Alexia Villegas Perez.
1984 by George
Orwell
(Chapter 1)
My opinion
My opinion about this first chapter is that it makes me
feel sorry for the way they live, they live under
surveillance day and night, they live repressed because
they can't say that they don't agree with the kind of
society they lead because if the ministry finds out they'll
kill them. He can't even go to street shops or write a
diary because it's against the law. It's really sad how
Winston lives.
This first chapter has been a little confusing for me
because they give you a lot of information and as you're
just reading it you don't know what it is, but the more
you advance that's when you understand better.
Chapter Questions
1. Choose three primary character traits to describe
Winston. Choose one quote to demonstrate each
choice and explain why you chose this.
Winston is a person who has very clear ideas and thoughts, but
he is also somewhat insecure, afraid.
“How could you communicate with the future? It was of its
nature impossible. Either the future would resemble the
present, in which case it would not listen to him: or it would
be different from it, and his predicament would be
meaningless.”
I chose this quote because it represents his insecurity when
writing in his diary, he was very sure of the things he wanted to
put in, but at the same time he was not sure what would happen
if he wrote in it, that is why he begins to question what will
happen with what he wrote in the future.
2. Why is it important that Winston has started to write a
journal? What is the significance of writing in this
society?
It is important because it helps him document everything that is
happening with society, with people, with him; and also so that
he can somehow express all those emotions and thoughts that
he has repressed. Writing in this society helps you express
yourself and reach people who share the same opinion as you
and let them know that they are not the only people who think
that way, because we all really think differently but at the same
time we share opinions with others. And when you write, some
people may agree with you and others may not like what you
write, it is all a matter of perspective.
3. Explain the purpose of a telescreen.
In the book, a telescreen is there to keep an eye on everyone,
to observe and listen to them. The purpose is because the
ministry wants everyone to agree with the kind of society they
lead, and so they want to keep an eye on them in case they are
trying to conspire against them or if they simply see or hear
that they don't agree with them.
4. Explain the “two minutes of hate.” Who is Goldstein?
How do the Party Members react to him?
The “two minutes of hate” is about how Emmanuel Goldstein
accuses the members of the party of being dictators and asks
them to sign a peace agreement for Eurasia, since they deprive
them of freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom
of assembly, freedom of thought. He asks for an end to the war
and for peace with Eurasia. But the Party makes Goldstein out
to be the bad guy and wants everyone to hate him.
Emmanuel Goldstein is "the enemy of the people." Goldstein is
the renegade who had long been one of the leading figures of
the Party, then turned to counter-revolutionary activities, was
sentenced to death, and mysteriously escaped, disappearing
forever. He was the quintessential traitor, the one who had
sullied the purity of the Party before and more than anyone
else. All subsequent crimes against the Party, all acts of
sabotage, heresies, deviations and betrayals of all kinds
stemmed directly from his teachings. In a sense, he was still
alive and plotting.
Most Party members hate him, and those who do not hate him
keep their thoughts to themselves so as not to end badly.
5. Who is O’Brien? What does Winston feel about him?
O'Brien was a member of the Inner Party and the holder of a
very remote and important office. O'Brien was a rather large
and serious-featured man, but for all that he was very good-
humored and had rather pleasant manners.
Winston had a very confused idea of him, having known him
only by sight, but he was strongly attracted to him, not merely
because he was intrigued by the contrast between O'Brien's
delicate manners and his champion-wrestler looks, but much
more by a secret conviction--perhaps not a conviction at all, but
only a hope--that O'Brien's political orthodoxy was not perfect.
He knew that O'Brien was intelligent, and if there were no
telescreens there would be a great chance of getting into a
conversation.
(Chapter 2)
My opinion about this chapter is that I am surprised
by how the children behave towards the society in
which they live, like how they are so cold towards the
killings that they commit and how they are so loyal
to the party, and the parents are afraid of their own
children who will report them to the party members if
they hear anything.
Chapter Questions
1. Explain the significance of the children at the
start of this chapter.
