There is a character limit so you may have to break your response into separate responses. I would advise typing the response in word first and then copying and pasting so you do not lose your work.
ITEM 1: Identify and explain the two main themes in 1984 and use examples from text to support the presence of the themes in the novel.
ITEM 2: Select TWO of the following essential questions and answer them supporting your response with evidence from text and real-world examples:
- Does technology positively or negatively influence society?
- What are our responsibilities as citizens?
- What are the responsibilities of our leaders?
- What is your responsibility to yourself?
- Does a single citizen have the power to influence change?
- How is language misused and abused?
- How can citizens protect their liberty by maintaining an equivalent understanding of language as those in power?
- How is language used to obtain what we desire?
Have fun :)
Warning! I wrote a blog but it deleted due to its size. This one is broken into 4 parts so this tragedy does not occur again.
ReplyDeleteThere are two main themes in 1984. The first theme is that fear and propaganda force people to obey a higher power. This theme can be seen in the Party members. They are constantly surrounded by propaganda and were taught to believe that the Party is right. The Party members also obey the Party due to fear of the Thought Police. Their fear keeps them in check and keeps them from disobeying. This is also seen in the proles. The proles aren't regulated by the Thought Police, but still obey the Party due to the propaganda. They were taught to love the Party through propaganda. Finally, this is seen in Winston's "transition" to loving the Party. Winston was convinced to live the Party mostly through fear. His fear caused him to believe that the Party is right. His fear also caused him to stop disobeying the Party and to start following their rules. His love if the Party is solidified by the propaganda. At the cafe, he is still unsure if he loves the Party, but the news about the war, the telescreen and the poster solidifies his love. This theme is greatly supported by the characters of the story.
Question Two: Part One Lindsay Johnston
ReplyDelete7. How is language misused and abused?
Language is misused and abused by everyone. Who hasn't told a lie or bent the truth to get what they want? Language is abused and misused in order to get what one wants. This is very clear in 1984. This is first seen through the propaganda and telescreens. The Party lies and bends words to convince the citizens that they are always right. They want to be obeyed and loved. This is also seen when O'Brien talks to Winston in the Ministry of Love. O'Brien uses Winston's words against him in order to convince him that the Party is always right. Finally, this is seen when the Party switches sides in the war. The Party just changes the words to convince the people to believe them. This closely relates to changing history. The people believe the obvious lies the Party spews because they are so skilled at manipulating words. They Party abuses language to get what they want. This is also seen in real-life examples. A good examples is in politicians. They manipulate their opponents' words to make them seem right an their opponent is wrong. They do this to get what they want: your vote.
4th and final part of Question 2 for Lindsay Johnston.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 6: Does a single citizen have the power to influence change?
As nice as it seems, the answer is no. They may at local levels, but not at higher levels. This can be clearly seen in 1984. Winston is afraid to act out because he thinks that he alone. He becomes more confident when he meets Julia and realizes that he is not alone in his feelings toward the Party. Naturally as humans, we do not like to be alone in our thoughts. Finally, when he learns about the brotherhood, he becomes most confident because he knows that many others support his ideas. This is also seen in real-world examples. A good example is the civil rights movement. This movement was so successful because their were millions of supporters. A few people led it, but the supporters made it work. The amount of followers led to it being noticed and a change being made. With one person would not have made a difference. This can also be seen in the suffrage movement. It was supported by millions of women and gained recognition due to its size and amount of followers. This is very similar to the civil rights movement and 1984. One person cannot make a change unless it is with a large group
1. One of the two main themes in 1984 is psychologically manipulation. Throughout the novel, the citizens of Oceania through various forms of propaganda. The government uses these propaganda techniques are used to make sure the citizens believe everything the government tells its people, even if it is ridiculous or a lie. The continuous war exemplifies this theme. The citizens always believe that there is a way going on, but there is no actual prove that a war is happening.
ReplyDeleteThe second theme present thoughout the novel is human greediness. Winston shows his greediness by not being happy with his present situation and wanting more and wondering what life would be without the Party. The Party shows their greediness by wanting to completely control their people through totalitarianism.
2. Does a single citizen have the power to influence change? No one citizen does not have the power to influence change, it takes a group of people. In 1984, Winston wants to start a rebellion but is unable to. The government and Party are too powerful and strike too much fear into the citizens for them to rebell so they would never rebell with Winston. This is always true in real life because every revolution starts with a group of people rather than one person. In the riots after the Michael Brown shootings, they weren't started by a single person they were started by a group of people. From this, I've learned that a single person may not have as much of a voice as someone may think.
What are the responsibilities of our leaders? The responsibilities of our leaders are to keep order. In 1984, the Party uses totalitarian force to ensure that the citizens are kept in line. Although they go to the extremes to do this, they successfully do this. This is done in real life by our government passing laws to keep us in line and in order.
PART I
ReplyDeleteI have not only learned from this novel, but also from my own experiences, how powerful words are. They can illustrate, communicate and even suppress ideas. There are multiple ways to express one idea. The impact of the idea is based upon the vocabulary used. This has been prevalent in English this year. The ability to construct sentences in the best way possible, attempt to avoid “to be” verbs (still working on that one) and provide commentary all affect the influence of the idea. In 1984, Orwell demonstrates the power of contrasting language has on people, their thoughts and their actions. He uses phrases in the Party’s slogans “WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”. The Party is quite clever at controlling their citizens through propaganda. I think language is even more impactful when pictures are also used. The power of visuals and strong language are sure to sway people in the direction one favors.
In some way or another, we are all connected. Yes, I know it sounds like the movie Pocahontas, but it is true to a degree. I could go on to say the average American wastes up to thirty gallons of water a day (except for you, Mr. Moio, since you drink Coke Zero instead) and how it negatively impacts thousands of people whom struggle to find clean water to drink. However, 1984 was not concerned with clean water. It was focused around what humans waste---their rights. Winston, although he was only one person, posed a threat to the Party. The Party went through a long process to “correct” Winston. He let his individualism impact his life and this led to him impacting others. Both he and Julia impacted each other. It was an inevitable process. Orwell illustrates the Winston in Part I and the Winston in Part II and III differently. Before Winston and Julia are taken to the Ministry of Love, Julia has led Winston to accept and understand his ideas and dreams. O’Brien also impacted Winston. Winston’s obsession with O’Brien ended up leading to his demise, but Winston still looked up to O’Brien and admired his knowledge and even how he adjusted his glasses on his nose. Humans can impact themselves and others in large and small ways.
PART II
ReplyDeleteThe first words out of young children are normally “Momma” and “Dadda” or something similar. Words are used to express thoughts and ideas. Thoughts can be affirmative and commanding. These first words catch the parents’ attention. From a young age, children learn how to get what they want. At first they start with physical communication, but later on, they use verbal education. The Party used language similarly to a young child but with more intellectual reasoning in order to fuel their goal. In its slogans, the Party used simple words to convey a deeper meaning. When Winston read the book, he learned the deeper meaning behind the Party’s slogan. Commercials often use a similar technique to grasp their audience. Propaganda and language go together. The Party uses many propaganda techniques to obtain what they desire and use fitting language to go along with the propaganda. The Big Brother posters are a great example. The Party wants to instill fear and security at the same time. “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” and the picture of Big Brother are a simple way the Party controls its citizens and their actions. As long as humans can talk, language will be used as a tool to obtain what is desired.
The news tends to cover negative topics such as war, death and almost anything depressing. Every so often, a positive story is covered. Sometimes the story revolves around an individual that started a charity, company or even a student that made a difference in his/her school. From this point of view, it seems one citizen has the power to influence change. In 1984, Orwell takes the reader on the journey of the rise and fall of Winston Smith. His ideas of an uprising seem impossible at first, but Julia comes in his life and changes his perspective. Once the Party “corrects” him in the Ministry of Love, the hope of an uprising is destroyed. I have seen and heard the phrase “one person can make a difference” and I now disagree after reading 1984. I have rephrased the common statement. It only takes one person for an idea, but it takes many to follow through. All of the charity organizations, companies and even people like MLK needed more than themselves to carry out their plan. MLK had a dream, but it took, and even still seems to take, every American citizen to commit to his dream. Change is something that never ends. It is started and never finished. Winston started his view of changed, but it will never end due to the Party’s interference. In a sense, Winston destroyed his own opportunity for change by living dangerously with Julia and obsessing over O’Brien. Once interferences and distractions overtake a chance for an idea, rebellion, etc., it is often hard to come back with enough fire to finish the job.
Item 1
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest themes in the book is the power through psychological control. In the beginning of the book, it was made quite clear to the readers that something was off with the system in the nation. The party used manipulation and fear as the psychological control factors throughout all of its party members, and citizens. The figure in the book known as Big Brother is the party’s way of a constant reminder that Big Brother is always watching the people. Thus being said it is a control factor to the fear that the citizens face everyday. The thought police also add to their fears through the knowledge that if they so much as even think bad thoughts upon big brother, they face the probability of being vaporized and/or killed on the spot.
Another main theme in the story is that on the totalitarianism that is represented by the entire system. Totalitarianism is when a political system holds complete authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of the public and private life. The party indeed does have complete control over the citizens and its members. They hold authority over the history of its country. They alter and change the countries history all the time in order to make the country seem better to the party members and the citizens. They change the facts all the time: whom they are at war with, what is good and what is bad, there are no laws. it is all just complete control by the Party, thus strongly representing the idea of totalitarianism in the book.
Two main themes in 1984 are fear and control. Fear is seen throughout the entire novel, and is shown by both the people and the Party. The people fear that the Party will capture them if they are caught "misbehaving" or speak out against their actions. Characters such as Winston, those who don't follow the Party's rules, fear that they are going to be captured at any moment. Winston also lives in fear, because he believes he is alone in his pursuit against the Party. The proles fear that a rocket bomb may kill them at any moment, and Julia fears that the Party launches the rockets themselves. Winston and Julia live in fear that they will be seen together, which is not permitted since they are not married. Winston fears that the telescreens will see his diary, Winston also has a literal fear for rats. After Winston's capture, he fears what the Party is doing to Julia. He also fears the machine that O'Brien is using to torture him. Lastly, Winston fears the contraption with the rats, which makes him betray Julia, and in effect, betray his former life against the Party. Another theme is control. The Party controls everything in the present and the past. The Party takes credit for inventions such as airplanes, and spews lies about the past. Since no sources exist to prove them wrong, the Party's lies become the truth. The Party controls all of Oceania's citizens. They use the telescreens and hidden microphones to monitor what every person does constantly. The Party controls its people to prevent thought against them. The people work long hours that physically wear them down. They also are forced to drink victory gin, which clouds their memory. The Party uses the Lottery with the proles in order to distract them from how bad their life is, since if they win they can join the Party. The Party controls the people into believing that they must be good Party members. Anyone suspected of treason or any other crime is sent to the Ministry of Love to be tortured and eventually executed. The Party similarly eliminates proles that appear to understand that the Party unjustly controls them. The Party controls the language. The language in the novel, Newspeak, slowly replaces English, or Oldspeak, as the language of Oceania. Newspeak eliminates words and in essence, eliminates thought. The Party controls the thoughts of its Party members in order to prevent possible rebellions or revolts against their clearly unjust actions. Lastly, the Party controls emotions in order to create an emotionless society that will not question their actions, while the people will not enjoy anything.
ReplyDeleteItem 1
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest themes in the book is the power through psychological control. In the beginning of the book, it was made quite clear to the readers that something was off with the system in the nation. The party used manipulation and fear as the psychological control factors throughout all of its party members, and citizens. The figure in the book known as Big Brother is the party’s way of a constant reminder that Big Brother is always watching the people. Thus being said it is a control factor to the fear that the citizens face everyday. The thought police also add to their fears through the knowledge that if they so much as even think bad thoughts upon big brother, they face the probability of being vaporized and/or killed on the spot.
Another main theme in the story is that on the totalitarianism that is represented by the entire system. Totalitarianism is when a political system holds complete authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of the public and private life. The party indeed does have complete control over the citizens and its members. They hold authority over the history of its country. They alter and change the countries history all the time in order to make the country seem better to the party members and the citizens. They change the facts all the time: whom they are at war with, what is good and what is bad, there are no laws. it is all just complete control by the Party, thus strongly representing the idea of totalitarianism in the book.
ReplyDeleteTechnology both positively and negatively influences society. Technology and the pursuit of new technology has always been carried out in order to make life easier for the people. Inventions such as phones, trains, and airplanes have made the transport of ideas much easier to carry out. Technology also improves the morale of society. I'm you are capable of doing something such as talking to someone far away as easy as sending a text message or calling them, people become happy that they are able to do such tasks. Otherwise they would have to send a letter or travel to their home to talk to them which is far more difficult of a task. Technology also improves the safety of a society. Surveillance equipment and satellites are used to spy on hostile areas in order to prevent the surprise of attacks, and then military technology is used to eliminate these threats. Technology also negatively influences society. Surveillance equipment can unjustly be used to spy on society, which is utilized in 1984 in order to control its citizens. Technology also gives members of a society an easy opportunity to communicate with hostile societies. Technology also promotes the sharing of ideas. This can be both positive and negative. Ideas of new technologies or future attacks against a society. Technology also allows communication of corrupt ideas.
Language is misused and abused in order to manipulate other forcibly or willingly to accept ideas that the speaker is confident with. In 1984, the Party uses language to limit emotions of its people and prevent a rebellion from ensuing. They invent Newspeak to prevent emotion, and alter the past in order to prevent historical inspiration for a rebellion. Dictators often manipulate their reasoning for their actions in order to gain public support. For example, Adolf Hitler blamed problems on the Jews in order to gain support for slaughtering them.
One main theme found in "1984" is ignorance has the potential to make one person, or even a society, more gullible. The people full-heartedly believed the lies told by Big Brother. They did not know better than to trust their government over their personal experiences. Also, when Winston was in the Ministry of Love, O’Brien and his merry band of torturers took away everything Winston knew before convincing him about the Party’s positivity in their society. From personal experience, it can be said that children are trusting and gullible. Children also tend not to know as much as older, more jaded humans. The correlation between ignorance ad gullibility is present in our society, as well as the society in "1984".
ReplyDeleteAnother theme found in the novel is that individuality is maintained by staying true to one’s beliefs and refusal to doubt personal experiences. Winston, throughout the novel, remembers more and more from his childhood. He holds onto his personal views on the Party, as well. He is an individual, which a reader observes throughout the book, until the very end when he might as well be any other character. In the beginning of the book, he commits the forbidden act of writing in a diary, which shows his disloyalty to his government. However, in the end, he is steadfastly and mindlessly committed to the Party, just like everybody else.
The responsibility of a citizen is to question a government and even challenge its power. A society completely dictated by a leader might as well not have people in it at all. Machines are meant to obey, while humans are meant to rebel, striving for a better life. By questioning a leader, one citizen raises concerns, which may eventually lead to a change in society itself. In America, one citizen’s input helps choose a leader. The leader of choice, when good, improves a society. However, a bad leader shows each citizen the flaws in society, which always has room for improvement.
The responsibility of a leader is to be open and honest with the people. Civilization is supposed to be organized, but organization can only be achieved when information is shared with all. In "1984", the people cannot trust their government, but they do. Due to their ignorance, there is no opportunity for any group or individual to improve their society. Honesty and openness can help reduce ignorance in a society, and if the people know more about their society, they can improve their society. In our country, and even in our school, leaders are not always honest. However, since there are other ways to reduce ignorance, people know better than to trust their government. Our people would not need to obtain information in a roundabout way if our leaders were just honest.
The two main themes of 1984 are the dangers of psychological manipulation and language and mind control. The first theme, dangers of psychological manipulation, is prominent in this book. What it means is psychological manipulation is dangerous under anyone's control. When someone has psychological power over someone else they could basically control their life. That type of power is not okay for anyone to have over someone else. Psychological manipulation is a large part of the entire book, 1984. An example would be the telescreens that constantly blast propaganda that supports the Party to make everything they do look like a success. The second theme, language and mind control, is important because it limits the ideas that a human is allowed to have. It also limits the thoughts that humans are even capable of formulating. An example of this is Newspeak. It's a language that the Party came up with. It basically replaces the English language with fewer words so that citizens eventually will have no words to speak with let alone think with. The two essential questions I chose are: does technology positively or negatively influence society? And what are the responsibilities of our leaders? My answer to the first question is technology negatively influences society. A real world example that proves my accusation correct would be the 2015 sexting scandal at none other than my school, Penn Trafford High School. A teacher overheard a conversation between students that alerted her. She notified the principal only to find out that there were 6-12 students that had been involved in a group chat with scandalous pictures being sent. If technology had been benefiting society this type of issue would not occur. The responsibilities of our leaders is to keep the people satisfied and safe. My example of this essential question is our current president Barack Obama. Since the year 2009, because of Obama, the U.S. has created more jobs than other advanced economies have created combined. This is keeping the people satisfied because these jobs allow them to bring home food to their families. This keeps them safe because with the money they have earned they can buy some form of residence to keep them from starving on the streets. This is the end of my final, have a nice summer Mr. Moio!
ReplyDeleteYou too, Maya!
DeleteAspect 1:
ReplyDeleteOne main theme in George Orwell’s 1984 is the effects of dehumanizing humans. This theme is shown in 1984 by the Party trying to get all the members to become in- humane as possible. Evidence from the text is in the beginning of the novel when we can see all the people in Oceania looking very gray and dim. This shows us that the people are not very happy and helps to indicate to us the readers that somebody may be controlling their life. One other example that we can see is how the Party is trying to get rid of all the human emotions. The Party is trying to get rid of all the emotions that people can have. The biggest emotion that the Party is getting rid of is love and the Party is getting rid of the people’s memories by drinking an alcoholic beverage that makes their memories foggy. The Party does a very good job to dehumanize the members and Orwell clearly delivers this message to us.
