One quote that I thought was really interesting talked about how Winston responded to the Two Minutes Hate. "Winston found that he was shouting with the others and kicking his heel violently against the rung of his chair. The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in." (Page 16). This remined me of grade-three thinkers in WIlliam Golding's "Thinking as a Hobby." Being part of the majority and having a common goal, or in this case hate, makes people feel stronger even if they don't truly believe in what they are doing or saying. I think that this also shows that Winston may not feel as comfortable as others because it comes to him out of custom and instinct, not because he truly feels strongly against "The Brotherhood."
"Thus, at one moment Winston's hatred was not turned against Goldstein at all, but, on the contrary, against Big Brother, the Party, and the Thought Police; and at such moments his heart went out to the lonely, derided heretic on the screen, sole guardian of truth and sanity in a world of lies." (page 16). I also found connections between this book and other stories that we have read. For this particular quote I saw a connection with Cat's Cradle. Goldstein is like Bokonon in the sense that he was once closely associated with the "enemy" (Big Brother/McCabe) before becoming exiled. Their beliefs are now considered evil by society but they still continue to be spread in a secretive way. I thought it was interesting how although Bokonon spreads lies, Goldstein is spreading truth. The question is, which is better? The other difference between the two is that I believe (although I'm not entirely sure) that Big Brother has more supporters. The moment Goldstein's face is shown, an intense feeling of hatred spreads deep within the people. And the fact that the children love Big Brother makes me believe that as this generation grows older, they will become great supporters of the government. But then again, I'm uncertain because the hatred towards Goldstein could occur mainly out of habit and there could be many people who do support him, but can't possibly reveal their beliefs.
"The voice of Goldstein had become an actual sheep's bleat, and for an instant the face melted into that of a sheep." I thought that this was really interesting because I read Animal Farm, which is also by George Orwell and in that book, the sheep were the followers, while the pigs were the leaders. Goldstein reminds me of Snowball, who also rebelled against the "government", which was Mr. Jones. Eventually, Snowball was forced out of the farm by Napoleon, who is like Big Brother.
I like the quote "To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone-to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone: From the age of uniformity, from the age of solitude, from the age of Big Brother, from the age of doublethink-greetings!" It tells us that the world that Winston lives in must be very lonely and drab. Not only is the government oppressive, the control the very thoughts and emotions of the citizens. They scrutinize and analyze every gesture, sound, and emotion. They also make everyday life seem dead. No change from day to day. Almost no hope for flavor or color. Winston is suffering from depression yet still harboring an inkling of faith in the future generations.
"And all the while, lest one should be in any doubt as to the reality which Goldstein's specious claptrap covered, behind his head on the telescreen there marched the endless columns or the Eurasian army- row after row of solid-looking men with expressionless Asiatic faces, who swam up to the surface of the screen and vanished, to be replaced by others exactly similiar. The dull, rhythmic tramp of the soldiers' boots formed the background to Goldstein's bleating voice. I liked this passage because Winston compares the Eurasian Army to his single-minded society. Both the soldiers in the army and the homosapiens =) of Winston's society are all identical. Everyone is forced to live the way the government tells them to. They are overly strict and have telescreens to monitor the people's every move. If they think something just a bit different from the norm, they are punished.
"Both of them were dressed in the blue shorts, gray shirts, and red neckerchiefs which were the uniform of the Spies" (Page 22).
The children were called "Spies". I was so interested by this, because this is the first sign of the government taking advantage of children. A little later on, we learn that some children actually turn in their parents for being "traitors". This idea is so bizarre, does anyone else think that?
Hey English Class - On pg. 14, I discovered "He [he being Goldstein] was abusing Big Brother, he was denouncing the dictatorship of the Party, he was demanding the immediate conclusion of peace with Eurasia, he was advocating freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of thought, he was crying hysterically that the revolution had been betrayed ..." This quotation made me feel sad and sympathized me with the poor Goldstein. He is trying to express himself, to counter what he has been taught, and yet our protagonist is not showing any sign of respect or even emotion toward him. The character's interaction with this revolutionary already makes me feel disliking toward him. It also seems somewhat ironic that Goldstein is prohibited from using free speech, yet he is preaching his revolutionary ideas in public to anyone and everyone. Already, Orwell has set a negative, secretive, scary scene for his novel, and I can't wait to read more!
"At one end of it a colored poster, too large for indoor display, had been tacked to the wall. It depicted simply an enormous face, more than a meter wide: the face of a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black mustache and ruggedly handsome features." The book opens with these sentences,at this point I know nothing about the book, and immediately the first image that pops into my mind after reading this is Hitler. It all fits, "the face of a man of about forty-five" Hitler was about 44 or 45 when he became chancellor of Germany, "heavy black mustache" everyone instantly recognizes that little dark mustache of his, "ruggedly handsome features". All of these parts added up to the Hitler image in my head. After obtaining this image I could not get rid of it, and therefore everything else in the book was scewed by it. The Thought Police seemed like the Nazis to me, the fact that they "vaporized" people in the middle of the night and it seemed as if they just disappeared. That is exactly what it seemed like to people of Germany and many other countries when their Jewish neighbors just "seemed to disappear" for their "extermination". The Big Brother slogan is "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength" this phrase has a blatant air to it, it's trying to be very straight forward, not using many complicated words, and yet it makes no sense. This is much like the "Arbeit Macht Frei"-"Work Makes you Free" slogan the Nazis emblazoned in many concentration and work camps. The phrase is simple, straight forward, and again, makes no sense. Lastly, when all of Winston's co-workers start chanting "B-B, B-B, B-B" this reminded me of all the brainwashed Germans saluting Hitler with, "Heil Hitler"-"Hail Hilter" it's the same sentiment, and the same scheme of a repeated consonant, B-B and H-H. I think it's interesting that these are the images I'm picking up from this book especially considering the origin of its writer and time period it was written in. George Orwell is from London, England, an active participant in WWII and adamant foe of Germany, and it was written in 1949, only 4 years after the end of the war. It would make sense if George Orwell were writing this story based on his fears from WWII and perspective of Germany and his perception that similar events might take place in the future.
There was one more parallel that I forgot to add :-) The Youth League they keep describing, such as the one Mrs. Parsons' children are a part of, is exactly like the Hitler Youth. He got young children who didn't really understand, involved in his motives so that when they got older they didn't question what they were doing because since they had grown up with it, this behaviors is common knowledge to them.
"He was a lonely ghost uttering a truth that nobody would ever hear. But so long, as he uttered it, in some obscure way the continuity will not be broken. It was not by making yourself heard but by staying sane that you carried on the human heritage." (Pg. 26)This quote really shows the level of hopelessness in Winston's situation. The only reason that Winston cling onto his own believes is to not give in to the madness of his society.
omglikerlylongposttharjulia. ANYWAYS. um yeah, here's my quote: "It was an enormous pyramidical structure of glittering white concrete, soaring up, terrace after terrace, three hundred meters into the air. From where Winston stood it was just possible to read, picked out on its white face in elegant lettering, the three slogans of the Party: WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IN STRENGTH." (pg. 7) how bizarre is this? I thought these words are totally contradicting eachother. Completely opposite of what we think today. The passage was leading up to something promising, but ended up being a bunch of corrupting crap. There wasn't just one quote/passage that I found to be "sticking" to me. A lot of passages were weird. Like the two-minute hate ordeal. Or how the video showed children been blown up and being described as a delightful sight. Slightly odd... a lot of phrasing in the book as well...like ministry of truth...lame I know, but I thought of Harry Potter there. Anyways, i can't really say much else, because I'm on page 27 of this delightful read. >_<.
"How could you communicate with the future? It was of its nature impossible. Either the future would resemble the present in which case it would not listen to him, or it would be different from it, and his predicament would be meaningless." (page 10). I liked this quote because in addition to referring to Winston Smith as he thinks about who he is writing is diary for, it connects with the whole idea of writing a book set in the future, which is what Orwell is doing. I just found that to be kind of interesting. Also, I agree with Julia's comment with the connections to Hitler and the Nazi party, and I thought it might be able to apply to the Communist party as well. I think that the large face at the beginning of the book could also resemble Stalin (who has similar features to those of Big Brother. For some reason just looking at a picture of him made me feel like he was really mysteriously creepy; and that's the same feeling I got about the whole scene for the novel; in particular the way the telescreens monitor every sound and movement a person makes. Interestingly, he was given the nickname "Uncle Joe," which seems like it could be similar to the name "Big Brother.") It mentions towards the beginning that the telescreen was talking about the "Ninth Three-Year Plan," and I think that Stalin installed a series of Five-year plans in Russia. I'm also pretty sure that there were other communists regimes that involved types of plans like this. I don't really know anything else about Stalin's regime, so there might be more connections, or maybe not.
One of the most thought-provoking passages was on page twenty-three," It was somehow slightly frightening, like the gamboling of tiger cubs which will soon grow up into man-eaters." Winston lives in a brainwashed society where adults fear their own children. I find it interesting that the concept of children looking up to dictators is far more frightening to Winston than all of the other inhumane activities going on in Oceania. Despite all the corruption going on, it is still unbelievable to me the behavior of the Parsons' kids. It's really sad that growing up, the only role models the children have to aspire to be are Big Brother and his regime.
*I know I am posting this late, but I had handwritten my passage/comments and wasn't aware that they were supposed to be put on this blog!
"[Winston] felt as though he were wandering in the forests of the sea bottom, lost in a monstrous world where he himself was the monster. He was alone. The past was dead, the future was unimaginable. What certainty had he that a single human creature now living was on his side?" (p. 25) I found this passage in the book to be especially stimulating. How strange it is that Winston perceives himself to be the "monster" in a horribly oppressive world where the leadership (i.e., Big Brother) appears to be the true monster - depriving people of all joys. I also thought that it was rather frightening how WInston thought that nobody might be on his "side" - the side against Big Brother. The fact that the people of this abject world may not at all be tempted to improve their situation and speak out against their ill-treatment is itself alarming.
Late, I know, but I'm posting so that's halfway there...
"Suddenly [Winston] began writing in sheer panic, only imperfectly aware of what he was setting down. His small but childish handwriting straggled up and down the page, shedding first its capital letters and finally even its full stops..." (11)
This quote, for me, not only represented Winston's struggles to keep his mind in what we would consider the normal working order, but the progress of the Party. It shows how the vast, stationary empire of Big Brother could very possibly have began with one shaky instigation, setting down a thought. Then the statement grew longer and longer, peeling away at layers of convention and tradition first, then at principles more deeply ingrained in the human society, and finally molting all vestiges of England and developing into Big Brother's Airstrip One.
So I'll make up for being the last one to post the first quote assignment by being the first to post the second, so it averages out, right?
[Having to do with Winston's recollections of visiting a brothel] "She threw herself down... and at once... in the most coarse, horrible way you can imagine, pulled up her skirt... I turned up the lamp. When I saw her in the light... she was quite an old woman, fifty years at least. But I went ahead and did it just the same." (58-60)
The quote was uncomfortable and slightly disturbing, but I think there is a significance besides that Winston may have some issues with repressed emotion.
The decrepit old woman, to Winston, as almost appealing, in dim light and covered in paint. Then, when all of a sudden she was revealed in the lamplight, he was repulsed by her actual identity. And yet, he went through with it anyway.
Taking all our smartypants English symbology into account, we can surmise that light could very well stand for understanding, or thought, per se. In "dim light", or when not thought upon, the Party, painted with propaganda and slogans, may seem plausible and appealing. But then, when Winston actually spent time thinking of the absurdity of it all, he recoiled from the teachings of Big Brother. But despite his treasonous thinking he nevertheless, as seen during the Two-Minutes Hate or his outing to the theater (where he enjoyed a bloody strip of film meant to glorify the Party), "does it just the same."
"The proles are not human beings," he said carelessly. "By 2050-earlier probably-all real knowledge of Oldspeak will have disappeared. The whole literature of the past will have disappeared." pg 47
Here, Winston's "friend" (more like suspicious colleague) Syme is sharing his view of what the language (English) of Oceania will be like in roughly 70 years. He has briefly stated before that in the 11th edition of Newspeak dictionary, they are getting rid of synonyms, antonyms, nouns, verbs and adjectives that mean the same thing. They are virtually eliminating all that makes language interesting, its richness in depictions, and the people's rights to express themselves. He actually looks forward to this happening because all the words that would relate to "thoughtcrime" would not exist anymore. They are eliminating any chance of rebellion or uprising in the future by deleting any words that would provoke or suggest anti-Ingsoc/BB-ism.
