1984 blog

     I think that John and Winston are very similar as is the relationship between O’Brien and Winston, and the relationship between Mustapha Mond and John. Mustapha Mond allowed John to come back to/join their society, to live there, to experience it. John ended up being unhappy there and wanted to leave, so Mond let him leave. After leaving John thought he was free, he thought he had gotten away and could be happy, and then everything started to go downhill. People were watching him, and bothering him, and there was a  movie about him and etc.. John became miserable and ended up hanging himself. Mond was in control the entire time.       I think this is very similar to what happened with O’Brien and Winston. It starts off with Winston’s diary, and Winston thinking he had managed to rebel without being caught and then it goes even further with his relationship with Julia. He thought he found the Brotherhood and was willing to rebel. Then it is re...

 “How many fingers am I holding up Winston? “Four” “And if the Party says that it is not four but five, then how many?” “Four” This exchange on page 249 was very interesting and reminded me of the book Frindle. While I am aware that the point is that they can change what is true, they can control facts, I can’t stop seeing it as they control language. The words four and five in and of themselves are arbitrary, they mean nothing as themselves, their only meaning comes from how we define them. Here’s what reminded me of Frindle . In this book the main character, Nick, asks his teacher where words come from. Upon finding out that people create and define words he created the word frindle to replace the word pen. It becomes extremely popular and gains national attention, by the end of the book it’s been added to the dictionary. While this comparison obviously does not work in regards to changing historical events it does work in cases like four and five, where changing the word really...

 Julia is used in the book as a sexual object. Her entire story revolves around hooking up with Winston and other Party members. Before she was with Winston he commented about wanting to rape and murder her multiple times and after being with Winston this was just brushed off.  She plays no role in the story other than to further Winston’s storyline. She had moments where it almost seemed like she was going to have some deeper character traits or storylines but it never ended up happening. All we know about her is that she rebelled from the Party in her own small ways but how it was talked about made her rebellion seem selfish compared to what Winston was trying to do, which I don’t think is fair to Julia, but maybe that’s just how I was interpreting it. Personally I think it would have been much more interesting/enjoyable if Julia had been a part of the Brotherhood. It would have added an interesting layer to her story.  Julia is confusing to me because at times she seem...

 When Winston first has sex with Julia in the clearing in the woods he woke up and looked at her and said “Except for her mouth, you could not call her beautiful”(pg.126). Then later when he meets her again and she puts on makeup he said “The improvement in her appearance was startling...she had become not only very much prettier, but, above all, far more feminine”(pg.142). His opinion on her appearance changed drastically between these two occurrences and it was because she put on makeup. He found her more attractive after she put on makeup and appeared more feminine.  While this was a bigger issue in the past it is definitely still a view of women that is held today. People see it as more appropriate for women to wear makeup. This especially applies to female celebrities. People are always finding things to judge about other people’s appearance and that often includes a lack of makeup on women. There are trends for “no makeup” makeup looks because actually wearing no makeup ...

The main thing that stood out to me in this reading was how similar the Proles are to just regular people. Winston was upset with the man in the pub because he didn’t remember everything about his life before the revolution but instead remembered a few specific details that were mostly triggered by certain words. I would say that this is a very common phenomenon. I feel like a lot of people around that age like to tell stories and often tell them in that sort rambling fashion. At least the people I know do that. They also have pubs and the lottery, antique shops, and street vendors. These are all things we have. The people that Winston talks to are fairly normal. They aren’t as controlled by the Party, they are still affected by them but much less so than characters who are in the main part of London. I think it’s interesting how the story seems to be leading towards the idea that regular people are going to be the key to bringing down the Party. Winston thinks the answer lies with the...

     I’m going to compare 1984 to Maze Runner because it’s the only recent dystopian novel that I have read and can actually remember and there is a pretty similar theme with memory. In Maze Runner the characters have their memories erased and while they still have knowledge of the world they have no specific memories of their lives. In 1984, from what we can see from Winston, it seems to be a very similar situation. Winston has vague memories of his past but for the most part can’t remember his life from when he was little and doesn’t have specific memories of life before Big Brother and the war. In Maze Runner regaining some of their memories plays a key role in the success of the characters. In 1984 everything that doesn’t align with the Government gets erased, there is no written documentation of events that hasn’t been edited to fit the Government’s ideas. Whether or not Winston had his memories erased is unclear at this point but the idea surrounding the importance ...