I think it is to show how the party has brainwashed children
and makes them be that way from a young age, to be loyal
and get excited to see how they hang their "enemies", and
also to make them be like their little spies so that if they
hear their parents say something against them they accuse
them because children are excited to be part of that
society, they feel proud of the party and they don't like it
when people say anything bad about it.
2. Explain what thought of crime is in your own
words.
In the book Thought Crime is when you realize that what is
happening in society is not right at all, that they are
dictators, oppressors of freedom. And the Thought Police
tell them that it is a crime for you to think that way since
they do not want anyone to disagree with them, and if they
discover that you think that way they literally eliminate you,
erase every trace of you. In Winston's case, if they were to
discover the diary that he has and what he writes in it, they
would do that with it, they would eliminate it.
3. What does the quote, “We shall meet in the place
where there is no darkness,” mean to you? What do
you think it means to Winston?
I see the meaning of them meeting because the society
where they live is liberated, because there is peace and not
war, because there is no more ignorance. That's how I see
it.
Winston remembers that phrase and the first one that
comes to mind is O'Brien because according to Winston he
and O'Brien share thoughts about the Party, I imagine that
Winston also sees it as freedom, something positive, that
phrase.
(Chapter 3)
Chapter Questions
1. What happens in Winston’s dream?
First in his dream he saw his mother and his little sister in
the cabin of a sinking ship in dark green water while
Winston stood outside in the daylight watching them sink
deeper and deeper, and then suddenly he appeared on a
lawn one fine summer evening and the dark-haired girl
came along and threw off his clothes, and Winston was
thrilled at the gesture with which the girl had thrown off her
clothes. In the grace and carelessness of that gesture she
seemed to be annihilating his whole culture, a whole system
of thought, as if Big Brother and the Party and the Thought
Police could be swept away and sent packing with a wave
of the arm.
2. Look back at page 13 in Chapter One regarding
Winston’s transfer of hate to the dark-haired girl.
Compare and contrast his feelings toward her
during the hate to his feelings/experience during
the dream.
In the first chapter Winston shows his hatred for her
because he knows that she has a lot of "mental hygiene"
meaning that she is faithful to the Party, she is loyal, she
defends them, she is a fanatic in a few words, and he also
hates her because he knows that in a certain way she is
more dangerous than the other fans. However, in the dream
he had, he is excited by the idea of seeing her so liberated
and breaking the rules of the Party that she is so willing to
follow.
3. Explain doublethink in your own words. Try to
come up with one of your own examples. How
does this reflect the three slogans of the Party?
To explain this I will take the example of "Ignorance is
strength" the slogan of the Party. Doublethink is when you
start to think about a situation and have negative feelings
but then you think about another situation very similar to
that one but you do not have those same negative feelings
as the other situation and this is where "ignorance is
strength" comes in, imagining that a very strong war is
beginning and a woman hears two men talking very
worriedly about it and the woman joins them and asks them
what they are talking about and the men tell her and she
quickly becomes filled with fear and worry, and this is
where we begin to think that although ignorance is not
strength but the ignorant live happily because they live in
their own world without worrying about anything. And in the
book ignorance is clearly not strength for any of the
civilians, it is strength for those in the party because if the
civilians do not find out about anything and live in
ignorance they will never stand up and fight for their rights,
in the book ignorance is already stupidity (sorry for the
word) since the adults see how they are living and do
nothing to change it. In the first case of ignorance that I
mentioned, the woman did not know anything about what
was happening but in the book the civilians do know and
they act as if they do not for fear of what might happen
and they prefer to remain silent and continue living
miserably.
In the three slogans of the party
"WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH"
These slogans are only true for Big Brother, starting with
“War is peace”, which is only true for those who are not
going to war to fight and sacrifice themselves, or for those
who are not having their houses bombed. These slogans are
very hypocritical and false, since they only benefit one and
not all.
"Freedom is slavery" Civilians find "freedom" by serving the
state. The Party tells them that if they do not agree with the
Party they die, so slavery to the Party gives them "freedom"
in a certain way.
