Thursday, September 8, 2011
For Tuesday
Read the first section of 1984. Keep a notebook or computer with you as you read, and note places (with page numbers) where you have a response or question. When you finish, write a comment to this post with your preliminary impressions of the novel so far. Avoid generalizations in your comment ("it was good," "I hated it," "I thought it was cool.") Instead, write thoughtfully and informally about a specific moment or idea in the text.
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I thought that the first section of 1984 was very intriguing and somewhat disturbing. There are three aspects of this section that I found particularly troubling. One of them was the early conditioning of children to be Junior Spies. When Winston went to help Mrs. Parsons, I was astonished by her children's aggressiveness and hostility. Also, I thought it was shocking when the children begged their mother to go see the hanging of a person. These belligerent children represent the future of Oceania, and clearly shows the success of Big Brother's totalitarian regime in controlling the youth. Another disconcerting aspect of 1984 was the new language, Newspeak. Since I love English and language, I was offended when Syme said to Winston that there was beauty in the destruction of words. This eradication of all language is another example of the power of Big Brother; he is repressing any freedom of speech or creativity. Finally, the last disturbing part is the mutability of the past. I found it interesting to read about Winston's job, which is rewriting the past to appease Big Brother. Along with Winston, I can't help but wonder why it is so crucial to erase the past and alter the truth. Overall, I thought that the first section of 1984 was fascinating and I am excited to see what happens in the rest of the novel.
ReplyDeleteAs I read the first 100 pages of 1984 I couldn't help but keep thinking about how lonely and miserable Winston's life is. The worst part of The Party's rule is that they have so much control over people that their lives are consumed by it and they aren't able to foster relationships with each other. On page 50 Winston refers to Syme as a friend but then changes his mind and says "Perhaps "friend" was not exactly the right word. You did not have friends nowadays". Knowing the Winston lives all alone, reading this section was really sad. I also was surprised to find out that Winston had a wife. He doesn't mention her until page 66, and she is mentioned in passing. It is made clear that he never really cared for her. The way Winston describes the process of marriage is so unromantic and defeats the purpose. I also thought it was sad how the society lacks family values. In the section where Winston goes to Mrs. Parson's house the disconnect between her and her children is really obvious and it is driven by The Party. Mrs. Parson lives in fear that her children will report her to The Party and that she will be killed. Winston goes as far as to say "Nearly all children nowadays were horrible" (25) because they are so obsessed with serving The Party. Overall I have found the book to be really interesting and I look forward to reading what happens next.
ReplyDeleteWhile I was relatively aware of the premise of 1984, I was not prepared for how engaged I would become after a few pages of perseverance. The alternative-reality taking place in the future is frightening. At this point, it is still difficult to shake off the idea of Thought Police, and doublethink and someone over my shoulder telling me I’m not trying hard enough to touch my toes. What interests me the most is the relationship Orwell highlights between memory and the past and facts. Winston is somewhat aware of the rewriting of the past, but that does not stop him from questioning even his own recollections. How can he, alone, be so aware? When he thinks about it, even his existence will one day vanish from collective awareness. He knows he might still be alive when it happens. Memories are brief instances in our past that stay in our consciousness, even if we are not always reminded of them. To be robbed of them all, to only live like Katharine, as a “Human sound track” is to question the very possibility of every having known anything. Maybe we just adopted our pasts to suit our presents. I am really taken with the so-called “impossibility of knowing” (74) life before the Revolution, and am quite curious to see what Orwell does to the past and to memory in the future of the novel.
ReplyDeleteInitially when I first began 1984 I was worried that I would have a hard time engaging with the novel, however after a few pages in Orwell transitions the reader into this society that is very strange and unreal. The particular section that intrigued me the most was learning about Winston's job in the Ministry of Truth because it furthered showed just how much power the Party has in this society. Winston explains, "A number of the Times which might, because of changes in political alignment, or mistaken prophecies uttered by Big Brother, have been rewritten a dozen times still stood on the files bearing its original date, and no other copy existed to contradict it" (41). The particular quote is, in a sense, scary to think about the Party having so much control over the people that it can essentially make up, or erase the past. This leaves the people of this society without rich culture or background because according to the Party the past did not exist. I am intrigued to see in this next section whether or not there are others like Winston who long to know more about the truth.
ReplyDeleteBefore I comment I just want to say that the book I been reading from is a different book so the pages number may be a bit off.
ReplyDeleteThe beginning of 1984 definitely made me think a lot. The society that is being described in the novel is much different that the world we live in so I found a lot of the things a bit confusing. For example, the idea of the telescreen and newspeak are so strange I didn't exactly know what they were, or what to make of them. One passage that caught my attention quite early in the novel was the explanation of the "Two Minutes Hate". (pgs 13-16) It was interesting and confusing to see Winston involved because he seemed as though he disliked and disagreed with the Party. However, I found that his involvement in what he calls a "frenzy" is simply a way to survive and fit in. Actually everything he does seems to be a survival tactic.
Another thing that grabbed my attention was the concept of doublethink and the alteration of history throughout the entire first part of the book. On pg. 35 there is an example of how people in this society must believe what they are told when Winston explains how they have been to war with multiple countries. Once again people seem to be better off excepting the lies rather than challenging them. The party has control over everything. However, what is interesting is that they do this with very little rules. It is as if the lack of rules make people scared to do anything in fear of breaking an unwritten rule.
