1984 #10

           “If there was hope, it lay in the proles” (220). George Orwell comes back to this point over and over again using Winston’s voice. This time Winston comes to this conclusion after observing one of the prole women in the street. What is so profound about Winston making this conclusion at this moment is that he finally realizes the unity that exists among humankind. He says, “It was curious to think that the sky was the same for everybody… the people under the sky were also very much the same – everywhere, all over the world” (220).  Winston finally sees that there is no difference between the people of Eurasia, Eastasia, and Oceania; however, there is a difference between the people and himself. This difference does not come from the idea of intelligence versus emotion solely though. This difference comes from the power of the people as a whole. Winston is more or less alone amount the Party except from the fleeting support of Julia. The proles have a whole population on their side. They have the “heart and bellies and muscles…[to] one day overturn the world” (220).  That is the envy of Winston. He knows that all the proles need is the consciousness of the situation, and they will have a revolution whereas Winston is conscious, yet his passion is stifled by his lack of support. “ The future belonged to the proles,” and Winston has come to understand this.

1984 #9

Chapter 3: War is Peace

·         War is “a warfare of limited aims between combatants who are unable to destroy one another, have no material cause for fighting, and are not divided by any genuine ideological difference” (186).- not fighting because of actual conflict between each other but rather just to instill the warlike emotions in their own people

·         Fighting for a square of land in the middle of the regions that none of the three super states completely controls and labor control. Land holds 1/5 of the population

·         “the world is more primitive today than it was fifty years ago…experiment and invention have largely stopped” (189).- new society does not allow progress because does not allow free thinking, which inhibits invention

·         One reason for keeping society so underprivileged is that when everyone is equal, it is hard to keep power in the hands of the few

·         “War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent” (191). – whole point is to not let the masses believe that everyone is equal; masses must see the need for the hierarchy

·         War makes putting power in the hands of the few a necessity

·         “in all the useful arts the world is either standing still or going backwards” (193)

·         “A peace that was truly permanent would be the same as a permanent war” (199)- since war is continuous, the war-like atmosphere is equivalent to basically being at peace

Chapter 1: Ignorance is Strength

·         There are three kinds of people:

o   “The aim of the High is to remain where they are” (201).

o   “The aim of the Middle is to change places with the High” (201).

o   “The aim of the Low…is to abolish all distinctions and create a society in which all men shall be equal” (201).

·         Middle groups would fight in the name of equality only to be tyrannical when got power

·         Ingsoc shadowed by totalitarianism

·         “in the past no government had the power to keep its citizens under constant surveillance” (205). So in the past, more conscious of what they were doing

·         The new High group (the current one) “realized that the only secure basis for oligarchy is collectivism. Wealth and privilege are most easily defended when they are possessed jointly” (206).

·         4 Ways a ruling group can fall from power:

o   “Either it is conquered from without, or it governs so inefficiently that the masses are stirred to revolt, or it allows a strong and discontented Middle Group to come into being, or it loses its own self-confidence and willingness to govern” (207).

o   The only one of these that is actually a threat to Oceania is the splitting off of a new group, “and the growth of liberalism and skepticism in their own ranks” (207).

·         “Big Brother is the guise in which the party chooses to exhibit itself to the world” (208).

·         Inner Party is 2%, then Outer Party, and Proles are 85%

·         “Its rulers are not held together by blood ties but by adherence to a common doctrine” (209).

o   Therefore, appeared to some socialists to not be permanent

·         The proles “without the power of grasping that the world could be other than it is”; “They can be granted intellectual liberty because they have no intellect” (210).

·         A Part Member “any eccentricity, however small, any change of habits, any nervous mannerism that could possibly be the symptom of an inner struggle, is certain to be detected” (211).

o   Technically, there are no laws

o   “expected to have no private emotions and no respites from enthusiasm” (211).

·         “Crimestop means the faculty of stopping short, as though by instinct, at the threshold of any dangerous thought” (212).

·         Blackwhite:

o   “applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts” (212).

o   “applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this” (212).

·         “Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them” (214).

o   “Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink” (214).

·         “those who have the best knowledge of what is happening are also those who are furthest from seeing the world as it is” (215).

1984 #8

                The idea of the Brotherhood is something that Winston has toiled with throughout the novel. He has wondered whether it actually exists or not. He has questioned whether people he knows might secretly be members of it. He daydreams about the consequences that might come from being a part of it. Finally, O’Brien is able to give him some answers: “The Brotherhood cannot be wiped out because it is not an organization in the ordinary sense. Nothing holds it together except an idea which is indestructible” (176). This was not what Winston was expecting at all; he had pictured a full-fledged secret society, not just a fleeting group of people with the same idea. Then again, Winston in a way was completely expecting it without even realizing, for he was the one to make the conjectures that a rebellion is practically impossible in this society. The structure of the Brotherhood exemplifies this. There is no way for the members to meet and communicate because it would risk their lives completely. Though naturally Winston is excited to finally learn about this Brotherhood, the reader can sense a bit of disappointment. All Winston has wanted is someone to share in his ideas. Someone to tell him that he is not crazy, and the puzzle he is piecing together is in fact correct. O’Brien shuts down this dream by saying, “You will get no comradeship and no encouragement” (176). Yes, Winston does now know that there are others out there that view this society as flawed, but without the ability to voice this disdain, there is not as great solace for him.

