Entry 8 - My choice...

My choice.

This book had several qutoes that were essential and these were one of them.

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH (1984 - p.19)

These words were the official slogans of the Party, and were inscribed in massive letters in the Ministry of Truth, as Winston observed in page 19. Because it was introduced so early in the novel, this served as mt first introduction to the idea of doublethink. What the Party was doing was weakening the independence and strength of individuals’ minds. They were forcing them to live in a constant state of propaganda-induced fear, and the Party was able to force its subjects to accept anything it decrees, even if it is entirely illogical. For instance, the Ministry of Peace is in charge of waging war, the Ministry of Love is in charge of political torture, and the Ministry of Truth is in charge of changing history books to reflect the Party’s ideology.

However, it is possible for the Party to state that“War Is Peace” because having an enemy keeps the people of Oceania united and enthusiastic. “Freedom Is Slavery” because, according to the Party, the man who is independent is destined to fail in life. By the same purpose, “Slavery Is Freedom,” because the man subjected to this will is free from danger and want. “Ignorance Is Strength” because the inability of the people to recognize these contradictions cements the power of the authoritarian regime.

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Entry 7 - Settings and comments

Are there any settings in this novel which you have found to be beautiful? Or disturbing? Or memorable? Describe these settings and comment on why they were meaningful to you.

The settings that were memorble to me would be Mr. Charrington's room that Winston and Julia used for their hiding place and Room 101. Mr. Charrington's room was memorable, disturbing, yet beautiful at the same time. This room was the place that Winston and Julia found for their conspiracy to go on and this was where they could talk freely about any subject. They could speak out their thougths openly without the fear of being overheard and caught on telescreens. This room was the only place that they could meet and communicate which made it a vital and memorable place of the book. If Winston and Julia were not able to get this room, they would have had no place to go.

Another setting that I found interesting was Room 101. This room was not an ordinary room. It was the legendary room which everyone knew and shivered just at the name. In Room 101 is where you change. You change...into a different being. The appearance, your personality, but most of all, your thoughts about life and your society changes. After Winston entered and came out, he was a new person. He had become a person who loved the Party, who could believe two and two would be five if the Party said it, and a person who loved Big Brother.

I found this quite dsiturbing but interesting. When Winston was called in, he came back out as an utterly different person. What was interesting was that this room with a torturing machine could change a person's thougths and control them. It is no wonder historical dictators such as Stalin and Hitler use torture and pain in order to have control of their people.

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Entry 6 - Meaningful passage

Please choose one passage from the novel that is significant to you. Why is this passage meaningful? Please type it into one of your entries and comment on what you think about the passage.

There were several different passages that were significant and meaningful to me. Among these, Winston accepting the ways of the Party is one of them.

He accepted everything. The past was alterable. The past never had been altered. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Ocenaia had always been at war with Eastasia. Jones,aaronson, and Rutherford were guilty of the crimes they were charagd with. he had never seent he photography that disprovedt their guilt. It had enver existed; he had invented it. He remebered remembering contrary things, but those were false memories, products of self-deception. How easy it all was! Only surrender, and everything else followed. It was like swimming against a current that swept you backwards however hard you struggled, and then suddenly deciding to turn round and go with the current instead of opposing it. Nothing had changed except your own attitude ; the predestined thing happened in any case. He hardly knew why he had ever rebelled. Everything was easy, except-! (1984 - p.228 ~ 229)

This part of the passage of the novel surprised me. I had believed and hoped that Winston would not have given into what the Party says "truth". I had expected him to endure his pain and fight for the genuine truth of history and life. His lack of resistance of wha the knows is false disappointed me and in a way discouraged me. In the passage, he was explaining how it was simple and easy just as when you are swimming. Instead of facing and swmming aginst the strong current, just following and going along with it is much easier.

I also thought this passage showed what we, humans are like what winston did in the passage. Some of us do, but most of us don't stay strong and consistant of what we believe is the truth and a fact. However, this had happened with persuasion and torture. It is the sad reality that those who have the power and the ability to use dangerous tools can turn a person's world upside down and shake it until everything falls out.

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Entry 5 - Mood

What is the mood of this novel? Do you find this novel saddens you in any way? Why?

Dark, mysterious, edgy, and tense are some words that can describe the mood of this novel. Over this book, there was cast of darkness that represented the imaginative negative Utopian world in 1984. With Big Brother, the Thought Police looking so dangerously chilling and terrifying, it's no wonder the book has such a heavy atmosphere.

