1984 freaks me out a little bit.

So this is blog 1 of 3 for my novel. I'm sorry I didn't do them on time. Life has been many kinds of chaotic lately and I apologize. I hope to finish the book and complete the other two blogs by the end of the weekend. Sorry again for my lateness.

-Ally



My initial reaction to 1984 could probably be summed up as "I'm so glad I don't live in this world and what is wrong with these people?" I think I would submit to being "vaporized," as they call it, rather than live in this world where there is no freedom to think except to agree with the government.

The first of many things that I found disturbing about this society, Oceania, was the telescreens that exist in virtually every building. The idea that someone, somewhere could be watching your every move and listening to your every conversation is terrifying—particularly because it is this totalitarian government’s workers on the other side of the screen. Orwell gives us a very specific description of the pains to which Winston goes to be able to hide from the telescreen long enough to write in his diary—one of many offenses that could potentially get him killed.

Only a few pages into the novel, I could tell that Winston was different from the other people in Oceania. He was not as easily duped as the rest of them. When Winston started writing in his diary, however, I began to doubt his sanity as well. The nonchallant language he uses to describe a popular movie in which "a ship full of refugees [is] being bombed somewhere in the Mediteranean" (8) and all kinds of other horrible things happen is truly scary. He, like much of the audience at that film, does not seem to appreciate or understand the horror of the situation. These poor people have no concept of compassion or sympathy because their government has forced those instincts out of them.

I began to warm up to Winston as we learned more about him through his journaling and through his inner monologue that we get to read along with. We witness his inner struggle to remember things, to remember the truth as it really is and not as the government wants everyone to remember it.

Winston is able to recognize that something is wrong with the world he lives in due to the fact that he works in Minitrue, the Ministry of Truth. However very little of the work he does at Minitrue involves truth itself. Winston's, and many of his coworkers', job is to take what has really happened and reshape it into a lie that suits the government and then becomes accepted as truth. This fabrication process is appalling. It is no wonder that the citizens of Oceania are so brainwashed--they couldn't escape it if they tried.

Another disturbing aspect of this society is their invented language, Newspeak. As I understand it, at this point in the novel, Newspeak is not spoken by most of the population except potentially as a second language. We learn more about Newspeak from Winston's friend Syme, who works on compiling the Newspeak dictionary. Syme tells us that Newspeak is supposed to allow people to narrow their minds and thoughts by eliminating words that are "unnecessary" and therefore making true self-expression more difficult. Of course this totalitarian government doesn't want its citizens to be able to think for themselves. If they could think for themselves, they might rebel or otherwise cause problems.

The only free-thinking people in society it seems, are the proles--the lower class who are allowed to think for themselves because they make up the proletariat and don't seem to matter as much as other citizens. The government somehow just allows them more freedom; however, I think eventually they will revolt.

I'm really enjoying the novel so far. It's sort of terrifying at some points but I still like reading it and find it interesting.

WC 612