Another theme from 1984 is physiological manipulation. This theme is shown in the novel by the Party altering the way the members live and this would cause the people to believe what they start to read and they will start to believe it. An example from the text is when the Party is altering the history books and exterminating people. In the novel the Party is seen as changing the history books to what they want the people to know so the members will not questions or know any of the bad things they have done in the past. One other example of the manipulation is the way they convert you over to a Party member. We as readers can see this when Winston is being tortured because they get inside of his head and then convince him that they are the ones who determine how he lives. The Party is the best example of physiological manipulation to the people and this shows that the Party really wants to stay in power that they will even alter the way people learn to stay in power.
Aspect 2:
ReplyDeleteI believe that technology can have both a positive and negative affect on our society. There are a handful of ways that technology can help our society and there are ways technology can have a negative impact. This can be seen in the text by the use of telescreens and the effect on the way the people live. In the novel the telescreen has a positive impact on the Party because they are able to see what the people are doing and are able to keep up with all the people who are committing crimes against the Party. The negative affects about technology in the novel is how it affects the people. The telescreens are used to spy on the people and to see what they are doing all the time. This is very negative because the people have no privacy to what they do in their spare time. A real world example of the use of technology is how the government uses technology to spy on us. It is used in a positive way because it helps to point out some terrorist and to catch criminals that may be organizing a crime against America. The way it affects us negatively is that they save what we do on technology forever and this is considered to many unconstitutional. The way Orwell showed how the Party uses technology against the people is very similar to how we use it today in our society.
Language can be misused and abused because it can be altered and then could be used to tell false information. This can be seen all the time in our society today. The way it is used in the novel is by the Party always altering the way people read the information in that society. The Party can be seen committing this act because Winston is helping them because that is his job and he tells us about it in the novel. The way the Party misuses the language is that they abuse it by changing it and adding lies in the language to help get the point across. This can be seen in our world today by people telling us false information and altering events. One example of the real world is a lawyer and his client. These two people are the ones who most often abuse and misuse our language. They are also trying to alter what happened so the client won’t get a bad sentence so they lie to the judge or jury to make it seem like it wasn’t his/her fault. Most of the time it doesn’t work but we can see instances were it did work and people have questions about it. Again the timing of how Orwell predicted this is incredible but it is sad that we misuse and abuse our language how much we actually do.
One theme that is present in "1984" is that usage of words and propaganda are effective in manipulating large portions of people. This theme means that when a person is able productively use propaganda in their language, they are capable of brainwashing mass portions of people into something that may not be true. This is further developed when O'Brien is explaining to Winston about how he is insane. Winston is told that he is a lunatic and unable to process the true essence of reality because he does believe in things that are not true. However, everything Winston remembers are true past events. O'Brien is trying to use bandwagon by explaining to him that he is the outcast and is the only one who doesn't believe what everyone else does. A second theme is that the alteration and falsification of history can drastically change the way a society is ran. This theme means that if history can be wiped away and changed into something that did not happen, society would not be able to learn from their mistakes, and history would most likely repeat itself. Also, people would not know their past and why society is ran the way it is. This is being further developed by showing one of the techniques used when altering the past. O'Brien explains to Winston how the Party has complete control over the past, present, and future. Because they are in charge of this, they are able to change whatever they want in order for it to benefit them. Also, these parts of Book Three explain how they attempt to manipulate the "not so easily convinced" people into following the alterations of the past. This is expressed by the torturous devices O'Brien uses on Winston until Winston forgets almost everything he knows.
ReplyDelete1) Does technology positively or negatively influence society? - Technology has both positive and negative influences on society. In "1984", technology provides the Party with access to all of their citizens’ lives. It gives them the power to oversee all of their actions and make sure their society is ran the way they want it to be. Technology positively influences the way information is provided to the general public. Society is able to obtain news of current events and has the ability to have information at their fingertips just by going on the internet. However, there are negative aspects to the influence of technology. In "1984", because technology is extremely advanced, the Party has the availability to alter history. They are negatively influencing society into believing in things that did not actually happen. Also, it allows the Party to have complete control over the physical and mental beings of society. The people do not have lives of their own and are living and breathing for Big Brother. They are being taken advantage of by the high increase of technological uses. In society today, technology has a negative influence with the information put onto social media. Social media highly influences large groups of people to believe something is right and just to do/want to do. However, often the things that are promoted or shown on social media are not appropriate to do or see. These are the ways that technology positively and also negatively influence society.
ReplyDelete2) How is language misused and abused? - The language used throughout "1984" by the party members was misused in order to manipulate their citizens. The Party brainwashed the people into believing that they are always correct, and nothing that they do is wrong or untrue. By using propaganda, Big Brother and other members of the Party are capable of making the citizens of Oceania do and believe everything. Also, in today’s society, language is misused with politicians. Politicians or other people running for a position manipulate the people with their words by promising to do something in order to get the job. However, instead of fulfilling their promises, the politicians do not. They use their words to make people believe what they say and take advantage of them just to be successful. This is the ways in which language is misused and abused.
Item 1: A theme within the novel 1984 is words and language help humans to express, spread, and suppress ideas. Essentially this means that words can be used to spread a message. A person can say something to another one to try and explain an idea. Humans are able to use words to talk to other humans. This has been happening throughout history. Cultures, ideas, and technology have been spread from place to place because of word of mouth and contact. Ideas can also be suppressed, as well. A person can tell another person to not think a certain way. Leaders can tell their subjects that certain thought is unacceptable. In the past, people have been murdered in order to make sure they could not pass along ideas that they had. Within 1984, language is key to communicating ideas or suppressing them. Posters with the words “Big Brother is watching you” are used to suppress any ideas that go against the party. The language used makes the audience know the idea that Big Brother is all powerful and omniscient. Julia utilizes language to get Winston to meet her and agree to be on her side. She passes on the idea that she is apart of rebellion when she writes Winston the love note. Julia does this again when she convinces him to follow the small rules and break the big ones. She communicates the idea to Winston that rebellion is okay but you can not be stupid about it. The Party continuously uses language as a way to control the masses. Their slogans like “Freedom is Slavery” is a prime example of this. The Party is using language to tell the people that the idea of freedom can only be obtained through being a slave to the Party. Humans use language as a way to suppress and communicate ideas.
ReplyDeleteItem 1: Another theme of 1984 is that humans have the ability to impact their lives and the lives of others. People can change themselves. Everyone has the capability to change how they think, walk, dress, and generally are. This is a unique characteristic to humans. We as humans also have the power to impact other people’s lives. A stranger walking down the street has the ability to make someone’s day or ruin it. Often times stories can be heard of people who managed to turn their whole life around. They went from druggies or extremely obese people to people who have a healthy life and possible future. This change is possible because humans have the ability to impact their own lives. There are also stories about teachers, coaches, or neighbors who impacted another person’s life. A teacher may help a student reach a new achievement level through his or her teaching. A coach may be able to act as the mentor a child never had. The neighbor may look out for the person whose house was being broken into. Humans hold the capability of being able to impact other people’s lives through simple actions. In 1984 this theme is heavily prevalent. Julia is continuously impacting Winston’s life. She helps to make him more optimistic, level headed, and a man of action. Any time Winston went down a negative path Julia could bring him back so that he was more level. O’Brien also impacts Winston’s life. He is the one who breaks Winston physically and mentally. O’Brien tears down all Winston’s thoughts and makes him an abiding citizen. Winston also was able to change his life. He went from a guy who thought something may be off to a man who was willing to join a rebellion. Winston was able to make his own thoughts condensed and remember his past. He impacts his life through his own choices. By choosing to rebel Winston chooses to end his own life. Humans have the ability to impact their own lives and the lives of others.
ReplyDeleteItem 2: Citizens protect their liberty by maintaining an equivalent understanding of language as those in power. When a citizen of a country is able understand what their leaders are saying they become more responsible people. These informed citizens can now know whether those in power are lying to them or trying to deceive people. By being an informed citizen people can better elect their officials and understand what the issues truly are. The citizens in 1984 are too dense to understand what the Party is saying so they just swallow the information. If a person is not informed about the dangers of language he or she is at risk of giving up their liberties. People who understand the implications of language can know when and how they may be being tricked. People in power are capable of taking advantage of their citizens. By understanding language and being well informed a citizen can tell when his or her liberty may be at risk due to a new law. In the past people under dictators have experienced this. Communist regimes in Russia are a prime example. Stalin was able to take away the power of thousands by saying it was for the good of the people and providing manipulative propaganda. A citizen must be able to look at a picture or statistic and be able to tell whether it is manipulative of not. Another example of this is in charismatic leaders. These people have a way with using words to continuously smooth things over. In Nazi Germany citizens lost liberties due to the charismatic attitude of Hitler. These people were willing to put him into power because of his pleas for nationalism. In the end, these citizens lost liberties. If people in either of these countries had been better informed then maybe less liberty would have been lost. The only way to defend our liberties is to maintain a good understanding of how language can be used.
ReplyDeleteItem 2: A single person does have the power to impact change. One person can be the springboard for a whole revolution. This one person can not cause change alone, but they can start it. A single person has the ability to provide power to a movement. This can be seen countless times in many eras. Martin Luther King greatly impacted change during the civil rights movement. He called for peaceful protests. MLK was able to change people’s views on how rights could be obtained. He may not have been able to do it alone but his actions allowed for others to join the movement. Rosa Parks is another example from this era. By her single action she impacted change. Her actions may not have immediately changed how things worked, but they created a snowball sort of effect. A more modern example is Malala. She was able to help create change. By standing up for what she believes in other people have found the strength to do the same. No, a single person can not cause change, but he or she can impact it. Anybody has the power to impact another person’s life. Change is the same kind of thing. Most fights for change can not be started alone. These fights may only need one person to ignite them, though. All real change takes is a single person to be brave enough to say something is wrong. This person can then help other people to do the same things. As time progresses more and more people are able to see the same thing. Winston may not have been able to impact change single handedly, but many other people have been able to. The first person to notice that something is wrong is often seen as crazy, but once everyone can see the wrong that person is seen as the starter of change.
ReplyDeleteOne main theme in 1984 is Loyalty must be present in relationships between people to pursue goals. In the story 1984, the party is fueled by loyalty, and wants all of its citizens to support all actions it takes in making a Oceania a “Greater Place”. The parties idea of loyalty is accepting Big Brothers ideas and requests without hesitation. However, when Winston pledges his loyalty to the O’Brien and the brotherhood, he also accepts the ideas of the Brotherhood without hesitation. Winston swears to do anything the Brotherhood tells him to do, even if that means murdering innocents people or throwing Sulfuric Acid onto kids. Winston and Julia are also loyal to each other, they both agree that they will not betray each other in a case where they would be captured. Winston also refuses to be separated from her. This separate loyalty Winston and Julia have is what separates them from the other people of Oceania. Winston’s loyalty is to Julia and the brotherhood unlike most people of Oceania whose loyalty is to Big brother and the Party. Party members are loyal to the Party, Big Brother, and Oceania. Personal relationships are of no importance to the Party. Relationships are unimportant to the Party because they want all the loyalty people can give. When people are in relationships they have to be loyal to one another which worries the party that they would not get that loyalty from those who are in relationships. The second theme is that everything is the conflict between appearances and reality. This is true throughout the book. One example is Winston himself is seen as a loyal citizen of Oceania and to the Party. Even his job is crucial to maintaining the Party's lies to its people of Oceania. But if you see past surface he scrapes at the Party's totalitarian regime, and secretly writes against the party in his journal in the beginning of the book. Another example is how sees that O'Brien is a loyal person and understand Winston, and O’Brien does give this impression. The Party has created a world where little is what it seems and where it creates its own reality. which many people in Oceania do not realize this. Intelligent people like WInston do see the truth because they look past the surfac. The Party's ability to control reality is reflected in Newspeak and through Big Brother.
ReplyDeletePart 2:
How is language used to obtain what we desire?
In 1984, language is of importance to behavior control. If language was free, the control over the possibility of rebellion or disobedience would be eliminated. This book shows large examples of significance if language was controlled. Mainly, through Goldstein’s manifesto, or when Syme and Winston speak about Newspeak. Language can be used to obtain people’s thoughts and actions. When we want someone to do something for us we beg and use certain forms of words to bribe them into doing something for you. Similar to 1984 the Party uses propaganda as a form or bribery for Oceanian people to follow their lead. This book is a large example of what could happen if a government was able to use language to obtain what they desire.
Does technology positively or negatively influence society?
I think technology has the ability to positively affect society however it does press the idea that it can be used against us and affect us negatively. Technology today is used mainly to help people learn and make our lives easier. But it can be manipulated, technology is an important tool that the Party uses to maintain control over its citizens. Without the use of telescreens, the Thought Police would not be nearly as effective. The telescreens serve as their main way of catching citizens in the act of thought crimes. If technology was not existant, propaganda would not be as widespread. The constant supervision of the telescreen traps citizens of Oceania in their daily lives; they are always under observation.
One theme of “1984” is how language can play a huge part in controlling society and how they act and think. In “1984” Ingsoc is the primary language. Also it happens to the only language in the world that loses words. Why? The answer is because Big Brother and The Party is “dumbing down” the party members. The fewer words they know the less structure their sentences will be and the less smarter they will sound. So when The Party puts criminals on the stand they sound stupid and ignorant and makes the Party sound smart and all knowing. Like how in criminal cases prosecutors will bring an expert witness that is specialized in a certain field. So when the prosecutor ask a question they can use these big, elaborate words to make things sound better and more confusing to understand. This is to persuade the jury in their favor just like how the Party uses the same tactic to persuade their members in their favor. It's like Big
ReplyDeleteBrother is a college graduate and the party members are a 1st grader. Obviously the college graduate would sound smarter, more professional and persuasive than the 1st grader. Another theme of “1984” is how society use the majority to control people. The majority of the party members are pro Big Brother. Now Big Brother is someone no one has ever seen, a dictator that controls his people by any means necessary, and created a slogan that is “freedom is slavery”. Not to mention he has kids rat out their parents to the authorities if they aren’t 110% for him. This is just sad and cruel to be honest. If nobody goes with him you're dead or soon will be. Now we don’t really see anything as drastic at death in today's society but in muslim women. Many of them are beaten by their husbands everyday and have to serve them like a king. So many of them want out of their marriages. However the majority of their society forbids this and frowns on it. If they do get a divorce they have death threats towards them and might be killed for it. Like how Big Brother and The Party members forbids any kind of friendship or any kind of group that isn't for the Party and what the Party believes in.
Through out this novel, several themes reoccur in all three books. One of the themes that is evident is that the government reaches full power when it takes away ones individualism. In "1984" the people do not get to choose their identity, the Party chooses for them. One example is the telescreens. The telescreens represent how they are always watching the people, but they are also used to monitor the people and make sure they are not disobeying laws. This is an example from the theme, because it shows that the civilians do not have privacy to express themselves because they would be seen and punished for it. Another example of the theme is the victory gin. This is an example, because the Party does not want the people to have memories from before the sixties, so they brain wash them so they are all the same. The last example of this theme is the children. This is an example, because the Party is changing how the children are being taught. They are told to turn in anyone who have committed a felony, even if it is their own parents, they still report them.
ReplyDeleteAnother example of theme in "1984" is communism. One example from the book is during hate week whenever the Party announces they are now at war with Eastasia. This is an example, because it shows how in an instant they can be at war with however they want because they do what they want without listening to the civilians. Another example of this theme is whenever Winston is held in prison with the other criminals. A man gives a very feeble man a piece of bread, however the thought police come in and beat the man. They do this because they want to terrify the people so they know if they mess up the Party will punish them. The last example from the book is whenever Winston is walking through a prole neighborhood and kicks a hand into the gutter. This is an example, because it shows how much devastation can be done once you anger the Party. It also shows Winston has empathy for all the people who have suffered, but will not do anything, because he fears that the capital will punish him. These are two themes that occur throughout all three of the "1984" books.
Even though in the book, it does not seem that technology has a positive influence on society, however it does. The idea of telescreens and all the cameras and devices is beneficial, because it allows the government to make sure the people stay in line and that the environment remains safe. An example of technology being beneficial in todays society is tracking devices on phones. If a child runs away, or is kidnapped there is a tracking device on the phone so they could be found easier. Another example of why technology is beneficial is it helps in medicine. Over the past years, scientists have been able to find cures to diseases that did not seem possible years earlier. Also they have better treatments for cancer patients that work more effective. The next essential question is how language can be misused and abused. In the book, the Party treats the civilians rudely and says cruel things whenever they are punishing a person. They also abuse language, by telling lies. They tell Winston they are doing things for their own good, however they are really just making things up to make them sound like they have everything under control, and that the people should listen to them because they know what they are doing. Language is not only abused in the book, it's also abused in todays society. An example is whenever teenagers bully others by calling them names and telling them things that could lead to depression or suicide. So by abusing the language, people are being put at risk due to others cruel words.
The responsibility of citizens is to form their own government and to run to their desires. Whether that be electing officials or electing one person. Then, if and only if, the citizens feel like their government isn’t protecting them or is doing them and injustice then they must rebel. They must rebel against the government and fight for what they believe in. What they want. The citizens also have the duty and responsibility to be good and outgoing citizens. One that supports, protects, serves, and may even run society and the people of that society. Citizen isn’t a noun it's a verb. You have to do something that benefits your society, state, country in whatever way that you can. If you fail to do this you simply are not a citizen. You are person that happens to live in that society. A single citizen does not have the power to influence change. One can not influence change at all by themselves. They need a group of people that stand with them. That believe in what they believe in. One person can start change but can’t influence it. One voice among thousands can’t be heard. But a thousands of voices among thousands can. It is up to a select and very special group to influence change. For example Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t influence change all by himself. He had a whole group of people behind. him. People that influenced change together. People that started a movement. If one person can influence change then it is a bad society to live in. The people must want change as well. If one person can influence change then it is not change to begin with. It is a dictatorship , like the one in “1984”. And trust me nobody, I mean nobody, wants that.
