POST #2 - 1984 1.4-6
Are you beginning to "get" what life is like in London, Airstrip 1, Oceania? Lots to think about. You might want to comment on any or all of the following:
1. "It struck him as curious that you could create dead men but not living ones. Comrade Ogilvy, who had never existed in the present, now existed in the past, and when once the act of forgery was forgotten, he would exist just as authentically, and upon the same evidence, as Charlemagne or Julius Caesar." (p. 43-end of chapter)
2. Think about the cafeteria scene (chap. 5): What's the significance of Syme, of the dark-haired girl? "Orthodoxy is unconsciousness." (pp.46-47)
3. What about those Parsons children? "My kid made sure he was some kind of enemy agent...What do you think put her on to him in the first place? She spotted he was wearing a funny kind of shoes--said she'd never seen anyone wearing shoes like that before. So the chances were he was a foreigner. Pretty smart for a nipper of seven, eh?" (p. 50)
4. Why/how does the Party attempt to subvert & control human sexuality?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I'm starting to get what life in london is a little...but what i don't really understand is whats going on with the Comrade Ogilvy.Who is he and where he come from..?
ReplyDeleteI also don't understand why people will let the government rule them.Tell them what they have to do or not do.think or not think...Are are they believing everything the government says? I mean do all the people agree with the government and just live by what they say because if they don't they wont have a good life??
Or am i just not understanding what's going on....?
WHat does the party attempt by controlling the humuns sexuality?
What really kind of freaks me out, is the way that the people, for the most part, are so brainwashed by the government. Like with the chocolate rations, and how they're not even allowed to show any bit of emotion on their faces.
ReplyDeleteAlso the idea that people in London or under the control of the government can be too smart for their own good. Like Syme for example, Winston knows he's going to die because he is so smart, and he knows that other people are going to be vaporized because they know too much. The whole thing is just creepy.
Life in Londen, Oceania is way to much for me...
ReplyDelete1. Does Big Brother actually ever make his own statements or does the Ministry of Truth do it for him. I cannnot believe how the people are so vunerable to hear the speech and then later believe the BB said something entirely differently and the fact that Winston just created a person that did not ever exist is just crazy. Rewriting History is how the Government keeps the people from losing faith in the Party they make themselves look very intelligent and well organized when they really are not.
2. The Idea of being vaporized for knowing too much or being too smart is crazy the only reason they do that is to keep someone from realizing how wrong the government is and smart enough to create theories or challenge them or maybe record and have evidence of the governments doings idk its a control thing.
3.the kids are absolutely nuts! there teaching them to be racist and suspect anyone different then them of being a bad person. This is not normal and out of control there seems to be no emotional ties that goes back to the Human sexuality thing
4. The Party tries to make sex a chore that is almost painful. As a catholic i realize what they are trying to do... Sex according to the
bible is supposed to be for two things and they are to be simutanous 1) the creation of children 2) the growth of covental love. The party is making sex simply a tool for reproduction and is trying to wipe out the nurturing of covental love part. Love is looked down upon. The party does not want people to have strong loving relationships with one another because that is too risky as the people may choose there spouse and family over there nation in a time of crisis or when the government is trying to pull them apart they understand the power that love has. The children have little connection with there parents and dont mind handing them over to the authorities mostly because they probly didnt have very much emotional relationship with them as love for your children and parents was probly not important to the party to the party only the subject to the nation relationship was important but we can learn from confusious that you must have more relationships than that you must have parent to child the most important, elder to young, subject to ruler, sister to brother, friend to friend. Without love the bonds between families are nothing and the children have learned to only care about themselves and more importantly the country. Without human sexuality there is no true love in marriaages and no real connections in family therefore they have more time to worry about what they can do for there nation and learn to only "love" there nation
Comrade Ogilvy is a fictional person that Winston created. Winston's job is to rewrite past articles that have become contradicted by the present situation. For example, if an article references a person that has since been vaporized, Winston will rewrite it so there is no evidence of that person ever existing.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand, Big Brother is the leader of a revolution. How he came into power, I'm not sure. I would imagine that at first, people weren't as accepting of BB. However, overtime people that rebelled were probably vaporized, literature was adjusted to promote the Party, propaganda was spread, ect. I think the number of pre-BB people is diminishing; more and more of the population is people that were born into the current condition of living. If they don't know anything else, I'm sure it's easier to accept.
In my comparitive christianities class, we are watching a documentary called Jesus Camp. It focuses on the growing power of Evangelical churches in America. The main point it makes is that children are tools that can and are being used by adults to carry out their ideals and beliefs so that the next generation will be even more powerful than the last. I find these kids in the film to be eerily similar to those in 1984. They both have parents that teach them their own political leanings from a very young age. They both are very open and articulate about their beliefs, even going so far as to turning in their own parents or in the Christians' case, evangelizing to others about being "saved by Jesus Christ." I want to hate these kids in both scenarios, but how can I when it's obvious that it's the parent's fault for turning the kids into little monsters that will grow up into big ones. I hate it when I find these connections in my own society with that of the book because it makes me think, are we slowly turning into something like 1984? Creep thought, really.
ReplyDeleteWinston seems to condemn to Party in his mind; he obviously is not blindly accepting BB's propaganda. However, at the same time his "greatest pleasure in life" is his job, which is rewriting articles to promote the Party.
ReplyDeleteSo basically he enjoys that which he condemns.
Why is Winston contradicting himself?
I agree with Emma, its really weird that people cannot show any emotion without any fear of being killed.
ReplyDeleteTo Diana's question:
The party's reason to remove all pleasure from sexual acts is because (Winston believes) that sex is the ultimate act of individualism, as a emotional and physical pleasure and by transforming it into a duty the party strikes again at individualism.And last BB's goal is not to reproduce of the persons same genes but to merely produce more members for the party.
The book is starting to remind me a lot more of the matrix and how Winston works for a company in a cubicle and he semi seems to have thoughts about things that are similar to the rest of the world but could change like Neo. Also the people seem to be moving from day to day like not knowing things bother them. What I don't understand is how a society could let someone get so much control over something for so long that people didn't do something about it? I get that the people born into wouldn't be bothered by it but what about the people that were there when it was happening?
ReplyDeleteYes.
ReplyDeleteI think Winston's job is a bit frightening, someone who is forced to dig their own grave sort of deal.
Yeah, despite the brainwashing, I don't see how they can believe that they are getting more food considering they're actually getting way less. Hunger is a primal instinct that the Big Brother wouldn't be able to control. Which brings up how they party is trying to control human sexuality.
Sure, death is a large penalty but it's quite hard to control from a governmental level. People will still participate in it despite whatever Big Brother tells them to do. This part is somewhat unrealistic.
Not knowing if the girl is an agent or not is quite unnerving. The Parson's children are quick to believe anything Big Brother says and fully embraces it. This is pointing out how one can children manipulate children so easily, like Mary said.
in response to courtney. when you ask about how they could let it go so far as to how a society could let someone get so much control over something for so long that people didn't do something about it? reminds me of WWII. when we were all facing one common enemy. many people didnt question why they just did. We came out of a depression lending some good to the war, maybe big brother was right about them being worse off than before.
ReplyDelete