One of the things 1984 has taught me, is that despite appearances, one is beautiful. When Winston first saw the singing lady, he thought that she was ugly. But then, his opinion on her changed. She's a meter across the hip, sturdy, with thick arms. Winston used the words "blown up to monstrous dimensions". But she's beautiful in her own way, in her own style. Beauty isn't about the appearances, it's about the personality, and how you keep up with life. The woman has had at least 15 children, her tummy has swollen, her body has been hardened by all her work and she has grown ugly. Then her life became an endless cycle of laundry and cooking and scrubbing and on and on... for how long? 10, 20, 30, 40 years, more? But in the end she is still singing, still doing her chores with a light spirit, still acting like the world has more to offer to her, like she is not doomed to this life of cleaning. She is beautiful because she keeps her head high.
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One of the literary techniques that George Orwell has used in 1984 is repetition. Here is an example: This is a passage from Goldenstein's book. It is one of the many passages of 1984 that describes the daily life of a party member, and how he has absolutely no privacy.
Many passages in the book describe the no privacy thing to get a point across. Orwell was probably trying to point out the fact that people in a totalitarian society do NOT have ANY privacy! To make the reading less complicated, I made this map of the world, based on a description found in Goldestein's book.
On page 113 Winston flattens out the piece of paper Julia had given him. There are only three words on the paper. They are "I love you". Why would the first words that Julia would ever say (or write to him) be these ones? Wouldn't she be afraid that he would report her to the government because she had passed notes? Wouldn't she regret saying (or writing) such powerful words?
My answer and interpretation: Julia later said that she knew, that she could read it in him, that Winston was not like the others. That he was different and rebellious. So the words were not only NOT random, but she knew that Winston wouldn't report her. Julia also wanted to have an impact on Winston, she wanted to leave an impression on him. These words have a lot of power, so I guess that if she wanted to have an impact on Winston, they would be the perfect ones. Also, they have never spoken, so Winston would probably be very curious about what she meant, and why she said (or wrote) it. This would make Winston want to know more about her, and find a way to talk or communicate to her. At the very beginning of the book, on page 31, Winston has a dream about his mother. In the dream, his mother and sister are sitting in some deep place, drowning. But of them are looking up to Winston. He has a feeling that his mother has sacrificed herself and her daughter of him, and that he could not save them. That the sacrifice was the only way of having Winston survive. Winston says that the death of his mother was tragic in a was that was no longer possible (page 32). "Tragedy, he PERCEIVED, belonged to the ancient time, to a time when there was still privacy, love and friendship, and when the members of a family stood by one another without needing to know the reason. HIs mother's memory tore at his heart because she had died loving him, when he was too young and selfish to love her in return, and because somehow, he did not remember how, she had sacrificed herself to a conception of loyalty that was private and unalterable. Such things, he saw, could not happen today. Today, there were fear, hatred and pain, but no dignity of emotion, no deep or complex sorrows." (page 32) This time, the one Winston was referring to, is a time we have today. But imagine if we didn't live in a time like that... that we would live in a society of hatred and pain and loneliness and doubts and suspicions. Winston does not understand how or why, but he knows that he has been selfish to his mother and sister. But he does understand this: he knows that his mother had always loved him, always done her best to raise him, that she was loyal to him and sacrificed herself for him. He probably felt terrible for not loving his mother, for not being nicer to her, for being so selfish.
Later in the book, Winston remembers what had happened. He had a dream again, and this time he discovered a memory. He remembered that his father had disappeared, and that times were tough. He remembered that they lived in a tiny, dark place. He remembered always being hungry. He would always ask for more food, why there wasn't more food. He would scream and shout, he would cry when he couldn't get more. His sister was sick and dying, but he would still steal some of her food right from her plate. His mother would give him the biggest portion, but he would always ask for more. "He knew that he was starving the other two, but he could not help it; he even felt that he had a right to do it." (page 169) He also remembered that one day there was a chocolate ration issued. He wanted to have all the chocolate, so his mother split it between he and his sister (he got 3/4 of it). However, Winston grabbed the piece his sister was holding, and ran off. He ate all the chocolate, and feeling guilty, wandered off into the streets. When he came back, his mother and sister were gone. The Inner Party has a lot of special privileges. For example, they are able to turn off their telescreens completely, even though it is unwise to keep it off for more than 30 minutes. But these 30 minutes were very useful to Winston and Julia, who were able to talked in privacy to O'Brian and get into the Brotherhood.