ReplyDeleteItem 1: The themes in "1984" are crucial to expressing the author's ideas and comparisons between the real world today and the society of Oceania. The first theme that plays a role in the book is that those afraid of death do not have the ability to understand its meaning, and those accepting of death must experience the meaning to understand it. This is shown vividly in some of our characters such as Julia and Winston. In the book, Winston gets to the point where he says he is willing to die for his ideas, but never really proves this thought. It is not until he is taken to jail that he begins to comprehend what he is getting himself into. Mr. O'Brien is a character that is torturing Winston with multiple feelings of a near-death experiences. These experiences teach Winston that death is not a matter of word of mouth, death is a reality that will come harsh in the society they live in and should not be played with unless genuinely appreciated. Julia, on the other hand, is afraid of death because she does not understand what will come of it. Instead of believing that her death might be a positive thing and spark a change for the society, she only looks at it as her life ending. This shows the almost selfish qualities that Julia has and how little knowledge she has of the world around her. The second theme is that the people sheltered most from the outside world are the ones easily persuaded through deception. This is obvious throughout the entire book with most of the characters. We see through Winston's descriptions just how oblivious society is the the truth and how little contact they must have with those outside of Oceania. Since Winston's job is to change all written things into what the Leader says, we see what the truth is and how easily the statistics can be changed. Even though the people know the truth, they will not say anything because they do not know better than to trust the Party and Big Brother.
ReplyDeleteItem 2: Does a single citizen have the power to influence change?
ReplyDeleteI believe that a single citizen does have the power to influence change. Of course they cannot make the change all by themselves or in a short time period, but they can influence others to be on their side and make a change as a group. This is significant to the society we live in now. Without people trying to make changes, we would not have the freedoms and rights that we have today. One prime example is with the Black Rights Movement. Martin Luther King Jr. worked on his own to gather a group that would change our country forever. He gave African Americans the right to be treated as equal people, and this still effects us today with our treatment of others and how any African American is treated in court or in front of authorities. This shows how one person can influence others to help make a change that will be crucial to the ideas of society.
How is language used to obtain what we desire? Language is used on a daily basis to obtain what we want. We can find language in multiple places including advertisements, letters, and even just speeches. Word choice is the largest part of this, as words can be changed and chosen specifically to distort the meaning of a sentence. This in turn will create persuasion upon the reader or audience to follow the thoughts of this person. In "1984" this is used continuously. One of the biggest examples is of the signs saying "War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength". Each of these phrases are precisely put together as they use contradictory words to prove a point. This word choice is key to persuading the citizens that you will get the desired things such as peace, freedom, and strength of you understand that war, slavery, and ignorance is to be accepted and expected. Sayings similar to this are used every day in our lives to convince us of ideas. These are seen in every day advertisements such as Subway's typical "eat fresh" or McDonald's well known "I'm lovin it". Both of the slogans use word choice to have a specific idea stand out. They promote their food by using the words love or fresh to imply the importance and qualifications they uphold. Overall, word choice plays a huge part in the world to help people obtain the image, consumers, or items they want.
1984 offers many concepts that have to be considered by all present and future generation of people. It is a warning and has principles that will always coexist with mankind. The most prominent concept in 1984 is those who control the present can change the past and the future. The Party uses members like Winston to constantly change the past to fit its needs. The people do not know they are being lied to nor do they realize that what they remember is correct. The Party makes them believe they are wrong and since they have control over records and the mind, they can change the past. They also have the ability to influence the future by using the past. By using the lies of the past, they can contort citizen’s minds to remain in power forever. When the people have no reason to doubt the Party or the past, the Party can rule forever because no one has justification to oppose them. This is why in current times no one can remain in power forever, because they cannot change the past. People today have free will and their own minds. They remember the past and their are multiple records so that not all could be changed.
ReplyDeleteThe second theme that is apparent in the entire third book of 1984 is the idea that physical pain is the key to mental manipulation and by extension the ability to think. This concept is also directly related to the danger of totalitarian governments. If the citizen’s cannot think, then there is no one to evolve or better humans. There is no one to keep order or joy, only mindless, fake lives. The Party uses physical pain in many forms to break Winston. They torture him not only as a punishment but to change the way he thinks. Before book three, Winston had plans of revolution, but after the Party tortured him into mental submission, he loves Big Brother. This is a warning to humans because it signifies what will happen if they let their thoughts or freedom be controlled. A totalitarian government can control these things which is why George Orwell put it in his novel, as a warning.
Question #5- Does a single citizen have the power to influence change? Yes, a single citizen has the power to change the world. In Winston’s case, he had the power to make a difference but did not capitalize on the opportunity. He waited too long and did not have direction in his plans. Other citizens, as long as they have free thoughts, can make a difference. This happens everyday in today’s society. Random people have an idea and because of the internet and social media, it can spread exceptionally quickly. Making a difference can be accomplished through money, sympathy, but most likely through language and rhetoric. If a person can use language effectively, they can change someone’s opinion, enlighten them, make them do something, or any number of things. Language is infinite because no two people use it the same way. Someone who is determined and has knowledge of the language can use it to make a difference. Winston said that the hope of rebellion lays in the Proles, but they were not educated enough to do it themselves. Winston could have talked to the Proles and ignited a revolution because unlike most of Oceania’s citizens he had control over his thoughts. Anyone can influence change if they use language effectively.
Question #6- How is language misused and abused? Language is misused by those who use it to manipulate those who do not have a full understanding of the language. The most common example of this would be politicians, and the closer to the top, the more language is abused. Through the use of rhetoric, people are deceived and manipulated into doing things that they never would of done otherwise. That is why it is the responsibility of citizens to be educated and not believe every word they hear not only from politicians but even more commonly those who pretend to be friends. Language is abused in 1984 by the Party because they use newspeak to manipulate the people into not having freedom over their thoughts.
Theme: The danger of human nature
ReplyDeleteOne of the main themes of the novel entails the dangers of human nature. Throughout the novel, we see the power displayed by Big Brother through the Party as well as enforcement such as the Thought Police. Even though the Party members are persuaded that Big Brother loves all of them and makes all decisions to better the society as well as the Party members themselves, his decisions are truly based upon an undeniable human characteristic. Big Brother, like many other dictators throughout history, is absolutely power hungry. While Winston was being tortured, O'Brien even told him that the Party acted as they did only for personal gain, not taking into account anyone else. This entire novel, now being compared to each other, is easily comparable to Nazi Germany during and leading up to World War II. Big Brother, the dictator, is obviously the Hitler of Nazi Germany. Through propaganda and rallies, Big Brother turns the Party members against either Eastasia or Eurasia, without telling the people anything except for the simple fact that they are the enemy and that they must destroy these outside forces of evil. Hitler, being a powerful speaker, rallied his people into a war against most of the European continent. Now I see how Orwell related this to the one of the darkest hours in world history. Through the novel, I gained a clearer understanding of true motives of humans and the danger of our own human nature.
Theme: Effects of dehumanization
Throughout the novel, Orwell shows the reader of the desensitization of humans in their society. As we have seen, the Party members care little about public executions, in fact, many Party members gather to view the public executions. This allows for the Party to use propaganda, including the public executions, to control and change the view of the Party citizens. As a result, the Party is able to utilize many different types of propaganda without the oblivious and dehumanized Party citizens taking notice and ultimately developing thoughts against the Party. However, if they somehow do so, they are taken into the Ministry Love and stripped of all human-like thought. As we saw, Winston became just a shell of a man, dehumanized and gullible toward the Party. From this, I have learned how becoming desensitized to certain aspects of life as well as death effects not only a single person, but on an entire population as well. For example, many of the youth have become desensitized to death in video games. This changes their perspectives of death and war as well.
Does a single citizen have the power to influence change?
No single person has the power to influence change. Even though a single person may be seen as the root of the movement, there are always followers of him. For example, there have been several riots pertaining killings of African-American citizens. Even if the thought of these riots began with a single person, the riots included more than one person. We saw in 1984 that Winston is unable to institute change in the Party by himself. This only furthers the argument that one man cannot institute change.
How is language used to obtain what we desire?
Through propaganda and rhetoric, the ones who effectively utilize the language are able to obtain what they want. In 1984, Big Brother instills fear into the Party members so that he is able to obtain what he wants. What Big Brother wants is an obedient population that is easily manipulable through fear. As a result, the image with the text underneath reading "Big Brother is Watching You", he uses effective language in order to obtain what he wants. In the Middle East, there has been the growing problem of terrorism. The recruiters of these terrorists persuade them to commit these acts of suicide for their god, Allah. These people are persuaded by effective use of language to commit these acts. These recruiters are able to effectively utilize language to obtain what they want, which are more suicide bombers.
One of the themes present in “1984” was that by using physical pain and word manipulation you could fully control a person. This is shown when Winston is being tortured. They tortured him until he breakdown and then they molded him back into the person they wanted him to be. They sent waves of pain into him until he conformed to what they wanted, and then fed him the information they wanted him to believe. Under intense interrogation they broke down his walls and tore his mind apart. They overwhelmed Winston’s mind and body until it exploded, and they filled it back up with what they wanted. Mind manipulation was used with the Party slogans and the telescreens. The idea of the thought police terrified people. Just like the passage we read before “1984”, “A Children’s Story”, the party manipulated people with simple words and twisting facts. With constant surveillance and reminders citizens in Oceania are constantly being manipulated so that they’ll never rebel, and the Party can hold power. Physical control is used with the torture and the way that the citizens are forced to live. They have to drink the gin, and eat the revolting food that the Party gives out. All desire is stripped from them too. Every emotion is turned into a love for the party, and hatred to all that oppose it. This tactic used by the Party is awful but effective. They were able to control their whole population with their manipulation and torture. However, this is an awful way to rule over a population. Obviously, it was taken to the extremes in the book, but some of these atrocities could be occurring in a much smaller scale now. One thing that should be learned from this theme is that you have to take action before the manipulator is able to gain control over a large portion of people.
ReplyDeleteThe second theme present in “1984” can be summarized by one of the saying used by the party “Who controls the past controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” This is shown with the changes the Party would make to old documents to keep them as a “reliable” power. There were many examples given with Winston’s job when he would alter documents. By changing the past they can erase all the mistakes they’ve made and by controlling the present, they are maintaining their power. Most people try to build off the past, so by making it seem as if the Party saved the population from oppression they’ll work to keep it going, and by controlling the present, they can pretend like they’re actually making progress to a better society when really the people are still as oppressed as ever. This theme is important because it shows again how easily the mind can be controlled and it encourages you to not be controlled by an oppressive government. The idea of having to change the past just to make you seem successful is ridiculous but as shown in the book, it works. However, even though you’re erasing the past, there will still be those who will remember.
Item 1:
ReplyDeleteTheme 1: Betray comes in many different ways.
Betrayal occurs throughout this novel consistently. As it occurs it comes from different points and is often a surprise. The idea of betrayal is brought up early in the novel as the junior spies have been known to turn even their own parents in. BEtrayal happens when O’Brien betrays Winston and reveals he’s a loyal party member. Also before that when the store owner revealed himself to be a member of the thought police. Betrayal is mental and physical within this novel. It is also internal and external. We see betrayals from one person to the other, but we also see Winston betray himself. He had been so opposed to the Party and its ideas but at the end of the novel he is slowing betraying himself and accepting the party.
Theme 2: Mental weakness is worse than physical weakness.
In this novel we see mental weakness within the majority of the population. They are mentally weak and do not have their own original thoughts, but just the ideas the party feeds them. We really see this theme develop with Winston's torture. As he is physically broken down he can still have his own thoughts and internally defy Big Brother. But when Winston is broken down to the point where he can not think properly he has completely lost to Big Brother. Once individual thought and internal denial of Big Brother is gone everything is lost. That is the point where Winston succumbs and loses the fight he has been fighting for the entire novel.
Item 2:
Essential Question: 5
A single citizen does have the power to influence change, but he has to have support behind him. If you look at any revolution from the past there will be a symbolic leader MLK, Ghandi, or George Washington. One thing all these individuals had behind them was support of masses of people. An individual can spark change and create the idea but one single person can not carry out complete change by themselves. They influence ideas and generate support for a cause. MLK did it by having support of the bus boycotts. If a single man had boycotted a bus nothing happened, but when one man influences others to create change with him that is when change occurs. Individuals can influence change, but cannot carry it out by themselves. This was Winston’s problem. He had the change in mind, but did not influence enough people to cause the change.
Essential Question: 6
Language is misused and abused to achieve what we want. People twist words and say things to get what they want. Propaganda is a prime example of this. Propaganda is what “1984” is completely based off of. Because of what the party says they control the population through language. Also the create a new language that is put together for the benefit of the party. The abuse language by taking out any truly negative words. They make it so that there can’t be a rebellion because there are no words to describe what is needed for rebellion. This is used in the real world in every day examples. Commercials and ads make it seem like what's being sold by that ad is the best out there. Politicians misuse language by making them seem superior to their counterparts. LAnguage is misused and abused in everyday life.
Question 1: Does technology positively or negatively influence society?
ReplyDeleteTechnology can work to benefit and destroy our society. For one thing it connects everybody. People are able to communicate better than ever before with modern technology. It brings people together and spreads culture and knowledge. Without technology we would be as healthy, smart, or social as we are now. We have benefitted from technology in the medical field, with living conditions, entertainment, science, and many other aspects in life. There are some negatives to technology though. Large amounts of pollution have been a result of it, and some believe that it has actually lessened our ability to socialize. It can also be seen as something that has made us less active. Others don’t like how personal technology can be, and feel that it invades personal lives. The technology in “1984” shows all the negative effects of technology. It shows how it can be used to create a totalitarian government and control the people. The use of telescreens and microphones are examples of the negative uses of technology. People today fear the use of cameras and hacking because they feel that their privacy could be violated. However, this technology could be used to help people and intercept attacks. So with technology there comes many benefits, but there are also a lot of risks that come with it too.
Question 3: What are the responsibilities of our leaders?
The definition of a leader is someone who is in charge or command of a group, organization, or country. This person is supposed to provide for its people, and keep them from danger. A leader should give its people freedom while still being able to fairly run the government. They should be able to solve problems, make decisions, and achieve goals to successfully run a government. While the Party was essentially able to do most of these aspects, they weren’t able to fair to their citizens and give them the freedom that’s owed to them. The Party did set goals and achieve them but they weren’t things that would benefit the people, they were things that would keep them in power. A leader should listen to their people and try to do things that they want, and the Party only did the things that they wanted. If a person tried to speak out, they were captured, erased from existence, and tortured brutally. A leader should be a server to the people while still governing them.
The biggest theme of 1984 is manipulation. It is the structure for the entire book. Manipulation is used by the party to retain control over its citizens. The party uses the manipulation into deceiving the people that Ocenia is the best. They tell the people that Ocenia has tons of food, and they are winning in the never ending war. They tell the people these lies to distract them from realizing that they are being oppressed. Distracting them from real issue allow them to ensure to keep control over them. To furthermore convince the citizens that Oeania is at its best the party manipulates Ocenia’s history. They spew lies to the people telling them that in the past Ocenia was much worse, people died of hunger, people were uneducated, and many other lies. They do this so the people fully believe that the current time is the best Ocenia has ever been.
ReplyDeleteThe second theme that is apparent in 1984 is the idea of a fear factor. This fear factor in 1984 is the fear of the unknown. None of the citizens are really sure what happens when you break the law they only know that you won’t be seen again. Weather citizens truly do love or hate Big Brother they live in constant state of fear. The people don’t won’t to find out what happens when they break the law. The party reinforces the fear factor with posters of Big Brother saying “Big Brother is watching you.” .This piece of propaganda is extremely effective. It creates even more fear amongst the people by reminding that they are constantly being watched by Big Brother through the telescreens. This adds an even higher fear factor amongst the people because they know that they are being watched. This means that there is no hiding from the party.
Technology influences society positively more than it negatively does. With every positive technological advancement, there is a negative down side. For example cars have made our everyday lives easier. We are able to get from point A to point B much faster than ever before. Cars allow for our Amazon packages to arrive quicker and allows for us to get to our hockey games faster. Not only are they practical they boost the economy. The down fall to this is car accidents. Car accidents are usually caused from someone just being stupid, whether it’s a drunk driver or it’s someone speeding down the highway, stupidity gets people killed. Technology benefits people by making their lives easier, but it can be misused and lead to things that aren’t so positive. In the end technology makes all of our lives easier as long as you know how to use it.
A single person definitely has the ability to influence change. This is true since we know from my last answer that, technology is able to influence change in our society so can a single person. The people who create this new technology changing our lives are really the ones who are influencing our society. A prime example of this is Steve Jobs. He was a computer programmer and started building computer in his garage with some friends, which then turned into one of the largest companies in the world (Apple, does it ring a bell?). Apple was founded in 1984 and the technology products from Apple still continue to sell out at Black Friday, and fill schools all over America. All of this because of a couple of friends making computers in a garage. Yeah I would say one individual can make change.
There are two main themes in the book “1984” written by George Orwell. The first of the two main themes is that humans are gullible. They believe anything that is put in front of their face if someone from higher up tells them it’s true. An example of this from “1984” would be during the middle of Hate Week. The speaker talks about how they have been at war with Eurasia for a bit, then halfway in the speech, the speaker says they have never been at war with Eurasia but instead with Eastasia. The people in the crowd are so naïve that they go along with this and blame spies for giving them the wrong signs to hold. Humans are ignorant to the fact that people higher up are feeding us lies. This theme is also evident just by the existence of the speakwrite. Winston used the speakwrite and it allowed him to rewrite history. No one thought this was suspicious and everyone believed the new information that came from the speakwrite. This just shows how gullible humans are.
