Blog #5: Pages 220-End

I can not believe the ending to this book. I’m actually pretty perturbed. So O’Brien continued to interrogate and torture Winston, but for some reason Winston continually thought of him as some sort of God who was so amazing and could be looked up to. Even when he had lost 25 kilograms from starvation and was looking at himself in the mirror, he still admired O’Brien. He began to be put through sessions of ‘therapy’ almost by O’Brien where he would be tortured into thinking like doublethink. At one point he actually thought that 2 plus 2 was five because that is how the party felt. Eventually, they took him into room 101 which is supposed to put you through your worst nightmare. For Winston that was having rats eat his face. The turning point though was when they were so close to him he felt he would pass out, he told O’Brien to do it to Julia instead. That was when the ministry knew they had broken him and he could be released. He went on to live his life with money, a job, a lot of alcohol, and lost memories, eventually leading up to him truly loving big brother. I can’t think of a text to text reference for this last section because it is so messed up. I don’t think I have ever read a book that has made me feel this weird about the potential of human beings and how they can completely change others. This text is definitely a classic because it not only was written forever ago, but has ideas in it that have persisted into future literature and literary references. Big Brother is mentioned quite often, but not only that - futuristic totalitarian societies are very prevalent in stories now a days. I think at the time 1984 was definitely one of the first books to create a futuristic fictional society like this and it was so crazy at the time, but now people think about these possibilities every day. A person to text reference though is impossible in this section. I think that the thing that really bugged me about it was by the end of the book, when Winston was taken away from the Ministry of Love he began to have memories of the past, but he told himself that they were unreal and he had made them up, and he truly believed it. He became the exact person he had not wanted to become, a true follower of the party, an un intelligent human being - no longer a man - who believed what he was told, a believer of Big Brother.

Blog #4: Pages 183 - 220

At this point in the story Winston and Julia were reading the brotherhood book in their rented flat on a normal afternoon when they fell asleep. When they woke though, something seemed off about the time as if they had slept too long or something. All of a sudden they were talking and a voice appeared in the room saying they were dead. A look behind the picture showed a telescreen hidden there. It turns out that the lonely vintage store owner was actually a member of the thought police and before Winston and Julia could do anything they were taken in by the thought police and taken to the ministry of love. Winston was in cells for what could have been hours or days, there were no windows in the ministry. He kept running into people that he knew while in the cells though. Then oddly enough O’Brien walked in. He was taken into an interrogation room and O’Brien seemed to be in charge. Following this was days and possibly weeks of torture, confession, and emersion into the way of Big Brother. A text to text reference for this section actually might be to the book the host. In that book a ‘soul’ from another planet would overtake a human’s body. But this soul would still know the memories and some of the thoughts of the human they were taking over. When Winston begins to be interrogated and changed into a person loyal to the party, it’s as though he has two personalities. One of them is straining to stay sane and alive inside of him but the ministry of love is creating another person inside of him which eventually changed him all together. As a person to text reference this part actually scared me a lot, the fact that at any moment this society could completely change a person from the inside out was weird, but still slightly realistic.

Blog #3: Pages 125- 183

Winston was right! There is definitely a brotherhood and O’Brien is in charge of it! Unfortunately though it isn’t this underground system and uprising like he had thought. It is a very intricate system of people who all hate the party and big brother and no one ever knows more than 12 or so people within the brotherhood at one time. You basically have to commit and dedicate your entire life to being a part of the brotherhood once a part of it and Winston and Julia are now officially part of it. They worship Goldstein as the leader of the brotherhood and he created a book for everyone to read that actually explains the past correctly and how the party really works. Winston is given a copy of this book (though they are very hard to come by) and begins to read it. In the world of the party though, during hate week a transition is made from being allies with Eastasia to being at war with them again - and as usual the population eats up this information as if it had never been any different. The only real connection again that I can make to another text during this part of the story would probably be to the hunger games because in the third book they create that society that is against the capital so they can revolt. However their society is more interlinked and actually creates a sort of army that is well known. The brotherhood is more methodical and although it may take longer that way - it is probably smarter in the end. I personally really like where this book is going because even though it may seem like the party could never be overthrown within Winston’s lifetime - the brotherhood gives a glimmer of hope in the totalitarian society that has emerged.

Blog #2: Pages 65-125

This story has actually taken an interesting turn. The woman with the dark hair the Winston suspected of being a spy and thought that she had been following him, secretly slipped a note into his hand that read “I love you.” This was a huge shock to Winston, but they managed to actually talk to each other for about 10 seconds deciding on a meeting place in the woods. After they met once, they continued to schedule secret meetings, or to run into each other on a busy street. Always being incredibly careful of where/when they met they became masterminds at evading the party. Julia (the girl) is 26 years old and hate the part and everything about it. Not enough to really do anything except small rebellion though. Winston and Julia eventually rent out a house on the top of an old antique store that intrigues him and they make that their new hiding place. As their relationship progresses, Winston realizes he now has something to live for. This book actually is starting to remind me of fahrenheit 451. There was one passage where Winston mentioned the fact that they burnt all of the old books and only allow people to own regulation safe books and that reminded me of the futuristic book burning society in the book Fahrenheit 451. I think that this book could actually be very realistic. Although now a days it may seem almost impossible to create a society similar to this one - once the initial war and revolution phase was over, a society like that in 1984 would be very easy to upkeep because of the vast monitoring and past altering conditions.

Blog Post # 1 (pages 1-64)

What has happened so far in this book is that a man named Winston Smith (or rather comrad smith) is living in the time of 1984 - at least that is his estimate of the date. The society that has evolved in the London area is this totalitarian society where one man, Big Brother, is in charge of everything. Thoughts are controlled by scaring humans into conforming to one another. Everyone is watched through telescreens in and outside of your own home. Your own children will more often than not betray you if you seem suspicious. Everyone is expected to conform to one another and be in awe of this reigning power of Big Brother. The past doesn’t exist because it is constantly changing. The past is altered to make the present seem perfect up to the point where no one knows what the real truth or the real past is, they just learn to accept what they are told. But Winston seems to be the only one against this way of life. He begins to write a diary (a thought crime punishable by death) to explain everything that happens in this way of life and how he feels about it. This book so far is actually relatively similar to that of the hunger games. The land is ruled by one overpowering man (though theirs is a president) but there are some that are way more privileged than others (like the different officers), and there are those that are screwed and in poverty like district 12.. I could totally see a connection between these two books. I think the biggest surprise or shock for me in this book was discovering the language of newspeak. The fact that their dictionary is proud of getting rid of words every year instead of adding words is disturbing. The government is not only controlling their lives and their minds, but also their form of communication - it gives me this eery feeling that they are all being turned into these non empathetic type of robots.. I could never imagine a world like this one, it makes me glad I live in a democracy.