I really like this scene; "Momentarily he caught O'briens eye. O'Brien had stood up. He had taken off his spectacles and was in the act of resettling them on his nose with his characteristic gesture. But their was a fraction of a second where their eyes met, and for as long as it took to happen Winston know--yes, he knew!--that O'Brien was thinking the same thing as himself. An unmistakable message had passed. It was as though their two minds had opened and the thoughts were flowing from one into the other through their eyes. "I am with you," O'Brien seemed to be saying to him. "I know precisely was you are feeling. I know all about your contempt, your hatred, your disgust. But don't worry, I am on your side!" And then the flash of intelligence was gone, and O'Brien's face was as inscutable as everybody else's (pg 18.) This scene made me wonder, is everyone in their society really against big brother? Is it possible that no one wants to go against "the brotherhood", but everyone really believes against big Brother?
"It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grams a week. And only yesterday, he reflected...the ration was to be REDUCED to twenty grams...Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes...Was he, then, ALONE in the possession of a memory?" (p. 51-52).
The whole idea of the government controlling the way people think and the facts that people know is completely scary to me. I can't believe that they would go to such an extent just to change one measly event in history. The question at the end of the quote is something that I'm also seriously considering. Winston has so many thoughts and memories going through his head that are against the government. But is he really the only one who thinks the way he does? Winston kept on saying that so-and-so bought into the idea that the chocolate ration was raised. But what if the passion that he sees is actually artificial? If Winston can instinctively control his emotions, I feel like other people should also be able to. There is always the possibility that he is "special"--as a lot of main characters are. But since it's from his perspective, we really don't know. Another thing that I feel is almost impossible (and yet seems very plausible in this book) is that your very own memory can be erased all because of the intensity of the brainwashing that the government is doing.
On page 46, Syme tells Winston, "You don't grasp the beauty of the destruction of words." Winston remarks on page 49 that Syme will eventually fall victim to the Party's 'vaporization' because "he had read too many books." It is rather puzzling to me that a copious reader can find pleasure in the obliteration of the words that constitute all of literature. As Winston states that Syme is an intelligent man, it seems to me that Syme finds reading to be a useful outlet for gaining more knowledge. In accordance with "doublethink", Big Brother's regime clearly has a great impact on Airstrip One if it can lead its people to resent and appreciate something simultaneously.
The most interesting part of the reading for me was on page sixty, "If there was hope, it must lie in the proles, because only there, in those swarming disregarded masses, eighty-five percent of the population of Oceania, could the force to destroy the Party ever be generated." In many ways, the minority of a society holding the most power parallels with occurrences in India, Africa, and Europe during the eighteenth century. In ancient India, Aryans, though they were the minority, were given higher authority over the Dravidians. Adolph Hitler, when he took over, said that he wanted to rid society of unworthy people, to purge and build a world of Aryans. Again in Europe, peasants who made up the lower class were eighty-five percent of the total population in the 1700's but held little power in government. It's often echoed in history the concept of having a smaller collective controlling and maintaining power over a much larger group. Only for Winston, he wishes that the proles would use their vast numbers to overcome the overwhelming and stifling control of Big Brother.
"In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subdidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten." (pg. 46)
It really depresses me after I finished the reading. Winston describes his world as a completely hopeless and restricted place under Big Brother's reign. Big Brother, over years and years, has brainwashed generations of capable youths to mindless robots carrying out his rules. With eliminating language used by the Party, educated people of Oceania would slowly become another emotionless tool for Big Brother. Also, they won't be able to invent "slangs" or new words from Newspeak since they will know no language other than their own; thus there will be no chance of resistance. While all hopes are on the proles to overthrow Big Brother, the ideas of rebelling and a better life are oblivious to them due to their limited style of living. I feel like there is no ending to this misery. ><'''
"Very likely as many as a dozen people were now working away on rival versions of what Big Brother had actually said. And presently some master brain in the Inner Party would select this version or that, would re-edit it and set in motion the complex processes of cross-referencing that would be required, and then they chosen lie would pass into the permanent records and become truth" (41).
How alarming.
I found myself wondering what I would do if I learned that all truth I had known was actually imaginative stories. Winston, the man behind this story, was actually enjoying himself as he chose what the general public was going to accept as truth. How can anyone be trusted anymore?
"'It was a good hanging,' said Syme reminiscently. 'I think it spoils it when they tie their feet together. I like to see them kicking. And above all, at the end, the tongue sticking right out, and blue--a quite bright blue. That's the detail that appeals to me.'" (page 44)
This quote reminded me of the scene at the movies previously, where everyone was laughing at the fat man getting killed, and applauding after the shot of the dead child's arm going up in the air. It's interesting to me how a man as smart as Syme seems to believe everything he is told about the Party just as easily as anyone else. He seems pretty interesting when he talks about his work, but he still has the same mindset as everyone else when it comes to Big Brother and his regime.
"The immediate advantages of falsifying the past were obvious, but the ultimate motive was mysterious. He took up his pen again and wrote: I understand HOW: I do not understand WHY." (page 68)
I thought this passage was interesting, and confusing. Before reading that I had assumed that Big Brother's only goal was to have complete power over the rest of society. I have no idea what other purpose would be served by putting such strict regulations on everyone's thoughts and beliefs.
"Years ago- how long was it? Seven years it must be- he had dreamed that he was walking through a pitch-dark room. And someone sitting to one side of him had said as he passed: "We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness." (page 24)
I thought that in this passage the word "darkness" might also refer to the depression and confusion in Big Brother's regime, which might mean that he is thinking of someone he will be able to talk to after the regime has ended, or beyond the reaches of the regime.
"When there were no external records that you could refer to, even the outline of your own life lost its sharpness. You remembered huge events which had quite probably not happened, you remembered the details of incidents without being able to recapture their atmosphere, and there were long blank periods to which you could assign nothing." (Page 30).
This quote is really baffling, to me. When see an old picture, a letter, or a newspaper, you don't think much of its importance. But this makes me wonder if it weren't for hard evidence of things, would you be able to form complete memories of your life? I have many vivid memories of moments from when I was little, but maybe when you live in a society where you are taught to forget, and taught that the past is not what actually happened, but what happened according to the government, it might be a lot more difficult to keep track of yourself, let alone the world.
'"Who controls the past" ran the party slogan, "controls the future: who controls the present controls the past (pg.32.)"'
This quote is creepy, but their is some truth to it. Throughout history, many powerful nations have tried to wipe out history. For example, although the Nazi's did not succeed in their "final solution" (complete annihilation) they made a meuseum of "the extinct jewish race," hoping that their plan would work. By doing so, the nazis were controlling the past because anyone who would have seen that meuseum would have seen the nazis perspective of the "distinct jewish race." This may have been a bad example because the Nazi's never actually compeltly annihilated the Jews, but many other nations throughout history have used similar tactics.
"Winston's greatest pleasure in life was in his work. Most of it was a tedious routine, but included in it there were also jobs so difficult and intricate that you could lose yourself in them as in the depths of a mathematical problem - delicate pieces of forgery in which you had nothing to guide you except your knowledge of principles of Ingsoc and your estimate of what the Party wanted you to say." (39)
This was really interesting that Winston thought that routine was his pleasure in life. Every student has a routine, which is their school day, but very few consider this routine to be their pleasure. I wonder why a routine would be his pleasure in life and what caused it to be that way. Also, he said that the thing he loved about work was the problems that he would solve for the Party. However, if deep down he dislike Big Brother and the Party, why would he still work for them.
"If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event it never happened - that surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death." (page 32)
This passage shows how the "Party" is going beyond controlling what you can and cannot think, but taking a step further in saying what did and what didn't happen. This passage seemed very weird to me because I was surprised that no citizens of Oceania questioned the "Party" about the past if they knew it wasn't true.
"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 Caeser"(43). This quote was really disturbing to me because Winston is literally adding a figment of his imagination to the excepted fact of their country. It was disturbing that he is only first realizing this behavior is odd, and also that it is so accepted. Julius Caeser and Charlemagne are both viewed a highly esteemed European political figures and the thought that in this society a fake person’s life could end up being as factual as that of Caeser and Charlemagne is astounding to me.
"...'Except-' Winston began doubtfully, and then stopped. It had been on the tip of his tongue to say, 'Except the proles,' but he checked himself, not feeling fully certain that this remark was not in some way unorthodox." (pg.47)
I found this quote to show how different Winston is from everyone else, and how he tries to speak his mind, but is always influenced about the consequences. It's sad to think that he cannot express his mind because it's being controlled by one man, and how careful he has to be at what he says. I wouldn't say he's ahead of everyone else, because who knows, it could be like in Cat's Cradle when everyone was secretly practicing Bokonon, and here how everyone feels the same a Winston. I'm really not sure about this at the moment. We'll just have to wait and see, maybe his opinions aren't original...
"But the physical difficulty of meeting was enormous. It was like trying to made a move at chess when you were already mated. Whichever way you turned, the telescreen faced you."
I thought this quote summarized how efficiently Big Brother's regime had managed to isolate each member of the party. I find it remarkable that it would be possible to create a society where communication would be almost completely destroyed, which seems to be Big Brothers goal.
"It paid, she said; it was camouflage. If you kept the small rules you could break the big ones."
This quote reminded me of the duplicitous life that Winston and Julia are leading. They are protecting themselves with a fake cover, feigning zeal to Big Brother when they are actually the most adamantly against him. In the beginning, Winston prejudges Julia as being clean minded and oriented towards community. He never expected her to share similar views towards Big Brother. It's not until later that he realizes that all her pretenses are meant as a mask to shroud her actual feelings.
"She did not understand that there was no such thing as happiness, that the only victory lay in the far future, long after you were dead, that from the moment of declaring war on the Party it was better to think of yourself as a corpse. "We are the dead," he said." (page 113)
I think it is ironic how Julia is so different from Winston, even though she is the only person he finds who he can relate to. She is optimistic. She thinks it is possible to rebel against Big Brother and still survive. Winston, however, is fatalistic and depressed. He thinks that any rebellion against Big Brother guarantees death, and that therefore he and Julia and half the people he knows are going to be "vaporized".
"[Julia] had no memories of anything before the early Sixties... She hated the Party... but except where it touched her own life she had no interest in Party doctrine.... Any kind of organized revolt against the Party, which was bound to be a failure, struck her as stupid. The clever thing was to break the rules and stay alive all the same" (108-9).
Unlike Winston, Julia has no vague memory of what life was like before Big Brother. She was born into the world of the Party and thus her position as a rebel seems less relative to Winston's. Her brand of revolution is on an individual basis, lashing out at a government simply for the personal inconveniences to her life but organizing nothing. Whether or not anyone else shares her beliefs hardly concerns her. So it begs the question whether preconceived ideas of what is "normal" is necessary to rebelling against an "unnatural" system, because Julia is apparently acting as the James Dean of Airstrip One.
"A curious emotion stirred in Winston's heart. In front of him was an enemy who was trying to kill him; in front of him, also, was a human creature, in pain and perhaps with a broken bone. Already he had instinctively started forward to help her. In the moment when he had seen her fall on the bandaged arm, it had been as though he felt the pain in his own body." (Pages 88-89).
This quote relates to the class discussion we had about whether all humans are fundamentally good. In Winston's case, I think that he shows that he is good inside and even though society has instilled so much hate in him, he still is able to feel pain and sympathy for others, even someone whom he fears is an enemy. This shows that Winston is the type who would save a child from falling into a well, which says a lot about his character.
"But you could not have pure love or pure lust nowadays. No emotion was pure, because everything was mixed up with fear and hatred. Their embrace had been a battle, the climax a victory. It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a political act." (105)
Big Brother is the source of the constant struggle between Winston and his "normal" daily life. Fear and hatred were implanted into people's mind by absolute control over their lives. Winston lives according to what his instincts tell him to do under intolerable circumstances. He tries to adapt to the style of living under Big Brother's control, rather than being brainwashed. Resistence toward the oppressing authority is like humans trying to find solutions to troubles brought by their environments.
" 'When you make love you're using up energy; and afterwards you feel happy and don't give a damn for anything. They can't bear you to feel like this.'" (p. 110).
Julia's explanation actually freaks me out a little bit. Before I just thought that Big Brother encouraged such things as the Antisex League because they wanted people to be pure. But this takes it to a whole new level. This makes me think that every single teeny tiny law or idea that comes from Big Brother has this motive behind it where they want complete control. It's really scary to me that they would think so deeply and get so nitpicky.
"The music went on and on, minute after minute, with astonishing variations, never once repeating itself, almost as though the bird were deliberately showing off its virtuosity...For whom, for what was the bird singing?...He wondered if there was a microphone near."
I think this passage is interesting because it shows Winston's lack of knowledge about doing something just for the love of the act itself, like the singing of the bird. Everything in his life, surrounding Big Brother, has been correcting and changing news and magazine articles solely for the purpose of "showing" other people that what they originally thought was wrong, in fact, it never happened. Everything in the editing department is for show. Winston does not understand the reasons to do something for any other purpose.
