1984
Here
is another book as thought worthy as Paradise Lost. It was
George
Orwell’s 1984. I am confused about the first two sections.
This novel is set in the future of Oceania and London. The government is all dictatorship. Winston has a small job in this hungry monster. He is a free soul who wants freedom. (Typical of Orwell.) How bad is it? Thoughts and individualism is not allowed. There are posters everywhere that have a huge face with the moving eyes on and they all say in big letters “Big Brother is Watching You”, telescreens are in every room over every flat, even parents are afraid of their own children because they see this whole deal as a game. Yes, it is a game all right. It is a sick and twisted game. Big Brother is even on the money.
There are three phrases that stand out in the book besides “Big Brother is Watching You”. They are:
War is Peace
Freedom
is Slavery
Ignorance
is Strength
Like anything Lucifer says, these three phrases are twisted and truth.
I am still confused but strangely, I am drawn to this book.
1984 Pt. 2
As
I read on, I can’t tell day or night from this book. But I’m still
drawn into
the book. I want to keep reading 1984.
Winston
remembers his mother, father, and baby sister. Those seem to be happy
times. He
can’t be sure if these memories are real or not. Without people to
confirm
them, Winston is at a loss. Big Brother doesn’t allow people to have
feelings
or be smart. People will defied the party ended up disappearing just
like in
the Soviet Union. They use newspeak, doublethink, and duckspeak. The
whole
seems ridiculous. The telescreens are used to control people with
announcements
of shortages and exercise. The people on it even talk straight to you.
It all
seems creepy if you ask me.
Then
Orwell goes into Comrade Ogilvy’s life. He didn’t want toys except for
the ones
that dealt with war. Then Ogilvy joined the youth league and became a
soldier.
He seems to be such a high praise to everyone in Oceania. But to me,
Ogilvy’s
life is a waste.
As
the book goes on, we meet Syme. He seems to be an orthodox but as it
turns out,
Syme is too smart for his own good. Winston is even worried that Syme
will
disappear.
1984 Pt. 3
I’m
still confused on the book. It’s like watching a foreign film without
any dubs
or subtitles. Winston goes back to writing in his forbidden journal. As
he
writes, he thinks about his wife, Kathryn. They seemed to be in love
but
Winston can’t remember because they weren’t married that long. She
tried to
have a child with him but it didn’t work and they went their separate
ways.
Big
Brother does not allow sex and want to make it just a duty to produce
children
if necessary. They hate it completely. The women are like the Stepford
wives.
They have no hearts or feelings. The women even hold to true to their
chastity.
They do not have desire for it is a thought-crime. Winston is consumed
with
shame as he writes about Kathryn.
Later,
Winston copies out of a child’s textbook about the past. After he does
so, the
man wonders if it’s true or not. (No, it’s not!!!!!!)
1984 Pt. 4
I’m
starting to get the book. But I’m still confused. I still like the
book. I am
even writing a sequel to it.
Winston
goes down town into the prole area and walks are. Here, people are free
and
different. He goes into a pub and meets an old man. They talk and the
old man
takes him to a room with no telescreens. He shows Winston to a picture
of St. Clement’s
Church. There, our friend learns that B.B. has been lying all of this
time. It
represents the past. Winston gets a glass paperweight as a farewell
present.
On the way home, Winston finds trouble.
The dark-haired girl, (aka the princess of lies), has been stalking
him. In
fear, Winston considers suicide but is afraid of getting caught and
tortured by
in jail. To sooth himself, Winston thinks about O’Brien. Again we are
shown the
three twisted lines of truth:
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
Now,
we reach book two. Winston meets the dark-haired girl in the first
part. Her
arm is broken and he takes her to get help. There seems to be sparks
when the
girl hands Winston a note saying: “I love you”. The girl inspires him
to live
(and me to change my opinion of her.) They eventually plan to meet in
Victory
Square. The girl gives her man-to-be directions and they briefly hold
hands.
1984
Pt. 5
This book will help me with my sequel I’m writing to it. I like it and I’m not confused anymore. Also, the plot is thickening.
Winston
goes out to the woods and meets his new love there. She strips off her
evil red
sash and says her name is Julia. They end up getting all hot and
passionate in
the woods with no one watching. As it turns out, Miss Julia has slept
with many
men. Excited, Winston finds that he now has something to live for in
this
hellish world now. Ah, that’s the power of love!
The
next morning, Julia and Winston go back to normal lives. Soon, they
talk about
their lives. Julia just wants to enjoy herself. Winston tells his woman
about
Katherine and how he wanted to push her off the cliff.
Winston
rents a room for Julia so they could sleep together in it. He thinks
he’ll get
in trouble for it. Outside, he sees a burly, red-armed woman singing as
she
does her laundry. She represents hope. Winston wishes that he and Julia
could
live like a married couple in love. Julia comes in with luxury items
like sugar
and make-up. Winston is aroused by her beauty. Then, they see a rat.
Winston is
scared of rats and panics. Julia sees the paperweight and her man tells
her
about how it is a link to the past.
Syme
disappears. (No real surprise.) Winston dreams that Katherine will die
so that
he will marry Julia and he will become a prole. They talk about the
brotherhood. Julia is not interested and Winston scolds her for being a
rebel
half-heartedly.
