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Final Thoughts on 1984 (How to Avoid a Similar Fate)

 Compared to the time that Orwell wrote 1984 , we are a lot closer to the bleak future he wrote out to be the reality. At least this is true in terms of technology and invasion of privacy. The only thing that I believe we can do as a society to avoid this future is to keep solid checks and balances of governmental power, and as citizens, hold the government accountable for their actions. At the moment, we as citizens still hold the principles that individual privacy should be expected and respected. We also have in place checks and balances within the government so one branch doesn’t take over. I don’t think we can do anything about the development of surveillance technology because technology will inevitably improve and become more advanced. But by keeping the expectation that we deserve privacy to some level, and not budging on that stance, I think simply the sheer amount of people who still want their freedom with keep the government from invading privacy any more than they alre...
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Newspeak

 As we end 1984 , we come across a unique section at the conclusion of the book talking about the vocabulary of the society in 1984 : Newspeak. This language is very interesting, being split into different categories for vocabulary pertaining to certain subjects. We have vocabulary A for basic words and sayings, vocabulary B for words pertaining to politics or the Party, and vocabulary C for science and technology (but there aren't any specific words for this section, just broad and general terms). Newspeak is also limited compared to the current English language, leaving no room for interpretation, misunderstanding, and so on. Newspeak is also quite unique and differs greatly from "old" English, which is quite genius from the perspective of a controlling society. With all these new words which are fewer in quantity, it is considerably harder for older documents to be interpreted into Newspeak. This can easily allow for the Party to manipulate whatever texts they please w...
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What is "right"?

This section of 1984 clearly showcases the foolishness of Winston to believe he could ever make it out the other end of the Party’s torture with some semblance of the person he was before. Throughout his time being punished by the Party we see him slowly sacrificing parts of his beliefs, starting with the simple fact that 2+2=5. In the end the torture is so much that he makes the effort to make himself genuinely believe in the Party and its morals: “god is power” “freedom is slavery” etc.  Although it is interesting to see in a novel, I think the way Winston changes his beliefs is more telling to society in general. I think it’s very interesting how the human mind can believe anything to be “true” if it tries hard enough. I find this scary in a way because this means one’s perception of the truth can be twisted easily. This is after all how we end up in conflicts, and on a larger scale, wars. Do you think you could make yourself believe something to be "correct" that you didn...
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Torture & its Effectiveness

I admire 1984 for showing reality above all. Many other books would have their protagonists succeed in whatever their goal: overthrowing the current system, defying the power holders successfully, etc. However, 1984 shows the bleak but true reality of it all. With the torture that befalls Winston and Julia, we get to see the real impact of physical pain and torture on the human mind. Both Winston and Julia accepted that if they got caught, they would probably confess their actions, but they wouldn’t stop loving each other. However, they are both very naïve to the effects torture can have. Even with the very beginnings of torture, Winston is willing to twist his beliefs , even if its something as simple as how many fingers someone is holding up. At this rate I believe that both Winston and Julia will do a full 180 and be completely brainwashed of their old “rebellious” ways. Do you think the Party’s torture will be successful? To what degree?
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Manipulation and Misdirection

Today I would like to touch a bit on the tactics the Party uses to misdirect the people’s hate and disapproval away from them. Throughout the book we see the many ways the Party accomplishes this, most notably the Two Minutes Hate. The Party uses this daily ritual to work the Party members into a frenzy against their enemies and to establish a sort of patriotism in them towards the Party. In addition, the Party uses war as a way to unite the public against a common enemy, which is exactly why they always seem to be at war with one country or another. War is a smart tactic to use because while it unites the public against an enemy, it also successfully cuts off the public from communicating with other countries, thereby preventing the exchange of ideas. We also see earlier in book two that the Party uses the convoy to take the public's disdain and direct it towards carefully chosen political enemies of the Party.  All these tactics the Party employs seem to be very effective as the ...
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The Power of Love: Chapters 7-8

Today I would like to discuss a bit about the so-called power of love. Winston struggles immensely with the trauma of his childhood memories, his subconscious the only thing reminding him of what is fact. However, he is able to find connection with Julia, and unload some of the sufferings of his emotions and memory by have meaningful interactions with her (compared to the dull ones he has with other characters on this novel).  They both obviously know the risk they are taking, as if they get captured they are most likely to be tortured and eventually may be killed. However Winston and Julia mention that even though the torture makes them tell all of their secrets, they will still love each other no matter what. I'm not sure if them clinging onto this sense of "everything will be alright/love will prevail" is just a coping mechanism for the desperate situation they're finding themselves in, but I think that either way their words demonstrates that Winston and Julia are...
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Control of the Present and Past: Chapters 2-6

Many dystopian novels have something against books, writing, or anything in that general area. For example we can take BNW and Fahrenheit 451 as examples. All of these societies ban books and creativity in general to stop ideas of another way of life/freedom from spreading. We can also very prominently see the common theme of whoever controls the present, controls the past. Winston clearly doesn't remember his childhood well, and there is a severe lack of physical records that show anything from the past. We also know that a lot of documents have been altered by the current government. I find this fact particularly interesting about the society in 1984 because other dystopian novels tend to simply destroy historical records instead of completely changing it, but the society in 1984 seems to drastically change documents to tell completely different stories. I would think this is a bit risky on the part of the government because then it would make obvious the deceit of the government...
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