(Chapter 4)
My opinion
This chapter is about what Winston's job is like and what he
does, and he basically makes up lies about Big Brother that
make him look like a "God." And if Big Brother said something
and it didn't come true and they wrote it in books or
newspapers, the workers have to erase and re-do the books
and newspapers with what really happened saying that Big
Brother said would happen. Or they have the workers make up
people, like Winston who was made to make up a soldier and he
made up a whole life story and his death too, and that was
supposedly to inspire civilians about how he risked his life for
them and the country. The most surprising thing is how from
one day to the next he changes the past in his own way playing
with the minds of others since he changes it so much that no
one knows what is true and what is a lie, it is too twisted.
(Character Questions)
What is Winston’s job at the ministry? What are the
dangers of changing our history? Explain the quote, “It
struck him as curious that you could create dead mean
but not living ones”
Winston's job is to check or rectify newspapers or magazines for
accuracy and if they are wrong he has to rewrite them, for
example: "In the Times for March 17th it was said that Big
Brother, in his speech the previous day, had predicted that the
South Indian front would remain quiet, but that a Eurasian
offensive would soon be launched in North Africa. Since the
Eurasian High Command had begun its offensive in South India
and left North Africa quiet, it was therefore necessary to write a
new paragraph of Big Brother's speech in order to make him
predict what had actually happened."
Winston's job was to change the original figures to match the
later ones.
The dangers of changing our history is that if we did, they
would obviously change it with pure lies, and also if you change
just one thing in history you will have to change the whole
history, as if we changed and said that Christopher Columbus
didn't discover America we would have to invent that he arrived
in China for example and the whole history would be changed
just because of that event. And the other people would not
know what is true and what is a lie because they would live in a
world full of lies, that is the danger of trying to change history.
“It struck him as curious that you could create dead mean
but not living ones”
Winston is referring to the fact that they invent dead people
and even create their life stories without any problem, and
those who are alive are literally made to disappear and
eliminated from the face of the earth as if they had never
existed. The living are eliminated and those who do not even
exist are created, what irony.
(Chapter 5)
Chapter Questions
1. What is newspeak? What is the purpose of
newspeak? Give some specific examples and
explain their significance.
Newspeak is a "new language" in Newspeak which is basically
the language they originally spoke only they cut out words, for
example: In normal language it's Good and Bad but in
Newspeak it's "Ungood" and if you want a stronger version of
good like excellent, perfect, magnificent it would be "Plusgood"
or "Doubleplusgood". What they want to do with Newspeak is to
narrow down the vocabulary so that there's only one version of
words and there aren't as many adjectives so that it's harder to
commit thoughtcrime.
2. Who is Syme? Choose one quote that you believe
defines him as a character and explain why you
chose it. What function do you believe he
deserves in this novel? Why does Orwell include
him? Explain your answer.
Syme is a "friend of Winston's, and I think this quote represents
him: "Syme will be vaporized. He is too intelligent. He sees too
clearly and speaks too plainly. The Party does not like such
people. One day he will disappear. It is written in his face."
I feel that this quote represents him as he is and also these are
the thoughts that Winston has about him. Winston thinks that
thanks to Syme he will be vaporized along with him because he
is very reckless.
Syme's function in the book at the moment I think was to
explain Newspeak and how all that new language will work.
I think that Orwell put Syme in the book so that it was not just
Winston and that Winston could be seen from another point of
view to see how he interacts with people and what he thinks of
the people he interacts with.
3. Why do you think dystopian novels so often
attempt to destroy or remove literature or art
from their societies?
Because they want to oppress them, to make them not have
emotions or any other kind of thoughts other than their own.
And what is art? It is emotions, art shows how you see the world
and how the world sees you.
Like poems, writers in their poems put everything they feel and
how they see the world. So imagining that Winston became a
writer of poems and wrote what he really feels and believes
would be a total scandal for the party members and the
civilians, and it would lead to his death.
