"Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell
Page
4 21 26-27 106-107 142 |
Passage
The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. He had committed — would still have committed, even if he had never set pen to paper — the essential crime that contained all others in itself. Thoughtcrime, they called it. Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed for ever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years, but sooner or later they were bound to get you.
Nearly all children nowadays were horrible… they adored the Party and everything connected with it… It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children. And with good reason, for hardly a week passed in which The Times did not carry a paragraph describing how some eavesdropping little sneak — ‘child hero’ was the phrase generally used — had overheard some compromising remark and denounced its parents to the Thought Police.
He tried to think of O’Brien, for whom, or to whom, the diary was written, but instead he began thinking of the things that would happen to him after the Thought Police took him away. It would not matter if they killed you at once. To be killed was what you expected. But before death (nobody spoke of such things, yet everybody knew of them) there was the routine of confession that had to be gone through: the groveling on the floor and screaming for mercy, the crack of broken bones, the smashed teeth, and bloody clots of hair.
In a way she realized that she herself was doomed, that sooner or later the Thought Police would catch her and kill her, but with another part of her mind she believed that it was somehow possible to construct a secret world in which you could live as you chose. All you needed was luck and cunning and boldness. She did not understand that there was no such thing as happiness, that the only victory lay in the far future, long after you were dead, that from the moment of declaring war on the Party it was better to think of yourself as a corpse.
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Reactions, Comments, Questions
Knowing a person could be seen and heard at all times makes them monitor themselves. When someone holds power over the outcome of a part of a person’s life (or the entirety of it) a person would like to please them in any way, shape or form. In this situation, one must decide whether they are on the rebelling side, or conforming. There is no in between. A person must decide to live forever loving their superior or decide they are willing to face what is inevitable.
Nearly all adults are brainwashed into thinking they need to please the government, that the government in this society is fair and good. In order to perform their duties to the Party, parents feel obligated to conceive and raise the very beings that will torture them in the future, when they could simply pretend to be infertile. Except, if suddenly everyone pretends to be infertile, investigation may be made and people will be tortured accordingly, anyways.
Where can people hear about such things if Room 101 and the occurrences in the Ministry of Truth are never heard of? Is the government so cunning as to release rumors about these occurrences through undercover people, knowing full well these rumors would keep everyone in line? But, what if the occurrences did not scare the people? What if it made them angry? Could enough of them decide to take a stand against the government?
Winston believes that happiness under the eye of Big Brother is impossible. Yet, he says that happiness will occur once you are dead and that after declaring war on the Party you might as well think yourself as a corpse. It sounds as if Winston thinks rebellion equals death, but death equals happiness. Therefore, rebellion equals happiness. If a man like Winston can figure this out, shouldn't others as well? If they had, they were probably still to afraid of what it took to be happy.
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Retell
Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell follows the life of a middle-aged man named Winston Smith who lives under the eye of Big Brother - the head of the Party and governmental force of Oceania. Winston is a member of the Outer Party, a middle-class citizen, and works at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history in favor of the Party. Winston, like all other members of Oceania, is followed everywhere he goes by way of two-way telescreens and concealed microphones. These surveillance devices are used to make sure no one is committing thought crime (thinking against the Party) as it is a crime punished by torture or death. Despite the everyday threats he faces, Winston decides to write his thoughts against the Party inside a diary. Over time Winston meets Julia, a member of the Junior Anti-Sex League but discretely resilient woman, and they engage in a rebellion by performing multiple accounts of extramarital intercourse. They continue this rebellion in a room Winston rented away from the watchful eye of Big Brother... or so they thought. Winston and Julia are captured for their deceitful acts then sent to the Ministry of Love where they are tortured and brainwashed into loving Big Brother.
Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell follows the life of a middle-aged man named Winston Smith who lives under the eye of Big Brother - the head of the Party and governmental force of Oceania. Winston is a member of the Outer Party, a middle-class citizen, and works at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history in favor of the Party. Winston, like all other members of Oceania, is followed everywhere he goes by way of two-way telescreens and concealed microphones. These surveillance devices are used to make sure no one is committing thought crime (thinking against the Party) as it is a crime punished by torture or death. Despite the everyday threats he faces, Winston decides to write his thoughts against the Party inside a diary. Over time Winston meets Julia, a member of the Junior Anti-Sex League but discretely resilient woman, and they engage in a rebellion by performing multiple accounts of extramarital intercourse. They continue this rebellion in a room Winston rented away from the watchful eye of Big Brother... or so they thought. Winston and Julia are captured for their deceitful acts then sent to the Ministry of Love where they are tortured and brainwashed into loving Big Brother.
Relate
All around Oceania are telescreens - the two-way televisions - that are used to monitor the citizens of Oceania, to ensure no thought crime is being committed. This kind of technology is very prominent in our society today. Nearly all establishments have cameras as a "precaution" for potential robberies. There are also cameras in every corridor of my school to make sure students are in class or trespassers aren't roaming the halls. Like Winston in Oceania, we have eyes on us at all times today, monitoring our every move, with some that even send alarms if a person looks too suspicious of going to or having already committed a crime.
All around Oceania are telescreens - the two-way televisions - that are used to monitor the citizens of Oceania, to ensure no thought crime is being committed. This kind of technology is very prominent in our society today. Nearly all establishments have cameras as a "precaution" for potential robberies. There are also cameras in every corridor of my school to make sure students are in class or trespassers aren't roaming the halls. Like Winston in Oceania, we have eyes on us at all times today, monitoring our every move, with some that even send alarms if a person looks too suspicious of going to or having already committed a crime.
Reflect
How could have such a strong society such as Oceania could have been created? Wouldn't people have noticed the flaws of Oceania before conforming? Even if the government had promises for the betterment of the society, at what point did the citizens begin to roll over and do nothing when these promises were not fulfilled? When Winston first heard about the rebellion, called the Brotherhood, he didn't seemed to believe it existed till he was handed the Brotherhood manual, but when he was convicted of thoughtcrime his interrogator was the very man who handed him the book, an inner party member. Is this a tactic made by the government of Oceania in order to keep its citizen under their rule? Perhaps the Brotherhood is government-born and used to seek who might be committing thoughtcrime so the next brainwash victim can be chosen. If that's the case then conformity is the only big option, with little options including: torture and brainwashing, or just brainwashing.
How could have such a strong society such as Oceania could have been created? Wouldn't people have noticed the flaws of Oceania before conforming? Even if the government had promises for the betterment of the society, at what point did the citizens begin to roll over and do nothing when these promises were not fulfilled? When Winston first heard about the rebellion, called the Brotherhood, he didn't seemed to believe it existed till he was handed the Brotherhood manual, but when he was convicted of thoughtcrime his interrogator was the very man who handed him the book, an inner party member. Is this a tactic made by the government of Oceania in order to keep its citizen under their rule? Perhaps the Brotherhood is government-born and used to seek who might be committing thoughtcrime so the next brainwash victim can be chosen. If that's the case then conformity is the only big option, with little options including: torture and brainwashing, or just brainwashing.