With monitors everywhere and feeling watched even in your private places make the overall mood edgy and tense. It would be the most uncomfortable sensation you could have. Every action that you do and even the slightest movement you make could bring down the whole squad of the Thought Police into your house. Just thinking about it would drive anyone of the edginess and the tense feeling.

While Winston and Julia are acting against Big Brother, the mood, on the whole is generally more intensified. The three: Winston, Julia, and O'Brien build up and plan a conspiracy which sets the mood with a tint of mystifying feeling. There is also a tense feeling as well since they know that they will be discovered but don't know when.

After this, there are the betrayals. Winston, Julia, O'Brien, and Mr. Charrington all betrayed one another. Winston and Julia when they were tortured, Mr. Charrington as one of the members of the Thought Police, and O'Brien betrayed both Julia and Winston of being an enemy of Big Brother. With all the changing of history, changing thoughts, opinions, ways of speech, and being ruled under one person, 1984, as a distopian society had a pessimistic and a negative mood.

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Entry 4 - Climax

What is the climax of this novel? What happens? How do the events of this novel make you feel?

The climax of this novel was when Winston was with Julia in the bedroom in Mr. Charrington's shop when they suddenly recognized that there was actually a telescreen in their room.

"We are the dead," he said.
"We are the dead," echoed Julia dutifully.
"You are the dead," said an iron voice behind them.
They sprang apart. Winston's entrails seemed to ahve turned into ice. He could see the white all roudn the irsise of Julia's eyes. Her face had turned a milky yellow. The smear of rouge that was till on each cheekbone stood out sharply, almost ast hrough unconnected witht he skin beneath.
"You are the dead," repeated the iron voice. (1984 - p.182)

The dialogue as well as the description created tension and suspense and the horrible surprise of the new iron voice in the room. It was an astonishing effect and had the sort of a bomb dropping down out of the sky next to you that would make your insides ring. It was the starting point where the illegal love affairs and the act of revolution of Winston and Julia were finally discovered.
There was another part which I thought was similar to a climax and that was the part where the rats and the mask were closing in on Winston in the legendary Room 101.

The circle of the mask was large enough now to shut out the vision of anything else. The wire door was a couple fo hand-spans from his face. The rats knew what was coming now. One of them was leaping up and down; the other, an old scaly grandfather of the sewers, stood up, with his pink hadns against the bars, and fiercely snuffed the air. Winston could see the whiskers and the yellow teeth. Again the black panic tok hold of him. he was blind, helpless, mindless. (1984 - p.235)

This part of the novel also created an uptight and a tense moment. This passage was a significant turning point if or if not Winston was going to be spared and if his life ended here in Room 101. It was a dramatic moment of the fate of Winston. It left me to eagerly wait for what would happen next.

Entry 3 - Main characters

Who are the main characters in the novel? Do you like them? Why or why not? What is special about them? What do they reveal about the universal human experience?

Winston Smith
Winston is our protagonist who despises Big Brother, and is an enemy to the Party. He is a clerk for the Ministry of Truth, where his job is to rewrite historical documents. Towards the beginning, he stands up for his hate of totalitarianism as well as his hate towards the society that he lived in. During that part of the novel, he was a likable character. Occasionally, he was reckless and not cautious, which made me feel Winston was foolish. However, in some cases, he was thoughtful and logical. Winston had once wrote "If there is hope [wrote Winston] it lies in the proles" (1984 - p.60). He explained how proles can shake and blow the Party into pieces if they could if they became conscious of their own strength.

In one part of the novel, Winston's childhood was mentioned briefly. It described Winston dreaming of the time he nearly took all the food that was allocated to the family, even though his younger sister was starving to death. I think Winston now somehow regrets his egocentric behavior. Another interesting part was when he was writing in his diary. Winston felt somewhat like a hero to me, because he was aware of the danger that he had faced. For example, he knew from the start that the diary would be found. He also knew that his illegal love issue was an act of revolution and would be found by the Thought Police.

Nevertheless, he is also, in my opinion, naive. Even when he did not have concrete proof that O'Brien was against the Party, he just went ahead and opened his mind to him stating that he was an enemy of Big Brother.

