This chapter starts out when Winston is walking around where all the proles live, because he wants to find someone who remembers before Big Brother came into power. The dialogue used between the proles is very familiar to us, because its "old speak" but they use their own kind of slang, for example they call the rockets "steamers."In this chapter we see the proles in a very different light, they are just as human as everyone else, and their world has changed far less than those in the party.
Winston meets quite an old man in a pub and buys him half a liter of beer hoping to get some useful information about the world before the party. Even though it seems like a waste of Winston's time, it advances the theme of the yearn for freedom. You can see how Winston wants to go back to a time before the party, it seems like he would even rather be a prole. The proles are as free now as they were before the revolution, and though life may not be as glittery as it was before, they live better lives than the party members. Proles are not afraid of the government, because the government has no reason to fear them, therefore they are more trustworthy than the governments own supporters.
The theme of The yearn for freedom is very prevalent in 1984 as so it is in America. "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free" is the quote on the statue of liberty, and it definitely catches the spirit of America, but it addresses the way winston feels exactly. Winston is very much like the immigrants seeking to come to America for a better life, but he is simply trying to be free of this dictatorship. the dialogue in this chapter advances the theme because Winston is desperate to find some sort of freedom and so far is not having any luck.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
chapter 7
In 1984 the Proles, or proletariats, are the people on the bottom of the food chain who do all the productive work in the society, yet they are not appreciated. The Proles are the only people in the society that are free to do whatever they like, because Big Brother does not consider them humans, they are equal to animals. Even though they are discriminated against, the proles seem to be the only people who can be trusted by the government, they do not have telescreens in there houses, nor do they get vaporized like the people inside the party. Frankly, I would rather be a prole.
The Proles live freely and without much care for what goes on within the party, simply because it hardly affects them. They never see shortages of razor blades of other house held items, because the government only uses this to distract party members from their mundane lives. Winston says "all hope [of ever having good lives and righteous government] is in the proles," I agree with him. If any party members organized a revolution, the thought police and patrols would swarm them instantly, because party members are constantly on camera. Proles however have the advantage of privacy, being seemingly harmless, not to mention they heavily outnumber the rest of the population.
The only way anything will get done in 1984 is if the proles revolt, and Winston sees and understands that. when you juxtapose the proles of 1984 and the work force of our nation they are quite similar. Proles do not have any say in politics, but to be honest, neither do we. We elect people to make decisions for us and elect the higher-ups. The only time anything gets done in our civilization is if the labor force and average people revolt, not violently, but really just make an uproar about the things they are unhappy with. The proles could overthrow the government with ease.
The Proles live freely and without much care for what goes on within the party, simply because it hardly affects them. They never see shortages of razor blades of other house held items, because the government only uses this to distract party members from their mundane lives. Winston says "all hope [of ever having good lives and righteous government] is in the proles," I agree with him. If any party members organized a revolution, the thought police and patrols would swarm them instantly, because party members are constantly on camera. Proles however have the advantage of privacy, being seemingly harmless, not to mention they heavily outnumber the rest of the population.
The only way anything will get done in 1984 is if the proles revolt, and Winston sees and understands that. when you juxtapose the proles of 1984 and the work force of our nation they are quite similar. Proles do not have any say in politics, but to be honest, neither do we. We elect people to make decisions for us and elect the higher-ups. The only time anything gets done in our civilization is if the labor force and average people revolt, not violently, but really just make an uproar about the things they are unhappy with. The proles could overthrow the government with ease.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
yucky chapter 6
After this chapter, I feel like I need a shower. Prostitution, forced marriges, loveless sex, the whole lot of things in this chapter make me want to wash my mouth out with soap...
Katharine, Winstons wife, was a hardcore party member, and lived her entire life for the party. Although they were married, there was no emotion in the relationship, it was purely procreative. The party tried to take all the pleasure out of sex, and make it only for haveing children, and for some people it worked. Katharine, what little we know about her, hated sex, she found it disgusting, and dreaded it yet baisically forced winston to do it. She would close her eyes and grit her teeth and prayed for it to be over with. Winston was also not very interested, he wanted not to be with her, and even attempted to stay celibate. He later had a "run in" with a prostitute, but found his experince to be less than enjoyable.
Prostitution is punishable by death to party members, and actually incoraged to proles. The anti-sex league is a group of people that discourages sex and spreads lies about what will happen if you do choose to have intercourse. When women are still young girls it is instilled upon them that sex is disgusting and not to be enjoyed, but merely to reproduce. They are told lies about what will happen if you have sex and fear everything about it.