ReplyDeleteThe second main theme in “1984” is that through the use of abuse and manipulation, one can gain immense amounts of power. This is evident when O'Brien tortures Winston into believing everything the party says. He makes Winston believe that two and two make five and changes his mind about Julia. He no longer has feelings for her and he even makes her take the pain for him in Room 101. The Party does this to all the people who go against their beliefs. They do this until everyone is brainwashed and they have complete control over the thoughts and feelings of the entire society.
Technology negatively influences society. It makes society become inhumane and unnatural. In “1984” technology was used to spy on members of the Party. This is very similar to drones and cameras that are used today to watch us. This is negatively influencing society because it makes us feel like we’re always being watched. It makes us feel uneasy about living our lives in peace. Also, in “1984” the speakwrite was used to alter historical documents. This is very similar to how anyone can change anything in Wikipedia these days. Technology negatively impacts our society because it makes us feel less private and causes our documents to be tampered with.
Language is misused and abused in many ways. Language is misused in ways to deceive and persuade others. In “1984” language was used to negatively influence the citizens of Oceania. The Party used their words to convince the people that everything they said was true. They convinced them that they are the only ones who deserve to be in power and that two and two make five. They also convinced them that certain events before the conception of the Party never occurred. Language is misused today in a similar way. It is used to negatively influence our society. The way that the news and current events get presented force you to take a side. There’s usually no middle ground where you get both sides of the story and choose for yourself. People are also always trying to persuade you into either voting for them, buying their product, or convincing you that something you’re doing is wrong.
Item 1) One theme of 1984 is fear can easily manipulate people into doing what someone wants. This theme is revealed through Room 101, Winston’s job, and the actions of the citizens. Located in Room 101 is the biggest fear of anyone who enters. The Party uses these items to proceed with the last stage of brainwashing. The Party uses this fear to make people become perfect Party members. The rats used on Winston make him wish the punishment onto Julia. Losing his “love” for Julia is the last step in his brainwashing. Winston’s job also shows how the Party uses fear to manipulate people. Before Winston was brainwashed, he willingly changed the past, even though he knew it was wrong. He did this because he knew that if he did not, the thought police would come for him. All the citizens of Oceania complete tasks like this for the Party out of fear. The theme is revealed through how the Party governs, with fear. The second theme is that language helps us communicate and suppress ideas. This theme is majorly revealed through the Party’s use of Newspeak. The Party creates Newspeak as their language in order to eliminate free thought. This new language is used by the Party in order to suppress the idea of rebellion. By eliminating words, there is less of an ability to use words to express thoughts about the Party. The Party suppresses the idea of rebellion by not allowing freedom of thought. Language is also used by Winston while he is being tortured in the Ministry of Love. Winston constantly protests to O’Brien, which shows that he is still against the Party. Winston’s and the Party’s use of language in 1984 demonstrate this theme.
ReplyDeleteWith the power of manipulation, it is possible to control a society. In 1984, the Party controls the citizens though manipulation. The people of Oceana believe anything and everything the party says is true. The party has a way of getting rid of any history that is embarrassing to the party or is unwanted as if it never existed through the memory hole. The people of Oceana are extremely brainwashed. The kids are turning their parents into the thought police for going against the Party. The party wants to create more children for their own use. They have twisted the idea of sex from being a pleasurable act into a duty of the party. The citizens of Oceana are oblivious to the fact that the government just uses the people’s children to gain power. The children are raised to believe the parties slogans and live by them- WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and IGNORANCE IS STRENTH. The children are even more brainwashed than the older generation. For example, the parson children were begging their mother to take them to see the hangings. People in their right minds would see that as inhumane, but the Party has manipulated the citizens of Oceana minds into little members of the party.
ReplyDeleteAnother theme that has developed in the book is that if technology is put into the wrong hands, It can be misused. The Party tries to keep order in Oceana, but they do not keep it orderly in a humane manner. The Party has telescreens to watch the citizens at every moment of the day. If they catch you on the telescreen saying or doing anything that the Party does not approve of, you will be either tortured or killed. Winston always knew that he was being watched. Having hatred towards the party is not easy to hide especially for Winston. HE eventually got caught and was tortured for this opinion. The Party should not be able to control your opinions, nor be able to watch your every move. This shows that if the power of technology is put into the wrong hands it can be used for evil.
Does Technology positively or negatively influence a society? I believe that technology negatively affects society. In 1984, technology is used for the Party to watch its citizens. The Party watches the citizens through telescreens to make sure they do not commit a thought crime or goes against the Party in any way. The citizens of Oceana lost their privacy. A real-world example of this is that technology allows the government to look at all of our personal information. Now they have drones that allow the government to spy on American’s, and invades their personal privacy.
Language is misused and abused in the novel, 1984. George Orwell uses the use of language in the novel to show how politics is used to manipulate people into believing the propaganda that they are told. They believe it is reality. Orwell created a language in the novel called Newspeak. The Middle Class and the Proles were set apart by the Party. The Party does not think much of the Proles because they are unintelligent low lives. The Newspeak sets the Middle class and the Proles apart because the Proles are only familiar with the Oldspeak and will not fully understand the Newspeak. It is the government’s way of keeping them separate. A real-world example of this is the lower class of America is not exposed to technology and much as the higher class because they cannot afford it. The lower class would not know what “LOL” means. The government in America also abuses the language. Anything they tell us we are expected to believe it as reality, but sometimes their language may have faults in it. They have the ability to deceive us at any given time just like the Party in 1984.
Item 2) 1. Technology has a negative influence on society. This is shows through the telescreens in 1984. The technology in the book allows the government to have complete surveillance on citizens. The telescreens are located in every home and are unable to be turned off. The use of telescreens by the Party show how negatively technology can impact a society. The Party also uses different devices in their various ministries to make themselves appear better. In the Ministry of Truth, citizens use some of these devices to change the past. The actions and usage of these items by the Party show how negatively technology can affect a society. Technology is constantly misused by both citizens and the government. The use of surveillance by the government is misused today just like it is in 1984. The government uses cameras on roads to catch bad drivers, but they also have the ability to listen into personal phone calls. The use of technology like this is wrong, and negatively impacts society. Social media also has a negative effect through the way it is used to talk badly about people. When improperly used, technology is completely negative.
ReplyDelete2. Today, language is constantly used to get what we want. People use persuasion now the same way it is used in 1984. Rhetoric and propaganda are constantly used today through advertisements and other companies. Companies constantly use these devices in order to get people to come to them. Language is used in 1984 by Winston, Julia, and the Party. The Party uses language to convince citizens that whatever they say is the truth. In the Ministry of Love, O’Brien uses language to make Winston doubt himself. He uses it to turn Winston into a brainwashed Party member. The Party constantly uses language in order to create citizens to their standards. Winston and Julia use language to convince each other of their feelings, even though they are not real. Julia tells Winston he loves him in order to get his attention and make him join her. Language appears in both 1984 and today’s society to get what we want.
Item 2: What is your responsibility to yourself?
ReplyDeleteAs people we have certain things we owe to ourselves in order for us to live a more happy and inspirational life. We have responsibilities that we need to abide by in an attempt to make our lives on earth as best as they possibly can be. We owe it to ourselves to try our absolute hardest in everything we do in order to succeed. This gives us the best chance to live a meaningful life compared to one that doesn’t matter to society. We are responsible for treating others the same way we would treat ourselves in order to make some sort of difference. Treating others with horror and disrespect lead to savagery and believing you are better than someone else. This is similar to what happened in 1984. The government disrespected the people and treated them terribly leading to the terrors we learned about as the book progressed. These responsibilities we have for ourselves are still prominent in modern day. I know from personal experience that I owe it to myself to achieve the best grades I possibly can and try to excel to the best of my abilities in sports. I do this in order to lead a more meaningful life and give myself better chances to succeed and make a difference in the future. In the world today people all around the globe have responsibilities they have to themselves and must follow them if they want to change their life and others life for the better.
Does technology positively or negatively influence society?
Technology has positively affected society because it allows us to communicate with each other and keep and touch with the rest of the world. World leaders can no longer commit terrible crimes without other countries knowing and stopping them before they become too bad. Medical technology allows us to live longer more meaningful lives giving chances to those who without couldn’t survive. Also, now news can be transmitted instantaneously keeping all citizens up to date with politics, protests, and outburst. This is vital to many countries because it keeps the people informed and without they can easily be fooled and enslaved just as the citizens in 1984. Technology positively affecting society is prominent in our world today. For example, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan has left many American soldiers in terrible conditions often missing limbs. Medical advancements in technology allow these citizens to obtain prosthetic limbs giving them the ability to still lead meaningful lives despite their disabilities. Society wouldn’t be where it is today without technology and would definitely be a worse place.
Item 1:
ReplyDeleteOne of the themes present in “1984” is that the person who controls the past, also controls the future. The Party directly states this in the novel, “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” It is clear that the party does this when they change the documents of the past to match what they want people to believe. Winston is seen changing many documents in his job. The Party is able to erase mistakes made in past and by doing this; they are making sure they remain in power. The Party wanted to make it seem as those the past was miserable and that the citizens of Oceania are blessed to be living under a government such as the one the Party is creating. This theme is important and can be connected to today’s society because it shows how easily people are manipulated. People believe anything they hear and do not investigate into the facts. People allow others to pollute their minds in order to gain power. This theme also shows the extent people are willing to go to gain power and the things they are so persistent about.
Another theme presented within the novel “1984” is by that using physical pain and word manipulation; you could fully control a person. The main representation of this was when Winston was being tortured. The Party and O’Brien use the three stages to get Winston to believe the things the Party wants everyone to believe. The Party wanted everyone to believe in Big Brother, and clearly, Winston does not. One of the stages was understanding which was where the Party used their words to get into Winston’s brain and pollute it with their ideas. When Winston was caught, they also sent waves of pain down is back to show that they have authority and they hold ALL power. Also, every person in Oceania is being manipulated with the idea that they are under constant surveillance. This is manipulating them into believing the way they want them too. The physical torture is also with all of the citizens when the Party forces people to drink gin, which makes their mind more susceptible to believing Big Brother thoughts. This theme can be connected to today’s society because people will hurt others for their ways. A common example of this would be terrorism. Many groups use terrorism to get their point across and as a scare tactic. Terrorism is very closely related to the tactics used by the Party.
ITEM 2:
ReplyDelete4.) What are your responsibilities to yourself?
Your responsibility to yourself is to have as much knowledge as you can about the world around you. If you do not remain aware of your rights and choose to simply believe anything the government tells you, then you will give away your personal power unknowingly. Winston says that “freedom is the freedom to say that 2+2=4” in a world that says 2+2=5 (1.7.81). It is your responsibility to be smart enough to realize the difference between true and fabricated reality. Also countries that are very uneducated become corrupted and poor. Places like Somalia, with a 37.8 percent literacy rate, are falling apart due to ongoing wars, famine, and disease that have made the country very weak. A lack of educated people makes it hard to settle social and economic disputes and do what is necessary to run a country.
6.) How is language misused and abused?
Language is used as a weapon to control people. In Oceania, the Party creates Newspeak which is a manipulated language that is taught to the citizens. Because the Party has created its own language, it can control what people learn and therefore what is possible for them to think. Another example is ISIS’s use of language to instigate fear into anyone who opposes them. The group says that they “have more resources” and have the power to “burn the US again”. They have been growing in numbers and are using threatening words to gain support and keep their enemies on their toes and waiting to see what they do next.
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Part 1: One of the main themes of 1984 is “Trust cannot be thrown around because you think that will get you what you want faster”. Trust is usually something that must be earned over a period of time. People do not usually trust someone they literally just met, because that person has given no reason to. The stranger is, well, a stranger and their true motives are unknown which makes trusting them difficult. Winston, on the other hand, is so caught up with wanting to rebel and finding others like him so rebellion is possible that he trusts whoever appeals to this idea the most with barely any knowledge of them overall. In the beginning of the middle of the novel, Julia hands Winston a slip of paper with the right words to give Winston hope. The words “I love you” are so bold and she is so beautiful and mysterious that Winston has no trouble trusting her with essentially his entire life, because everything that they did together was against the Party and the consequence was death. He wanted to believe the words on that paper because they held so much hope for the rebellion that Winston always dreamed of. Winston also trusts O’Brien incredibly easily because he wants to believe that he is the key to the rebellion. He barely knows him or anything about him but he trusts the dreams that he had about him. Because he simply throws his trust at whatever he thinks will work out for him, Winston is caught by the Party and tortured because O’Brien turned out to not be the person Winston thought he was. Maybe if Winston took the time to analyze the people he wanted to trust before actually trusting them, especially in a world like 1984, torture would not have happened. Winston was so blinded and motivated by his idea of rebellion that his senses were not nearly as sharp or reliable, which ultimately cost him his morals.
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ReplyDeleteQuestion 1: What are the responsibilities of our leaders? A leader should be who be someone who is in charge of a group and wants the best intentions for that group. An important characteristic of a leader would be loyalty to their country and/or group. A leader should listen to what their group has to say and allow their group to have freedoms that do not harm anyone. An example of a freedom that would not harm anyone is love. The Party in “1984” prohibits the real emotions of love, which should not be restricted. The Party was not able to give freedoms that citizens deserved. The Party did not have best intentions for the citizens of Oceania. The Party just wanted people to believe everything they say. Big Brother is the ultimate authority and whatever is said, goes. A leader needs to listen to suggestions from everyone in the society and not block them out. The Party even punished those who wanted change and refused to listen. A leader needs to give respect to their people if they want respect.
Question 2: Does technology positively or negatively influence society? Technology is negative and positive. It is too hard to pick just one or the other. Technology benefits our society as it allows people to connect and it allows room for learning. It spreads culture and knowledge. Technology has furthered medical fields and has allowed people to help society with medicine. However, many people abuse technology and use it to do things such as bully people. Cyber bullying is causing many people to commit suicide and suicide rates are higher than ever. People are also glued to their television when they watch videos or play video games because their minds are polluted with violence. The technology in “1984” represents the negative side of technology. Technology can be used in the wrong way for the wrong intentions. The Party inserts telescreens and microphones to keep track of every single move of every single citizen. If that were to happen in today’s society, there would be a serious issue. Technology is important in many aspects of life, but it can also be seen as a threat to our society.
Part 2: Another main theme of 1984 is “Governments will often abuse the power they possess because they want to keep that power”. It is well known that 1984 is a warning to modern day people of what could happen if what the government does is not watched closely. Over time, the government’s control over the people can progress without the people noticing until it is too late and they are trapped in the government’s web of power. This is what happened in 1984. The government has total control over the people because they know every piece of everyone’s information and twists whatever doesn’t seem attractive and they watch and dictate every single thing that everyone does. This type of government doesn’t happen overnight. The citizens were obviously coaxed into the idea over time until one day the action was taken into full force and the government they have today was born. In 1984, the theme is shown through the lies that the government tells the people. When someone in their history changes for the worse or a piece of history becomes unattractive, the Party changes the recorded details to their liking and the people must believe it. The Party takes advantage of the people’s vulnerability and fear of the government so they do whatever they can to make the people believe them no matter how many obvious lies they put out there. The Party in 1984 must also keep constant watch over the people to make sure that there are absolutely no ideas against them, which shows that they are insecure. They must abuse their power to rule over their insecurities.
ReplyDeleteA theme expressed in 1984 is the manipulation of language can control the mind and abuse power. George Orwell uses language to show how important it is to human thought and can limit the ideas individuals act and speak. In the book, the Party replaced the English language with their own language called Newspeak. The Party constantly tries to perfect Newspeak hoping that nobody will be about to question the Party about their control and powers. The Party bases everything off of what they want the citizens of Oceania to believe. Everything they say is made up and false. The Ministry of Truth, where Winston works, is where the false history is. Winston is constantly replacing one lie with another lie as the Party tries to change their information when it is wrong. The Party uses this false history to their advantage. For example, every citizen does not have memory of the past. The citizens of Oceania are convinced the government and atmosphere was once way worse, so they do not complain. Also, since there is no exact factual information about the past, nobody knows what is true and what isn’t. The Party uses their Newspeak language to take advantage of the citizens and make them believe whatever the government says and does.
ReplyDeleteAnother theme in 1984 is a totalitarian government can be extremely risky and dangerous. The government in 1984 is a totalitarian government and the citizens are under direct control of the Party. Orwell explains that the Party watches every citizen through a telescreen to keep watch on him or her at all times. They control every single human in Oceania. Even bad thoughts are against the law and a punishment can be given for that. For example, in the book, Winston continues to think “down with big brother” and writes it down in his journal. He is constantly worried about being caught and getting in trouble for it. The Party uses physical activities to try to get into the citizen’s mind and know what they are thinking. When this is happening, the Party watches the citizen through the telescreen. Not only does the Party use mind control but also uses physical control. Winston expresses that an arrest can happen if a single facial expression is made to “disrespect” a Party member. If a citizen is caught or “in trouble”, they will be tortured and even vaporized. Orwell uses a totalitarian government in 1984 to show how dangerous and incredibly risky it is to be under control of it.
I believe that technology positively influences modern society. We are dependent on technology in our daily lives. We use technology to learn, communicate, travel and do business. Technology itself doesn’t have a negative impact on society, however the way we use technology can result in negativity. Technology is positive because it has improved learning and education. It is used everyday in classrooms, such as computers, projectors and smart whiteboards. There are also online courses now as well. In 1984, technology has negatively influenced the citizens. The citizens are always watched by their telescreens in their rooms. If one thing is done wrong, they could be in major trouble. For the Party, however, the telescreens are a positive. They use the technology to their advantage by keeping watch of the citizens and catching them when doing one thing wrong.
A single citizen does not have the power to make a change. In the book, Winston does not have the power himself to try and change the government and the atmosphere around him. He tries to outsmart the Party, but it does not serve him well. In real life, one person speaking their opinion does not do justice. If you are in an argument with someone and you voice your opinion, when the person against you has multiple people standing behind him, that person will win. He will win because he has others standing behind him, unlike you who is standing alone. One person does not have enough power to make change, multiple people do.