Julia
Julia is the woman who Winston meets and falls in love and who Winston can trust and be confident with. She is about 26 years old and is an enthusiastic participant of the Anti Junior-Sex League, the Two Minutes Hate, and the Community Center. By doing this, she has been able to cover herself to become a sexually promiscuous rebel. She states that she has had her first love affair with a Party member when she was sixteen. Winston figures that Julia is a "thoughtcriminal" as well as a sex criminal. However young she may be, she has experience of being a spy and apparently is good at games. Julia is described lovingly, sharp, funny, and attractive.

O'Brien
O'Brien is a peculiar man. As a leader, he appears as a friend to Winston and a person who is supposed to be the head of the Brotherhood aimed to overthrow Big Brother. When he hints to Winston that he is secretly opposing the party, Winston finds the courage to approach him and openly states himself an enemy of the totalitarian state.

After Winston is arrested, it turns out that O'Brien is actually loyal to the Party. I thought he could be one of the founders of the totalitarian society in which Winston lives judging by how that part was written. His role now seems to be to search for potential thought-criminals and lure them in by pretending to be on their side, then "cure" them. O'Brien tortures Winston to cure him of his "insanity" and explains that reality is simply what the Party defines it as such as two and two could be five if the Party says so.

In my opinion, O'Brien was a mysterious and a chilling character depicting an intellectual who used his ability to brainwash the "insane" rather than actually helping them. He was fascinating and although his personality and actions were not likeable, it was still interesting to see his uncanny way to change people like Winston. An interesting fact of O'Brien is that I only had Winston's view of him.
Big Brother
Although Big Brother does not appear in the story, he is mentioned and essentially sets the whole plot of this novel into action. He is the dictator of Oceania having complete surveillance by the authorities, mainly telescreens.
He does not seem to be a real person. Although he is all-present, all-power and forever watching, glaring out from enormous posters that say BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, nobody regards him as a person. To the Inner Pary, Big Brother is a symbol they can use to scare the people and use as a shield if anybody asks. For proles, Big Brother is a distant figure of authority. As for Winston, Big Brother can be a stimulation. He is drawn to Big Brother like he is drawn to O'Brien. Personally, the description of Big Brother reminded me of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin who are two famous historical figures of dictatorship.

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Entry 2 - Connections

Are there any current situations in the world that relate to the novel? What are they, and how do they relate? Does the novel shed any light on how current situations could be resolved or "fixed"?

There were many connections to Big Brother in the world, the past and present. For example, Big Brother's description in the novel reminded me of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin who were figures of the most powerful and murderous dictators in history. Hitler was the founder and the leader of the Nazi Party and Stalin was the supreme ruler of the Soviet Union with his regime of terror causing the death and suffering of tens of millions.

In the Internet, there were posters of Big Brother and they greatly resembled Hitler and Stalin. In my opinion, George Orwell must have been thinking about Stalin and Hitler when he was creating Big Brother as a character for his novel.
Nowadays some parts of the world such as in North Korea, there are still cases such as this. In North Korea there is Kim Jung-il and he is worshipped the citizens are continuously watched by North Korean soldiers. They appear to be isolated and do not have much contact with the rest of the world and only look up to Kim Jung-il as their leader. Kim Jung-il has created a totalitarian state with censorship. For example, every morning when the citizens go to work, they pass more than a handful of soldiers on their way. For children, they are taught and their minds are forced to believe the fact that they lived to please Kim Jung-il.

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Entry 1 - Themes

What is the major theme of this novel? Why is this theme important to a teenager living in 2007?

The theme of this novel was censorship as well as totalitarianism with betrayal. This also meant oppression, mind control, and inequality in the future world. I believe that he wrote this book to warn future generations of the downfalls of totalitarianism and communistic governments. One thing that I realised was that dictatorships are very controlling and they can do as they please just to control the people within their country. With telescreens everywhere and feeling watched even in your private space would be the most uncomfortable sensation you could have. With changing history, changing your thoughts, opinions, way of speech, and being ruled under one person, I would have been mad if I was one of the citizens under the rule of Big Brother.

This theme is important to teenagers because we have to be thankful of the situation that we are in. There were many situations such as this novel, though not as extreme, but they still existed. Nowadays, there are not that many, however, it can be found in some places. In this novel, proles and most citizens were starving to death and didn't have enough food, utensils, and other items that they needed for their daily life. Most of all, all the citizens whether they were Party members or not, they all needed to live under strict regulations with complete surveillance by telescreens and the Thought Police. The people did not have the chance to show their inner and true emotions and were restricted both mentally and physically.

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