1984 Blog 9

Winston was tortured in various ways, one of the most common was through shock "therapy". But even before he was at that stage of torture, Winton was locked inside of a room sometimes by himself, and sometimes with other people. He had no food or drink, and a telescreen was set up in there to restrain from any sudden movements. Winston tried to move around from his uncomfortable position, or he tried to talk to one of his comrades, but the telescreen would yell at him. Winston had no idea what time of day it was and lost count of time, so he remained confused as to what was going on outside his world and even how long he was going to be held there. The shock therapy was used to reform Winston and make him believe what O'Brien wants him to. The Party only wants the right answers, but Winston is told not to lie or anything. But, while he tries to remain honest, if he says what he's really thinking, O'Brien electrocutes him. The combination of the confinement and the shocking have made Winston weak, and when he looks at himself in the mirror he sees how emaciated and disgusting he looks. To me, I felt like Winston really did feel like he didn't exist. After this point he is given more food and he becomes fatter and a lot healthier looking. This is because he is weakening to the ideals of the Party, yet he has not denounced Julia. The last part of his torture was with the rats in the cage that was going to be put on his face. Deathly afraid of rats, Winston denounced Julia and wanted her to get the punishment instead, and he actually meant it. This was the final act of torture for Winston, he had been completely broken down and had betrayed his innermost thoughts and feelings to the Party. I think the broader message of the book is that people may say they'll do anything in the name of freedom and justice, and they may think other people are just conforming to the world, but when it comes down to it, no on really knows how they will react. Though some individuals seem strong spirited, individualistic, etc, everyone can be broken down.

1984 Blog 8

Goldstein says that in a society, no matter where, there is always a high, middle, and low. The high have all the power and receive the best goods of the society. The goal of the middle is to switch places with the high. This means that they strive to fight for the civil rights of equality of the lower, but once they are successful they drop the cause of the lower. Throughout time, the lower has remained the constant fighter for freedom and equality. They have been the stems of the civil rights movement, but though they earn some rights, they never move up. They usually remain the same. This could alter the way Winston thinks about the proles. He has put all of his faith in the proles, but if Goldstein is correct, then the proles will just remain the proles. There is no hope within them. This history kind of makes sense to me, but not totally. I do believe that throughout history there have been definite classes of a high, middle, and lower. And I think that it will always be that way because there is always someone less fortunate than you, it’s just the way the world works as sad as it is. But I don’t think that the low have always remained at the low. I think they have actually accomplished a lot.

1984 Blog 7

In Winston's dream, everything took place in the glass paperweight he bought. He identified the dome of sky as being the surface of the glass of the paperwieight, and inside that dome was a soft light where if you looked you would be able to see an "interminable distance" (Orwell 160). In the dream Winston felt his life stretching out before him. He then recalled his mother and how she did a certain gesture with her arm that a Jewish woman had done thirty years later while trying to protect she and a young boy from the bullets which were being shot at them. This triggers a memory about his mother, last time he ever saw his mother. He was a young boy without his father, be he had already disappeared, but had only his mother and younger sister. Once his father disaooeared his mother seemed to lose spirit and seemed to anticipate something happening to her sooner or later. his younger sister was always sick, and there wasn't very much to eat, yet Winston was very selfish with the food. He would constantly whine and ask why there wasn't enough to eat, and he would also steal food from his little sister. There was a chocolate ration that was issued, and Wiston's mother tried to divide the ration they received into equal parts, but Winston got upset that he didn't have more, so he took his younger sister's and ran into the basement. Feeling guilty he whet back upstairs and his mother and sister weren't there and he never saw them again. I think Winston is troubled by his past and he feels guilty for his mother and sister's death. He begins to notice that the protective, loving gesture that the Jewish woman and his mother used were of the same significance. Though his mother had nothing left to give him, but instead embraced him, even though it didn't change the situation. The Jewish woman clasped the little boy in her arms as if her arms would avert the bullets, though she knew they wouldn't. The party tried to convince its inhabitants that human impulses didn't matter because whether they did them or not they would still taken away; their history completely erased. Winston makes the point that the people of a generation ago governed their lives by unquestioned loyalties such as forming individual relationships, a tear, an embrace, and a word to a dying man. All of these things were actually valued. I think Winston is beginning to understand emotions that he had cut off before, he is allowing himself to be like the people of a generation ago (and the proles who have kept their emotions intact) and valuing human life. He states that those with emotions are human beings because they have compassion within them.

1984 Blog 6

Winston seems to know that he is going to follow the summons, wishes, and expectations of O'Brien. He has been waiting for the day when O'Brien would send him a message of some sort. This was predestined by the dream Winston had in the beginning of the book. Winston describes his procession as a rebel, first as a secretive thought, then writing in his diary, but now he says he will go through with an act, because his words will now be actions. The foreshadowing that is taking place is that there is something happening with O'Brien, he is the link to something important. We don't know if that is good or bad, but he is an essential and important character in the book. I also think that Winston knows he is going to die, he thinks that if he is going to commit these acts against the party, especially since he knows that since O'Brien has contacted him he will do something more drastic against the Party, he knows he will eventually get caught. I think O'Brien is really mysterious, I don't really understand him or his intentions. He could trick Winsotn by gaining his trust, I wouldn't be surprised if he is an infiltrator or something trying to get Winston imprisoned or killed.

1984 Blog 5

Julia and Winston are similar because they obviously share a dislike, or if I may boldly add, a hate for the Party and Big Brother. They both have rebelled against the Party, and don’t feel any shame for doing so. They both believe that their relationship is a political act against the party because it’s their own way of rebelling. Julia and Winston both agree that the Party is trying to suppress its citizens by controlling their sexual appetite. Since the sexual drive is one of the strongest instincts of the human race, Julia points out that people can go crazy without having it. Once the Party controls the sex, they control the individual. Also sex uses up energy, but the Party wants everyone to have lots of energy in order to participate in communal activities, or anything that supports the party like parades or Two Minute Hate Speeches. Julia and Winston don’t agree on the idea that they are able to lead the double lives they are without consequences in the future. Winston believes that though he believes in rebelling against the party, he is already a dead man walking because in time the Party will figure out their plan and kill or imprison them. He is only enjoying it while it lasts. He is afraid of death. Julia doesn’t think the same way because she believes that they can lead both lives. In public they can act like everyone else, but in private they can rebel all they want. She has been rebelling against the Party for some time now and she doesn’t think that she will get caught. She might have a small thought in the back of her head about getting caught, but she is too focused on the present and embracing being alive that she pushes it out of her head.

1984 Blog 4

The conversation that Winston has with Julia is similar to that of the conversation that John has with Mustapha Mond. Mustapha Mond says that in their society they need to have things controlled, no one can go around with loose emotions. He also says that they flood the body with a surrogate of rage and murder, but it doesn’t contain all the inconveniences. John then goes on to reply that he likes and wants the inconveniences. He claims the right to be unhappy, to fear, to feel danger, and to know god. All of these concepts are opposing to those of the World State. This conversation is similar to that of Winston and Julia’s because Winston is also claiming the right to be impure and good; concepts which are different ideals than that of the Party. Winston is saying that everyone in the Party is against pleasurable sex, having desire, and not always being controlled. He hates that about the Party because people aren’t really like that, especially after Julia says that a lot of the members of the inner party, if given the chance, would have sex more often and not only to procreate. It’s interesting to note that both of these books about the dystopian society have a similar conversation.