Item 1: In the novel, 1984 by George Orwell, two main themes have developed throughout the story. The first theme Orwell has constructed is that trust is hard to find and can be easily broken. Throughout the novel, Winston shares his thoughts and feelings about rebellion with Julia and O'Brien even though he only knows they are against the Party. O'Brien, who he also thought was a friend, is actually working for the Party. O'Brien has turned completely against Winston and is now torturing him so Winston can become clear from all of his rebellious thoughts. Earlier when O'Brien and Winston were together, O'Brien showed Winston how he could turn on and off the telescreens. Even though this created some suspicion to the audience, Winston did not even think that O'Brien could be a part of the Party and continued to trust him. Later on, Winston over hears O'Brien talking to some other men. "It was a soundtrack of the conversation he had with O'Brien, on the night when he had had enrolled himself in the Brotherhood" (270). Since Winston was unaware he was being recorded the whole time, it represents how the trust between O'Brien and Winston has been broken. After Winston shared all of his opinions about rebellion to him, there was evidence that he was against the Party. O'Brien completely manipulated Winston into thinking he was a friend and also against the Party. Therefore, this represents how in society there are not many people who are trustworthy enough to share personal information and opinions with because they will end up using what was said for blackmail. Another theme presented in the novel is absolute power can be gained with the use of physical pain and manipulation. With a great amount of physical abuse on a person, it can cause someone to become weak and ultimately give up any information that the abuser has the desire to know. This theme represents that with the use of physical abuse all of the torturing that the Party does to Winston and all of the other rebels forces them to give into what ever information the Party wants them to believe because the pain is unbearable. This is shown when Winston sits in the chair that O'Brien controls and is put through so much pain that he cannot handle anymore so he caves in and shares all of the information they want to hear. "We have beaten you, Winston. We have broken you up" (273). O'Brien has successfully manipulated Winston and is now brainwashing him into following the Party so they can gain absolute power. This shows how in society if people cause unbearable pain to someone repeatably, it can lead to the failure of keeping all of the personal information to themselves and also result in having no freedom.
ReplyDeletePart 3: A single citizen does not have the power to influence change. Everything happens in groups. If a single person complains at a company, their opinion will not be considered, but if a group of people complain, what is wrong will more likely be recognized. Something that one person does will not be recognized nearly as much as opposed to when several people do it. In 1984, it was not just Goldstein who wanted change. He also had a group of supporters behind him in order to make the possible change more realistic. Winston and Julia were not successful in their rebellion because they did not have a large group of supporters backing up their ideas and helping them achieve change. In the real world, it wasn’t just Martin Luther King Jr., it was his following of countless people that helped make the Civil Rights Movement happen. Revolutions have leaders who are recognized much more than the other people involved because movements need a face. One person can come up with the initial idea for change, but that change cannot take action or influence anyone without a following of supporters.
ReplyDeleteItem 1: One theme that is present in 1984 is absolute power can be gained with the use of physical pain and manipulation. When you receive a lot of physical punishment you'll start to become week and start to spill any information that the person torturing you will want to know. This theme is shown through the physical abuse that the party does to Winston and the other rebels. This physical pain encountered by them causes any information about the rebellious ways to be leaked to the party, all because of the torturing. An example of the torturing is when Winston is forced to sit in a chair that O'Brien tortures him in. O'Brien puts him through so much pain, it starts to become unbearable for him and makes him confess. This method of torturing can spew information from people because they will give up in order to stop the pain. Brian said, "We have broken you up" (273). This shows that Winston has caved in and confessed to the party. This just proves once again that the party has power over everybody and can manipulate you into anything they want. A real world example of this would be any torture situation. The government tortures people to get information out of them. That is when they give up important information that the government wants to obtain. The second theme Orwell has used is that trust is hard to find and can easily be broken. Throughout the novel there are many ways that this theme is played out. One way is that Winston shares his emotions about the government and rebelling with Julia and O'Brien even though he is very aware that they are against the party. O'Brien who ends up betraying him in the end, was thought to be Winston's friend in the beginning. O'Brien has completely turned his back on Winston and is now torturing him so that Winston will be wiped of his rebellious thought crimes. When Winston was shown the telescreens and how they could be turned off and on by O'Brien, this shows that Winston trusted or well in sneaking behind the parties laws. Later, Winston hears O'Brien talking to someone and he says, "He had enrolled himself in the brotherhood" (270). This shows that since O'Brien was recording Winston their trust has now been broken. Brian manipulated Winston to think that he was his friend and was going to be with him to rebel against the party. A real world example of this would be when people share information, opinions. You can never be sure if that so-called trusted person will turn their back and use that information against you, or spread your secret.
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ReplyDeleteWithin George Orwell’s “1984”, we see a dystopian society in which a communist regime rules the land of Oceana. Throughout the novel, we the audience see many interesting ideas and concepts from Orwell’s mind. Most of all, Orwell makes the reader think about our society and the direction it’s going with the themes presented. One of the first theme topics is propaganda.
The first theme that I will present from “1984” is that the use of propaganda can influence the course of history. Even at the beginning of the book we see just how the party is able to manipulate the peoples of Oceana’s minds. Once we are introduced to the Winston’s job, we see the first signs of propaganda. Winston’s job is to change the course of history in the record books to correspond with the party’s needs. This shows one example of how the party can easily change people’s minds. Later on in the novel, we see that this technique actually works among the proles. The news and major events in history are constantly being changed and the proles never question it. We again see the importance of propaganda with events such as Hate Week and the Two minutes of Hate. These events are put on by the party to idolize the leader known as Big Brother. These events are also used to express hate for Big Brothers opposite, Goldstein. These events are used to instill the party’s views into the citizens. Add to all this the constant Big Brother posters that can be found around all of Oceana. Finally, we can see how prominent propaganda is when we see the loyalty that the citizens have to the party. This proves that their use of propaganda works. The party can change their enemy in a war at any time and each change is accepted by the people. This constant use of propaganda in “1984” shows that the correct use of propaganda can change a society’s beliefs.
The second theme that Orwell has made prominent is that conforming to the ways of society can turn you into a copy and paste version of everyone else. Orwell makes it evident within the novel that Winston stands out from the crowd. The mindless proles are too concerned with the lottery to change their political views, and the party members just follow whatever the party tells them to do. However, at the end of the book, it is shown that the party has a stranglehold over any and all of its citizens as Winston confesses his love for Big Brother. This last sentence in the book is by far the most important because it accentuates the fact that the party is unstoppable. The party is unstoppable because everyone follows the path that the party sets out for them. This means that throughout the whole book almost no one will take the road less traveled by so to speak. Everyone will follow what society or the party says to do. This is Orwell’s way of telling us that we shouldn’t conform to the social norm and that we shouldn’t be afraid to change the spectrum.
Item 2:
5. Does a single citizen have the power to influence change?
In “1984” and also throughout history, we see again and again that it is impossible for one single person to influence change. In the novel, Winston was the only person, besides Julia, who voiced his opinions (that we know of). However, he by himself couldn’t do anything against an all-powerful party. Even he and Julia barely made a dint in the party. In more recent real life history, most people will point to Martin Luther King Jr. to being one person who changed history however, I disagree. Rising to stardom, King had friends and family to get him there. On top of that, once he reached fame, King would have just been one guy marching on a bridge without the constant rallies and support groups that others put together in order to gain popularity. Essentially, behind ever great leader, man, women, etc. there is at least one person who helped them get there.
Communication is an absolute essential thing in order to get what we want. When a speech is written, the author must keep in mind who the audience is that they are aiming to appeal to so that they can target what they are writing towards them. The goal is to win people over through the use of language. This can come from inflection or how sentences are arranged which can result in the whole meaning being changed. In 1984, the language of doublethink is created in order to eliminate the idea of negativity which could result in ideas for rebellion. The Party creates this language in order to enforce their desire to have absolutely no ideas against them. The idea of being mindful of language used is used by everyone. If I want to go to a massive party in a bad neighborhood, I will use my communication and language skills when speaking to my parents to make it seem like this is a good idea and absolutely nothing could go wrong. These type of skills get people what we want and people have to take advantage of that in order to progress.
ReplyDeleteItem 1: Identify and explain two main themes in 1984 and use examples from text to support the presence of the themes in the novel.
ReplyDeleteOne theme constant throughout 1984 is complete power can be obtained with the use of manipulation and torture. If a person is physically abused enough it can make them change their own thoughts and almost become brainwashed. The abuser or torturer uses this to gain information and doesn’t quit until they obtain what they want to know. This is shown prominently through the party physically abusing Winston Smith until he ultimately betrays himself and his lover Julia. They also use their abuse to suppress any form of rebellion and maintain their ultimate power. One example in the story is when Winston is wired to an electrical shock in which O’ Brien has the power to zap him at any pain he chooses until he receives the answers and information he thinks to be correct. This example shows if people in society can repeatedly torture others and make the pain so unbearable it can lead to the destruction of all personal thoughts and views killing all forms of freedom.
Another theme in the book 1984 is that truth is nearly impossible to find and is easy to break. All throughout the novel Winston only trusts two people Julia who he shared all of his thoughts, feelings, and emotions to and O’ Brien who he believed was against the party. However, O’ Brien completely fools Winston into trusting him then turns around stabbing him in the back by being the exact person who tortures Winston inside the ministry of love. From the very beginning Winston trusted O’ Brien especially by the fact he was able to turn the telescreens on and off. Winston thought he was enrolling himself in the brotherhood when he was really selling his soul to the party to be tortured and psychologically manipulated. O’ Brien completely manipulated Winston into thinking he was a friend when he was really one of the most loyal people to the party. Sadly this happens every day in the real world in which people’s trust are broken even by their best friends. This represents how there are not many trustworthy people in the world and you must be careful in choosing who to share your personal opinions and information with.
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ReplyDeleteThe two main themes in George Orwell’s 1984 are mind control through mental and physical torture and using technology to spy on people.
1. Mind control through mental and physical torture is proven more so towards the end of the novel. The use of matter control by controlling the mind. O’Brien says that controlling matter just means controlling the reality inside of your mind. One of the ways that the Party controls your mind is through hallucinations and re-education. Both of these are used on Winston when he is being held as a prisoner. He hallucinates that he is back in the field with Julia and cries out for her. Re-education appears just before Winston starts to experience these hallucinations. The final example of mind control is through a physical form. Winston is put into a cage with a bunch of rats and threatened to let the starving creatures on him, only to shut the cage at the last minute. This exemplified the fear in Winston and made him beg for them to torture Julia instead of him.
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ReplyDelete2. The use of technology to spy on people is prevalent throughout the whole novel and is quite annoying and a nuisance to Winston and Julia. Technology is everywhere in Oceania, especially the telescreens. This is shown when they meet in town and elsewhere. Technology is also hidden to help catch people who are trying to defy the government. One of the telescreens was hidden behind a painting and catching everything that Winston and Julia said. Mr. Charrington then talked through the telescreen to inform them that they were being put under arrest. The final example is with O’Brien in the prison. O’Brien accuses Winston of trying to plot against and “deceive” him. O’Brien then sent him to room 101 to learn a lesson.
All in all, the use of mind control and technology really changed the way I read the book and how I understood and perceived the book. Orwell tries to get the reader engaged and aware of what is happening and the symbolism that the themes give away.
One main theme in “1984” would be that no one can be trusted completely. Another theme the readers can see is that confession is betrayal. The theme “no one can be trusted completely” is seen many times throughout “1984.” The first time this theme is seen in the story is right at the beginning when the readers find out about thought police and telescreens and the party. The people living in Airstrip One think that the way they are living is the right way. They are constantly being watched, and can be killed for saying or thinking the wrong thing. This theme is seen again later on in the story when the scene at the Parsons takes place. The Parsons are scared of their own children because they think that their children will tell the party that they seem suspicious. People can’t even trust members in their own family. Later on in the story we come to find out that the Parsons kids did turn them over to the thought police, further proving the point that no one is trustworthy. One of the main times this theme is seen is when Winston decides to live on top of Mr. Charrington’s shop so that he can stay with Julia. Mr Charrington, however, is the one that ends up arresting Winston for thought crime. Winston trusted Mr. Charrington, however, Mr. Charrington turned out to be against Winston. The same thing is seen again with O’brien. Winston trusts O’brien and thinks that O’brien is against the party, as well. Winston confesses everything he thinks about the party right away, thinking that O’brien is on his side. Ironically, O’brien is the one that ends up torturing Winston at the end of the story.
ReplyDeleteThe theme “confession is betrayal” is also seen throughout the story. It is seen mostly at the end, however. Towards the end of “1984” O’brien is torturing Winston, and trying to brainwash him into thinking that the party is always right. O’brien tells Winston that Julia confessed everything and doesn’t care about him anymore. Winston, obviously hurt by this, went against everything he stood for. Winston believed that him and Julia would always be there for each other and they would always support each other. However, when Winston hears that Julia confessed everything, he confesses everything too. He believes Julia betrayed him and he betrays her too. They both betray each other by confessing, showing that confession is betrayal.
Does technology positively or negatively influence society?
ReplyDeleteDoes a single citizen have the power to influence change?
When asked if technology positively or negatively influences the society, I would have to so say it negatively affects the society. In “1984”, technology is used to have constant surveillance. It keeps people from having any sort of freedom. Technology can also portray lies rather than the truth in order to make people believe something. People have a tendency to put a lot of trust in technology. In today’s world, technology is having a lot of negative effects on people. For example, people are beginning to isolate themselves and live in their own little world in their device. This is causing a lot of problems, people are completely forgetting how to communicate. Many other problems are arising as well, such as obesity. Technology allows people to be lazier and not work as hard, since technology can do the jobs we used to do. One big problem in today’s society is cyberbullying. Cyberbullying started because of technology. People that can’t bully people in person are beginning to bully them over the computer. Technology, overall, is very negatively impacting today’s society for many reasons.
I do not believe that a single citizen does has the power to influence change. In “1984” Winston begins to bring change by himself. He didn’t actually impact anything, but obviously his actions threatened the party. The party brainwashed Winston in order to get him to forget about his threatening thoughts to rebel against the party. If there was a larger group of people fighting with Winston it would have probably been harder for the party to find every single person rebelling and brainwash them all. The party would be much more threatened and might’ve gotten turned over. There are many examples in the real- world that show this, as well. Many people believe that people like Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi were both single citizens that had the power to influence change, however that’s not the case. Although, both these big figures in history did have a lot of influence on the process of change, a lot of people had to work together in order to actually cause a change. When Martin Luther King was trying to end segregation he had a huge impact on the change, but many other things happened too. For example, Rosa Parks refused to sit at the back of the bus, and after she went to jail many black people began boycotting the buses, this act had a huge impact on bringing change. Martin Luther King was a leader, he was a good leader, but he didn’t cause change on his own. Many people rioted and boycotted and went to jail that we don’t hear about. If Martin Luther King tried to end segregation by himself it would’ve not worked,he would of went to jail and that would end that. However, since so many people contributed to ending segregation, change occurred. The same thing goes for Mahatma Gandhi. If Gandhi tried to gain India’s freedom back by himself he wouldn’t have gotten far either. Since there were so many freedom fighters in India that were trying to gain India’s freedom with Gandhi, a change occurred. One person might make an impact, but when people actually begin working in numbers, a change actually occurs.
Two main themes in 1984 are how a party can use psychological manipulation on its people to get what they want and how dangerous a totalitarianism government can be. The first theme, psychological manipulation, is used by the Party of Oceania on its people. The first example of this manipulation was used to basically overwhelm a citizen's mind and eliminate independent and personal thought. They did this by placing a giant telescreen in every citizen’s room and showed propaganda to cover up the party’s flaws to make them seem stronger. Also, the telescreen would monitor the actions and behaviors and reminded the viewers that Big Brother is watching you. Another example of manipulation was the Junior Spies. The party deceived families for the sake of them talking and potentially harming the party. As a result, no children were created unless devoted to the junior spies. They were then taught to spy on all people including their parents and made sure no thought crime or anything anti party was committed. This manipulation by the Party was used to benefit themselves and to make the people completely obedient to everything they commanded. The second theme, dangers of totalitarianism, portrays Oceania as perfect society. The party monitors and controls everything in human life. Throughout the novel, Winston challenges these limits. He knew the party was wrong and wanted to see who else knew. He later finds out that they only control and enslave people while the people feared death the whole time. This novel was written in times when totalitarianism governments were on an uprise in numbers. Perhaps Orwell wrought this book as a warning to other countries to oppose these rules before it gets out of control.
ReplyDeleteDoes technology positively or negatively influence society? I believe technology positively influences society. When someone says “Look into the future” what do you see? I see flying cars and holographic phones. To further advance into the future, we need technology. In society today, technology has made the daily lives of almost all people easier. For example, i'm writing this final on a computer at home, eating chicken wings at 10:30 at night. Sounds alot better than sitting at a desk in school writing on pencil and paper. People may say that technology negatively influences society but I think some people are just uneducated on using it. If it gets too advanced and only certain people can monitor it, then it becomes a problem. 1984 is a perfect example, the party was able to use the advancement in technology to control the people. If people in modern day were all educated about it, then it wouldn’t be able to get over powered and used as a weapon.
What are our responsibilities of citizens? Our responsibilities are to live our everyday lives in peace and happiness. As citizens of America, it is our duty to stay equal and faithful to our country. We must follow rules to maintain order, but if they get unfair we justify. We stay peaceful to others, but if violence occurs we face the punishment. The biggest responsibility is to know what is going on in the world around us. Since we live under rules of government, we need to know what is good and what is bad. The best way to determine good or bad is through morality. It is our jobs to help those who need help. We apply ourselves in places that need improvement. We must work together to build a society. A society like Oceania’s was not a good one. The citizens did not communicate with each other on what they thought was right or wrong. They did what was told. If awareness was raised when the first problem was issued then it would not of gotten as bad as it did.