1984 #4

“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows” (81).

                Out of context this statement means absolutely nothing. Two plus two does make four, and what does that have to do with freedom? That is where the complexity of this society lies. Things that people today consider to be evident, things they take for granted, are not clearly given to the people of Oceania. The government has the ability to distort even simple logic such as basic arithmetic and then completely rewrite the system. Worst of all, the people are forced to accept this skewed version of reality. Winston states, “the heresy of heresies was common sense” (80). For anyone to even suggest that two plus two must obviously be four was grounds for vaporization. Moreover, this omnipotent government does not only stifle the people’s ability to think freely; it drives them to doubt everything they once knew so positively. They start to question the idea of two plus two. Maybe it is five. What does the word “two” even mean? Such uncertainty drains the people of Oceania of their freedom. They have lost the ability to form thoughts clearly, and with that lost, what freedom can they really say they have. The body follows the mind. With no control over one’s mind, there is no control over one self. The idea of two plus two making four is trivial, but in the case of this society, it is more important than could ever be imagined.

1984 #2

                Winston struggles to define himself in this undefinable society. He goes back to this idea of his diary, wondering whether or not anyone will ever see it. He fears that it will simply disappear in the same way that he shall after death. He ponders the enormity of this idea that since the record of the past is completely controlled by the government and can easily be destroyed, he could easily be vaporized, and no one would ever know that he once walked this earth. Orwell writes of Winston, “He was a lonely ghost uttering a truth that nobody would ever hear” (27). The truth in this statement is depressing. The society they live in has created a human population but no individual identities. They are not allowed to express freely their personalities or their thoughts. Every aspect of their lives is controlled. However, as Winston goes on to say, “so long as he uttered [the truth], in some obscure way the continuity was not broken. It was not by making yourself heard but by staying sane that you carried on the human heritage” (27). In writing his cryptic diary entries, there exists hope for Winston. Maybe, just maybe, someone will read it in the future, and therefore, this risk is justified. Winston is searching for someone or even something to reinforce the feelings he is having. He is yearning for someone to tell him that he is not alone, and so he writes. This way he gets to at least share these lingering thoughts with someone even if that someone never ends up existing.

"The Road Not Taken" Paragraph

“The Road Not Taken” Robert Frost

                The poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost consists of one extended symbol. The narrator of the poem is walking through the woods when “two roads diverged” (1). The narrator is here faced with a choice of which road to choose. In deciding he remarks that one path was “just as fair” as the other except that one had been much more heavily traveled (6). Thus, he decides to take the “one less traveled by” (20). Clearly, this is not just a poem about a man’s leisurely stroll through the woods on a Saturday afternoon.  These diverging roads represent the eternally present need in one’s life to make decisions. For every single person in every day, two paths are presented in some way, and one must choose one to go down, whether it is simply what to have for lunch that day or what color socks to wear to soccer practice. These two paths are constantly appearing. Now, some of the choices made are trivial, but as Frost notes, in some cases making a certain choice “[makes] all the difference” (21).  There is always that lingering thought about the other path. What if the narrator had chosen that one? Where would he be now? In this way life goes by, constantly questioning decisions and having regrets. Sometimes those decisions are the right ones, and other times they are not. These two paths symbolize more than anything this growth of a person. They show the progression of life and how each decision leads to another and another. When life is stripped down to the basics, one is doing nothing more than coming to forks in the road and deciding right or left. Frost had the amazing insight to realize it.

Heart of Darkness 5

                Throughout the story, Marlow has harped on this fundamental idea that lying is wrong. He has overtly stated that he hates nothing more than a lie. In fact, one of the reasons that he holds at least a small amount of respect for Kurtz is that he is honest. Kurtz does not hide his practices; he takes pride in them. He does what he wants, but he is open about the fact that he is doing it. Marlow considers this honorable in a twisted way. Marlow does not condone Kurtz’s practices in any sense, but he appreciates honesty; honesty comes before all. That however is where the irony lies. Kurtz, the epitome of honesty in this story, ends up being the driving force behind the one lie that Marlow tells. When asked by Kurtz’s wife-to-be what Kurtz’s last words were, Marlow responds that it was her name, which is nowhere near the truth. Immediately after, Marlow comments, “It seemed to me that the house would collapse before I could escape, that the heavens would fall upon my head” (157). The audience feels how monumental the fact that he lied truly is. The question arises: why? Why would Marlow lie for Kurtz? Truthfully, Marlow does not even seem to know. He states that “it would have been too dark – too dark altogether” (157). It appears that Marlow just did not have the heart to tell the girl the truth. However, this does not take away from the conundrum of the whole situation. The man that always tells the truth spurs the man that detests lying to lie. It is all so hypocritical.  The only sense of it that can be made is that sometimes the feelings of others trump one’s own feelings. Therefore, Marlow could not break the girl’s heart, so he chooses to spare her feelings and compromise his own.