It is surprising to view the contrast between our societies view on sex and that of 1984's. In America we glamorize it in the media, movies, TV shows, there is even an entire genre of books about sex. I think there should be some sort of happy medium, because there are far too many pregnant high-school students and single parents. The youth of both societies need to be told the truth about sex and showed the ramifications it leaves upon them and their entire community.
Katharine, Winstons wife, was a hardcore party member, and lived her entire life for the party. Although they were married, there was no emotion in the relationship, it was purely procreative. The party tried to take all the pleasure out of sex, and make it only for haveing children, and for some people it worked. Katharine, what little we know about her, hated sex, she found it disgusting, and dreaded it yet baisically forced winston to do it. She would close her eyes and grit her teeth and prayed for it to be over with. Winston was also not very interested, he wanted not to be with her, and even attempted to stay celibate. He later had a "run in" with a prostitute, but found his experince to be less than enjoyable.
Prostitution is punishable by death to party members, and actually incoraged to proles. The anti-sex league is a group of people that discourages sex and spreads lies about what will happen if you do choose to have intercourse. When women are still young girls it is instilled upon them that sex is disgusting and not to be enjoyed, but merely to reproduce. They are told lies about what will happen if you have sex and fear everything about it.
It is surprising to view the contrast between our societies view on sex and that of 1984's. In America we glamorize it in the media, movies, TV shows, there is even an entire genre of books about sex. I think there should be some sort of happy medium, because there are far too many pregnant high-school students and single parents. The youth of both societies need to be told the truth about sex and showed the ramifications it leaves upon them and their entire community.
chapter 5
"It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words." One of Winstons coworkers, named Syme, works destroying words and makeing them into newspeak beleives less words are more clear and will help better the nation. Syme is completely dedicated to the vocabulary of newspeak, and very much enjoys his work, he even takes it on his lunch break. Instead of haveing contradicting words like, good and bad, in newspeak there is only one such as, good and ungood. and instead of adverbs they simply add the word plus at the begining of the word.
I really disagree that useing more intricate words makes you seem less educated, but then again Im not in Winstons society. People who use grandiloquent language are usually more intelligent and more highly praised. But in the book 1984 only the proles use correct language anymore. Even Winston who is in the party finds that he prefers to speak using old speak. It seems that most the things in this society contradict themselves.
Everything in 1984 is broken, the city is broken, the people are broken, the language is broken, yet the think everything is beautiful. its funny, war is peace, but in newspeak all the slogans of the party sound ridiculous. War is unwar, slavery is unslavery, ignorance is unignorance. to destroy half the words seems paradoxically stupid. Im a big fan of words...and i think destroying them to dumb down the population is horrible.
I really disagree that useing more intricate words makes you seem less educated, but then again Im not in Winstons society. People who use grandiloquent language are usually more intelligent and more highly praised. But in the book 1984 only the proles use correct language anymore. Even Winston who is in the party finds that he prefers to speak using old speak. It seems that most the things in this society contradict themselves.
Everything in 1984 is broken, the city is broken, the people are broken, the language is broken, yet the think everything is beautiful. its funny, war is peace, but in newspeak all the slogans of the party sound ridiculous. War is unwar, slavery is unslavery, ignorance is unignorance. to destroy half the words seems paradoxically stupid. Im a big fan of words...and i think destroying them to dumb down the population is horrible.
Monday, September 6, 2010
ABC ect. chapter 4
The english vocabulary is constantly expanding, even in 2010, yet in the society of 1984 the amount of words is decreasing, and the only way anyone can communicate anymore is newspeak, a series of smashed together words that can create entire paragraphs in what looks like a matter of sentences. its an epidemic that is close to how far people have taken txtlk, or talking like in a text message, its uneducated, and annoying, not to mention how difficult it is to understand. luckily, government documents are not written in words used in text messaging.
Newspeak is a form of writing small amounts of information so that people can quickly read and understand the message. Its too bad the only people who use newspeak are the only people who can understand it. To the people it is aimed at its pretty much a pile of junk. The proles for instance cant understand newspeak the way parents cant understand text talk. Its a jumble of letters and numbers and abbreviations that loses all emotion in translation.
I love adjectives, I don't want to envision a world without describing words. they show emotion, they show emphasis and passion, and the world of literature would not exist without them, yet newspeak does away with these wonderful words, and it makes me sad to thing that these people don't have a way of describing the euphoric rush that is the feeling of complete and unconditional love, it surges through ones heart and mind like an explosion of joy and adulation besides saying it is "doubleplusgood"
Newspeak is a form of writing small amounts of information so that people can quickly read and understand the message. Its too bad the only people who use newspeak are the only people who can understand it. To the people it is aimed at its pretty much a pile of junk. The proles for instance cant understand newspeak the way parents cant understand text talk. Its a jumble of letters and numbers and abbreviations that loses all emotion in translation.
