party has always known the contents of the diary through references to its content when they meet in rm. 101.
September 9, 2009 at 4:12 am
One of the themes of 1984 is the dangers of totalitarian societies, in some ways George Orwell criticizes and emphasizes the corrupt aspect of the government. “Outside, even through the shut window pane, the world looked cold. Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no color in anything except the posters that were plastered everywhere.” This novel shows that even those who have the ability to see the faults in what is set out to be right, eventually becomes just another victim in a corrupt society that no one who is in low postions in society are capable of disrupting. Even when there is hope, one’s who are in higher positions ultimately have better tactics to diminish one’s abilities that come as threatning.
September 9, 2009 at 4:27 am
Doublethink was the strongest tool of the Big Brother Party to brainwash citizens of oceania. Independent thinkers were rectified in order for their existence to survive. Along with doublethink came the three slogans that the Party used to keep control of the citizens. The party uses slogans such as War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength. None of these slogans were true, but to the people of Oceania, these slogans dictated the way of life, and anything else was dangerous to them. George Orwell shows how this type of governement can controll a nation no matter how ridicoulus the principles of life can turn out to be.
September 9, 2009 at 4:37 am
“How does one man assert his power over another, Winston?” O’Brien asks. Winston’s answer: “By making him suffer” (214). In a way we can say that the people of Oceania were suffering because of their deprived spirit of inquiry, basic ignorance to what is true, and the constant presence and pressure of a government who comes as a threat. While this a way of suffering for citzens, it also comes as the growing power of The Party.
September 9, 2009 at 4:53 am
5. Technology is used as a way for the party to keep a tight grip on the citizens. A few examples of technology used for this are telescreens as well as the Thought police. Though the police themselves aren’t really tech, they use technology, including the telescreens to monitor the people. Telescreens are 2 way televisions that allow the party to watch those who are watching the tv. The thought police are also able to hear the thoughts of the inhabitants of oceania, though it isn’t quite determined as to whether or not this is tech, they use these tools to keep a close eye on the civilians and capture those who even produce the thought of undermining the authority, or thought-criminals.
September 9, 2009 at 4:56 am
George Orwell’s 1984 was not just an trial in futuristic imagination, but a warning against a government and a society that robs its citizens of their critical thinking and reasonable, self-expression. Even though many of the events and experiences described in 1984 may come across as an exaggeration, we can see that the world as George Orwell envisioned it is not so different from the world in which we are living. Orwell was right to be concerned about these issues, because in all societies, the government plays the most important role in how we live daily life
September 11, 2009 at 1:38 am
“Big Brother is Watching You”
This is easily one of the most memorable quotes in the entire book. Big brother is the mysterious leader on Oceania. This phrase is placed all over, giving the residents of Oceania a constant reminder that they are being watched and that they need to monitor themselves as well, acting as someone in a perfect world should act. This is ironically one of the few, if not the only, true statement that has been made to the civilians of Oceania.
September 11, 2009 at 1:46 am
“The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of human labor” (191).
This quote basically is a representation how the party views the people living in Oceania. They don’t see them as citizens or as residents, but rather as people to be controlled as well as used for labor. If a war were to come about, there would be loss, but instead of caring about the people who could die, the party would lose the work that could be done by those people.
September 11, 2009 at 3:19 am
Discuss the idea of doublethink. How important is doublethink to the Party’s control of Oceania? How important is it to Winston’s brainwashing?
In the World State, men are more dominant than the women. They are held to a higher standard and have more power than the women. Also in the World State the men and women are very promiscuous. They have sex with whom ever they want and it is not against the law of the World State. I compared this book to George Orwell’s “1984″ because in that book sex was not allowed. If the people of Oceania did have sex they were going against the party and would eventually get shot in the back of their heads. This is what happened to Winston, the main character , as a result of him having sex with Julia, his lover.
September 11, 2009 at 3:59 am
3. Describe Julia’s character as it relates to Winston. How is she different from him? How is she similar to him? How does Julia’s age make her attitude toward the Party very different from Winston’s?
Julia is a character who is very promiscuous and straight forward. Winston and herself begin an affair towards the middle of the book. She is a dark haired woman who seems as a mystery to Winston because every place that he went, she would appear which caused him to think that she was a member of The Party. As a result of her being a character who gets what she wants, she pretends as if she has fallen and when he comes to help her up, she slips a note into the palm of his hand with the words “I Love You” printed on them. After she makes this approach, they begin their secret love affair. Their affair isn’t kept a secret because the party and the thought police know that they are intimate with each other although it is not allowed. Julia and Winston both know that what they are doing is wrong but their sexual desires are what keep them from obey the Party. Julia is much more younger than Winston and as a result of that they aren’t interested in the same things other than sex. Winston is interested in knowing about the Revolution and how those times were different than the time in the book and he wanted to know if life was better back then. When he discusses this with Julia, her lack of interest is not hidden and she gives him the idea that their age difference does affect them because she does not care about the history back then. When she was born the Party was already brain washing people with the things that they wanted them to know so by then she didn’t know any better about the true facts of history.
