Sunday, February 21, 2010

1984 #14

"Ah, it was more than a Eurasion army that had perished! Much had changed in him since the first day in the Ministry of Love, but the final, indispensable, healing change had never happened, until this moment" (Orwell 297). Since the beginning of the Big Brother's reign, an uncountable amount of events and beliefs had been altered. Not only in Oceania in general, but within Winston. He was not only responsible for altering the past, being a first hand witness to how powerful the Party was, but he had personally experienced his ways of thought and life changing immensely. Despite all these changes that had occured over the past years, the change Winston was feeling at this moment was without a doubt the most prominent in his mind. He was not only experiencing a feeling somewhat of relief, but the assuredness of everything coming to an end. Before, this feeling had seemed like the farthest thing from reality. Now that this feeling had become a reality, Winston could breath again. He may not have defeated the Party, but he had fought and survived, winning the battle within himself.

1984 #13

"He could not fight against the Party any longer. Besides, the Party was in the right. It must be so: how could the immortal, collective brain be mistaken? By what external standard could you check it's judgments? Sanity was statistical. It was merely a question of learning to think as they thought" (Orwell 277). Two and two makes five, freedom is slavery, it all makes sense. Due to the fact the majority of people understood and taught facts such as those, those were in fact true. Being sane was no longer based on what was true reality, it was based on whether or not you believed the same concepts as those around you. If you thought as the Party thought, you were sane. Winston was beginning to truly think this way, he now accepted that the past was alterable, but had never been altered, he accepted all concepts the Party preached. Before, he had been the one altering the past, now he has no recollection of that. None of it had ever happened, considering the events he was forced to alter never even existed. Winston had now become capable of training his mind to simply accept what needed to be accepted, without question.

1984 #12

"You knew this, Winston," said O'Brien. "Don't deceive yourself. You did know it-you have always known it" (Orwell 239). O'Brien was right. Winston had always known that with almost every move he made, he was stepping closer to death. At this point, it is also obvious that O'Brien was not who Winston believed him to be, and that not only was Winston figuratively approaching his death, but was soon to be getting closer and closer physically, too. There would soon be absolutely nothing for Winston to live for, considering he had recently lost any trace of happiness he had worked so hard to grasp, such as Julia. Winston could no longer even trick his own mind into believing otherwise, this was going to happen no matter what and there is no longer any possible way he could change that.

1984 #11

There are two quotes in the "Ignorance is Strength" chapter that clarify the fact that the members of Big Brother's parties are not in any way tied down, but simply all have the same beliefs. The first quote can be found on page 208, "membership in these three groups is not hereditary" and the second is "its rulers are not held together by blood ties but by adherance to a common doctrine" (Orwell 209).This shows that the possibility of a mutiny can't be completely ruled out, but proves that it can be considered unlikely because of how loyal all members are to Big Brother and his ideas. Orwell insists that the rulers are in no way blood related in order to be sure that it is not thought that there is any type of discrimination in the Party. The Party is made up of all different races, who must be chosen after an examination at a young age. The fact that all rulers are chosen at only age 16 is yet another representation of how successful the Party is in controlling the people of Oceania's ways of thought , even from a very young age. Because of this, any plan of mutiny that had crossed Winston's mind was surely becoming less and less of a possible reality.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

1984 #10

"Cut off from contact with the outer world, and with the past, the citizen of Oceania is like a man in interstellar space, who has no way of knowing which direction is up and which is down" (Orwell 198). Because of the war, and the Party in general, the people of Oceania remain completely cut off from learning of any other way of life. Many do not know whether things such as constant war are considered common, everyday life, or if the war should be coming to an end somewhere in the near future. Because of how successful Big Brother has been in completely "brainwashing" some of the citizens of Oceania, it has come to the point of many not even being sure whether what the Party is doing is right or wrong, which is what is meant by saying they have "no way of knowing which direction is up and which is down". The people of Oceania are becoming unable to think for themselves, and Winston is being forced to watch the entire process take place before his own two eyes.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

1984 #9

"Winston stopped reading, chiefly in order to appreciate the fact that he was reading, in comfort and safety. He was alone: no telescreen, no ear at the keyhole, no nervous impulse to glance over his shoulder or cover the page with his hand...It was bliss, it was eternity (Orwell 185)." This quote seemed significant to me because despite what is said in the book he is reading, "The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism", what is really going through his mind when he begins reading it is how he feels to be able to simply hold a book without having to worry about being caught and vaporized. This is an example of how much people living through this time period had to be thankful for the smallest things, considering those same things could get them killed. Reading is something that many people today, especially children and teenagers,dread. This would change if reading were to become one of the only senses of freedom we could experience.