Catherine's English Blog

     An unquestionable way to keep the real world from spiraling into an Orwelian society is to not give the government too much power. If the government has too much power, the citizens could be stripped of their rights and it could quickly turn into a tyranny. Another way is to try to not deepen the class divide. We see an extreme caste system in 1984 with the proles not knowing anything, and being conditioned to believe that anything the Party says is correct. We don’t want to create an extreme class divide in the real world to the point where a certain group or class would barely have any rights or be vastly below another. Another way is by preserving our history. The erasure of history in 1984 is something that Orwell talks about fairly in-depth. The Party erased all past history so they could rewrite it themselves. Keeping our history in the real world and learning from our past mistakes is an evident way to make sure that a whole society will never be conditioned t...

The last chapter of 1984 was the ending I anticipated, but one I honestly did not want to happen. At the end of 1984, the Party has finally won and Winston's feeling/story of rebellion is over. Winston hates Julia and can't even think of any memories that aren't associated with Big Brother. I believe the ending ultimately shows how powerful this dystopian society is. Another alternate route for an ending that I first thought would happen when reading the first chapters of 1984 was that there would be a huge rebellion and the Party would be overthrown. Although the ending Orwell went with is the exact opposite and some readers could argue that it is less lackluster, I think the ending Orwell chose to write is much more meaningful, gives Winston's story and this dystopian society more significance, and provides the reader with much to reflect on. What did you think of the ending? Was it what you originally anticipated and did you like it?

 In this section of 1984, we are given an analysis of how O'Brien's torture has affected Winston's brain. With the way Orwell describes Winston's feelings and state of mind, I think that the copious torture Winston has had to endure has ultimately changed his brain chemistry. In these chapters, Winston grows tired and almost turns into a different person. Although, Winston's thoughts of Julia almost seem to ease some of his pain and he realizes that he still hates the Party and Big Brother. When Winston slightly rebels, he is then put into a torture room. Even after the extensive amounts of torture Winston has endured, O'Brien then tries to exploit Winston's deepest fears. After Winston is pushed so far to the edge, he finally betrays Julia. After reading chapter five, it almost felt like O'Brien and the Party had another victory and truly broke Winston. Although Julia and Winston's relationship was fairly short-lived, I was surprised when O'Brie...

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...