O’Brien
and Winston finally meet. The rat tells Winston about Syme. After the
meeting,
Winston stupidly believes that O’Brien can be trusted and accepts his
address.
Winston
wakes up one morning crying. Julia, who is with him, asks him what’s
wrong. It
all another dream memory about his mother. He thinks he murdered her.
His
father left them. Winston, his mother, and baby sister were left hungry
in
underground shelters. Hungry, Winston stole some chocolate and ran
away. He
hates the Party for they heartlessness.
Julia
and Winston worry about being captured and killed. But they decide no
matter
how much torture they endure; they will not stop loving each other. The
smart
thing to do would be to leave the room, but they do.
1984
Pt. 6
There is plenty of irony and oxymoron in 1984. For instance, when Julia and Winston go to O’Brien’s mansion, they discover that he can turn off the telescreens. Hmm, if the members of the party could turn them off, then Big Brother is not as strong as Orwell made him to be. It is also ironic that Julia wants to rebel but won’t really do so. Then she is prepared to do whatever it takes to break Big Brother but not leave Winston.
Plus, O’Brien seems to be a good guy by says he is part of the Brotherhood, giving Winston a book, and toasting to the past. But later…. (Well, I won’t spoil that for you.) They see there are no laws but the people aren’t free. Sex isn’t allowed but Julia has slept with many men. During hate week the speaker has to see that Oceania has never been to war with Eurasia. But in reality, they really were all along. The party has made Goldstein an enemy but Big Brother is really the enemy.
As I said before, there is some oxymoron. The three polices are oxymoron.
1.) War is Peace: War can’t be peace and vice versa. That is an oxymoron in itself.
2.) Freedom is Slavery. That can’t be right. These two clash against each other like mad.
3.) Ignorance is Strength. No, Knowledge is strength.
But yet, these three are true in a sense. Really creepy, isn’t it?
1984 Pt. 7
Here
is where the plot really thickens! After we get through the pain of the
long
book, the story really kicks off.
Winston
reads Goldstein’s book and copies from it in his journal while he waits
for
Julia. He is desperate to find the past through it. (Believe me, it was
a
tedious read. But it helped me find a plot hole I made.) When Julia
arrives,
Winston tries to read to her but she falls asleep. Winston stops
reading and
goes to sleep too.
Here
is where the action takes place. Pretty soon, the thought-police come
and
surround the Antique shop. The couple gets arrested. I really saw this
coming.
In the process, the glass paperweight is shattered to pieces.
Winston
is taken to the Ministry of Love. The Ministry of Love is a prison that
stays
lit all of the time. In person, our doomed hero meets many people in
jail. The
worst punishment there is Room 101. One prisoner even begs the guards
not to
take him there. The first person he meets is woman who he thinks is his
mother
because of her age and last name. While jail, Winston sadly thinks that
O’Brien
will save him. (If he only knew…) It is interesting to see that our
doomed hero
is thinking more about the rat than about the woman he loves. The
second person
Winston meets is his comrade, Ampleforth. He says he is innocent.
Winston also
finds Parsons in jail. He believes that he is a thought-criminal.
Parsons
evil little daughter denounced him. (Ouch!) But, he is proud that she
is clever
enough to do so and holds no grudge against her. (Poor man.) O’Brien
turns out
to be one of the enemy. (Rat!)
1984 Pt. 8
The
story is now creepy. It is also turning bad. I can see a bad ending
coming all
ready. I don’t understand why Orwell lets the enemy win in the end.
Winston
finds himself on a bed where he can’t move. He is being tortured by a
needle.
How it works is that every time a dial goes up, the pain increases.
O’Brien
appears to him. He starts questioning the poor man about the past, the
war with
Eurasia, and how many fingers he has up. Winston tells the truth that
the
freeman knows. But as punishment, he gets stabbed with the needle over
and over
again as it goes up. Finally, Winston breaks down and gives the rat the
answers
he wants.
Then,
O’Brien has the nerve to say that the Ministry of Love is there to
“cure”
Winston and make him a loyal subject to Big Brother. The chapter ends
with
Winston being put to sleep by a needle.
1984
Final
Alas,
we come to the end. It will be horrible. I just know it. Winston is
getting
brainwashed in the last three chapters.
O’Brien
says there are three phases in his reintegration: Learning,
understanding, and
acceptance. Strangely, Winston still believes in the guy. (The poor
clueless
dummy!) One would think, he would wise up and fight back. But Winston
doesn’t
because he is so trusting. O’Brien wants Winston to betray he
girlfriend but he
still won’t do so. Thus, more torture happens to him.
But
soon, Winston breaks and tries to make himself believe in the corrupted
slogans. He writes them on a slate. He screams out Julia’s name in
misery and
ends up taken to Room 101 after he says he hates Big Brother.
Room
101 as I guessed holds everyone’s greatest fears. Winston’s greatest
fear is
rats. O’Brien puts Winston in the room with rats. The rats jump on
Winston and
eat at his face. The poor man snaps and yells that Julia should suffer
from the
rats and not him. O’Brien frees him at last.
In
the end, Winston loves Big Brother and hates Julia. He is convinced his
memories are when he remembers his mother and sister. Julia just leaves
for
good.