"Not merely the love of one person, but the animal instinct, the simple undifferentiated desire: that was the force that would tear the Party to pieces." (p.105)
This remark is made by Winston in regards to Julia's reckless, daring nature. Earlier in the book, Winston notes that animals and proles are thought to be of an equal level. He also states that proles are the only ones who will be able to destroy Big Brother's regime. Yet again, Winston is referencing the importance of animal-like qualities in the effective destruction of the Party. How interesting it is that the savage, "barbaric" behavior that we typically connote with animals is necessary to destroy this oppressive government.
"'She was--do you know the Newspeak word goodthinkful? Meaning naturally orthodox, incapable of thinking a bad thought?'" (Page 110)
This quote intrigued me because it made me think back to two of the class discussions we had, the first when we talked about Newspeak and the one today about whether or not Winston is brainwashed by society (or something along those lines). I think since at the beginning of the quote Winston mentions the newspeak word, this may show how he's being brainwashed by society since he's initially thinking in Newspeak before normal English.
"I hate purity, I hate goodness. I don't want any virtue to exist anwhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to he bones." (104) and a few lines later, "But you could not have pur love or pure lust nowadays. No emotion was pure, because everything was mixed up with fear and hatred." (105) I thought the first passage was interesting because Winston, in the solitary confinement of his mind, feels strongly against the Party and everything Big Brother has to offer, both of which are the essence of corruption. However, Winston is i interested in corruption when its against the original corruption. For example, the government is corrupt, but when the governed become corrupt in such a way that they're rebelling against the government, that is okay in the eyes of Winston. I also thought it was interesting that Winston was so adament about telling Julia that he loves when things aren't pure and then goes on to say later what a shame it is the no emotions are pure "nowadays". I think Winston is very confused about what he thinks and is getting all of his morals confused with one another.
"He did not feel any temptation to tell lies to her. it was even a sort of love offering to start off by telling the worst." (pg. 100)
Through this quotation, Winston is revealing to the reader just how Julia makes him feel and wht her vibe causes the protagonist to feel. Winston spends all of his life telling lies - about Big brother, the war, the two minutes of hate, etcetera. Today, however, he is able to reveal his true self to anyone for the first time in quite a while. His sudden need to share the worst also reflects Winston's pessimism and views that since there is more worst than better, sharing badness cannot be that horrendous.
Sorry for that debacle today. The sub pulled out the wrong folder. I'll see you all on Friday and we'll try to salvage things. We need to talk about Julia, birds, and love. Anybody thinking of Mencius?
" 'You wanted a good time, "they", meaning the Party, wanted to stop you having it; you broke the rules as best you could.' She hated the Party, and said so in the crudest words, but she made no general criticism of it. He noticed that she never used Newspeak words, except the ones that had to be passed into everyday use." (pg. 109)
I feel at this point that Winston has finally found someone he can coincide with. Share his ideas, and dislike for the ways of the Party. Julia could be putting on a facade, but I really don't think she is...or rather hope she isn't. I like how open she is with Winston. Almost as if she understands and knows that he won't turn her in, since they think the same about the Party. Her saying that she hates the Party, confirms that Winston isn't the only outcast here.
"They were not loyal to a party or a country or an idea, they were loyal to one another." (136)
The proles are really the only remaining remnants of humanity. It's clear that Winston realizes the distinction between Party members and proles aren't just the fact that one is more "civilized" and the others are more like animals, but that proles have left in them a sort of defining characteristic in being loyal to one another that sets them apart.
"They could not alter your feelings; for that matter you could not alter them yourself, even if you wanted to. They could lay bare in the utmost detail everything that you had done or said or thought; but the inner heart, whose workings were mysterious even to yourself, remained impregnable" (page 138)
This quote was confusing. Winston seems to be saying that Big Brother's regime is unable to alter his thoughts and opinions. This contradicts with the first part of the book, when during the Two Minutes Hate he said that it was impossible to avoid joining in and that he had found himself hating Goldstein.
"What mattered were individual relationships, and a completely helpless gesture, an embrace, a tear, a word spoken to a dying man, could have value in itself. The proles, it suddenly occured to him, had remained in this condition. They were not loyal to a party or a country or an idea, they were loyal to one another. For the first time in his life he did not despise the proles or thnk of them merely as an inert force which would one day spring to life and regenerate the world. The proles had stayed human. They had not become hardened inside." (Page 136).
This is a big turning point for Winston. It is so interesting how he goes through his entire adult life thinking that even though the party was cruel and wrong, they were the humans, and the proles were the useless animals who could possibly be used to stop the Party if they weren't so dimwitted, when all along the proles are the ones with feeling and emotion and true loyalty, the ones who were actually human, while the Party members were the animals with no morals.
"'You will have to get used to living without results and without hope. You will work for a while, you will be caught, you will confess, and then you will die. Those are the only results that you will ever see. There is no possibility that any perceptible change will happen within our own lifetime. We are the dead.'" (p. 145).
This quote is actually kind of depressing and yet, I feel like with Winston it really isn't. When he was in the cafeteria a few months back (was the story still in April?) he looked around at the people and thought, "He's going to die. He's going to die. He's going to live. Even I'm going to die." Death doesn't seem at all scary to him because it seems to be so close. And then this ties in with the idea of being human. I know if I was getting myself into something like this, I would get frustrated if I knew nothing and if we weren't getting anything done. But Winston accepts it. I don't know if he still doesn't grasp the concept or if the consequences just don't matter.
"The proles had stayed human. They had never hardened inside. They had held onto primitive emotions which he himself had to relearn by conscious effort." (136)
This quote made me wonder what really was the difference between the proles and the members of the Party. Also, I wonder how the members of the Party almost seem unhuman. They have to do what they are told and always have the same emotions that the Party wants them too.
"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. The clamorous hunger in his belly seemed to justify him." (page 134)
I was surprised to find out what an awful and selfish child Winston was like, because although there are moments throughout the book when he shows anger and even selfishness, he didn't seem like a completely bad person (and maybe he isn't as an adult, but it does seem evident that he was a terrible child, or at least, that's the way Winston seems to remember his childhood). I remember earlier in the book Winston thinking about the Parsons' children and how horrible they seem to be (and all children in general), and its interesting how he was a horrible child as well (although he had different qualities than those children).
On page 137, Julia says "[the Party] can make you say anything - anything - but they can't make you believe it. They can't get inside you."
As I was reading, I frequently thought back to our class discussion/debate regarding the Party's brainwashing. I think that Julia's claim that the Party is unable to make one believe something is rather interesting as only a few pages earlier Julia claims that the Party was always at war with Eurasia and never Eastasia (although Winston claims that Airstrip One was once at war with Eastasia - they have simply brainwashed their people to believe otherwise). My main point is that I find it intriguing that Julia is possibly being brainwashed by the government while thinking that she is immune to the Party's influence...
"It was as if they were intentionally stepping nearer to their graves. As he sat waiting on the edge of the bed he thought again of the cellars of the Ministry of Love. It was curious how that predestined horror moved in and out of one's consciousness. There it lay, fixed in the future time, preceding death as surely as 99 precedes 100. One could not avoid it, but one could perhaps postpone it: and yet instead, every now and again, by a conscious, willful act, one chose to shorten the interval before it happened"
I think this passage reflects one of our in-class discussions where we talked about how Winston was hopelessly fatalistic. He thinks he is destined to die, no matter what. Life is only about prolonging that inevitable day. It would surely come though. Somehow, he sometimes purposely put himself in danger, taking risks he does not need to take, putting his life on the line. Does he want to die?
"'...I was talking recently to a friend of your who is certainly an expert. His name has slipped my memory for the moment.' Again Wintson's heart stirred painfully. It was inconceivable that this was anything other than a reference to Syme. Bu Syme was no only dead, he was abolished, an unperson." (130) This interaction with O'Brien is a very interesting one, because in the few sentences he utters to Winston, he can be sure that O'Brien is on the same page as he. It is unclear if O'Brien actually forgot Syme's name or if he just has to act like he did, but either way, the mention of him is a direct reach toward Winston to show him that they're on the same side.
"'Did you ever happen to hear an old rhyme that begins Orange and lemons, say the bells of St. Clement's?' Again O'Brian nodded. With a sort of grave cortesy he completed the stanza: 'Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St Clement's, You owe me three farthings, say the bells of St. Martin's, Then will you pay me? say the bells of Old Bailey, When I grow rich, say the bells of Shoreditch'" (147).
This ryhme is interesting to me because Winston seems to make a big deal out of it. I think it might come up later in the story. Also, it is another glimpse of the past. I thought it was funny how Julia didn't even know what a lemon was.
I think the rhyme shows people's ability to grasp knowledge from the past, even though it seems pretty irrelevant. Though most other information didn't make it past the Revolution, this one rhyme seemed to survive. It also shows that O'Brian is somehow connected to the past, because he can remember it very clearly. What else could O'Brian remember?
"Thus history is continually rewritten. [It]... is as necessary to the stability of the regime as the work of repression and espionage carried out by the Ministry of Love... For when it has been recreated in whatever shape is needed at the moment, then this new version is the past, and no different past can have existed." (176)
Yes, Mr. Golding, I did think about Mencius at this point. Because in the Analects that we read for class, there was the story of Ox Mountain, in which the trees on the mountain were continually (oh, word choice) chopped off, altering the fertile mountain to a desolate peak. And after time, with the continual alterations, people forgot that the mountain had ever been productive and simply thought of it as barren. (And then on to analogizing criminals...)
Then, let's link this to 1984. The recurrent alteration of the past is a lot like cutting down trees; they are vital to the identity of the truth (or the mountain, as it were). But if the identity is repeatedly changed, then the truth becomes something different in the eyes of the observers simply because no one can remember what it was before the changes.
"The fragment of coral, a tiny crinkle of pink like a sugar rosebud from a cake, rolled across the mat.(pg. 184) For a while, the coral inside of the glass hemisphere was like a refuge to Winston, a sign that there was this other world in Mr. Charrington's shop, magical and undiscovered. The shattering of the paperweight, then is like the obliteration of the sanctuary that Winston has sheltered himself under. It's the destruction of something unique and long-lost to the society. I also thought it was strange how the member of the Thought Police could feign being Mr. Charrington for such a long time, without disrupting Winston, and without Winston knowing.
reading 5-27: "The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to take part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in. Within 30 seconds any pretense was always unnecessary. A hideous ecstasy of fear.. ..seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current..."(pg 16) I thought this quote was interesting because at first I thought that most of the members of the Party were pressured into thinking a certain opinion, and that they were so worried they'd get killed if they didn't pretend to agree with everyone, which is why they went along with the others. But from this quote, you can tell that the Two Minutes Hate has a powerful way of taking over the Party members conscience.
reading 70-87: "Apart from the bloody stump, the hand was so completely whitened as to resemble a plaster cast. He kicked the thing into the gutter, and then, to avoid the crowd, turned down a side street to the right."(pg.72) This quotes gives you an idea of how much the Party has affected its people. I'm sure that before Winston was a member of the Party, his reaction to the disconnected hand laying on the ground would be a bit different. To Winston, this was no big deal, which is why he transferred his thought to avoiding traffic.
reading 88-103 "What made it sit at the edge of the lonely wood, and pour its music into nothingness? He wondered whether after all if there was a microphone hidden somewhere near."(pg.103) This passage reminded me of a phrase I once heard about character: "Character is what you do when nobody is watching." Winston has lost faith in believing that people do good things not only because they know people are watching. It surprised me that Winston was so curious toward the bird chirping, innocently.
reading 113-47 "They can't get inside you. If you can feel that staying human is worth while, even if it can't have any result whatever, you've beaten them."(pg.138) The Party can make you say or do pretty much anything, but the one thinf they don't have control over is what you feel. Reading this passage changed my mind about the "brainwashed" debate. I agree with anyone who said that the Party member weren't brainwashed. I think that the Party's goal is to get inside of you and have everyone programmed to think a certain way. It's evident from this passage though, that Winston. Julia, and probably many other members aren't giving in to the Party.
Reading (113-147) "I tell you that the brotherhood exists, but I cannot tell you whether it numbers a hundred members, or ten million. From your personal knowledge you will never be able to say that it numbers even as many as a dozen (pg. 144.)"
Once again, this quote has me thinking is everyone involved in the brotherhood? If everyone is kept in the dark, isn't is possible that everyone is just pretending to fit in? I think George Orwell is even hinting at it by telling the reader that the brotherhood could consist of anywhere between a dozen and tens of millions of people. We will have to find out...
"Nobody ever escaped detection, and nobody ever failed to confess. When once you had succumbed to thoughtcrime it was certain that by a given date you would be dead." (87)
Winston's thoughts here illustrate his own sense of fatalism, or the doctrine that all events are fated to happen. This sense of passivity is his one great weakness, as shown here, and the quote suggests foreshadowing... ambiguously, of course, because the conventional reader doesn't expect to see the protagonist caught...