Also, since he is in the Inner Party, O'Brian is probably more trusted by the government, even though he is part of the Brotherhood. You had to earn yourself to be in the Inner Party, so O'Brian is probably very trusted. O'Brian also has access to a lot of things, like doctors and surgeons. He can have a new face, a new body, a new way to speak and move. He has all the money he needs for it, so... But most importantly, he has a lot of power. He cannot be defeated, as Winston says. Or at least his body language shows that he cannot be defeated. Because of this power, undefeatableness (that is a word, not something I just made up), and confidence, he can make Winston and Julia do a lot of things, to go to extremes. They are ready to give their lives, to commit murder, to make sabotages, to take away the lives of innocent people, to betray their own country, to lose their identity, to commit random acts like throwing acid at a child's face if it can serve to the Brotherhood, to blackmail, to encourage prostitution... the list is long. But there is one thing that they cannot do. That s, stop loving each other. Neither the Party or the Brotherhood can make them do that. Julia has a theory: that the Party lies a lot more than what Winston thinks. Of course, we know that the past has been falsified, destroyed. Everything has been altered, changed, nothing is true any more. But there more to it. Julia thinks that the bombs that are often hitting the city and killing hundreds of innocent people are not thrown by the enemy. She says that they are thrown by their own government, to make the people fear, and transform that fear into hatred to the country they are at war with. Propaganda, because the government is creating a false image of that superstate.
Later, in Goldestein's book, we learn that the three superstates are always at war, but in the same war. Any of the three superstates could conquer or dominate the other two, but there would be no point in that, there would be no advantage. The people in Oceania know nothing about the other states, they are not allowed to go in them, but they are told to hate the other states and their philosophy, because "they are not true". That is also propaganda. A group of people is forced to believe that another group of people is bad, or different, or horrible so that this first group of people can be controlled more easily. All that is done so that the Party achieves it's two main goals: conquer the entire surface of the Earth and extinguish any possibility of independent thought. If it achieves these goals, then the entire world will become a totalitarian state, where the Party truly has total power. It would not only be able to spy on every people of the society, but they will also be able to control their thoughts, because for now that is impossible. Another theory: Winston says that confessing is not a betrayal (talking to Julia, the conversation is from page 173-174), that when people are caught, they will always end up confessing, since the torture is too great. He says that making him stop loving her would be the real betrayal. Julia, however, says that the Party is not able to do that. "It's the one thing they can't do. They can make you say anything-anything- but they can't make you believe it." (page 174) They can make Winston say that he does not love Julia, and they can make Julia say that she does not love Winston, but as long as they don't believe their words, thy haven't betrayed each other. The Party is invincible. It would always exist, as long as people didn't rebel... but that was almost impossible. The few acts of rebellion that actually can be done are very small, like a secret disobedience... But rebels could be caught at any time by the Thought Police. Of course, there is the Brotherhood, which is also invincible. That is, because it is not organized as other organizations are. Everything is kept a secret, everyone knows different things and no one has a complete list of who is in the organization. That is what O'Brian had explained to Winston and Julia. There could be a dozen people, a hundred people, or a million people. But that was unknown, because each person was only in contact with three or four other people. But as it is going, the Brotherhood is not very good at defeating the Party, as it is so strong! O'Brian said that it might take decades before the future is free.
Winston was very wise... but also very stupid when it comes down to other characters in the book.