Item 2: Does technology positively or negatively influence society?
ReplyDeleteTechnology positively influences society because it provides a connection to other people across the world, gives a variety of choices for transportation and entertainment, and has made it easier for data and information to be stored. It also provides the technological advancement in medicine, which has presented people with new ways to improve and save other people's lives. This relates to the war in Afghanistan and Iraq because many soldiers have been severely injured and have lost limbs in which it prevents them to no longer be able to serve the country. However, with the development of technology in medicine, prosthetic limbs have been created to assist people with these disabilities. Furthermore, the advancement in medicine has provided more benefits to humans in society. With the advancement of technology, the society can also now see what is happening in different places around the world. Since news is broadcasted around the world on television and other electronic devices, citizens can now be up to date with the political situations, crimes people have committed, and also protests being made. This relates to all of the riots happening in Baltimore, Maryland due to the injuries a black man sustained during arrest from white officers, which resulted in the death of the black man. From watching the news, people around the world and the people in that area were able to understand the dangers they may be involved in and the precautions that needed to be taken. Furthermore, it also now more difficult for leaders of certain countries to commit devastating crimes because other countries can find out what is happening from the news and stop them before it becomes out of hand. This could have stopped the Party in the novel,1984, because people could have been informed about this situation and it could have prevented the Party from gaining absolute power. With the power of technology and the spread of news, a large group of people could have formed to start a rebellion and overpower the Party. Therefore, technology has positively influenced society by making the lives of citizens more convenient and longer.
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ReplyDelete6. Does a single citizen have the power to influence change?
The novel begins with change as the main character, Winston, tries to personally free himself under the control of Big Brother, but this is not to say that a single citizen has the power to influence change. If Winston was able to change how this dystopian society worked, then the novel wouldn’t have ended with Winston narrating, “He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother”.Winston tries to go against Big Brother and gain some type of personal freedom, but in the end he fails. Orwell is showing that in a totalitarian government, one person does not have the power to influence change because they are never given the opportunity to change their circumstances. So in the case of this novel, no, one person does not have the power to influence change. But in a modern day democratic society, one person does the power to influence change. Look at famous figures like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, and Rosa Parks. They had the power to influence change and show the world that way society was being conducted was not right, and they were able to do this because they were a part of democratic society where their voices had a chance of being of heard. Orwell does not reflect the same types of views in his novel, but that because this is a political novel written to show that totalitarian government is wrong and the people deserve a say in how society is conducted. This is a key thing to remember because one needs to understand that this novel is not how Orwell sees society. In conclusion, one person does have the power to influence change as long as they are given the opportunity to do so.
1.Does technology positively or negatively impact society?
We often ask this question, and it is a common debate, does technology positively or negatively impact society. Technology both positively and negatively impacts society. As we move forward into a more technologically based society, we see both promise and negativity but this is not the case in George Orwell’s novel, 1984. In the k 1984 when the Party or Big Brother has all access to monitor the citizens of Oceania and everything that they do. This gives the Party overall power because the people are so afraid of the police that they do not trust anyone and keep themselves in line. Technology can be negative, for the people of Oceania because they are constantly being monitored. They have no personal freedom, so the advancement of technology, in this society, is taking away from the rights of the people. Although, technology can also be seen as positively influencing society because it is how we obtain certain information and current events of things happening. Big Brother uses technology to be aware of what it’s subjects are doing and they could not do this without the proper technology. Without it, the political society would be nothing. In today’s society, almost everyone has access to technology and certain information, where they can get it whenever. This is a very useful tool for government agencies who need to get ahold of certain, otherwise confidential, information. Overall, technology is seen as negative because it stops the main character, Winston, from somehow stopping Big Brother from interfering in his life and his relationship with Julia. It is technology that is able to see Winston’s every move and prevents him every leaving the control of Big Brother, writing “He loved Big Brother.”
Item 1: One of the main themes in 1984 is that the idea of totalitarian government poses a great threat to society. Orwell was expressing the extreme degree of a totalitarian nation and the consequences that come with this regime. The rights, freedom, and powers of the people have been taken away. Without these key elements, the people quake in fear of their own government harming them. In 1984, all the actions of the people is overseen by the Party. "The terrible thing that the Party had done was to persuade you that mere impulses, mere feelings, were of no account, while at the same time robbing you of all power over the material world" (Part 2, Chapter 7, pg. 165). This quote explains that the Party has control of everything physical and psychological. Actions, feelings, and thoughts are ruled and can be changed by the Party. The Party is transforming a human in to a "ideal model citizen." Winston is trying to break free from this situation, but eventually ends up being caught for his rebelliousness. His actions are then used against him, not only killing him, but providing more information to the government on how to break rebels. This threat to society ruins the life of a person. It restricts a person from being human. When a person cannot express their individuality, they are not human. A person maybe alive, but are prisoners of the mind.
ReplyDeleteThe manipulation of language and the use of it as mind-control has arisen as a theme in 1984. Language helps us communicate and express ideas, but in 1984 it is used to suppress ideas. In 1984, through doublethink and newspeak, the people of this totalitarian government have been misguided and are at the command of the Party. The people are mindless followers who use all their thought and energy for the government. Winston has broken free from the "mold," and realized what the Party is truly doing to the people. Proof of the manipulation of language and using it as mind control is when the Party is declaring that they have not been to war with Eurasia, but with Eastasia. Even though there were political forums against the war with Eurasia, the people blindly follow and agree with the government. The idea of Newspeak is introduced by the Party to replace English. The ultimate goal of Newspeak is that no one will be capable of conceptualizing anything that might question the Party’s absolute power. Language is of central importance to human thought because it allows the ability to formulate ideas. Once eradicated, (by a political group) this could possibly alter the very structure of language to make it impossible to even conceive of disobedient or rebellious thoughts, because there would be no words with which to think them.
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ReplyDeleteThe first and most obvious theme in 1984 is that Totalitarianism is evil, dangerous and against what it means to be a human. Orwell wanted the reader to sympathize with Winston and Julia. To the reader, Julia and Winston should be the only sane people in the book. The reader should set them apart from the rest of their comrades. Orwell uses the two of them to show the nature of humanity, which is rebellious, free, and uses reason.
Firstly, Orwell mocks the government’s ability to restrict prohibitions on commodities by letting Julia get illegal goods so easily. This can be compared to our government’s totalitarian attitude to weed, tobacco, and other “drugs”. Every time the US government tries to ban something, people find ways to get it. This is also easily interpreted as an attack on the government’s role in general. Comparisons can easily be made to way the Party observes its people and the way the US observes their people. Every person is constantly watched in some way by the party. In America, we don’t know who is watching, or when, no matter how secure we think we are, and that isn’t right. Because of the PATRIOT Act, we are fundamentally stripped of our rights, Orwell’s point stands: totalitarianism is evil.
Orwell makes this of central importance to his book.
The second theme is that history is of central importance to society. The reason why the party gets away with so much is because the people not only forget and ignore their history, they change it constantly. Winston understands the implications of his actions when he changes TIMES magazine, but he doesn’t feel any remorse because the articles he changes are probably lies in the first place. This sounds absurd, but we do this constantly.
The US Civil war is one of the best examples. Many history textbooks argue the sole reason for the War Between the States is the issue of legal slavery, yet most free southerners did not own slaves and the confederacy banned the importation of Slaves in its Constitution. We push away the fact that Abe Lincoln claimed “I would save the Union. … If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it. … What I do about Slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save this Union.” We have altered history effectively through the use of card stacking. History Books portray Southerners as racist and bigoted, even though top Northern officials released slaves after the Emancipation Proclamation, and far after many Southern officials. Issues of Southern Nationalism, State loyalty, and an increase in Federal Government size in regards to involvement in Westward expansion are ignored. The makers of History books manipulate history, and therefore can manipulate society.
How is language misused and abused?
Rhetoric is constantly at use within our society. In Christianity, many people avoid tough issues in the bible through the misuse of language. Many people misuse words and passages within the Bible for their own benefit. On one side, homosexual equality advocates equate “do not judge” with “do not call something sinful” in their speeches. This is a prime example of rhetoric. The advocates took a modern, vernacular use of the word, and used it in an ancient and historical context which really has a closer meaning to “do not damn people to hell”. In the same way, people manipulate passages in the Old Testament ordering the stoning of Homosexuals, without first looking at what the meaning of the command and covenant was. People manipulate language all the time in order to further selfish goals. Whether it be Obama calling every act ISIS “Terrorism” versus “Islamic extremism”, or a preacher saying “love all people” instead of “God demands us to be righteous”. Language can be misused. Orwell shows us every example of misuse possible. The party destroys statements that were no longer true or valid. O’brien twists everything that Winston says into something awful, and the Party never stop using misused language in propaganda.
Does a single citizen have the power to influence change?
ReplyDeleteA single person does have the power to influence change. Society is made up of individuals. Individuals therefore can influence change. On the most basic level, a human can influence another human’s decision, even changing it, starting a movement. Some people in positions of power, such as the President, can change society by the stroke of a pen. Orwell stresses this with the party’s obsession with changing Winston and Julia. The party is not worried that they love each other, rather that they have the ability to change the society. One man can start a movement, which can change the world. Even if it the movement that does the actual change, the roots can be traced back to the man. Because John Wesley was a brilliant preacher and church reformer, he drew thousands of followers. The movement he created (called Methodism) is still active and alive today. Methodism has cut child malaria deaths in half, brought the word of God to every continent except for Antarctica, and changed the church forever. Methodism would have never started had it not been for Wesley. Even I, a pretty insignificant teen from a town that isn’t even on most maps, changed the lives of orphans when I started a movement to bring soccer balls to them. I changed the lives of people on my rugby team, who went on to play for colleges. The Rugby team would not have started without my persistence. Individuals have more than power to influence change; individuals determine it.
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ReplyDeleteIdeas are maintained and refined with passage through generations, and this is one of the themes present in 1984 by George Orwell. The Party initially had the idea of Big Brother when Winston was young. Then, people knew expansive languages, the correct history, and how to love and exercise personal loyalties. Over time, each generation had these ideas trained out of them and new ideas planted. Older generations died off, and the new generations who had no memory of the past ideas lived. Hence, the ideas stuck with society and become more and more rooted and complex. Because the Party was able to transfer the ideas and refine them through generations, the system of ideals lasted.
A second theme states that citizens that are active can protect themselves from tyrannical government. Winston knows this is true of the Proles. They are ignorant and oblivious, too easily distracted by insignificant things, but Winston thinks that if they only became conscious of what they could accomplish, they could rise up and defeat the Party to create better conditions for themselves. However, because they are inactive, they let Big Brother control them. Orwell emphasizes this theme, which is his own commentary, through the novel’s use of totalitarianism and subjugation of the Proles.
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ReplyDeleteAn individual does not have the power to influence change unless they can gather others behind them to help to effect change. In 1984, this is shown in several instances. The first is that the Party is only powerful because its members back up the image of a godlike Big Brother, not because a sole leader may or may not even exist. Winston, on the other hand, is an individual who wishes he could influence change, but he cannot do so because the Proles are too ignorant to rise up behind him. The Party enjoys success through number, while Winston suffers defeat through being alone. Anywhere in history, one can find similar events. Any time a change in history is made, it is because a person led a group to victory, not because the person by him or herself could do it alone. Genghis Khan led to Mongols to create the largest continuous land empire in history, but he could not kill and conquer by himself. Modern day Al-Qaida and ISIS do not succeed in causing terrorism and maintaining themselves because it is one man or woman planning and carrying out these tasks. The rest of the people would outnumber and eventually eliminate the one, and it is harder to subdue a lot of people than a single person.
Your responsibility to yourself is to adhere to your personal beliefs and values, while letting others, whose beliefs and values may be extremely different, adhere to theirs, unless they are harming others. Otherwise, you are not leading your own life, but someone else’s. Initially, Winston and Julia exemplify this in the form of personal rebellion. Their rebellion is their own way of staying true to their identities. However, the Party views this as a threat. The Party uses its beliefs to impose harm on others, therefore violating a moral responsibility to itself as well as others. Eventually, the Party acts on this difference between beliefs and values by manipulating Winston and Julia to change theirs. By doing this, the Party eliminates Winston and Julia’s responsibility to themselves because it destroys their original belief system and inserts a framework that is not their own. In this way, they are replaced with different people after their release from the Ministry and no longer have individual responsibility. Similarly, a modern example entails the prevalence of democracy in the current world. Totalitarianism is seen as something evil and enslaving; it is a type of government that systematically takes away the people’s ability to think for themselves. Like in 1984, it steals an individual’s personal responsibility by imposing beliefs and values on others. However, democracy, used in many countries, including the United States, gives the right for an individual to keep what they believe and voice this for the government to act on a majority opinion, allowing everyone to maintain individual responsibility.
Item 2: Technology negatively influences society. In 1984, Winston describes the telescreen and states that it watches every move and hears every word. It is used to distract and scare a person into following every rule, so that they will not go against the Party. The technology in 1984 is harmful and does not allow a person to truly express themselves for fear of being caught. In the real world, social media and television is a distraction to some people, but others can see around it. The government tries to put on a fake facade in order to have the people on their side. Technology (especially the internet) has caused deaths over the years, making it a somewhat deadly source. The internet is one source of technology that can be harmful, whether it be cyber-bulling it still causes negative effects. My personal opinion of this question has not changed, since I do believe that technology has been a negative effect to society.
ReplyDeleteThe responsibility as citizens is to keep the government in check. They are public servants. It is necessary to show respect, but they should not be treated unlike the rest of the nation. Unlike in 1984, the society surrenders to the Party for fear that they will be arrested. They do not question the government, or suggest anything new. The people are under full control of the government. In America, we live in a republic where we choose the officers who will represent the people in a fair way. Although, if people do not like the elected official, they can impeach hime or her, then elect another officer. It is the job of the people to keep the government in line, and make the right decisions for the good of the people.
Item 1: One main theme of 1984 is that a repressive environment will make people question the point of life. In 1984 the party represses the citizens of Oceania to follow and believe the party. This brings out Winston's fatalism. For example, Winston knows that writing is discouraged in Oceania, so he believes he will be condemned by the thought police eventually for beginning his journal. Writing would represent some form of independence, and the party wants complete dependence on the Party and big brother. Winston believes their thoughts and actions are monitored, and his fear prompts his fatalism. In addition, Winston believes that Julia's and his relationship will be exposed since love and alliances are discouraged by the Party; therefore they will die as his believed punishment. Since he believes they will die eventually anyway, they decide to savour their time together. In the Ministry of Love, Winston begins to think that the torture for calling out to Julia will not matter anyway because they will him anyway. Throughout 1984 Winston's fatalism does not change because the party's authority remains intact while Winston takes no serious action to end this. In today's world, a repressive environment could be more than just a government. Anywhere where there are people in some form of power, there could be a repressive environment. On school grounds students could be in depression because teachers or students force certain behaviours on them. From this people learn to be aware of depression or repression , and if they feel this way, they should remove themselves from a harmful environment.
ReplyDeleteAnother main theme from 1984 is that effective power only comes from manipulation. In 1984, the party keeps control of Oceania with propaganda-which is a manipulation of language and visuals to persuade an audience. Newspeak's doublethink causes people of Oceania to think that the reality of bad things are also good. This glittering generality enforces that everything the party says is good and right, so there is no social unrest. Big Brother and the thought police force everyones' corporation with the rules because people of Oceania are scared of disappearing. They transfer their authority to the rules, such as the ones against writing and sex, so there is no massive disobedience of the rules. The Ministry of Love claims that hating Big Brother is insane, and the party's motives are to cure the prisoners of the physical pain that hating him causes. The party uses cardstacking to make the prisoners follow their motives without resistance. In the real world people use propaganda to manipulate the facts in favor of gaining what they desire. This is power over the opposing side like commercial products verses store bought products. From this people again learn to be aware of manipulation, so they can continue with their own opinions.
Item 2: (#1) Although technology would positively effect society for globalization by connecting the nations of the world, it could easily manipulate people's perception of one another. For instance in 1984, the telescreens show war occurring , yet the people in Oceania have no proof of it actually occurring except the bombs which could be dropped by the Party themselves. This plants a false perception of outsiders making Oceania's suppression easier because they would feel like they have nowhere to go. Additionally written records are rewritten and destroyed, so the information from the telescreen has a high probability of being false when there is no primary sources. On the internet Wikipedia is not a reliable source because the information can be changed by anyone with proper sources. So technology negatively influencing society by spreading false information.
ReplyDelete(#4) My responsibility to myself would be to recognize when I am being manipulated to avoid the consequences of being suppressed. Winston could see this in 1984, but he did not act out to escape it. He failed to avoid the consequences of the party's rule. Julia also fails to escape Oceania's repression since she was content to break some rules and follow others under the party, so she eventually gets caught. They are tortured in result of their failure. In America when slavery still occurred, slaves tried to escape their suppression in the south by running north on the underground railroad. The were more successful than Winston and Julia because they ran away from their repression. The American Revolution was most successful because they fought back against their suppression. From these examples I can see that the more I act in favour of ending a repressive environment, the more my responsibility will be accomplished.
The first theme of the novel, 1984 relates to Julia. Which would be, having hope and desire can take one a long way. This is because Julia has always been a hopeful character. She trusts herself and what she is doing and does not have a fear in the world. We know she has hope when she says ," this isn't my first time." This means that she has been defying the party for a while and she is still a young women. She has confidence in herself and want to end the rule of the party as much as Winston does. She also sends the note to Winston saying, I love you, this is very dangerous because love is forbidden. Julia has hope and it does take her a long way. The second theme of the novel relates more to Winston and his knowledge. The theme is, one person will fall easily, but a strong group will not fall. This relates to the rebellion Winston wants to arise. He knows he cannot do this single handed, therefore e knows he has to get the attention of the proles. The proles make up 85% of the population. They are very uneducated people, but can make the biggest difference in the rebellion. Winston in the beginning is happy that he found Julia cause she is someone to work with. Winston needs a party to have a chance to uphold the party.