[Having to do with Hate Week] "As though to harmonize with the general mood, the rocket bombs had been killing larger numbers of people than usual... There were further angry demonstrations, Goldstein was burned in effigy, hundreds of copies of the poster of the Eurasian soldier were torn down and added to the flames, and a number of shops were looted in the turmoil" (124).
First of all, the casual way in which "usual" rocket bomb deaths are referenced is slightly disconcerting. Also, it seems extremely timely that the sudden spike of fatalities coincides with Hate Week. With all the insinuations and allusions to the war being controlled by the government, it begs the question whether this was orchestrated by the Party. This leads to the paradox that, if this is true, the Party has no qualms with sacrificing large numbers of their own citizens in order to keep the rest of the population in their domination.
reading 148-185 "...such acts as raping, looting, the slaughter of children, the reduction of whole populations to slavery, and reprisals against prisoners which extend even to boiling and burying alive, are looked upon as normal, and, when they are committed by one's own side and not by the enemy, meritorious." (pg.153)
This passage surprised and disturbed me. How can any of those crimes be considered normal? I wasn't sure what meritorious meant, so when I looked it up, and found that it meant "praiseworthy" I was even more shocked. For members of the party, who were born into it, like Julia, I can somewhat understand how they might have been raised to believe that acts such as raping are considered normal. As for the older members, such as Winston, I am shocked that they don't find this extremely odd.
"His voice had grown almost dreamy...He is not pretending, thought Winston; he is not a hypocrite; he believes every word he says...There was no idea that he had ever had, or could have, that O'Brien had not long ago known, examined, and rejected. His mind CONTAINED Winston's mind. But in that case how could it be true that O'Brien was mad? It must be he, Winston, who was mad." (211).
One thing that I've noticed about this book is that it has the ability to talk about concepts that would normally seem impossible (or insane) but through explanation, seem to make a tiny bit of sense. The impact of O'Brien's method on Winston intrigues me--and terrifies me. Winston is starting to become uncertain about things like his own sanity. And his thought process is actually logical. O'Brien has had the TIME to think this through! So why can't Winston be wrong? But then again, if Winston can be so easily "brainwashed," why couldn't O'Brien have been brainwashed in the exact same way? Okay, so his emotions are genuine...but what is the reason behind these emotions?
"[Winston] hardly thought of Julia. He could not fix his mind on her. He loved her and would not betray her; but that was only a fact, known as he knew the rules of arithmetic" (189).
Winston's love of Julia is being thrown into question again. In his time of crisis, he can't even concentrate on her. He knows he won't betray her, but not with conviction, just as a petty fact. The simile with the rules of arithmetic seems significant, because of the repeated use of "2 + 2" as a symbol for psychological manipulation. Apparently, arithmetic is a malleable (oh, vocab word) principle... and this is what Winston compares his love for Julia to.
"But there had been a moment- he did not know how long, thirty seconds, perhaps- of luminous certainty, when each new suggestion of O'Brien's had filled up a patch of emptiness and become absolute truth, and when two and two could have been three as easily as five, if that were what was needed." (page 213)
This quote seems to describe the mindset O'Brien is trying to teach Winston, and the mindset Big Brother's regime wants everyone to have. It made me wonder whether everyone else (aside from the few other "thought-criminals") thinks exactly like that, and whether Winston will eventually conform to this method of thought.
"She betrayed you, Winston. Immediately--unreservedly. I have seldom seen anyone come over to us so promptly." (pg. 213) It was startling that assuming O' Brien was telling the truth, that Julia, the same person who conspired with Winston, would betray him. After all the time they spent secretly meeting and denouncing Big Brother, their bond was still tenuous, not firmly established. In fact, Julia never really loved Winston, in my opinion. She never seemed truly committed to all that Winston stood for. During the earlier parts of the book, there were clear signs that demonstrated how Julia was uncomprehending. She fell asleep while Winston was reading The Book, and never seemed focused on any of the deeper discussions surrounding overthrowing Big Brother. In many ways, it seemed like Julia was simply bored of the tedium of everyday life and Winston was something new, and it didn't really matter whether or not she believed or cared about Winston's uprising.
"''Down with Big Brother!' Yes, I said that! Said it over and over again, it seems. Between you and me, old man, I'm glad they got me before it went any further. Do you know what I'm going to say to them when I go up before the tribunal? 'Thank you,' I'm going to say, 'thank you for saving me before it was too late''" (page 193) (Is that how the quotes are supposed to look?)
Winston predicted at the beginning of the book that someday the Parsons' children would turn their parents in, and he turned out to be right. But Winston also thought that Parson would never disappear because he seemed to completely trust the party and be brainwashed. It still seems that Parson still has these qualities, even though he admits to committing thoughtcrime, since he wants to thank the party for "saving him." For this reason, it doesn't seem to me that Parsons will be vaporized, even if he has been arrested for (and will ultimately confess to) thoughtcrime.
"[Winston] had never loved [O'Brien] so deeply as at this moment...the old feeling, that at bottom it did not matter whether O'Brien was a friend or an enemy, had come back." (p. 208)
Although Winston is currently being held up at the Ministry of Love for his supposed "refusal" to submit his mind to the Party's control, perhaps Winston is truly impacted by the Party's doctrines more than we actually think. For example, in accordance with "doublethink", Winston views O'Brien - a man who is causing him interminable pain and suffering at the Ministry of Love - as an enemy but simultaneously as a friend who he loves and respects. So, isn't Winston proving himself to be a true Party follower underneath his tough, rebellious exterior?
"An oblong slip of newspaper had appeared between O'Brian's fingers... It was a photograph, and there was no question of its identity. It was the photograph...For only an instant it was before his eyes, then it was out of sight again. But he had seen it, unquestionably he had seen it! ...'It exists!' he cried. 'No," said O'Brian" (203-204).
Before I say anything else, I have to admit, this is the absolutely most uncomfortable part of the book. I actually sat in front of the book, and started wondering if maybe it didn't exist. It was MINDBLOWING. It bothers me just trying to put my doubts into words, and that's why I chose this quote to share.
O'Brian keeps pushing his ideas on Winston, and it's amazing how Winston still has his version of the truth in his head. Before actually experiencing what it was like in the Ministry of Love, I doubted the Party's ability to force their beliefs on everyone. After this, I know for sure that I wouldn't stand a chance.
"He thought, 'If I could save Julia by doubling my own pain, would I do it? Yes, I would.' But that was merley an intellectual decision, taken because he knew he ought to take it. He did not feel it. In this place you could not feel anything, except pain and the fore-knowledge of pain. Besides, was it possible, when you were actually suffering it, to wish for any reason whatever that your own pain should increase? But that question was not answerable yet (pg. 197)"
This passage talks about Julia and Winston's relationship, something I'm very curious about. Again, George Orwell keeps the reader in suspense. One is not sure whether Winston now feels an obligation for some reason to take the pain for Julia or he really feels for her, and would put her over almost anything.
"'Look me in the eyes. What country is Oceania at war with?'...'I [Winston] don't remember.'[O'Brien]'Oceania is at war with Eastasia. Do you remember now?'[Winston]'yes.'"
This right here is Winston being brainwashed. This is even more proof that he is not under the influence of the government. O; Brien keeps saying that Winstonis insane. It's the other way around, though. O'Brien and the government have convinced themselves that their lies are true, and they are brainwashed.
"Who denounced you?" said Winston. "It was my little daughter," said Parsons with a sort of doleful pride. "She listened at the keyhole. Heard what I was saying and nipped off to the patrols the very next day. Pretty smart for a nipper of seven, eh? I don't bear her any grudge for it. In fact I'm proud of her. It shows I brought her up in the right spirit anyway." (page 193)
Although, children betraying their own parents in the Party had been discussed earlier in the book, I was still surprised by how calm and careless Parsons was when he told Winston. I thought when it was being discussed earlier, that it was in a more general sense, and when it came to your OWN son or daughter, one would expect loyalty, instead of having the importance of the Party come first.
"He pushed the picture out of his mind. It was a false memory. He was troubled by false memories occasionally. They did not matter so long as one know them for what they were. Some things had happened, other had not happened." (Page 244)
This quote was when is became absolutely definite to me that Winston had become one of the Party. A fond memory he would have once treasured and held onto, he decides is false and never occured at all. This is exactly what the party teaches: A memory from a time before the party does not exist because there was never a time without the Party. For Winston to say this in his own mind shows that there was no rebellion left in him.
"He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother." (245)
I don't like the ending at all. It is very unsatisfying. Winston converts to Big Brother just before he dies like the other captives from Ministry of Love. What is the purpose of this book if Winston doesn't die hating Big Brother? Basically 1984 is just one of the accounts of lured prisoners, "rebels" of the Party. Under the Thought Police's watchful supervisions, Oceania's own "rebels" are developed with leeways given by the Thought Police themselves. It is ironical and depressing.
"He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother" (p245)
I really disliked the ending of this book. I really can't believe that Winston would become just like another member of the Party. It almost seems as if his stay at the Ministry of Love cause his brain to shut off completely. The Winston in the beginning of the book is nothing like the Winston at the end.
"If you are a man, Winston, you are the last man. Your kind is extinct; we are the inheritors. Do you understand that you are ALONE? You are outside history, you are non-existent."
This quote is interesting in that it references to Winston as the last "man" or human being. Does this mean O'Brien considers the party "machines" or inhuman? Do these twisted creatures that resemble the skeleton of humankind really "inherit" the earth? By referring to Winston as only one who possessed the "spirit of Man", does this mean that George Orwell thinks the rest of these characters as abstractions and mutations of the fundamentals that makes us human? When Winston submits to the party's wishes, does symbolize the end of the last human being on earth? Does feelings, emotions, and intelligence as we know it cease to exist in the world of Ingsoc?
"'They can't get inside you,' she had said. But they could get inside you. 'What happens to you here is forever," O'Brian had said. That was a true word" (239).
I think this was the point where I had lost all hope for Winston (and all hope for mankind???). Up until here, Winston only agreed with statements like these when he was forced to, and even then he couldn't succeed in faking it. This was so startling because he just flat out admitted defeat. I admit I still had the smallest prayer that this was all a ploy, but obviously not. =(
"How easy it all was! Only surrender, and everything else followed. It was like swimming against a current that swept you however hard you struggled, and then suddenly deciding to turn round and go with the current instead of opposing it."
Although I hate the idea of Winston giving in to the Party, I thought this was a really accurate comparison. Until the very end of Winston's torture, I had faith in him to overcome the Party. I thought that Winston had the mental strength to avoid letting O'Brien brainwash him.
"She put a vast arm round his shoulder and drew him toward her, breathing beer and vomit into his face. 'Wass your name, dearie?' she said. 'Smith,' said Winston. 'Smith?' said the woman. 'Thass funny. My name's Smith too. Why,; she added sentimentally, 'I might be your mother!' She might, thought Winston." (pg. 188)
Reading this passage brought back deja vu from all of our discussions during class about whether Winston is brainwashed or not. The very idea that he is considering a random woman, clearly very intoxicated, to be his mother proves that many of his memories about his mother have truly been wiped away. It made me realy sad that Winston does not remember his mother at all, even though we know that she left his life many years ago. The passage also made me wonder how the woman got a hold of this alcohol - I didn't realize how strong Victory Gin was - and what exactly she did to end up in prison.
here's my quote that's long overdue...sorry! "O cruel, needless misunderstanding!...Two gin-scented tears trickeled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother" (last pg. 245!!!) Sorry to be really un-original here, but I just loved how Orwell phrased the last remaining words of 1984. These were definetly well thought out and left me somewhat satisfied. Winston is surely defeated and as we've said in class, the only hope remains in the proles..because Winston is now brainwashed. This was his only option though if he wanted to remain living. I just feel he gave up too easily, and should have been more careful with whom he shared his open feelings with. Julia, being one of them. And of course O'Brien. I am slightly mad at Winston though, because everything that has happened to him...is his fault. =/
"Always we shall have the heretic here at our mercy, screaming with pain, broken up, contemptible--and in the end utterly penitent, saved from himself, crawling to our feet of his own accord. That is the world that we are preparing, Winston. A world of victory after victory, triumph after triumph after triumph, an endless pressing, pressing, pressing upon the nerve of power." (221) I thought this was outstanding that O'Brien could tell Winston the horrors of the world to come with a straight face. It just shows even further how completely the inner party think they are in the right. When we, with our views of the outside world, can see that they are out of their minds. I also thought this quote was interesting because it had a sort of metaphor in it, that I saw, but I'm not sure if I'm reading too much into it. "an pressing, pressing, pressing upon the nerve of power." reminded me of the pressing of the nerve in Winston ankle where the ulcer is. It was bother him through out the book even when he did very low energy activities, just like the party was too.