First, Syme. Winston knew he was very smart, he knew that he would be taken away by the thought police. The he will vanish. And he was right, Syme disappeared on page 154. In fact, Winston says that "Syme has ceased to exist: he had never existed." Perhaps the will be meeting again... perhaps not, but he is no longer in the book at the moment. Julia. Winston thought she was a member of the thought police, but she isn't. He wanted to kill her, just because he thought that she was spying on him. Okay, that's not really Winston's fault, she was doing a good job at hiding her rebel mind. But she is just as corrupted as him. O'Brian. Winston somehow KNEW that O'Brian was like him, even though he is a member of the inner party. Winston had a dream where O'Brian tells him that "they will meet in a place where there is light". When they finally get to meet and talk, he tells him that "they will meet in a place where there is no darkness". Perhaps Winston was right about O'Brian. And finally, and most importantly, Mr Charrigton. This is what got Winston caught. He had bought the diary and the coral from him, he had rented a room where he and Julia could meet. All that because he had seemed so nice... Mr Charrington seemed like a lonely man because his "wife had died", and lived in the little shop. He had sang to Winston, showed him valuable pieces of art, lost information... But Winston could not have been more wrong about him. At the end of part 2, we learn that he is... a member of the Thought Police. Winston realizes all the changes in the old man... how his nose was smaller, how he had no wrinkles, how his eyebrows weren't bushy, and his hair is actually black, not white. Winston says that it is the first time that he is looking at a member of the Thought Police, that he knows of. If Mr. Charrington sold them, then Winston and Julia are in deeeeeeep trouble!!!!!! On page 127 Winston admits that he thought Julia was a member of the thought police. Because of the look on her face, because he thought she was spying on him. That is his stereotypical view on women. Yes, most women live to please the party, they love the slogans and the banners and the processions, the games and the community hikes. That was the case of his wife, Katherine. He probably assumed all women were like that, especially the young and pretty ones. So he thought tht she was a goody-goody, a stupid little party member like all ther others. But she isn't...
On page 100 we learn about a room in the building where Winston bought the diary and the coral paper weight. The double bed (which are rare) in the room is fulll of bugs... but surpringsly there are no telescreens.
Winston ends up renting the room for a few dollers. Why? So that he and Juli don't have to plan ssecret meetings everytime they want to see each other, and so that they have a place to make love. The room is a place where Winston and Julia can love each other whithout being observed. It symbolizes privacy and freedom. It is one of the only places in their world, and the least complicated one too, where they can truly be themselves.There, they can bring food, real food, like chocolate and tea and coffe and bread. It is a place where Julia can be a real woman, not a work comrade. There she can put make up, and wear high heels and girl underwear. It is a place where Winston is not shamed of his body (somehow?). This new freedom also improved Winston's health. He did grow ftter, but he also stopped drinking gin, his ankle pain was not as bad, and his coughing fits had stopped. Page 85
In the Newspeak language, there is a word, ''Ownlife,'' which means idvidualism and eccentricity. The people have no freedom or privacy... especially not the party members. When they are not at work or doing an activity like sleeping or eating, a party member was supposed and assumed to be at the Community Center. This way, the party members hve absolutely no spare time. They are also are never truly alone except in bed, but then they are watched by the telescreens. Walking alone by yourself was dangerous, it would make people suspecious... Having an ownlife was suspecious, you were never supposed to be alone. Individualim could lead to rebellion, or ideas of rebellion. Individualism meant that a person somehow hd privacy. Individualism meant having secrets. So if someone thought or saw someone else being alone, that person could report him or her, because they could be suspecious of him or her. ''Confessions had been rewritten and rewritten until the original facts or dates no longer the smallest significance'' (page 83)
The past was constantly changed, so that the real events are completly false, faked... The past is CONSTANTLY changed... The party can claim a bunch of thigs that cannot be proven true or untrue... only a few memories can serve s proof, but who would believe words thrown into thin air? Winston once held in his own two hands a proof, but he destroyed it... In another blog post I had talked about a children history book where capitalists are dehumanized, seen as horrible people. The party uses propaganda to get the children to believe this. The easiest way to assimilate or plant propaganda in a community is by attacking the youngest generation. Children who have no judgement on their own and who will believe everything that is said to them. And they do believe all of these facts about capitalists. The party has succeeded. Also, Winston decides to talk to an 80 year old prole about what life was before the revolution. was it really better, as the textbokk clamed, he got no real answer, but he did have some information that proves that at least part of the texbooks were somewhat right, like the