Catherine's English Blog

In the beginning chapters of Part Three, Winston is finally captured and goes through a process comparable to brainwashing. Winston firstly goes through torture, and then he becomes brainwashed to believe that many of his memories are fake. Reflecting on these past two chapters, I think the brainwashing of characters seems to be a common occurrence in many utopias and dystopias. A notable example is The Giver by Lois Lowry. Although the brainwashing in The Giver is not as obvious, the characters in The Giver are made to believe that their government has informed them about everything, such as past history, when in reality the government keeps everyone in the dark about what exists outside of their society. In The Giver, there are also extreme constraints in the society such as no lying and not acting on sexual impulses, which is similar to the rules that The Party implements in 1984. What novel do you think has similarities to 1984? And what are those similarities?

I thought the last few chapters of Book Two were where the climax of the book was reached. Since the beginning, Winston was always paranoid about being caught by the Thought Police. Winston went to extreme measures to stay hidden in earlier chapters too. I thought everything tied together in the last chapters to produce this peak point in the plot. An example would be Julia, she was mentioned in earlier chapters but in Book Two we finally got to meet her and learn more about her reason for rebellion. Another example would be the Brotherhood, Winston's urge to rebel has been a major part of the plot and drives a lot of his actions. Winston had wanted to join the brotherhood, and in the later chapters of Book Two, Winston was finally introduced to the Brotherhood. Ultimatley, I thought Orwell tied many loose ends together in Book Two which made for a great pinnacle in the plot and left the reader with a lot of questions. What did you think about the ending of Book Two? Did you love i...

       Book Two of 1984 included many passages about the different realizations Winston had, whether it be about Julia, how the Party governs their lives, or the history of the Party. Firstly, I think Julia's character added a lot to the book. It introduced an actual rebel and took Winston out of his own anxiety and thoughts. In book two we learn a lot about Julia and her disregard for many of the Party rules, as well as how she dismisses the purpose of the rebellion. Book Two mainly centers on Winston and Julia's relationship, and I thought this part of 1984 added a lot to both the characters and the plot.      In the later section of book two,  there is more focus put on the Party. More specifically, the later chapters of this book focus on the different rules the party has, the history of the party, and the growing rebellion. When O'Brien is introduced, I think it gave us more insight into the rebellion and showed a person other than Winston wh...

 Censorship is an extremely present theme in 1984, especially with countless mentions of the "thought police". Winston is so paranoid that the Party will catch him that he even considers harming his colleagues and harming himself. As Winston goes on this journey of uncovering past history and what the Party erased, everything seems to be gone. The residents of the dystopian society in 1984 seem to be so brainwashed that they can't even tell clear lies. An example I thought was interesting was how the Party always announced that they were giving more food, but in reality, they were giving less. The residents, mainly the proles, have been given so much propaganda and have been completely brainwashed to the point where they aren't able to conceptualize what is right in front of them. Parts of the society in 1984 also reminded me of the society in The Giver. In The Giver by Louis Lowry, color has been completely erased from society and a lot of history has been as well. T...

 Prompt (Fiction): How are current dystopian depictions similar to 1984? How do they differ? What is significant about the similarities and differences? The first few chapters of Orwell's 1984 reminded me of Brave New World in many ways. The first similarity I noticed is how the society portrayed in 1984 aims to have a lack of individuality just like Brave New World . Although the methods taken in these two books are very different, I believe the goal is ultimately the same: to have everyone fit into a certain mold and caste. The idea of rebellion and speaking up against society is also thought of as extremely taboo.  A difference I noticed in these two novels was how the dystopian society in 1984 wants to suppress sex and sexual desires, while the dystopian society in Brave New World takes advantage of and employs these desires. As  I mentioned previously, although the methods taken by these two societies are different, I think the end goal is the same. What do you t...

Nothing Gold Can Stay By Robert Frost Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.   I chose this poem since even from reading the title, it's clear that he's writing about the idea that nothing good stays for too long. I think this definitely applies to life, nothing great ever stays but better things later come along. I think Frost's use of nature in the poem applies really well to life too since every season nature goes through different experiences. Although many of the seasons don't last long, as Robert Frost says: "only an hour or so", each year they end up maturing from different conditions. Frost is describing a cycle in this poem too, and I think this applies really well to life, how many experiences are cycles over again. Although the poem is short, I think it definitely describes...

The way Joe Brainard describes death https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/58250/death-56d23c74e8276 The poem that I chose explores the topic of death. I think the topic isn't something I avoid, but I think this poem portrays it in a way that faces death headfirst that is completely unfamiliar. Most people think about what happens after death, but rather than thinking about those possibilities, Joe Brainard almost minimizes what death should be thought of as, describing it more as an event or statistic. I really enjoyed his light satire and sarcasm throughout the poem. He tries to make learning and understanding the aftereffects of death this more lighthearted thought, and he definitely views it in a way extremely unfamiliar to me. Rather than talking about the importance of death and what it means, he rather says it's an extremely normal thing that happens to everyone.