87 comments:
One quote that I thought was really interesting talked about how Winston responded to the Two Minutes Hate. "Winston found that he was shouting with the others and kicking his heel violently against the rung of his chair. The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in." (Page 16). This remined me of grade-three thinkers in WIlliam Golding's "Thinking as a Hobby." Being part of the majority and having a common goal, or in this case hate, makes people feel stronger even if they don't truly believe in what they are doing or saying. I think that this also shows that Winston may not feel as comfortable as others because it comes to him out of custom and instinct, not because he truly feels strongly against "The Brotherhood."
"Thus, at one moment Winston's hatred was not turned against Goldstein at all, but, on the contrary, against Big Brother, the Party, and the Thought Police; and at such moments his heart went out to the lonely, derided heretic on the screen, sole guardian of truth and sanity in a world of lies." (page 16). I also found connections between this book and other stories that we have read. For this particular quote I saw a connection with Cat's Cradle. Goldstein is like Bokonon in the sense that he was once closely associated with the "enemy" (Big Brother/McCabe) before becoming exiled. Their beliefs are now considered evil by society but they still continue to be spread in a secretive way. I thought it was interesting how although Bokonon spreads lies, Goldstein is spreading truth. The question is, which is better? The other difference between the two is that I believe (although I'm not entirely sure) that Big Brother has more supporters. The moment Goldstein's face is shown, an intense feeling of hatred spreads deep within the people. And the fact that the children love Big Brother makes me believe that as this generation grows older, they will become great supporters of the government. But then again, I'm uncertain because the hatred towards Goldstein could occur mainly out of habit and there could be many people who do support him, but can't possibly reveal their beliefs.
"The voice of Goldstein had become an actual sheep's bleat, and for an instant the face melted into that of a sheep." I thought that this was really interesting because I read Animal Farm, which is also by George Orwell and in that book, the sheep were the followers, while the pigs were the leaders. Goldstein reminds me of Snowball, who also rebelled against the "government", which was Mr. Jones. Eventually, Snowball was forced out of the farm by Napoleon, who is like Big Brother.
I like the quote "To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone-to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone: From the age of uniformity, from the age of solitude, from the age of Big Brother, from the age of doublethink-greetings!" It tells us that the world that Winston lives in must be very lonely and drab. Not only is the government oppressive, the control the very thoughts and emotions of the citizens. They scrutinize and analyze every gesture, sound, and emotion. They also make everyday life seem dead. No change from day to day. Almost no hope for flavor or color. Winston is suffering from depression yet still harboring an inkling of faith in the future generations.
"And all the while, lest one should be in any doubt as to the reality which Goldstein's specious claptrap covered, behind his head on the telescreen there marched the endless columns or the Eurasian army- row after row of solid-looking men with expressionless Asiatic faces, who swam up to the surface of the screen and vanished, to be replaced by others exactly similiar. The dull, rhythmic tramp of the soldiers' boots formed the background to Goldstein's bleating voice. I liked this passage because Winston compares the Eurasian Army to his single-minded society. Both the soldiers in the army and the homosapiens =) of Winston's society are all identical. Everyone is forced to live the way the government tells them to. They are overly strict and have telescreens to monitor the people's every move. If they think something just a bit different from the norm, they are punished.
Howdy all.
"Both of them were dressed in the blue shorts, gray shirts, and red neckerchiefs which were the uniform of the Spies" (Page 22).
The children were called "Spies". I was so interested by this, because this is the first sign of the government taking advantage of children. A little later on, we learn that some children actually turn in their parents for being "traitors". This idea is so bizarre, does anyone else think that?
Hey English Class - On pg. 14, I discovered "He [he being Goldstein] was abusing Big Brother, he was denouncing the dictatorship of the Party, he was demanding the immediate conclusion of peace with Eurasia, he was advocating freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of thought, he was crying hysterically that the revolution had been betrayed ..."
This quotation made me feel sad and sympathized me with the poor Goldstein. He is trying to express himself, to counter what he has been taught, and yet our protagonist is not showing any sign of respect or even emotion toward him. The character's interaction with this revolutionary already makes me feel disliking toward him. It also seems somewhat ironic that Goldstein is prohibited from using free speech, yet he is preaching his revolutionary ideas in public to anyone and everyone. Already, Orwell has set a negative, secretive, scary scene for his novel, and I can't wait to read more!
"At one end of it a colored poster, too large for indoor display, had been tacked to the wall. It depicted simply an enormous face, more than a meter wide: the face of a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black mustache and ruggedly handsome features." The book opens with these sentences,at this point I know nothing about the book, and immediately the first image that pops into my mind after reading this is Hitler. It all fits, "the face of a man of about forty-five" Hitler was about 44 or 45 when he became chancellor of Germany, "heavy black mustache" everyone instantly recognizes that little dark mustache of his, "ruggedly handsome features".
All of these parts added up to the Hitler image in my head. After obtaining this image I could not get rid of it, and therefore everything else in the book was scewed by it.
The Thought Police seemed like the Nazis to me, the fact that they "vaporized" people in the middle of the night and it seemed as if they just disappeared. That is exactly what it seemed like to people of Germany and many other countries when their Jewish neighbors just "seemed to disappear" for their "extermination".
The Big Brother slogan is "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength" this phrase has a blatant air to it, it's trying to be very straight forward, not using many complicated words, and yet it makes no sense. This is much like the "Arbeit Macht Frei"-"Work Makes you Free" slogan the Nazis emblazoned in many concentration and work camps. The phrase is simple, straight forward, and again, makes no sense.
Lastly, when all of Winston's co-workers start chanting "B-B, B-B, B-B" this reminded me of all the brainwashed Germans saluting Hitler with, "Heil Hitler"-"Hail Hilter" it's the same sentiment, and the same scheme of a repeated consonant, B-B and H-H.
I think it's interesting that these are the images I'm picking up from this book especially considering the origin of its writer and time period it was written in.
George Orwell is from London, England, an active participant in WWII and adamant foe of Germany, and it was written in 1949, only 4 years after the end of the war. It would make sense if George Orwell were writing this story based on his fears from WWII and perspective of Germany and his perception that similar events might take place in the future.
There was one more parallel that I forgot to add :-)
The Youth League they keep describing, such as the one Mrs. Parsons' children are a part of, is exactly like the Hitler Youth. He got young children who didn't really understand, involved in his motives so that when they got older they didn't question what they were doing because since they had grown up with it, this behaviors is common knowledge to them.
"He was a lonely ghost uttering a truth that nobody would ever hear. But so long, as he uttered it, in some obscure way the continuity will not be broken. It was not by making yourself heard but by staying sane that you carried on the human heritage." (Pg. 26)This quote really shows the level of hopelessness in Winston's situation. The only reason that Winston cling onto his own believes is to not give in to the madness of his society.
omglikerlylongposttharjulia.
ANYWAYS.
um yeah, here's my quote:
"It was an enormous pyramidical structure of glittering white concrete, soaring up, terrace after terrace, three hundred meters into the air. From where Winston stood it was just possible to read, picked out on its white face in elegant lettering, the three slogans of the Party:
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IN STRENGTH." (pg. 7)
how bizarre is this? I thought these words are totally contradicting eachother. Completely opposite of what we think today. The passage was leading up to something promising, but ended up being a bunch of corrupting crap. There wasn't just one quote/passage that I found to be "sticking" to me. A lot of passages were weird. Like the two-minute hate ordeal. Or how the video showed children been blown up and being described as a delightful sight. Slightly odd...
a lot of phrasing in the book as well...like ministry of truth...lame I know, but I thought of Harry Potter there.
Anyways, i can't really say much else, because I'm on page 27 of this delightful read.
>_<.
"How could you communicate with the future? It was of its nature impossible. Either the future would resemble the present in which case it would not listen to him, or it would be different from it, and his predicament would be meaningless." (page 10). I liked this quote because in addition to referring to Winston Smith as he thinks about who he is writing is diary for, it connects with the whole idea of writing a book set in the future, which is what Orwell is doing. I just found that to be kind of interesting. Also, I agree with Julia's comment with the connections to Hitler and the Nazi party, and I thought it might be able to apply to the Communist party as well. I think that the large face at the beginning of the book could also resemble Stalin (who has similar features to those of Big Brother. For some reason just looking at a picture of him made me feel like he was really mysteriously creepy; and that's the same feeling I got about the whole scene for the novel; in particular the way the telescreens monitor every sound and movement a person makes. Interestingly, he was given the nickname "Uncle Joe," which seems like it could be similar to the name "Big Brother.") It mentions towards the beginning that the telescreen was talking about the "Ninth Three-Year Plan," and I think that Stalin installed a series of Five-year plans in Russia. I'm also pretty sure that there were other communists regimes that involved types of plans like this. I don't really know anything else about Stalin's regime, so there might be more connections, or maybe not.
One of the most thought-provoking passages was on page twenty-three," It was somehow slightly frightening, like the gamboling of tiger cubs which will soon grow up into man-eaters." Winston lives in a brainwashed society where adults fear their own children. I find it interesting that the concept of children looking up to dictators is far more frightening to Winston than all of the other inhumane activities going on in Oceania. Despite all the corruption going on, it is still unbelievable to me the behavior of the Parsons' kids. It's really sad that growing up, the only role models the children have to aspire to be are Big Brother and his regime.
*I know I am posting this late, but I had handwritten my passage/comments and wasn't aware that they were supposed to be put on this blog!
"[Winston] felt as though he were wandering in the forests of the sea bottom, lost in a monstrous world where he himself was the monster. He was alone. The past was dead, the future was unimaginable. What certainty had he that a single human creature now living was on his side?" (p. 25) I found this passage in the book to be especially stimulating. How strange it is that Winston perceives himself to be the "monster" in a horribly oppressive world where the leadership (i.e., Big Brother) appears to be the true monster - depriving people of all joys. I also thought that it was rather frightening how WInston thought that nobody might be on his "side" - the side against Big Brother. The fact that the people of this abject world may not at all be tempted to improve their situation and speak out against their ill-treatment is itself alarming.
Late, I know, but I'm posting so that's halfway there...
"Suddenly [Winston] began writing in sheer panic, only imperfectly aware of what he was setting down. His small but childish handwriting straggled up and down the page, shedding first its capital letters and finally even its full stops..." (11)
This quote, for me, not only represented Winston's struggles to keep his mind in what we would consider the normal working order, but the progress of the Party. It shows how the vast, stationary empire of Big Brother could very possibly have began with one shaky instigation, setting down a thought. Then the statement grew longer and longer, peeling away at layers of convention and tradition first, then at principles more deeply ingrained in the human society, and finally molting all vestiges of England and developing into Big Brother's Airstrip One.
So I'll make up for being the last one to post the first quote assignment by being the first to post the second, so it averages out, right?
[Having to do with Winston's recollections of visiting a brothel]
"She threw herself down... and at once... in the most coarse, horrible way you can imagine, pulled up her skirt... I turned up the lamp. When I saw her in the light... she was quite an old woman, fifty years at least. But I went ahead and did it just the same." (58-60)
The quote was uncomfortable and slightly disturbing, but I think there is a significance besides that Winston may have some issues with repressed emotion.
The decrepit old woman, to Winston, as almost appealing, in dim light and covered in paint. Then, when all of a sudden she was revealed in the lamplight, he was repulsed by her actual identity. And yet, he went through with it anyway.
Taking all our smartypants English symbology into account, we can surmise that light could very well stand for understanding, or thought, per se. In "dim light", or when not thought upon, the Party, painted with propaganda and slogans, may seem plausible and appealing. But then, when Winston actually spent time thinking of the absurdity of it all, he recoiled from the teachings of Big Brother. But despite his treasonous thinking he nevertheless, as seen during the Two-Minutes Hate or his outing to the theater (where he enjoyed a bloody strip of film meant to glorify the Party), "does it just the same."
"The proles are not human beings," he said carelessly. "By 2050-earlier probably-all real knowledge of Oldspeak will have disappeared. The whole literature of the past will have disappeared." pg 47
Here, Winston's "friend" (more like suspicious colleague) Syme is sharing his view of what the language (English) of Oceania will be like in roughly 70 years. He has briefly stated before that in the 11th edition of Newspeak dictionary, they are getting rid of synonyms, antonyms, nouns, verbs and adjectives that mean the same thing. They are virtually eliminating all that makes language interesting, its richness in depictions, and the people's rights to express themselves. He actually looks forward to this happening because all the words that would relate to "thoughtcrime" would not exist anymore. They are eliminating any chance of rebellion or uprising in the future by deleting any words that would provoke or suggest anti-Ingsoc/BB-ism.
