POST #1 - 1984 1.1-3 - "It was a bright, cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."
If you don't have any questions to post (huh?) or answers to questions posed by your classmates, then you may choose to discuss your reaction to Winston and/or life in Oceania in 1984. Consider any or all of these: Winston's "crime"; Big Brother; two minutes hate, doublethink, or anything else.
i don't really understand whats going on.. Who are the thought police what do they do? And why is it so bad to have a diary?
ReplyDeleteI think Winston's character is complacent yet volatile. Seeing that England- Airstrip One, and the island of Great Britain as the new Oceania makes a big impact on the reader considering most human beings do not like change and are startled by it. This significant impact can also be observed in the reaction to the movie Waterworld.
ReplyDeleteI think the journal being rebellion is similar to the ideas in Fahrenheit 451 being that books are 'evil' due to censorship. I think Orwell is trying to prove a point about how society controls what people view until we get an extreme like this in the book.
For instance, this lady [ http://tinyurl.com/y478zpx ], who wants libraries to ban books in the teen section because she doesn't deem it appropriate for her child. That is her choice and not her decision for the masses. As soon as the system starts censoring books, it starts a snowball- making them illegal. The Constitution exists as it is to preserve these freedoms. Unfortunately, when such a right is violated, the government becomes more entrenched in our lives, thus, Big Brother.
The Ministry of Truth is a fabulous inclusion.
I am also completely confused as to what is going on...Who is Goldstein? What exactly is going on? haha
ReplyDeleteGoldstein is the "enemy" of the party. The Party is the new government that has taken over England. Goldstein fought against the big brother and the Party's new government. George Orwell has created the idea that the thirst for power in his world in the 1960s would eventually lead to a military toltarian government where government is constantly pushing military lifestyles upon the people and making them have a strong hate against Goldstein and another world power eurasia. Even the opening line shows the central theme of military control as the clock strikes "thirteen" signifying military time! The telescreens are constantly watching the population to make sure no one is planning an uprise against the government. The people excercise together much like a military. the people are the military keeping the Party running. The past is to be forgotton as no personal records seem to be kept the people have no real truth the "truth" they hear is controlled by the government as they change history to suite there needs.
ReplyDeletewho is newspeak created for? winston sometimes uses it but when the computer generated version of goldstein talks (does he hint at the fact that it is or am i just crazy) he uses newspeak way to much.
ReplyDeleteNewspeak is the official language of Oceania. It was designed by the Party as a means of further controlling the people's language. Its intent is to make it impossible for people to have any rebellious thoughts. I know it's supposed to be gradually integrated into the current language. Maybe the computer-goldstein uses it excessively so people get used to hearing it. I mean, they have the Two Minutes Hate everyday...
ReplyDeleteThe book in someways reminds me of Fahrenheit 451. In the way that society has taken it to an extreme to control things in what they say is that their trying to keep peace. I think Orwell is trying to tell us that we need to be aware of our rights as people and not let others take control of everything because once we give up one right what other ones will they go after next.
ReplyDeleteNow that i have finally got this thing down.
ReplyDeleteI think that the novel is dark and pessimistic.
I also believe that Winston is trying to bring the past alive.
Matt your just crazy.
And i also dont understand why keeping a diary is a crime.
and just a side note why is the title 1984 when it was written in 1949 its confusing. i am also a little confused about the book in general.
I find the paradoxical slogans of the government to be the most interesting part of the book so far. The slogans aren't about the people that the government represents, it's about the government itself. Ignorance is strength is the one that most represents the government's ideals. When the people are ignorant, the government grows stronger. Where there is war in one country, it causes economic "peace" in an other, and so on. The reason why keeping a diary is a crime is because the government doesn't want to have any documentation of the past so that everything will always stay the same - day after day monotony.
ReplyDeleteWell, if we delve into the subject of monotony, we can bring up references in A Wrinkle in Time (E'engle) to the being of IT. I believe it's a reference to Big Brother, seeing that E'engle wrote the book after 1984 was published.
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't read her book, the premise of the scene I'm referencing is that all the children are playing outside in the street except they all have to bounce the ball in perfect rhythm with this drumming sound inside their heads. One child misses a beat and then is ushered inside the house hurriedly by his mother. Later on, we find out that the child has been captured and taken to the the building where IT is held, is quite like the Ministry of Truth, and screams out in pain every time he bounces the ball to rectify his mistake.
Personally, the whole documentation and changing of the language to suit the parasitic need for control by the government, is quite a terrifying and realistic event that could happen.
Another book reference, albeit overused, would be Harry Potter. We see this fear of privacy in Deathly Hallows when everyone "whispers" to each other [ "the point that is that they whisper."] due to the uncertainty of being turned in to the government.
It seems like a more common theme these days than not, whether we know it or not, the idea that totalitarian control of the masses turns out worse than for better as well as the power of money and political influence.
Ms. Nis says...the gov't doesn't want any documenttion, true; but writing a journal also constitutes "ownlife" which is to be avoided--you are a part of the collective. If you go off by yourself you might think for yourself.
ReplyDeleteSo then the government wants to think for you? Well, I have a question then. How can one have emotion without thought? I can understand primal emotions but traumatic things like war, even though they are desensitized, wouldn't that have more weight on somebody's mind?
ReplyDeleteI guess this goes onto the topic of brainwashing then and how this is a "what not to do" sort of book.