fact that capitalists could disrespect others But books are not the only place where we can find propaganda and censorship and other ideologies of totalitarianism. A few songs are seen in the book. Here are some lyrics of two different songs: What kind of songs are these?! They are really creeping me out... They send a chill down my spine... Songs about death and killing... I wonder if the people are afraid of them too... They are probably used to them though. The songs probably have no actual meaning anymore, after years and years of being sung. However, they have a meaning to me. The song on the left is about two people reporting each other to the Thought police. Two friends who betrayed each other, or two arch nemesis... the story doesn't say. But the songs does explain this: the fate of those being reported is death.''I sold you and you sold me,'' meaning that they have reported each other... The following line: ''There lie they, and here lie we, Under the spreading chestnut tree,'' is a metaphore for their bodies that have been buried under the tree. The song on the right is not as scary... for the most part. It starts off with bells, or churches, saying random lines about fruits ad money (farthings are coins). The middle part of the song is unknown... But the very last part is: ''Here is a chopper to chop off your head'' which is actually really creepy! Now, we don't yet know the rest of the song so why that line is there we don't know... But I have a feeling that we will know pretty soon... and I can't wait to find out! (April second: O'Brian knows the line, it's "'When I grow rich,' say the bells of Shoreditch". The song still doesn't make much sense. This is a passage from Goldenstein's book clearly stating that the advance in technology made it easier for the government to control people's mind. Writing, and then radios and tvs, made it easier to spread propaganda. The result of this: "private life came to an end". Citizens will be watched 24 hours a day, subjects to fear and control. In other words, literature has made it easier to control people and spread propaganda.
I have found the passage. It is on page 91. In my book, it is on page 91, the page on the floor was marked page 80. There can only be one logical explanation; the page I have found on the floor belongs to a version of the book that is much shorter than the one I am currently reading. The book I have must have many passages that are not included in this other version. So many details were lost... Why would a shorter version even exist? In a book, every part is extremely important!
I FOUND OUT WHAT PROLES ARE!!! It's really not that complicated. The proles are basically normal people, those who are not part of the inner party or the outer party. Most of them are illiterate, but they somehow are able to do complicated calculations and predictions on lottery numbers, their only entertainment. The barman doesn't even know what a pint or a quart is! He says he "only serves liters and half liters".
When I first saw the word "proles", I thought that they were some kind of human robot or machine... And the reason why I thought that is horrible. IN a conversation between Syme and Winston about the Newspeak dictionary, Syme exclaimed that by the year 2050, not a single human being would be able to understand the conversation that they are presently having. Winston was about to say "except for the proles" but stopped mid sentence. Syme, who is not an idiot, knew what Winston was going to say, and told him: "the proles are'n't real people." I could never have guessed he was talking about actual human beings, not machines. When I figured out what proles are, I had an explosion of hatred towards Syme. I could not, and still cannot, believe that someone would dare say such a thing!!!! Even in a totalitarian society!!! It made me think of the way Hitler would dehumanize the Jews during WWII. Of course, this book was written right after WWII ended, so maybe the writer, George Orwell, still had propaganda in his mind... Or he wanted the readers to connect the proles to propaganda in WWII. Winston says that hope lies in the proles because they are not under the weight of the party as much as it's actual members. Once, he said to Julia, the mysterious black headed girl with whom he falls in love with, that "they are dead, the proles are alive" (or something along those lines). He probably said that because the proles are more freedom in a way... Of course there are many rules like that proles usually cannot drink gin or beer, but they are easily broken. Their lives are not as much filled with fear as the party members. They may be illiterate, but they are intelligent, in a way that they may be able to preserve the little culture they have, so that by the year 2050 they can still talk in Oldspeak. Yes, one of the party's goal is to kill the animal instinct. To take the pleasure away from sex. And to do so there is a Junior Anti-Sex League, sex talks once a month for people in puberty, lots of banners, posters and pamphlets... anything to remind the people that the sexual act is bad. There is a porn factory in the fiction department, but all the workers are unmarried females, as the male has more difficulty in controlling their sex hormones. The party encourages marriage and making love only to procreate, to have babies. And when no babies were made, the couple was encouraged to part. These ideologies worked especially well with women. Katherine, Winston's wife, called it "Our duty to the party", which Winston hated. To him, Katherine was an idiot who's only reason to live was to please the party, and who had banners and slogans in her head instead of a brain.