I really like this scene;
"Momentarily he caught O'briens eye. O'Brien had stood up. He had taken off his spectacles and was in the act of resettling them on his nose with his characteristic gesture. But their was a fraction of a second where their eyes met, and for as long as it took to happen Winston know--yes, he knew!--that O'Brien was thinking the same thing as himself. An unmistakable message had passed. It was as though their two minds had opened and the thoughts were flowing from one into the other through their eyes. "I am with you," O'Brien seemed to be saying to him. "I know precisely was you are feeling. I know all about your contempt, your hatred, your disgust. But don't worry, I am on your side!" And then the flash of intelligence was gone, and O'Brien's face was as inscutable as everybody else's (pg 18.) This scene made me wonder, is everyone in their society really against big brother? Is it possible that no one wants to go against "the brotherhood", but everyone really believes against big Brother?
"It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grams a week. And only yesterday, he reflected...the ration was to be REDUCED to twenty grams...Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes...Was he, then, ALONE in the possession of a memory?" (p. 51-52).
The whole idea of the government controlling the way people think and the facts that people know is completely scary to me. I can't believe that they would go to such an extent just to change one measly event in history. The question at the end of the quote is something that I'm also seriously considering. Winston has so many thoughts and memories going through his head that are against the government. But is he really the only one who thinks the way he does? Winston kept on saying that so-and-so bought into the idea that the chocolate ration was raised. But what if the passion that he sees is actually artificial? If Winston can instinctively control his emotions, I feel like other people should also be able to. There is always the possibility that he is "special"--as a lot of main characters are. But since it's from his perspective, we really don't know. Another thing that I feel is almost impossible (and yet seems very plausible in this book) is that your very own memory can be erased all because of the intensity of the brainwashing that the government is doing.
On page 46, Syme tells Winston, "You don't grasp the beauty of the destruction of words." Winston remarks on page 49 that Syme will eventually fall victim to the Party's 'vaporization' because "he had read too many books." It is rather puzzling to me that a copious reader can find pleasure in the obliteration of the words that constitute all of literature. As Winston states that Syme is an intelligent man, it seems to me that Syme finds reading to be a useful outlet for gaining more knowledge. In accordance with "doublethink", Big Brother's regime clearly has a great impact on Airstrip One if it can lead its people to resent and appreciate something simultaneously.
The most interesting part of the reading for me was on page sixty, "If there was hope, it must lie in the proles, because only there, in those swarming disregarded masses, eighty-five percent of the population of Oceania, could the force to destroy the Party ever be generated." In many ways, the minority of a society holding the most power parallels with occurrences in India, Africa, and Europe during the eighteenth century. In ancient India, Aryans, though they were the minority, were given higher authority over the Dravidians. Adolph Hitler, when he took over, said that he wanted to rid society of unworthy people, to purge and build a world of Aryans. Again in Europe, peasants who made up the lower class were eighty-five percent of the total population in the 1700's but held little power in government. It's often echoed in history the concept of having a smaller collective controlling and maintaining power over a much larger group. Only for Winston, he wishes that the proles would use their vast numbers to overcome the overwhelming and stifling control of Big Brother.
"In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subdidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten." (pg. 46)
It really depresses me after I finished the reading. Winston describes his world as a completely hopeless and restricted place under Big Brother's reign. Big Brother, over years and years, has brainwashed generations of capable youths to mindless robots carrying out his rules. With eliminating language used by the Party, educated people of Oceania would slowly become another emotionless tool for Big Brother. Also, they won't be able to invent "slangs" or new words from Newspeak since they will know no language other than their own; thus there will be no chance of resistance. While all hopes are on the proles to overthrow Big Brother, the ideas of rebelling and a better life are oblivious to them due to their limited style of living. I feel like there is no ending to this misery. ><'''
"Very likely as many as a dozen people were now working away on rival versions of what Big Brother had actually said. And presently some master brain in the Inner Party would select this version or that, would re-edit it and set in motion the complex processes of cross-referencing that would be required, and then they chosen lie would pass into the permanent records and become truth" (41).
How alarming.
I found myself wondering what I would do if I learned that all truth I had known was actually imaginative stories. Winston, the man behind this story, was actually enjoying himself as he chose what the general public was going to accept as truth. How can anyone be trusted anymore?
"'It was a good hanging,' said Syme reminiscently. 'I think it spoils it when they tie their feet together. I like to see them kicking. And above all, at the end, the tongue sticking right out, and blue--a quite bright blue. That's the detail that appeals to me.'" (page 44)
This quote reminded me of the scene at the movies previously, where everyone was laughing at the fat man getting killed, and applauding after the shot of the dead child's arm going up in the air. It's interesting to me how a man as smart as Syme seems to believe everything he is told about the Party just as easily as anyone else. He seems pretty interesting when he talks about his work, but he still has the same mindset as everyone else when it comes to Big Brother and his regime.
"The immediate advantages of falsifying the past were obvious, but the ultimate motive was mysterious. He took up his pen again and wrote:
I understand HOW: I do not understand WHY." (page 68)
I thought this passage was interesting, and confusing. Before reading that I had assumed that Big Brother's only goal was to have complete power over the rest of society. I have no idea what other purpose would be served by putting such strict regulations on everyone's thoughts and beliefs.
I forgot to post my first comment, so here it is:
"Years ago- how long was it? Seven years it must be- he had dreamed that he was walking through a pitch-dark room. And someone sitting to one side of him had said as he passed: "We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness." (page 24)
I thought that in this passage the word "darkness" might also refer to the depression and confusion in Big Brother's regime, which might mean that he is thinking of someone he will be able to talk to after the regime has ended, or beyond the reaches of the regime.
"When there were no external records that you could refer to, even the outline of your own life lost its sharpness. You remembered huge events which had quite probably not happened, you remembered the details of incidents without being able to recapture their atmosphere, and there were long blank periods to which you could assign nothing." (Page 30).
This quote is really baffling, to me. When see an old picture, a letter, or a newspaper, you don't think much of its importance. But this makes me wonder if it weren't for hard evidence of things, would you be able to form complete memories of your life? I have many vivid memories of moments from when I was little, but maybe when you live in a society where you are taught to forget, and taught that the past is not what actually happened, but what happened according to the government, it might be a lot more difficult to keep track of yourself, let alone the world.
'"Who controls the past" ran the party slogan, "controls the future: who controls the present controls the past (pg.32.)"'
This quote is creepy, but their is some truth to it. Throughout history, many powerful nations have tried to wipe out history. For example, although the Nazi's did not succeed in their "final solution" (complete annihilation) they made a meuseum of "the extinct jewish race," hoping that their plan would work. By doing so, the nazis were controlling the past because anyone who would have seen that meuseum would have seen the nazis perspective of the "distinct jewish race." This may have been a bad example because the Nazi's never actually compeltly annihilated the Jews, but many other nations throughout history have used similar tactics.
"Winston's greatest pleasure in life was in his work. Most of it was a tedious routine, but included in it there were also jobs so difficult and intricate that you could lose yourself in them as in the depths of a mathematical problem - delicate pieces of forgery in which you had nothing to guide you except your knowledge of principles of Ingsoc and your estimate of what the Party wanted you to say." (39)
This was really interesting that Winston thought that routine was his pleasure in life. Every student has a routine, which is their school day, but very few consider this routine to be their pleasure. I wonder why a routine would be his pleasure in life and what caused it to be that way. Also, he said that the thing he loved about work was the problems that he would solve for the Party. However, if deep down he dislike Big Brother and the Party, why would he still work for them.
"If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event it never happened - that surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death." (page 32)
This passage shows how the "Party" is going beyond controlling what you can and cannot think, but taking a step further in saying what did and what didn't happen. This passage seemed very weird to me because I was surprised that no citizens of Oceania questioned the "Party" about the past if they knew it wasn't true.
"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 Caeser"(43).
This quote was really disturbing to me because Winston is literally adding a figment of his imagination to the excepted fact of their country. It was disturbing that he is only first realizing this behavior is odd, and also that it is so accepted. Julius Caeser and Charlemagne are both viewed a highly esteemed European political figures and the thought that in this society a fake person’s life could end up being as factual as that of Caeser and Charlemagne is astounding to me.
"...'Except-' Winston began doubtfully, and then stopped. It had been on the tip of his tongue to say, 'Except the proles,' but he checked himself, not feeling fully certain that this remark was not in some way unorthodox." (pg.47)
I found this quote to show how different Winston is from everyone else, and how he tries to speak his mind, but is always influenced about the consequences. It's sad to think that he cannot express his mind because it's being controlled by one man, and how careful he has to be at what he says. I wouldn't say he's ahead of everyone else, because who knows, it could be like in Cat's Cradle when everyone was secretly practicing Bokonon, and here how everyone feels the same a Winston.
I'm really not sure about this at the moment. We'll just have to wait and see, maybe his opinions aren't original...
"But the physical difficulty of meeting was enormous. It was like trying to made a move at chess when you were already mated. Whichever way you turned, the telescreen faced you."
I thought this quote summarized how efficiently Big Brother's regime had managed to isolate each member of the party. I find it remarkable that it would be possible to create a society where communication would be almost completely destroyed, which seems to be Big Brothers goal.
"It paid, she said; it was camouflage. If you kept the small rules you could break the big ones."
This quote reminded me of the duplicitous life that Winston and Julia are leading. They are protecting themselves with a fake cover, feigning zeal to Big Brother when they are actually the most adamantly against him. In the beginning, Winston prejudges Julia as being clean minded and oriented towards community. He never expected her to share similar views towards Big Brother. It's not until later that he realizes that all her pretenses are meant as a mask to shroud her actual feelings.
"She did not understand that there was no such thing as happiness, that the only victory lay in the far future, long after you were dead, that from the moment of declaring war on the Party it was better to think of yourself as a corpse. "We are the dead," he said." (page 113)
I think it is ironic how Julia is so different from Winston, even though she is the only person he finds who he can relate to. She is optimistic. She thinks it is possible to rebel against Big Brother and still survive. Winston, however, is fatalistic and depressed. He thinks that any rebellion against Big Brother guarantees death, and that therefore he and Julia and half the people he knows are going to be "vaporized".
"[Julia] had no memories of anything before the early Sixties... She hated the Party... but except where it touched her own life she had no interest in Party doctrine.... Any kind of organized revolt against the Party, which was bound to be a failure, struck her as stupid. The clever thing was to break the rules and stay alive all the same" (108-9).
Unlike Winston, Julia has no vague memory of what life was like before Big Brother. She was born into the world of the Party and thus her position as a rebel seems less relative to Winston's. Her brand of revolution is on an individual basis, lashing out at a government simply for the personal inconveniences to her life but organizing nothing. Whether or not anyone else shares her beliefs hardly concerns her. So it begs the question whether preconceived ideas of what is "normal" is necessary to rebelling against an "unnatural" system, because Julia is apparently acting as the James Dean of Airstrip One.
"A curious emotion stirred in Winston's heart. In front of him was an enemy who was trying to kill him; in front of him, also, was a human creature, in pain and perhaps with a broken bone. Already he had instinctively started forward to help her. In the moment when he had seen her fall on the bandaged arm, it had been as though he felt the pain in his own body." (Pages 88-89).
This quote relates to the class discussion we had about whether all humans are fundamentally good. In Winston's case, I think that he shows that he is good inside and even though society has instilled so much hate in him, he still is able to feel pain and sympathy for others, even someone whom he fears is an enemy. This shows that Winston is the type who would save a child from falling into a well, which says a lot about his character.
"But you could not have pure love or pure lust nowadays. No emotion was pure, because everything was mixed up with fear and hatred. Their embrace had been a battle, the climax a victory. It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a political act." (105)
Big Brother is the source of the constant struggle between Winston and his "normal" daily life. Fear and hatred were implanted into people's mind by absolute control over their lives. Winston lives according to what his instincts tell him to do under intolerable circumstances. He tries to adapt to the style of living under Big Brother's control, rather than being brainwashed. Resistence toward the oppressing authority is like humans trying to find solutions to troubles brought by their environments.
" 'When you make love you're using up energy; and afterwards you feel happy and don't give a damn for anything. They can't bear you to feel like this.'" (p. 110).
Julia's explanation actually freaks me out a little bit. Before I just thought that Big Brother encouraged such things as the Antisex League because they wanted people to be pure. But this takes it to a whole new level. This makes me think that every single teeny tiny law or idea that comes from Big Brother has this motive behind it where they want complete control. It's really scary to me that they would think so deeply and get so nitpicky.
"The music went on and on, minute after minute, with astonishing variations, never once repeating itself, almost as though the bird were deliberately showing off its virtuosity...For whom, for what was the bird singing?...He wondered if there was a microphone near."
I think this passage is interesting because it shows Winston's lack of knowledge about doing something just for the love of the act itself, like the singing of the bird. Everything in his life, surrounding Big Brother, has been correcting and changing news and magazine articles solely for the purpose of "showing" other people that what they originally thought was wrong, in fact, it never happened. Everything in the editing department is for show. Winston does not understand the reasons to do something for any other purpose.