ReplyDelete1.) Technology has a huge impact on society towards both ways. Positively it is important because it can help your government and your society evolve. With higher technology the world is open to new ideas and better ways of life. On another standpoint, technology makes life a lot easier. It is easy to communicate and do get tasks done. It also has a negative effect on a society as well. This is because your life can be tracked and followed. Technology allows people's lives to be interrupted by stocking and spying. Also crimes can be done on computers and the Internet. There are problems with having technology. Technology impacts a society in many way to the positive and the negative side of life.
ReplyDelete4.) Every person has a responsibility to themselves. Whether it is a goal or a dream to peruse. Looking deep into the concept of life, their is one main responsibility. That is to survive. Even humans have to survive in this world just like and animal. We have jobs to make money, so we can eat to stay alive. We have roofs on our heads so we can stay Alive. People owe themselves the best of there capabilities. They cannot be short with themselves. Using your full potential will be the best decision a person can make. People need to survive in this world so that life can be livable. Surgviving is the biggest reponsibility of all. It's how you live to see tommorow.
Part 1
ReplyDeleteFor one of the themes I chose that if you convince someone something to an extent, whether it is the truth or not, people will eventually believe it. This can be seen in "1984" multiple times, for example, the children that lived next to Winston. Children are supposed to be innocent but in this case, they have been brainwashed to love the party. Even the other children in the neighborhood have been brainwashed. It was said that they turned in their parents for not obeying the party. Another example from "1984" to support the theme is Big Brother. With his propaganda, some quotes like "freedom is slavery" or "two plus two is four" they are complete opposites. Although they are lies, they are repeated in the town/city so that the people know it by heart start to believe it. Another theme of "1984" would be as technologies progress, people will be oblivious to the freedoms they are giving up. This is true because of many reasons throughout the novel. For example, take the telescreens, they spy on people. What used to be a normal television is now used to intrude on people's lives and eavesdrop on everything they do. This is wrong because people deserve to have their own privacy. Also, it seems as though everyone is oblivious to this besides Winston. Whenever he is in his home, he hides in the corner of the room where the telescreens can't see him. He doesn't want them spying on him and knowing what he is writing. All of these examples support two main themes of "1984"
Throughout the novel, 1984, there are two main themes expressed throughout the entirety of it. The first main theme is mental control. This is expressed from the very beginning when Winston talks about the possibility of being caught by just thinking wrong thoughts. He would be caught by the thought police. And a more relevant example is from the end of the book where they barrage Winston with "facts" from the party until he agrees with them 100%. The party controls everyone by feeding them lies and this is how the party is able to control the people so well. As well as mental control there was physical control. The party knows that a weak body creates a weak mind. So if they can weaken the body of the people they can control them more easily. They control the people's bodies via the control of their food. They ration their foods, especially foods such as chocolate. And they constantly feed them Victory Gin which may possibly control the people even more. This Gin is given during every meal and refilled all the time for the party members. This lack of quality food weakens the body and makes the people easier to manipulate. But the body is a weakness of the people because any odd twitch can make them be arrested. So the people have to watch themselves 24/7. These two themes combined are how the party take over their people.
ReplyDeleteTheme One: A main theme that is present in 1984 is that caution should be used when proceeding with dangerous matters. This is present in the Characters of Winston and Julia. Both Winston and Julia have different ways of being cautions. Winston is not that cautions without Julie, and Julie is cautions, because she has grown up in 1984’s society. But them being not cautions caused them to be caught. Also, they had lack of planning, in some situations. Such as Winston wondering in the proles, or Julie and Winston not changing their hiding spot. This applies to the real world in situations of accident prevention. When we are doing something potentially dangerous, like driving a car, or using heavy machinery. These require safety to be used, or else serious accidents could occur. Just as Winston and Julie had to take safety measures, but did not sometimes, and got hurt. We must use their mistakes to use safety measures in the real world so that we may not get hurt.
ReplyDeleteTheme Two: A main theme in 1984 is that information is valuable. This means that information is more valuable than money, and power because it gives the ability to obtain money and power. This is present in the novel especially with O'Brien. O'Brien had more knowledge than Winston and Julie, with the knowledge he was able to gain power and money. He used his power in money in a terrible way, we should try to use it for the betterment of the country, and humanity. This theme can be applied to the real world in looking at education. Education gives the ability to learn more information, that allows us to apply it to get a better job, and thus gain more money and responsibility. We should look to use this in a responsible manner, and not to cause havoc. Although information is valuable because it allows for growth within a person that can help their "success" in the future.
Question 1: What are the responsibilities of our leaders?
ReplyDeleteThe responsibilities of leaders is a hard task. They are entrusted to guide those who do not know their way onto the correct path. This job has varying tasks with varying degrees of difficulty. Although their job is to teach true information. This is seen in the novel when Winston is entrusted with the gift of somewhat free thought. This free thought, and education that most people do not have in this society is valuable. Therefore, he must use it properly and for the good of mankind. He must teach others, and instruct them in what is right. While Winston completely failed at this, that was still his job. Because he had a gift that not many others had. This is present in the real world in our teachers. A student observes six to eight teachers per day. After some time spent in each class one begins to see trends within the different subject areas of teachers. One of the common trends is that people teach what they are good at. People who are good at English, teach English, people who are good at math, teach math, and so on. These teachers have been entrusted with a gift. And their job is to share it with people, so that others may benefit from this gift and help humanity out with it.
Question Two: How is language misused and abused?
Language is misused and abused through lying. Lying hides the truth and used only to deceive and for self-serving purposes. This is seen in 1984 within the party. The Party uses lying to deceive the public in order to gain control of them and use them for their own purposes. This is seen in present day circumstances with people lying to defraud, and then people lying to hurt others. This is wrong because of the fact that language should be used to build others up, not knock them down. Telling the truth even if it hurts still makes that person stronger. Lying only creates a false curtain to hid things. It can serve no morally good purpose fully, for even if we lie to obtain a good thing, the morally good act is not justified by a lie. Therefore lying is a terrible abuse of language due to its nature to create destruction.
Part 2
ReplyDelete5.One citizen does not have the power to influence change. This is because since there is only one person, how is anyone going to believe them? An example of this in "1984" would be Winston and Julia. No matter how hard they tried to change anyone's opinion, they ended up failing and were brainwashed to follow the rules of the party. Another example would be how Winston believed he could believe he could change them by using the proles. Although they are a large number, it doesn't mean that they could change. They are so oblivious to everything. That they wouldn't be able to handle it.
6. Language is misused and abused in our society. A real world example would be in WWII that Japanese-American confinement camps. America was telling the people how it was only to keep an eye one them, but in actuality, they were doing labor and some of them were starving. The language is abused because the government convinced America that everyone was fine and they were safe and nothing bad was happening. An example from "1984" to answer this question would be "Big Brother is Watching You", this is saying how the party is always watching the people to make sure they are following the rules. These words are manipulative because how do they even know if they are being watched? The words are used to scare people into thinking that they are being watched all the time and they must follow the rules or else something bad will happen. All of these examples prove how language is misused and abused in our societies.
Theme 1: The use of powerful speech and propaganda gives one the ability to completely manipulate a person's mind. The theme means that a person who is able to use their speech effectively is a person who will have the ability to alter a people’s minds. This is because language is what limits the ideas that individuals are capable of expressing. Powerful language can come in the form or rhetoric or propaganda and can be used to sway an audience. By using this powerful speech, a person is able to make a lie believable, a fact seem false, or get an audience to join a certain side. By doing this, the person is using their speech to manipulate a person’s thoughts. Orwell explores the theme when O'Brien is able to use his words to manipulate Winston's mind, which was once completely against the Party, into fully supporting it. Orwell also explores the theme when the Party uses propaganda, such as Big Brother, to give the people a hero that they blindly follow.
ReplyDeleteTheme 2: By altering the past, one is able to gain complete control of the present. This theme means that the key to gaining control over a present situation is to first gain control of the past. A person who is able to manipulate past events in a believable and effective way will have power over the present. Someone with authority has the ability to lie to the masses about history to make it seem that they had done no wrong. They are capable of fabricating the past to make the present go their way. This theme is proven in Orwell’s novel when The Party alters any past events and destroys all documents that make the Party look unfavorable. This theme is also proven by the Party because they strip away any memories that the citizens of Oceania have from before the war to make them forget any wrong doing of the Party.
Does technology positively or negatively influence society?
Technology negatively influences society. In the novel, the Party uses technology to negatively impact the citizens of Oceania. For example, the telescreens that they have developed are constantly playing propaganda to the audience to alter their minds. Also, the telescreens and hidden microphones are used to monitor and spy on the citizens’ every move. This leads to an excessive number of citizens being found guilty of innocent crimes, such as “Thought Crime”. Also, anyone who defies the Party’s beliefs in any way is easily found and taken away. In today’s society, we are completely dependent on the technology that we have. If technology was eliminated, we would not know how to function. Also, young people are able to access inappropriate content through technology, and technology has caused many deaths through driving.
How is language used to obtain what we desire?
Language is used to obtain what we desire through propaganda, rhetoric, and false speech. In the novel, the Party is constantly using language to sway the citizens into blindly following them. They also are constantly using false speech and lying to the people about the past to get them to believe the Party has done no wrong. Orwell also explores the theme through Newspeak, which is the language that the Party made up to eliminate any words that could suggest a rebellion. An example of this theme in the real world is how politicians use language to get what they desire. People running for office use language in the form of propaganda to sway the voters to vote for them. They also get people to be blind to any bad qualities the politician has.
Item 2: What is your responsibility to yourself?
ReplyDeleteAs citizens of the United States, we have responsibilities that we need to follow to try to make our lives safe, successful, and meaningful. Almost everyone has their job in the society that they need to complete to keep everyone's lives running well and in order. We have the responsibility to treat others with honor and respect just like how we would want others to treat us. Treating everyone equally no matter the difference in physical appearance, intelligence, or attitude will keep our society healthy and peaceful. Having the title of being a citizen represents how our country will grant us protection if we follow all of the laws and rules stated in the Constitution. Us, citizens, need to stay loyal and not cause harm throughout our society. Riots and outburst should not be tolerated in which harm is used to hurt others because this would affect people and everyone's lives. Without all of these responsibilities being done, people could cause fear, harm, and disrespect to the people around them. This relates to the novel, 1984, because the government disrespected the people and treated them terribly leading to all of the horror and torture that was presented throughout the novel. The issues we have in today's society are still similar to the problems in 1984. Around the world people continue to break laws and cause harm to one another, which leads to problems in the society. Orwell's message was to not let the government, also known as big brother, take away your freedom in the name of security or peace because in the end you will find yourself in a totalitarian society with no rights or voice. Living by all of your responsibilities can ensure peace in everyone's lives and grant freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of peaceful assembly, and freedom of petition throughout our society. Therefore, all of us have responsibilities that must be accomplished to change everyone's lives positively.
(Comment 1)
ReplyDelete1. Complete and utter power.
This was very prevalent in 1984 and was the reason the Party was in control, because all they wanted was power. Not just power as we think of it (ie: dictatorship), but power over everything in existence, materially or conceptually. They controlled the past in order to ensure the future by constantly changing what happened to what they want everyone to think happened. They controlled individual thought by constant propaganda, threats of thought police, and torture in the ministry of love. They control actions by placing telescreens everywhere. There was absolutely nothing that was out of their control. Think about it. Winston thought he was safe the whole time while he was with Julia and when he wrote in his diary, but the Party was three steps ahead of him the whole time. He was unaware that he was being specifically spied on by the thought police for 7 years. There is no way to escape the grip of their power.
Language is a form of brainwashing.
Language was used as a weapon during the entirety of the novel. It was firstly used as constant propaganda streaming form the telescreens. All of this information was falsified and meaningless, but when you force an entire society into hearing it all of the time, they would have no reason at all to deny it or to ever think against it. And when the information is casting a positive light on the Party, then no one would ever dislike them, because now they are brainwashed. This powerful use of language didn’t stop hear. The Part was working on creating its own language, newspeak, in order to destroy any way of communicating anything that would deny the absolute power of the Party. How can anyone object the Party when there is no language to do so? If that wasn’t enough, in this new language, a concept called doublethink was created in order to make people believe two contrary things at the same time, or anything for that matter, with no reasonable way to object. O’Brien was good with this language. Anything that Winston said to him to prove that he was wrong O’Brien twisted to show that he was right even though he wasn’t. He is so brainwashed that he knows he is right and anything the Party says is right. Once this mass brainwashing has started, there is very little anyone can do to combat the weapon of language.
(Comment 2)
ReplyDelete2. Does technology positively or negatively influence society?
In general, technology usually helps to advance a society, but in the case of 1984, it is used to suppress and that type of negative affect is becoming more common in our world today too. Technology was used a lot in 1984 for the purpose of the Party to spy on everyone to identify if they are against them. Telescreens are put almost everywhere and hidden microphones fill the rest of the space to ensure that everywhere is being watched at all times. Also, there are many torture devices used in the ministry of love to “cure” people. In 1984, all of this new technology has negatively affected society and has actually helped society to take a step backwards. Winston noticed this step backwards when he tried to think of what London used to look like and had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn’t always like this, as he eventually saw in the old painting of the church. In today’s world, it isn’t as evident how technology is negative, but it still is largely in some ways. Nuclear technology has really been refined recently, but with this comes the threat of another war, but this time with tons of nuclear weapons. Something like this happened in the book 1984 back before and during the purges of the 50s and 60s. Also, just in general, the added technology that every child grows up with can negatively affect their minds and emotions. Sounds a little like how everyone is in 1984. All we need now is someone direct this technology in a way that it leads to every child changing in the same way, but hopefully that won’t happen…
What is your responsibility to yourself?
The responsibility to yourself, I think, is to keep your own ideas from being changed from outside stimuli. Your own opinions and feelings make you who you are, so it is important to keep them in tact and never waver, but in 1984 that was impossible. In their society, independent thought was being eradicated by the Party. You could still think, but it meant almost for sure that you would get taken by the thought police and “cleansed” of your wrong thoughts. Winston showed that he was not going to change his thoughts, that he knew were right, very easily. In the end, though, he was brainwashed and forget/denied his independent opinions and ideals. He had failed the responsibility to himself, but he couldn’t help it. Sometimes, we can’t either. Peer pressure can get us to say or do things that we usually wouldn’t or go against what we believe. When you are one person in a sea of many who disagree, its hard to be confident enough to keep your own ideals.
A main theme of the novel "1984" is control. No matter what, the Party requires control of everyone and everything. They control peoples' thoughts through "thoughtcrime" and vaporizing anyone who commits it. The Party's goal is to have total control of everyone in Oceania, and eventually, the world. Throughout the novel, we see this commonly with Winston and Julia. They know that they are committing thoughtcrime, and go to great lengths to avoid being caught. We also see a couple people be vaporized because the party disagreed with them in some way another. This shows the party's real goal.
ReplyDeleteA second main theme in "1984" is dehumanization. We see that the party is completely corrupt through their actions. Doing anything that could have a bad effect on the party will get a person vaporized. Because of this, people are no longer human, they're just a shell of what they used to be. We see that Winston finds a human hand on the street, presumably from the party harming a person. Instead of being alarmed or concerned like most people would, Winston simply kicks it out of the way. He has no emotions in the beginning of the book because the party has gotten rid of them. Emotions are thoughtcrime. Another example of dehumanization is seeing the sheeplike mindset of the people in Oceania. Everyone hates goldstein, loves big brother, does their part to work for the government, participates in the Two Minutes Hate daily, and pays close attention to who Oceania's enemy is so that they can mindlessly hate them. Nobody has independent thought, and it's silly to even think that they should have it. Nobody is who they were before big brother, and they have become unhuman.
One way a totalitarian regime seeks to stay in power is by denying human beings their individuality, erasing independent thought through the use of propaganda and terror. Throughout 1984, Winston tries to assert his individual nature against the collective identity the Party wishes him to adopt. He keeps a private diary, engages in a forbidden intimate relationship, and insists that his version of reality is the truth, as opposed to what the Party says it is. Instead of going to the Community Center or participating in social groups, he wanders the prole neighborhoods alone and seeks solitude in his apartment, engaging in behavior the Party considers dangerous. After Winston is caught, the seven years of torture to which O'Brien subjects him are designed to destroy Winston's ability to think radical thoughts. Before he enters Room 101, Winston is able to see that to die hating the Party is freedom, but by the end of the novel he is no longer capable of this. In order to save himself from the rats, Winston does the one thing he can never forgive himself for - he betrays Julia and in doing so relinquishes his own morality and self-respect.
ReplyDeleteReality control is another theme continuously present throughout the book. The Party controls the citizens of Oceania through a combination of surveillance, terror, and propaganda. Although there are no laws to punish crime, the party can secretly use torture, imprisonment, or vaporization on anyone whose thoughts or actions indicate that they may commit a crime in the future. The presence of telescreens in every room reminds citizens that they are constantly being observed, and all live in fear that their neighbors, coworkers, or even family members will report them to the Thought Police. Another way the Party controls the minds of the people is by destroying historical evidence that contradicts what the Party wishes the people to believe. For instance, when the Party reduces the chocolate ration, it also eliminates any information that would make it possible for anyone to verify that the chocolate ration had once been larger. Winston and his fellow employees in the Records Department are given the task of rewriting news articles and other literature in order to bring the written record into compliance with the version of history supported by the Party. It’s a never ending job, since the Party constantly changes facts in order to support its policies. Books that describe the past in a way that does not conform with Party ideology are destroyed or translated into Newspeak, a form of English designed by the Party to lack words that are considered unnecessary or dangerous, and which thereby prevents revolutionary thoughts.