Thankfully for him, many years after they had parted, Winston met Julia, who tells him that she is corrupted to the bone. Her first love affair was at the age of 16 with a 60 year old man, and she's had sex "scores of time ever since". Winston told her that the more men she slept with, the better. He asked her if she like the sexual sex itself, and she said yes. The weird part is, she is part of the Junior Anti-Sex League, she works multiple hours after her working hours in the fiction department to hand out pamphlets and make banners and post the "rot all around London". But that is all an act, she only does it so that she does not draw attention to her, so that it doesn't make her suspicious. "Always yell with the crowd" she would say. She still has her animal instinct inside of her. Winston and Julia are just made for each other. Also, if succeeding in having children, parents are encouraged to love them and take care of them and make them grow and educate them according to the principles of INGSOC. On the other hand, the children are taught and encouraged to by cautious, attentive, to spy on their parents and report them to the Thought Police. WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!? Poor parents, they who raise their children as best as they could, with love and care and attention, their children are encouraged to report them. They kill the very reason they are alive! For the slightest, stupid, little mistake, one could reported with a goodbye. A flicker of the eye, an abnormal heartbeat, anything can get one reported. This has been shown throughout several places inside the book, probably so that the reader understands the danger of having a nervous system, and how easily it can betray you. Secret polices, telescreens and microphones are everywhere, so any mistake or abnormality can be easily picked up. And when one disappears, they are tortured in every possible way so that they end up betraying their close ones. They they are killed. To avoid this, one might commit suicide, because in the end, the result is the same.
A long time ago, I had asked myself: "why does Winston wake up with the word Shakespeare on his lips?"
After a lot of thinking and reflections, I might have found the answer. Winston was dreaming about his mother, his younger sibling, and their sacrifice in order for him to be alive. he wondered why was it that people no longer held hands and showed affection for one another. Why was it that friends and families no longer came in help to those who needed it. Why it was that you could no longer feel the love in the air. In Romeo and Juliet, from Shakespeare, the fourteen year old lovers would be ready to sacrifice themselves for the other, and they cannot imagine a world where they would have to live without the other. It is a tragedy, yes, but it is a very passionate one, ad though it was stupid of them to kill themselves for the other. And it was very romantic too. (Love brings people to do very stupid things). They did it out of love for the other. The thing is, we do not see any more of this love and passion in 1984. Winston was probably dreaming of love and care, and they only example he could find was Shakespeare's plays. Or maybe not the ONLY one, but perhaps the strongest one. I have another question; what exactly are the "proles"?
Winston often says: "if there is hope, it lies in the proles," but what are they? "(...) even the date of the year has become uncertain." (page 44) Can you imagine living in a world where the very date of the year is unknown. When you really think about it, it's really sad. Ask me the date of the year any time, and I'll answer it without a doubt (we are in 2015). But ask it to a citizen in this book, and they'll probably hesitate for several seconds, perhaps even minutes, before they'll come up with their best answer. But even then, it is not guaranteed that it is the correct date. In a world where anarchy rules over the society, don't be surprised to get no answer when you ask what date it is. To create a fake illusion to the population, the party will invent a heroic past to a dead soldier. (page 50) That is hard core controlling! And he "who never existed in the present, now existed in the past". (page 50) It makes me realize that I am really happy to live in a society where I don't have to doubt every piece of information I learn, where I know that my past isn't just a bunch of made up lies, and where I can easily find answers to the multiple questions I have. (page 52) Now, I am not living with these character. I am not watching the scene. It is not a movie, but merely words on a page. There is no description what so ever about the way he said this. I have no way of knowing if these words were all an act, or if he truly meant it. But whether it was an act or not, these words have traumatized me. How could one take so much pleasure in watching people die? Watching their fellow neighbours struggle as they take their last gulps of air before the final moment. How can one enjoy watching another suffer a terrible death? How can one not flinch in front of this spectacle of the devil? How could one take into account so many details of the murdering of people? It makes me wonder if this is the result of living for years and years under the ruling of a totalitarian government. Syme truly disgusts me. (page 54) And he goes on and on about the destruction of words. Syme is probably my least favourite character of this book. Scratch that, he is DEFINITELY my least favourite character. Not only does he enjoy watching people die, he also loves the "art' of destroying words. That right there is censorship of knowledge. The new edition of this dictionary censors knowledge of the past, it censors words that took years and years to create and developed. It closes a door to technology, advancing in time, the spread of ideas, and futurism. I might be repeating myself, but I found a passage on page 61 to 62 that clearly explains that gullible people believe every lie that is being told. The passage explains that it was announced that the chocolate rationc was reduced to 20 grammes a week, but the next day, it was announced that it was raised to 20 grammes a week. To these news, Winston reflects: "Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it. Parsons swallowed it easily, with the stupidity of an animal. The eyeless creature swallowed it fanatically, passionately, with a furious desire to track down, denounce and vaporize anyone who should suggest that last week the ration had been thirty grammes. Syme, too-in some more complex way of double think-Syme swallowed it. was he, then, alone in the possession of a memory?" Is Winston the only one who didn't swallow it??? How could believe these sort of things so easily??? Once again, it makes me wonder if this is the result of being raised in a totalitarian society.