"Not merely the love of one person, but the animal instinct, the simple undifferentiated desire: that was the force that would tear the Party to pieces." (p.105)
This remark is made by Winston in regards to Julia's reckless, daring nature. Earlier in the book, Winston notes that animals and proles are thought to be of an equal level. He also states that proles are the only ones who will be able to destroy Big Brother's regime. Yet again, Winston is referencing the importance of animal-like qualities in the effective destruction of the Party. How interesting it is that the savage, "barbaric" behavior that we typically connote with animals is necessary to destroy this oppressive government.
"'She was--do you know the Newspeak word goodthinkful? Meaning naturally orthodox, incapable of thinking a bad thought?'" (Page 110)
This quote intrigued me because it made me think back to two of the class discussions we had, the first when we talked about Newspeak and the one today about whether or not Winston is brainwashed by society (or something along those lines). I think since at the beginning of the quote Winston mentions the newspeak word, this may show how he's being brainwashed by society since he's initially thinking in Newspeak before normal English.
"I hate purity, I hate goodness. I don't want any virtue to exist anwhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to he bones." (104)
and a few lines later,
"But you could not have pur love or pure lust nowadays. No emotion was pure, because everything was mixed up with fear and hatred." (105)
I thought the first passage was interesting because Winston, in the solitary confinement of his mind, feels strongly against the Party and everything Big Brother has to offer, both of which are the essence of corruption. However, Winston is i interested in corruption when its against the original corruption. For example, the government is corrupt, but when the governed become corrupt in such a way that they're rebelling against the government, that is okay in the eyes of Winston.
I also thought it was interesting that Winston was so adament about telling Julia that he loves when things aren't pure and then goes on to say later what a shame it is the no emotions are pure "nowadays". I think Winston is very confused about what he thinks and is getting all of his morals confused with one another.
"He did not feel any temptation to tell lies to her. it was even a sort of love offering to start off by telling the worst." (pg. 100)
Through this quotation, Winston is revealing to the reader just how Julia makes him feel and wht her vibe causes the protagonist to feel. Winston spends all of his life telling lies - about Big brother, the war, the two minutes of hate, etcetera. Today, however, he is able to reveal his true self to anyone for the first time in quite a while. His sudden need to share the worst also reflects Winston's pessimism and views that since there is more worst than better, sharing badness cannot be that horrendous.
Hi everyone,
Sorry for that debacle today. The sub pulled out the wrong folder. I'll see you all on Friday and we'll try to salvage things. We need to talk about Julia, birds, and love. Anybody thinking of Mencius?
" 'You wanted a good time, "they", meaning the Party, wanted to stop you having it; you broke the rules as best you could.' She hated the Party, and said so in the crudest words, but she made no general criticism of it. He noticed that she never used Newspeak words, except the ones that had to be passed into everyday use." (pg. 109)
I feel at this point that Winston has finally found someone he can coincide with. Share his ideas, and dislike for the ways of the Party. Julia could be putting on a facade, but I really don't think she is...or rather hope she isn't. I like how open she is with Winston. Almost as if she understands and knows that he won't turn her in, since they think the same about the Party. Her saying that she hates the Party, confirms that Winston isn't the only outcast here.
"They were not loyal to a party or a country or an idea, they were loyal to one another." (136)
The proles are really the only remaining remnants of humanity. It's clear that Winston realizes the distinction between Party members and proles aren't just the fact that one is more "civilized" and the others are more like animals, but that proles have left in them a sort of defining characteristic in being loyal to one another that sets them apart.
"They could not alter your feelings; for that matter you could not alter them yourself, even if you wanted to. They could lay bare in the utmost detail everything that you had done or said or thought; but the inner heart, whose workings were mysterious even to yourself, remained impregnable" (page 138)
This quote was confusing. Winston seems to be saying that Big Brother's regime is unable to alter his thoughts and opinions. This contradicts with the first part of the book, when during the Two Minutes Hate he said that it was impossible to avoid joining in and that he had found himself hating Goldstein.
"What mattered were individual relationships, and a completely helpless gesture, an embrace, a tear, a word spoken to a dying man, could have value in itself. The proles, it suddenly occured to him, had remained in this condition. They were not loyal to a party or a country or an idea, they were loyal to one another. For the first time in his life he did not despise the proles or thnk of them merely as an inert force which would one day spring to life and regenerate the world. The proles had stayed human. They had not become hardened inside." (Page 136).
This is a big turning point for Winston. It is so interesting how he goes through his entire adult life thinking that even though the party was cruel and wrong, they were the humans, and the proles were the useless animals who could possibly be used to stop the Party if they weren't so dimwitted, when all along the proles are the ones with feeling and emotion and true loyalty, the ones who were actually human, while the Party members were the animals with no morals.
"'You will have to get used to living without results and without hope. You will work for a while, you will be caught, you will confess, and then you will die. Those are the only results that you will ever see. There is no possibility that any perceptible change will happen within our own lifetime. We are the dead.'" (p. 145).
This quote is actually kind of depressing and yet, I feel like with Winston it really isn't. When he was in the cafeteria a few months back (was the story still in April?) he looked around at the people and thought, "He's going to die. He's going to die. He's going to live. Even I'm going to die." Death doesn't seem at all scary to him because it seems to be so close. And then this ties in with the idea of being human. I know if I was getting myself into something like this, I would get frustrated if I knew nothing and if we weren't getting anything done. But Winston accepts it. I don't know if he still doesn't grasp the concept or if the consequences just don't matter.
"The proles had stayed human. They had never hardened inside. They had held onto primitive emotions which he himself had to relearn by conscious effort." (136)
This quote made me wonder what really was the difference between the proles and the members of the Party. Also, I wonder how the members of the Party almost seem unhuman. They have to do what they are told and always have the same emotions that the Party wants them too.
"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. The clamorous hunger in his belly seemed to justify him." (page 134)
I was surprised to find out what an awful and selfish child Winston was like, because although there are moments throughout the book when he shows anger and even selfishness, he didn't seem like a completely bad person (and maybe he isn't as an adult, but it does seem evident that he was a terrible child, or at least, that's the way Winston seems to remember his childhood). I remember earlier in the book Winston thinking about the Parsons' children and how horrible they seem to be (and all children in general), and its interesting how he was a horrible child as well (although he had different qualities than those children).
On page 137, Julia says "[the Party] can make you say anything - anything - but they can't make you believe it. They can't get inside you."
As I was reading, I frequently thought back to our class discussion/debate regarding the Party's brainwashing. I think that Julia's claim that the Party is unable to make one believe something is rather interesting as only a few pages earlier Julia claims that the Party was always at war with Eurasia and never Eastasia (although Winston claims that Airstrip One was once at war with Eastasia - they have simply brainwashed their people to believe otherwise). My main point is that I find it intriguing that Julia is possibly being brainwashed by the government while thinking that she is immune to the Party's influence...
"It was as if they were intentionally stepping nearer to their graves. As he sat waiting on the edge of the bed he thought again of the cellars of the Ministry of Love. It was curious how that predestined horror moved in and out of one's consciousness. There it lay, fixed in the future time, preceding death as surely as 99 precedes 100. One could not avoid it, but one could perhaps postpone it: and yet instead, every now and again, by a conscious, willful act, one chose to shorten the interval before it happened"
I think this passage reflects one of our in-class discussions where we talked about how Winston was hopelessly fatalistic. He thinks he is destined to die, no matter what. Life is only about prolonging that inevitable day. It would surely come though. Somehow, he sometimes purposely put himself in danger, taking risks he does not need to take, putting his life on the line. Does he want to die?
"'...I was talking recently to a friend of your who is certainly an expert. His name has slipped my memory for the moment.' Again Wintson's heart stirred painfully. It was inconceivable that this was anything other than a reference to Syme. Bu Syme was no only dead, he was abolished, an unperson." (130)
This interaction with O'Brien is a very interesting one, because in the few sentences he utters to Winston, he can be sure that O'Brien is on the same page as he.
It is unclear if O'Brien actually forgot Syme's name or if he just has to act like he did, but either way, the mention of him is a direct reach toward Winston to show him that they're on the same side.
"'Did you ever happen to hear an old rhyme that begins Orange and lemons, say the bells of St. Clement's?'
Again O'Brian nodded. With a sort of grave cortesy he completed the stanza:
'Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St Clement's,
You owe me three farthings, say the bells of St. Martin's,
Then will you pay me? say the bells of Old Bailey,
When I grow rich, say the bells of Shoreditch'" (147).
This ryhme is interesting to me because Winston seems to make a big deal out of it. I think it might come up later in the story. Also, it is another glimpse of the past. I thought it was funny how Julia didn't even know what a lemon was.
I think the rhyme shows people's ability to grasp knowledge from the past, even though it seems pretty irrelevant. Though most other information didn't make it past the Revolution, this one rhyme seemed to survive. It also shows that O'Brian is somehow connected to the past, because he can remember it very clearly. What else could O'Brian remember?
"Thus history is continually rewritten. [It]... is as necessary to the stability of the regime as the work of repression and espionage carried out by the Ministry of Love... For when it has been recreated in whatever shape is needed at the moment, then this new version is the past, and no different past can have existed." (176)
Yes, Mr. Golding, I did think about Mencius at this point. Because in the Analects that we read for class, there was the story of Ox Mountain, in which the trees on the mountain were continually (oh, word choice) chopped off, altering the fertile mountain to a desolate peak. And after time, with the continual alterations, people forgot that the mountain had ever been productive and simply thought of it as barren. (And then on to analogizing criminals...)
Then, let's link this to 1984. The recurrent alteration of the past is a lot like cutting down trees; they are vital to the identity of the truth (or the mountain, as it were). But if the identity is repeatedly changed, then the truth becomes something different in the eyes of the observers simply because no one can remember what it was before the changes.
"The fragment of coral, a tiny crinkle of pink like a sugar rosebud from a cake, rolled across the mat.(pg. 184)
For a while, the coral inside of the glass hemisphere was like a refuge to Winston, a sign that there was this other world in Mr. Charrington's shop, magical and undiscovered. The shattering of the paperweight, then is like the obliteration of the sanctuary that Winston has sheltered himself under. It's the destruction of something unique and long-lost to the society. I also thought it was strange how the member of the Thought Police could feign being Mr. Charrington for such a long time, without disrupting Winston, and without Winston knowing.
reading 5-27:
"The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to take part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in. Within 30 seconds any pretense was always unnecessary. A hideous ecstasy of fear.. ..seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current..."(pg 16)
I thought this quote was interesting because at first I thought that most of the members of the Party were pressured into thinking a certain opinion, and that they were so worried they'd get killed if they didn't pretend to agree with everyone, which is why they went along with the others. But from this quote, you can tell that the Two Minutes Hate has a powerful way of taking over the Party members conscience.
reading 70-87:
"Apart from the bloody stump, the hand was so completely whitened as to resemble a plaster cast. He kicked the thing into the gutter, and then, to avoid the crowd, turned down a side street to the right."(pg.72)
This quotes gives you an idea of how much the Party has affected its people. I'm sure that before Winston was a member of the Party, his reaction to the disconnected hand laying on the ground would be a bit different. To Winston, this was no big deal, which is why he transferred his thought to avoiding traffic.
reading 88-103
"What made it sit at the edge of the lonely wood, and pour its music into nothingness? He wondered whether after all if there was a microphone hidden somewhere near."(pg.103)
This passage reminded me of a phrase I once heard about character: "Character is what you do when nobody is watching." Winston has lost faith in believing that people do good things not only because they know people are watching. It surprised me that Winston was so curious toward the bird chirping, innocently.
reading 113-47
"They can't get inside you. If you can feel that staying human is worth while, even if it can't have any result whatever, you've beaten them."(pg.138)
The Party can make you say or do pretty much anything, but the one thinf they don't have control over is what you feel. Reading this passage changed my mind about the "brainwashed" debate. I agree with anyone who said that the Party member weren't brainwashed. I think that the Party's goal is to get inside of you and have everyone programmed to think a certain way. It's evident from this passage though, that Winston. Julia, and probably many other members aren't giving in to the
Party.
Reading (113-147)
"I tell you that the brotherhood exists, but I cannot tell you whether it numbers a hundred members, or ten million. From your personal knowledge you will never be able to say that it numbers even as many as a dozen (pg. 144.)"
Once again, this quote has me thinking is everyone involved in the brotherhood? If everyone is kept in the dark, isn't is possible that everyone is just pretending to fit in? I think George Orwell is even hinting at it by telling the reader that the brotherhood could consist of anywhere between a dozen and tens of millions of people. We will have to find out...
Reading 70-87
"Nobody ever escaped detection, and nobody ever failed to confess. When once you had succumbed to thoughtcrime it was certain that by a given date you would be dead." (87)
Winston's thoughts here illustrate his own sense of fatalism, or the doctrine that all events are fated to happen. This sense of passivity is his one great weakness, as shown here, and the quote suggests foreshadowing... ambiguously, of course, because the conventional reader doesn't expect to see the protagonist caught...