I love adjectives, I don't want to envision a world without describing words. they show emotion, they show emphasis and passion, and the world of literature would not exist without them, yet newspeak does away with these wonderful words, and it makes me sad to thing that these people don't have a way of describing the euphoric rush that is the feeling of complete and unconditional love, it surges through ones heart and mind like an explosion of joy and adulation besides saying it is "doubleplusgood"
dreams: chapter 3
We cannot control our dreams. Not in the sense of our hopes and aspirations, but what happens in our sub conscience at night, the fantasies that slip in and out of our minds that perplex and amaze us, anything can be real in a place that doesn't exist, and yet it does exist, but everything that is there is trapped forever in our own thoughts, always out of reach of reality. Yet nightmares can shake us, scare us for time beyond this dream world, they can take us out of our dreams by fear, they can feel so real that a grip is lost on what is real and what is not. Nightmares are certainly stronger than dreams. years after an accident, a victim can still recall the memory and wake up in a screaming fit from the pure terror that lurks in their dreams.
In chapter 3, Winston dreams about his mother, and younger sister. They were in a ship sinking to their deaths, while he sat helplessly watching them from the surface. whether this event actually took place, and Winston's memory is projecting itself in his dreams, or if this scenario is symbolism for something else that happened to Winston's family, I don't know. He knew that they were sent to their death because he survived, but why was he saved? Why was his mother and newborn sister sacrificed to save him? Who saved him yet let his mother die while holding an infant? His dream leaves so many unanswered questions and is quite a conundrum.
In the chapter he has several other dreams with just as confusing aspects. Another dream takes place in a meadow that is Winston's perfect place, and the love interest at his work place comes running to him and undressing herself. Then his other coworker is talking to him and going to help him destroy Big Brother. The human sub conscience is a strange and frightening place.
In chapter 3, Winston dreams about his mother, and younger sister. They were in a ship sinking to their deaths, while he sat helplessly watching them from the surface. whether this event actually took place, and Winston's memory is projecting itself in his dreams, or if this scenario is symbolism for something else that happened to Winston's family, I don't know. He knew that they were sent to their death because he survived, but why was he saved? Why was his mother and newborn sister sacrificed to save him? Who saved him yet let his mother die while holding an infant? His dream leaves so many unanswered questions and is quite a conundrum.
In the chapter he has several other dreams with just as confusing aspects. Another dream takes place in a meadow that is Winston's perfect place, and the love interest at his work place comes running to him and undressing herself. Then his other coworker is talking to him and going to help him destroy Big Brother. The human sub conscience is a strange and frightening place.
The Parsons Family. chapter 2
Mr. and Mrs. Parsons are simply and without any better explanation, dimwitted. Mr. Parsons is a coworker of Winston, as well as living down the hall. Winston thinks very little of the man as an intellectual, and refers to him as sort of a dumb-jock. Mrs. Parsons on the other hand, can't speak in complete sentences, let alone finish a thought with out being distracted by something else. This family is the ideal family of INGSOC, both parents are loyal, stupid, party members, and the children are raised to take their parents place one day.
They are merely uneducated, and that is why they are taken advantage of by their leaders. it is sad to believe that uneducated people are just as badly taken advantage of in this world as they are in 1984. without an education, a person cant get far in the workforce besides manual labor, aren't likely to get health benefits, and are bound to be ripped off by any kind of merchant at any chance. Even the government uses their lack of knowledge to hurt them, uneducated people are kept in poverty, and in a circle that inhibits them from gaining social status.
The Parsons children, are dreadful little monsters that terrorize their home, as well as the entire neighborhood. They cannot be trusted because the government has turned them into human wire taps, using them as spies and an amateur police force, they are the scourge of their parents life. these children would do anything for BB (Big Brother) even if it means turning in their own parents. The only loyalty in this world is that from every person to the government, and none to each other.
They are merely uneducated, and that is why they are taken advantage of by their leaders. it is sad to believe that uneducated people are just as badly taken advantage of in this world as they are in 1984. without an education, a person cant get far in the workforce besides manual labor, aren't likely to get health benefits, and are bound to be ripped off by any kind of merchant at any chance. Even the government uses their lack of knowledge to hurt them, uneducated people are kept in poverty, and in a circle that inhibits them from gaining social status.
The Parsons children, are dreadful little monsters that terrorize their home, as well as the entire neighborhood. They cannot be trusted because the government has turned them into human wire taps, using them as spies and an amateur police force, they are the scourge of their parents life. these children would do anything for BB (Big Brother) even if it means turning in their own parents. The only loyalty in this world is that from every person to the government, and none to each other.
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