Also, what does he mean by "being alone in the possession of a memory"? I get that he can feel lonely, like he has no one to share his secrets with, that all he can do is painfully watch as his fellow citizens burn down into this empire of lies. But he being the only one "in the possession of a memory"? As though the memory of all th other people have been WIPED OUT? ERASED COMPLETELY??? Is that even possible? I have mixed emotions about this book. I don't know whether to like it, or to not like it. I am a very influential person, my opinion can easily be altered. Half the people I have spoken to about this book said it was terrible, and half the people told me it was very well written. More specifically, those who told me it sucked were all people my age, and those who said they loved it were adults. Which only proves one thing; "teenagers of today cannot appreciate real literature", phrase that is often used, but surprisingly true. Our type of books usually go along the lines of adventure, fantasy, romance, crime... basically things that makes our hearts beat faster and faster. Adults... well I'm not an adult, so I have no idea what they like.
One thing for sure, it is a very confusing novel, probably because it was written in the 1940s. The writing style has changed a lot since then, so of course I might not fully understand it. Nonetheless, I find it a very good book (as I find every book good), but it's just not my style. It's not awesome, but it's good. If it would have been written more recently, I would have probably understood it more, and that would make me appreciate it more. But for now, it is very confusing. There is something very confusing about this book. There are probably many different versions because the other day I was walking around when I found a torn page on the floor. I picked it up, and realized that it was actually page 79 and 80 of the very book I am reading, 1984. But the words on the page did not seem familiar. I had read that very page in my book the day before and it did not correspond with the page I was holding in my hands. I kept the page. Below are both page 80 (left, the page from the book; right, the page I found on the floor): Completely different, right? In one he watches the men, in the other, he talks to them. They are both important pieces of information and they should both be in the book. But that's not the weirdest part. The weirdest part is, looking back over my notes, I found out that a passage on page 44 looked very similar to the one I found on the floor. Page 44! That is very far from page 80! The passage on page 44 says: " Very likely no boots were produced at all. Likelier still, nobody knew how much had been produced, much less cared. All one knew was that every quarter astronomical numbers of boots were produced on paper, while perhaps half the population of Oceania went barefoot." While the one on page 80 simply says: "Here in London, the great mass of people never had enough to eat from birth to death. Half of them didn't even have boots on their feet."
Different scenes, different situations, but in both passage the same idea; there is not enough for the population. The people starve to death, they don't have proper clothing. It is devastating, but that's how life is. I actually don't remember reading this in any other pages. It s very strange, and I would like to solve the mystery behind the pages. "Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death." (page 30)
I have not much to say about this quote because it is self-explanatory. I still find that it is a very powerful quote. My interpretation of it is this: thoughtcrime, or the act of thinking illegal thoughts (or perhaps even thinking in general), is punished by death. That is probably something promoted by the party. But Winston has a different way of thinking. To him, having illegal thoughts does not mean that it will be punished by death. To him, believing that thoughts are illegal IS death. Not physical death, but mental death. The death of the soul. Believing in the party, eating all it's lies, worshipping the terrible slogans, these are all ways of killing one's soul. And by that I mean that the people no longer have personality, they are slaves of the government, their only reason to live is to please it. They are like political zombies, but instead of eating brains, they crave lying slogans. |
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