Reading 113-147
[Having to do with Hate Week]
"As though to harmonize with the general mood, the rocket bombs had been killing larger numbers of people than usual... There were further angry demonstrations, Goldstein was burned in effigy, hundreds of copies of the poster of the Eurasian soldier were torn down and added to the flames, and a number of shops were looted in the turmoil" (124).
First of all, the casual way in which "usual" rocket bomb deaths are referenced is slightly disconcerting. Also, it seems extremely timely that the sudden spike of fatalities coincides with Hate Week. With all the insinuations and allusions to the war being controlled by the government, it begs the question whether this was orchestrated by the Party. This leads to the paradox that, if this is true, the Party has no qualms with sacrificing large numbers of their own citizens in order to keep the rest of the population in their domination.
reading 148-185
"...such acts as raping, looting, the slaughter of children, the reduction of whole populations to slavery, and reprisals against prisoners which extend even to boiling and burying alive, are looked upon as normal, and, when they are committed by one's own side and not by the enemy, meritorious." (pg.153)
This passage surprised and disturbed me. How can any of those crimes be considered normal? I wasn't sure what meritorious meant, so when I looked it up, and found that it meant "praiseworthy" I was even more shocked. For members of the party, who were born into it, like Julia, I can somewhat understand how they might have been raised to believe that acts such as raping are considered normal. As for the older members, such as Winston, I am shocked that they don't find this extremely odd.
"His voice had grown almost dreamy...He is not pretending, thought Winston; he is not a hypocrite; he believes every word he says...There was no idea that he had ever had, or could have, that O'Brien had not long ago known, examined, and rejected. His mind CONTAINED Winston's mind. But in that case how could it be true that O'Brien was mad? It must be he, Winston, who was mad." (211).
One thing that I've noticed about this book is that it has the ability to talk about concepts that would normally seem impossible (or insane) but through explanation, seem to make a tiny bit of sense. The impact of O'Brien's method on Winston intrigues me--and terrifies me. Winston is starting to become uncertain about things like his own sanity. And his thought process is actually logical. O'Brien has had the TIME to think this through! So why can't Winston be wrong? But then again, if Winston can be so easily "brainwashed," why couldn't O'Brien have been brainwashed in the exact same way? Okay, so his emotions are genuine...but what is the reason behind these emotions?
Reading 186-215
"[Winston] hardly thought of Julia. He could not fix his mind on her. He loved her and would not betray her; but that was only a fact, known as he knew the rules of arithmetic" (189).
Winston's love of Julia is being thrown into question again. In his time of crisis, he can't even concentrate on her. He knows he won't betray her, but not with conviction, just as a petty fact. The simile with the rules of arithmetic seems significant, because of the repeated use of "2 + 2" as a symbol for psychological manipulation. Apparently, arithmetic is a malleable (oh, vocab word) principle... and this is what Winston compares his love for Julia to.
"But there had been a moment- he did not know how long, thirty seconds, perhaps- of luminous certainty, when each new suggestion of O'Brien's had filled up a patch of emptiness and become absolute truth, and when two and two could have been three as easily as five, if that were what was needed." (page 213)
This quote seems to describe the mindset O'Brien is trying to teach Winston, and the mindset Big Brother's regime wants everyone to have. It made me wonder whether everyone else (aside from the few other "thought-criminals") thinks exactly like that, and whether Winston will eventually conform to this method of thought.
"She betrayed you, Winston. Immediately--unreservedly. I have seldom seen anyone come over to us so promptly." (pg. 213)
It was startling that assuming O' Brien was telling the truth, that Julia, the same person who conspired with Winston, would betray him. After all the time they spent secretly meeting and denouncing Big Brother, their bond was still tenuous, not firmly established. In fact, Julia never really loved Winston, in my opinion. She never seemed truly committed to all that Winston stood for. During the earlier parts of the book, there were clear signs that demonstrated how Julia was uncomprehending. She fell asleep while Winston was reading The Book, and never seemed focused on any of the deeper discussions surrounding overthrowing Big Brother. In many ways, it seemed like Julia was simply bored of the tedium of everyday life and Winston was something new, and it didn't really matter whether or not she believed or cared about Winston's uprising.
"''Down with Big Brother!' Yes, I said that! Said it over and over again, it seems. Between you and me, old man, I'm glad they got me before it went any further. Do you know what I'm going to say to them when I go up before the tribunal? 'Thank you,' I'm going to say, 'thank you for saving me before it was too late''" (page 193)
(Is that how the quotes are supposed to look?)
Winston predicted at the beginning of the book that someday the Parsons' children would turn their parents in, and he turned out to be right. But Winston also thought that Parson would never disappear because he seemed to completely trust the party and be brainwashed. It still seems that Parson still has these qualities, even though he admits to committing thoughtcrime, since he wants to thank the party for "saving him." For this reason, it doesn't seem to me that Parsons will be vaporized, even if he has been arrested for (and will ultimately confess to) thoughtcrime.
"[Winston] had never loved [O'Brien] so deeply as at this moment...the old feeling, that at bottom it did not matter whether O'Brien was a friend or an enemy, had come back." (p. 208)
Although Winston is currently being held up at the Ministry of Love for his supposed "refusal" to submit his mind to the Party's control, perhaps Winston is truly impacted by the Party's doctrines more than we actually think. For example, in accordance with "doublethink", Winston views O'Brien - a man who is causing him interminable pain and suffering at the Ministry of Love - as an enemy but simultaneously as a friend who he loves and respects. So, isn't Winston proving himself to be a true Party follower underneath his tough, rebellious exterior?
"An oblong slip of newspaper had appeared between O'Brian's fingers... It was a photograph, and there was no question of its identity. It was the photograph...For only an instant it was before his eyes, then it was out of sight again. But he had seen it, unquestionably he had seen it!
...'It exists!' he cried.
'No," said O'Brian" (203-204).
Before I say anything else, I have to admit, this is the absolutely most uncomfortable part of the book. I actually sat in front of the book, and started wondering if maybe it didn't exist. It was MINDBLOWING. It bothers me just trying to put my doubts into words, and that's why I chose this quote to share.
O'Brian keeps pushing his ideas on Winston, and it's amazing how Winston still has his version of the truth in his head. Before actually experiencing what it was like in the Ministry of Love, I doubted the Party's ability to force their beliefs on everyone. After this, I know for sure that I wouldn't stand a chance.
"He thought, 'If I could save Julia by doubling my own pain, would I do it? Yes, I would.' But that was merley an intellectual decision, taken because he knew he ought to take it. He did not feel it. In this place you could not feel anything, except pain and the fore-knowledge of pain. Besides, was it possible, when you were actually suffering it, to wish for any reason whatever that your own pain should increase? But that question was not answerable yet (pg. 197)"
This passage talks about Julia and Winston's relationship, something I'm very curious about. Again, George Orwell keeps the reader in suspense. One is not sure whether Winston now feels an obligation for some reason to take the pain for Julia or he really feels for her, and would put her over almost anything.
"'Look me in the eyes. What country is Oceania at war with?'...'I [Winston] don't remember.'[O'Brien]'Oceania is at war with Eastasia. Do you remember now?'[Winston]'yes.'"
This right here is Winston being brainwashed. This is even more proof that he is not under the influence of the government. O; Brien keeps saying that Winstonis insane. It's the other way around, though. O'Brien and the government have convinced themselves that their lies are true, and they are brainwashed.
"Who denounced you?" said Winston.
"It was my little daughter," said Parsons with a sort of doleful pride. "She listened at the keyhole. Heard what I was saying and nipped off to the patrols the very next day. Pretty smart for a nipper of seven, eh? I don't bear her any grudge for it. In fact I'm proud of her. It shows I brought her up in the right spirit anyway."
(page 193)
Although, children betraying their own parents in the Party had been discussed earlier in the book, I was still surprised by how calm and careless Parsons was when he told Winston. I thought when it was being discussed earlier, that it was in a more general sense, and when it came to your OWN son or daughter, one would expect loyalty, instead of having the importance of the Party come first.
"He pushed the picture out of his mind. It was a false memory. He was troubled by false memories occasionally. They did not matter so long as one know them for what they were. Some things had happened, other had not happened." (Page 244)
This quote was when is became absolutely definite to me that Winston had become one of the Party. A fond memory he would have once treasured and held onto, he decides is false and never occured at all. This is exactly what the party teaches: A memory from a time before the party does not exist because there was never a time without the Party. For Winston to say this in his own mind shows that there was no rebellion left in him.
"He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother." (245)
I don't like the ending at all. It is very unsatisfying. Winston converts to Big Brother just before he dies like the other captives from Ministry of Love. What is the purpose of this book if Winston doesn't die hating Big Brother? Basically 1984 is just one of the accounts of lured prisoners, "rebels" of the Party. Under the Thought Police's watchful supervisions, Oceania's own "rebels" are developed with leeways given by the Thought Police themselves. It is ironical and depressing.
"He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother" (p245)
I really disliked the ending of this book. I really can't believe that Winston would become just like another member of the Party. It almost seems as if his stay at the Ministry of Love cause his brain to shut off completely. The Winston in the beginning of the book is nothing like the Winston at the end.
"If you are a man, Winston, you are the last man. Your kind is extinct; we are the inheritors. Do you understand that you are ALONE? You are outside history, you are non-existent."
This quote is interesting in that it references to Winston as the last "man" or human being. Does this mean O'Brien considers the party "machines" or inhuman? Do these twisted creatures that resemble the skeleton of humankind really "inherit" the earth? By referring to Winston as only one who possessed the "spirit of Man", does this mean that George Orwell thinks the rest of these characters as abstractions and mutations of the fundamentals that makes us human? When Winston submits to the party's wishes, does symbolize the end of the last human being on earth? Does feelings, emotions, and intelligence as we know it cease to exist in the world of Ingsoc?
sorry, that was pg 222.
"'They can't get inside you,' she had said. But they could get inside you. 'What happens to you here is forever," O'Brian had said. That was a true word" (239).
I think this was the point where I had lost all hope for Winston (and all hope for mankind???). Up until here, Winston only agreed with statements like these when he was forced to, and even then he couldn't succeed in faking it. This was so startling because he just flat out admitted defeat. I admit I still had the smallest prayer that this was all a ploy, but obviously not. =(
"How easy it all was! Only surrender, and everything else followed. It was like swimming against a current that swept you however hard you struggled, and then suddenly deciding to turn round and go with the current instead of opposing it."
Although I hate the idea of Winston giving in to the Party, I thought this was a really accurate comparison. Until the very end of Winston's torture, I had faith in him to overcome the Party. I thought that Winston had the mental strength to avoid letting O'Brien brainwash him.
"She put a vast arm round his shoulder and drew him toward her, breathing beer and vomit into his face.
'Wass your name, dearie?' she said.
'Smith,' said Winston.
'Smith?' said the woman. 'Thass funny. My name's Smith too. Why,; she added sentimentally, 'I might be your mother!'
She might, thought Winston." (pg. 188)
Reading this passage brought back deja vu from all of our discussions during class about whether Winston is brainwashed or not. The very idea that he is considering a random woman, clearly very intoxicated, to be his mother proves that many of his memories about his mother have truly been wiped away. It made me realy sad that Winston does not remember his mother at all, even though we know that she left his life many years ago. The passage also made me wonder how the woman got a hold of this alcohol - I didn't realize how strong Victory Gin was - and what exactly she did to end up in prison.
here's my quote that's long overdue...sorry!
"O cruel, needless misunderstanding!...Two gin-scented tears trickeled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother" (last pg. 245!!!)
Sorry to be really un-original here, but I just loved how Orwell phrased the last remaining words of 1984. These were definetly well thought out and left me somewhat satisfied. Winston is surely defeated and as we've said in class, the only hope remains in the proles..because Winston is now brainwashed. This was his only option though if he wanted to remain living. I just feel he gave up too easily, and should have been more careful with whom he shared his open feelings with. Julia, being one of them. And of course O'Brien. I am slightly mad at Winston though, because everything that has happened to him...is his fault.
=/
"Always we shall have the heretic here at our mercy, screaming with pain, broken up, contemptible--and in the end utterly penitent, saved from himself, crawling to our feet of his own accord. That is the world that we are preparing, Winston. A world of victory after victory, triumph after triumph after triumph, an endless pressing, pressing, pressing upon the nerve of power." (221)
I thought this was outstanding that O'Brien could tell Winston the horrors of the world to come with a straight face. It just shows even further how completely the inner party think they are in the right. When we, with our views of the outside world, can see that they are out of their minds.
I also thought this quote was interesting because it had a sort of metaphor in it, that I saw, but I'm not sure if I'm reading too much into it. "an pressing, pressing, pressing upon the nerve of power." reminded me of the pressing of the nerve in Winston ankle where the ulcer is. It was bother him through out the book even when he did very low energy activities, just like the party was too.
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