Initially I was skeptical about if I would enjoy this book but after reading the first 10 pages or so I quickly became less worried. From the first section I have seen that knowledge is power and freedom is essential to keep us from becoming mindless and ignorant. The whole backward society with Big Brother ruling and everyone looking to catch someone being dishonest to the party is not unlike the times of Hitler and Mao. In those regimes people were made to believe that the men and party in power were always right and anyone who questioned them had to be "vaporized." Although I have discovered many interesting themes in the first section the one that I think is most relevant to our class is that of the power of language. On Pages 53-54 Syme says
ReplyDelete"Dont you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thought crime 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 subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten."
The importance of language to express oneself, to motivate, to destroy, etc have been paramount in the world history. Although many of the other measures that Big Brother uses to control the populace are terrible, the destruction of language would be the most disruptive in the long-run. If people have no way of expressing themselves then they will remain aloof and ignorant to the fact that they are exploited, as is the case with the proles. Im looking forward to how the plot develops and what other themes and ideas we will discuss.
When I first began reading "1984" by George Orwell, I was totally confused and did not like it at all! However, once I got into the book, it was incredibly interesting. "1984" made me think about how technologically dependent our society is, and how scary it is to imagine our lives without the constant availability of the internet and cell phones. One of the most shocking things about this novel is how Winston constantly describes the forced use of technology and the complete lack of privacy that citizens in London of this era have. Except for the proles, everyone is forced to have their lives in the public eye, something that we so very much take for granted. We willingly post photos of ourselves on Facebook, and give out information of our addresses, cell phone numbers, and other information about our whereabouts like it's no big deal. If we take a step back, we realize that we are submitting ourselves to a world pretty similar to that described in "1984." A world in which technology controls us and gives no room to make our own decisions and propose our own ideas. By just reading the first hundred or so pages in this novel, I am already seeing the flaws in our society that media is submitting us to. I am really looking forward to finishing up this text to see if Winston will be "vaporized" for his questioning of Big Brother and everything that has changed in his society.
ReplyDeleteTo be frank, after the first few pages I was seriously contemplating just dropping the book and continuing on with my life. I persisted though, and was happily rewarded. George Orwell's accounts of what he believes the future will hold are surprisingly accurate.
ReplyDeleteTo begin, I appreciate Winston's character, and how he is a born leader. He doesn't like being watched, and seems much smarter than other townspeople. I am anxious to see how he grows and if others follow him in his belief that the Party needs to go.
Secondly, two passages stuck out in particular, and coincidentally they were right beside each other. On page 83 Orwell writes, "Stones are hard, water is wet, unsupported objects fall toward the earth's center." He adds, "Freedom is the freedom to say two plus two equals four. Once that is granted, all else follows." For some reason these two lines caused me to think how so many things are definite in this world, yet others are so unrestrained. I almost can't explain how it made me feel, but I was considerably astonished as to how much sense Orwell had made.
I do not typically enjoy fiction, and usually stray away from it, but I think I can find interest in Orwell's tale. I look forward to how the novel plays out as we get deeper into the plot.
Whats Truer That Truth?
ReplyDeleteWhats truer than truth? The story. History is not objective, it is the synthesis of viewpoints by those who have power and are trying to advance a certain agenda. The very language used in how historical events are described carries powerful imprints that we as readers interpret. There is nothing that is being done by the Ministry of Truth that is not being done by todays or any of yesteryear's media, the Ministry of Truth is just being more open than our current media. The debate that goes on in our society takes place in a very narrow bandwidth, and if one goes outside the that range of incredibly similar ideas they are called a heretic or crazy. Our current media selectively chooses to ignore or report on details by how they fit into the constructed narrative rather than whether or not they are true. That's why I think that one of the most fascinating things about this book is the party's quest to control the very thoughts of its members. The creation of a new language, INGSOC, allows the party to directly control the way that party members think; complete control over the frame of the debate. All the information that we process is filtered through how we see the world, which are also known as frames. However, the Party in 1984 goes beyond merely shifting a person's frames slightly; they literally make it impossible for debate to take place outside of the frame that they define. I think this book is a very useful tool for understanding the mechanics of fascism, specifically ur-fascism, and that it will help us understand how and why the public sphere is controlled.
Part one of “1984” by George Orwell has been an interesting read, as Winston’s character is progressively changing around the horrible lives of the people of London. Most interesting is Winston’s internal struggle. He is torn between giving in and accepting a life of falseness in which the government sabotages the minds of its citizens, or breaking loose and recognizing that Big Brother, the Party, and the Thought Police are hindering civilization. I hope that Winston will continue his research of the past, and that he can somehow will the Proles to rebel against civilization, because “Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious” (73).
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the reading, we first see Winston show signs of mixed emotions during a “two minutes hate,” in which the citizens riot and scream at a picture of Goldstein. “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” (15). Winston soon begins writing freely in a notebook, another rebellious move that the Party would surely punish him for doing. Eventually, he begins forming his own conclusions, for example, “the past, he reflected, had not merely been altered, it had been actually destroyed. For how could you establish even the most obvious facts when there existed no record outside your own memory?” (37). We also see the ineffectiveness of this government on page 50, when “At any given moment there was some necessary article which the Party shops were unable to supply.”
Orwell is perfectly describing a government in which the people are being controlled, and they are completely ignorant of the situation. It is interesting how so many people can be brainwashed, even to the point where “The only recognized purpose of marriage was to beget children for the service of the Party”, and even Winston’s own wife thought of sex as a duty. Still, I like how Winston is becoming so interested in antiques such as coral paperholders, and even contemplates living in the attic of the old man’s shop because it gives him the idea of being free. Maybe Winston will be able to spread his influence to other people around him, and continue to learn about the past that the Party works so hard to destroy.