September 11, 2009 at 5:20 am
technology was used by the party to watch over everyone within the society. this gave them the ability to know what people were doing, which led to order in their society. the party watched over them through the telescreen that “received and transmitted simultaneously.” (3)
September 11, 2009 at 5:22 am
“The children, on the other hand, were systematically turned against their parents and taught to spy on them and report their deviations.” (33)
Hearing this statement reminds me of the Hitler youth. The Hitler youth was a group of young children that were used by the Nazi party and trained to become full fledged Nazis. The party used the children of Oceania to spy on their parents to keep an eye out for any “criminal acts”. While the Hitler Youth wasn’t used to that extent, the ideas are pretty similar.
September 11, 2009 at 5:28 am
3. Describe Julia’s character as it relates to Winston. How is she different from him? How is she similar to him? How does Julia’s age make her attitude toward the Party very different from Winston’s?
Julia is a character who is very promiscuous and straight forward. Winston and herself begin an affair towards the middle of the book. She is a dark haired woman who seems as a mystery to Winston because every place that he went, she would appear which caused him to think that she was a member of The Party. As a result of her being a character who gets what she wants, she pretends as if she has fallen and when he comes to help her up, she slips a note into the palm of his hand with the words “I Love You” printed on them. After she makes this approach, they begin their secret love affair. Their affair isn’t kept a secret because the party and the thought police know that they are intimate with each other although it is not allowed. Julia and Winston both know that what they are doing is wrong but their sexual desires are what keep them from obey the Party. Julia is much more younger than Winston and as a result of that they aren’t interested in the same things other than sex. Winston is interested in knowing about the Revolution and how those times were different than the time in the book and he wanted to know if life was better back then. When he discusses this with Julia, her lack of interest is not hidden and she gives him the idea that their age difference does affect them because she does not care about the history back then. When she was born the Party was already brain washing people with the things that they wanted them to know so by then she didn’t know any better about the true facts of history.
September 11, 2009 at 5:39 am
“Syme had vanished. a morning came, and he was missing from work; a few thoughtless people commented on his absence.” (147)
the people were literally “thoughtless” in this society. they didnt even comment on someones absence, nor did they even think about it. i feel the society has been brainwashed into complete fear.
September 11, 2009 at 6:00 am
“As Winston stood up O’Brien held out a hand. His powerful grip crushed the bones of Winston’s palm. At the door Winston looked back, but O’Brien seemed already to be in process of putting him out o mind.” (179)
this is another act that seems unbelievable, it is amazing how much authority the party was able to obtain. the party has become superior to the people in their society through corrupt actions. i believe this is not a perfect world because there are no morals. inflicting pain on someone does not seem like a moral action in a perfect world.
September 11, 2009 at 6:11 am
“He wished that they were walking through the street with her just as they were doing now, but only openly and without fear…”(139)
it is clear that the party has successfully installed fear into Winston and many other people. There is no physical contact allowed between men and women in public, which is hard to believe. this can be related back to “A Brave New World”, in the old world it was seen as obscene if a women had multiple sex partners, which Linda found out the hard way.
September 11, 2009 at 6:19 am
“War is peace” (pg 4)
These three words are one of the slogans that the party uses. As is the case with many of the party’s slogans, this statement contradicts itself. The whole thing reads “War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength.” These three lines allow justification for the party to oppress the citizens of oceania. If war brings peace, then they must be at war. If freedom is slavery, then no one can be free. And if ignorance is strength, then that means the party has a right to keep important information away from the people.
September 11, 2009 at 6:26 am
“… but it was evident that there had been a fairly long interval of peace during his childhood, because one of his early memories was of an air raid which appeared to take everyone by surprise ” (32)
the party obviously conditioned Winston to see war as a positive rather than a negative. they even managed to cause people to “doublethink”. since the people believe what ever they are told at that moment, the party is able to get away with brainwashing the the society.
September 11, 2009 at 6:39 am
“the proper thing was to kill yourself before they got you” (102)
People were willing to commit suicide in order to avoid the party, and their tactics. the fact that people were willing to kill themselves goes to show just how terrible the party can be.