One citizen does not have the power to influence change. It takes a group of people. In 1984, Winston wants to start a rebellion but is unable to. The government and Party are too powerful and put fear into the citizens to cause them not to rebel with Winston. This is true in real life because every revolution starts with a group of people rather than one person. For example, Martin Luther King, Jr. didn’t start the civil rights movement by himself. He had to gain support from others with the same beliefs, in order to start a change.
ReplyDeleteThe responsibility of a citizen is to question the government in which they live and challenge its power. A society completely dictated by a leader might as well not have people in it at all. It is a human instinct to fight for what they believe in. By questioning a leader, one citizen raises concerns, which may eventually lead to a change in society itself. In our country, one citizen’s input helps choose a leader. The leader of choice, when good, improves a society. However, a “bad” leader shows each citizen the flaws in society, which cause citizens to push for change.
One of the themes in 1984 is manipulation. Throughout the whole novel every character is manipulated in some way. Manipulation could either affect the characters by the characters affecting each other or being affected by Big Brother. An example of manipulation is the society as a whole and the actions they are not allowed to do. They are limited in their lives and threatened with consequences if they do not obey the strict rules. The other theme that is recognized in this novel is loyalty. Winston is loyal to a fault to Julia. Even when she is not dedicated to him as much as he is to her he continues to try to work things out. Just like Winston is dedicated to the rebellion, the other citizens are dedicated to Big Brother. Winston will do anything and everything to support a rebellion and the people in it. The other citizens are dedicated to Big Brother by constantly obeying all rules and living in the harsh society. The responsibility to myself is to follow the things I as an individual believe in. Whatever the society I am involved in, if they do something that I do not believe in I will continue to do whatever I feel is right. Just like Winston he understands what the Party is doing is wrong and tries to change things. He knows deep down that things are not meant to be the way they are and wants to change things for the better of all society. He is so passionate about this rebellion because he feels it is his responsibility to protect what he knows is right. Language is misused and abused in many ways. It can be used to help a society or completely destroy it. With the manipulation of words a society can make people do almost anything. Big Brother misuses language by threatening their citizens with harsh words and using a frightening tactic. This is also a way of them abusing their power. They use their thorough understanding of the language by gaining complete control. They use scare tactics to make people believe their way is the best. In some ways Big Brother is brainwashing their society into obeying their every command. They did prove this through actions but their use of language is what completed the full control.
ReplyDeletePART 1
ReplyDeleteA main theme in the novel, 1984, that was developed is without active citizenship a there is a possibility of the development of a tyrannical government. In the novel, Oceania has reached a state where their government observes and controls every aspect of human life to a point where even a disloyal thought is against the law. Winston is a rebellious character who sets out to challenge the limit of The Party’s control. He keeps a private diary, engages in sexual relations, and insists that his way of life is the truth, opposed to what the Party desires him to adopt. When Winston is caught, he is tortured until he is no longer able to think unorthodox thoughts. When he betrays Julia, he is relinquishing his mutuality and self-respect. The Party use psychological and physical manipulation to control and destroy every aspect of human life.
Another theme in the novel is language helps us to communicate and suppress ideas. Language is a powerful tool that is the central importance to human thought as it allows an individual to structure and limit the ideas that one can form and express. The alteration of language could make it near impossible to formulate disobedient or rebellious thoughts because they would be no such available words left. The Party is constantly refining their current language to create a more biddable society. The development of Newspeak is the destruction of language and one’s ability of self-expression. This also limits the possibility of thought crime. Without a complex language, there is no thought process and complex ideas are unable to be conceived. With no thought process, a more submissive attitude if formed which allows more control to the Party. Language has become a mind control tool, with the main goal of the destruction of will and imagination. Newspeak narrows the range of thought and shortens people's memories. With this lack of memory and thought, they rely on and trust The Party and believe whatever they tell them.
PART 2
ReplyDeleteHow is language used to obtain what we desire?
In the novel, 1984, language is no longer a powerful tool. Language is the fuel a person uses to unshackle and develop their ideas and beliefs into concrete reality. It obtains an immense power, and the impact it makes depends on how one exerts it. Yet, language has the power to mask the truth and mislead others. Orwell uses language by the government to politically deceive and manipulate people,leading to a society in which the people unquestioningly obey their government and mindlessly accept all propaganda as reality. By erasing and rewriting history, and the use of propaganda, people are brainwashed to the point where they have no choice but to rely on The Party to control them. Today politicians use language to persuade the public with their assertions of power. Political leaders use linguistic strategies including linguistic manipulation as an influential instrument of political rhetoric to persuade audiences for a specific political action. Language is a powerful weapon that can be used to manipulate the minds of others.
Does technology positively or negatively influence society?
In the novel, technology plays a major part in The Party’s ability to control the people. With telescreens, cameras, and microphones to be able to monitor the people at all times. The telescreens that are installed in every house allows the government to anonymously spy on the home-life of mostly everyone. With microphones hidden a throughout Oceania, private conversations are near impossible to be conducted. They used the media and telescreens to whirl propaganda at its citizens to brainwash them. Today, the use of surveillance cameras and phone tapping by the government invades one's privacy. This shows a lack of trust and an invasions of privacy from the government. Being under surveillance constantly can help turn a government in a tyranny. People are losing their freedom and having their privacy and respect diminished for some sense of safety.
The two main themes that were presented in 1984 are, the overwhelming effects of totalitarianism and manipulation of individualism. Orwell used his words and images to present to his audience his fear of what would be the fate of humanity if totalitarian regimes were allowed to seize power. After seeing the damage that totalitarianism leaders, such as Hitler and Stalin, were able to cause, he insisted on educating people. Totalitarianism is presented throughout the whole novel. The society was completely controlled by the Party and knew no better then to accept this. The Party controls everything in the society. It even goes down to the specifics of even what the people read is altered by the Party. Winston’s job, the Ministry of Truth, takes care of all the history documents to insure that the people only read what the people should be reading. They also control the news that the people see. The telescreens show the war that is going on, as the Party wishes them to see. They control every part of daily life. This is exactly what Orwell is preparing people today for. It is to teach people what will happen if a society becomes distant from their government and allows it to become too large. This theme of the book teaches me to always be involved with the government, and make sure that my voice is heard.
ReplyDeleteThe next theme presented in the novel is the manipulation of individualism. Oceania is a society full of brainwashed people that are all alike. No one has a mind of their own and the society makes sure of this, the thought police take any people that might have that individual mind. Gin is how the Party can destroy the thoughts, and then manipulate the people as they wish. By keeping all the people in the society the same, the Party has their own personal people that will do anything they say. The children are even followers of the Party. It’s just like what Hitler did with the next generation, he controls the children to be his followers and by doing this the children even turn on their parents. The Parson children were so diehard Big Brother, and in the end they turned their father in for saying he was against the Party. This teaches people to fight for their individualism. Once a person looses their individualism, they loose their humanity and once someone looses that they lose the point of living because they aren’t themselves. Orwell wanted people to realize this, and hold onto the urge to fight for this.
Two essential questions most seen in the novel is, the influence an individual has on others and the responsibilities of the citizens. It only takes one person to start up change with others. Winston could have been that person but he was to certain of O’Brien being in charge and this ended up to him being caught. Once one person has an idea for chance, and if he takes charge, he can help to encourage others and enforce change. Martin Luther King was a prime example of this. Without him, a black revolution would have been hard to come by if it wasn’t for that one mind striving for change. This teaches that with perseverance a person can change anything. The responsibility of the citizens is to keep the leaders in line to serve the people. Once the leaders don’t do this anymore, they gain too much power and that is how a totalitarian state begins. This is exactly what happens in Oceania and because the people didn’t question the leaders they took over. This teaches me to always be involved in the government and question the things they do.
ReplyDeleteTwo Main Themes
ReplyDeleteActive citizenship protects us from tyrannical government.
Active citizenship protects us from tyrannical government. Without citizens being active, the government would be able to easily overrule the people. There are two examples of this is the book 1984. The first example supports this statement. The proles are active citizens. Although they do not appear to do much, they do more for themselves than the others. They began taking care of themselves before anyone could force them to be taken care of. The second example found in the book contradicts this theme. The entire book is an example of this. The people were all living their lives as they should, being active citizens, when they were manipulated by the party. They are the only proof you need to bust open this myth of a statement. They were acting as active citizens, and were shot down and still taken under a tyrannical government. A real world fact of this would be the most obvious of all, the holocaust. The people were being active when Hitler decided to take over. Active citizenship protects us from tyrannical government.
2.) We as humans have the capacity to impact our lives and the lives of others.
We as humans have the capacity to impact our lives and the lives of others. The actions we make determine what other people do. There are two examples found in 1984 that support this theme. The first example is the party. The party uses their power to influence all of the people who follow them. They manipulate people who know no better to improve their lives, all while destroying the lives of their followers. The second example in 1984 also supports this theme. Julia is the second example. The way her actions finally convince Winston to carry out his scheme. She acted out against the party, which forced Winston to be brave and act out also. A real world example would be the recent deflate gate incident. Tom Brady impacted his own life for the worse when he made the decision to impact the “ball keepers” life for the worse by convincing him to deflate the footballs. We as humans have the capacity to impact our lives and the lives of others.
Does technology positively or negatively influence society?
Technology both positively and negatively influences society. An example of this is found in the book 1984. The party uses their technology to keep the people under control. They positively influenced society by controlling the people and eliminating conflict. A real world example is texting. This negatively influences society by creating a distraction keeping kids inside and the death toll on the streets rising.
How is language used to obtain what we desire?
language is used to obtain what we desire. We use tone as well as word choice in order to obtain these things. Julia draws Winston in through the trust in her tone. In the real world, people get what they want everyday by making it seem as if they really do care about what the other person is doing, going through, or thinking about.
There are two main themes in the novel 1984. The first one is "Language is controlling when used correctly". In 1984 all of the comrades were basically under a trance. The Party had them brainwashed to the point they weren't able to form their own opinions and were becoming inhuman. With Two Minutes of Hate they were being told to go against the enemy, whether it was Eurasia or Eastasia. The comrades were told multiple times that they were the enemy and no good. After a while they all started to believe it and just trusted that the Party was telling the truth. The second theme present in 1984 is "Dehumanizing is a result when the government controls everything". The Inner Party was able to get into most of the comrades heads and take away their human rights. They are unable to think or fend for themselves. Emotions are unable to be felt since they only marry for the sake of continuing the race and they also call others comrade instead of ma'am or sir. One example is when Winston kicks the human hand on the street after the bombing. He didn't feel pity or sadness, he just kicked it like a rock. The Party was starting to get inside his head and take away his feelings. Another example of dehumanizations is when children willingly turn their parents into the thought police. They don't care if they are vanished, they only care for the Party. Therefore their right to think for themselves has been destroyed. Dehumanization and language are just two of the themes present in 1984.
ReplyDelete1) Technology negatively influences society. In 1984 everyone is watched constantly. They have telescreens in offices, on the streets, and even in their homes. It causes the comrades to become paranoid due to the fact that if they say or think something, that the Party doesn't like, then they will be "vanished". Also since their is the risk of being caught, because of the telescreens, if they did something wrong it could drive them to suicide. One example of that is all of the guys Julia slept with. They were afraid to be caught so instead of being vanished, like they would have been, they killed themselves to end it quicker. In our society technology has ruined the current and future generations. It has caused addiction, obsession, and self hatred. There have been many cases where teens and young adults are unable to function without using their phone after a long period of time. They have become dependent on it for communication. Instead of talking face to face or even on the phone they text, email, and connect through social media. Also since there are so many social websites, it's easier to see into the lives of the famous. Many people have become obsessed in being like them with hopes of making money and looking like them. Technology has the capability to destroy people not only in novels but in real life.
8) Language is a strong weapon that can be used to manipulate people to do what you desire. For example in 1984, the Inner Party was able to convince the comrades that what the Party was doing would help them. Words such as "Freedom is Slavery" are complete opposite but the way they presented them made the comrades believe it was true. Afterwards it was easy to control the people because they then thought that being under the control of the Party would help them. In our society Presidents have the same power. They are able to convince people that what they want for our country is the best option just so they can get more votes. They make the others seem like a bad person and put themselves on a pedestal just to get elected. Words are powerful and manipulative when used correctly in novels and real life.
Multiply themes are present in 1984 written by George Orwell. All throughout the novel George Orwell teachers the readers the lesson of society and life. Two themes present are a single citizen has enough power to make change in society and without control of technology a society would not have control.
ReplyDeleteFrom the beginning of 1984 the party is introduced with controlling power. In book one throughout the chapters George Orwell shows how the party uses technology to control and know what happened to everyone in society. Winston constantly feels watched and knows there is very few places he can go without the party using technology to monitor him. The party uses telescreens to watch and hear what the people are saying and helicopters and other forms of technology to patrol and watch over the people. At the end of the book we learn that Winston was never safe that the party has been watching him closely for multiple years. If the party did not have these technologies they wouldn't be able to monitor and control how the people think and what they know.
As seen in the book one person can make a difference. Winston wanting to go against the party and big brother starts out writing in his journal in the being of the book. Throughout the book his character progresses. As his character progresses he begins to become less cautious and take more risks. He goes against the party not drinking gin and breaking major rules of society. As he does this he gets more followers and gets with people that agree with his stance on society. The major charter introduced to us that follows him is Julia. Julia heavily influences Winston and makes him go against the party and society more. Throughout the book the theme that a single person has enough power to make a change in society. It started with Winston and then branched off to many other charters. To make a change it starts with one Citizen. For the change to happen it requires numbers and followers of that Citizen who believe in the same stance.
The themes present throughout the novel 1984 also answer the essential questions from this unit. For the essential questions does technology positively or negatively influence society and does a single citizen have the power to influence change both are answered and represented by the themes. Technology has the power to do both, positively and negatively affect society. Technology makes it so that communication isn't a issue in society. The power to be able to talk to anyone around world is irreplaceable. information is not an issue because technology give you to power to look up anything and learn the desired information. These positives are replaceable in today's society. Technology can negatively impact society if mistreated. For example in 1984 the party used technology to watch the people lives. They would use telescreens and other technologies to keep track of the thoughts and words of the people. In today's society the government has the ability to tap into anys personal technologies and keep track of what they do. This has raised many problems in the united states when information leaks of what the government is secretly doing with technology.
ReplyDeleteAlong with technology a single citizen can influence change. It has been shown throughout history that it starts with one person to make a change. Adolf Hitler mad change in history. He was a single citizen who seeked changed and got a whole country on his side. ISIS is another example where change is made. Once on person seeks change and finds others to join his stance then he becomes very influential on the people of society. People in the united states are leaving the country to join ISIS, the influence they have effects the people all around the world. In 1984 Winston seeked changed from the beginning. With the influence of others such as Julia he felt powerful. Winston started out in chapter one writing down with big brother in his journal. His character then progressed through the book to where he was going against the rules of society. Winston had power and a cause, but he did not have the number of followers for his cause to make change. Change starts with the influence of one citizen's ideas on a topic. Both the themes and essential questions presented by George Orwell in “1984” are applied todays society.
One main theme in 1984 is that having a totalitarian government takes extreme skill and attention to detail. As we see in this book the government has completely taken control of these people's lives. They constantly monitor everything they do and they try to control what they do and what they think. They have successfully done this by destroying all previous records, brainwashing the people, and continually lying and covering up facts. They have taken away basic human rights and thought processes of these people. As we saw in the beginning of the book when they cut the chocolate rations and tell the people they are larger, and the people have nothing to say about it. The government either brainwashed them to the point where they can't realize the difference or scared them into not saying anything do to fear. This takes a ton of skill and attention to detail because if one piece of information gets out it could threaten the existence of the government. Also if anything gets out that causes question they have to completely destroy all records of it and lie to the people. The government has successfully controlled and maintained the totalitarian government and made sure that if anything is out of line they correct it.
ReplyDeleteA second main theme to 1984 is one single person can not make a complete change to an improper government. As we saw in this book the Winston was always unique in his rebellious thoughts of the government. The idea of a rebellion never came his mind until he met Julia. He himself knew he could make no difference and Julia sparked the courage and ideas of this rebellion. Although he had Julia to support his rebellious actions, she never really helped in the effort to make a change. Therefor he himself could only express his thoughts and words towards the government. He himself could make no physical or fundamental change in the government system. One person can spark the idea and lead but you need a group of people to support their actions, words, and thoughts.
One main theme in 1984 is that having a totalitarian government takes extreme skill and attention to detail. As we see in this book the government has completely taken control of these people's lives. They constantly monitor everything they do and they try to control what they do and what they think. They have successfully done this by destroying all previous records, brainwashing the people, and continually lying and covering up facts. They have taken away basic human rights and thought processes of these people. As we saw in the beginning of the book when they cut the chocolate rations and tell the people they are larger, and the people have nothing to say about it. The government either brainwashed them to the point where they can't realize the difference or scared them into not saying anything do to fear. This takes a ton of skill and attention to detail because if one piece of information gets out it could threaten the existence of the government. Also if anything gets out that causes question they have to completely destroy all records of it and lie to the people. The government has successfully controlled and maintained the totalitarian government and made sure that if anything is out of line they correct it.
ReplyDeleteA second main theme to 1984 is one single person can not make a complete change to an improper government. As we saw in this book the Winston was always unique in his rebellious thoughts of the government. The idea of a rebellion never came his mind until he met Julia. He himself knew he could make no difference and Julia sparked the courage and ideas of this rebellion. Although he had Julia to support his rebellious actions, she never really helped in the effort to make a change. Therefor he himself could only express his thoughts and words towards the government. He himself could make no physical or fundamental change in the government system. One person can spark the idea and lead but you need a group of people to support their actions, words, and thoughts.