Erin's+Blog

1984

Thus far, the pages of 1984 have been drenched in waves of irony. One of the most peculiar instances of this element is Winston's job. I find Winston to be a rather likeable character; unlike the majority of the citizens of Airstrip One, he is able to form his own thoughts and recognizes the importance of memory -- yet, he spends his time at the Ministry of Truth rewriting history so that it may agree with Big Brother's vision of the present. His job reminds me of the concept of time travel, which in turn reminds me of the movie Back to the Future. In the movie, Marty McFly travels back in time to when his paretns were teenagers. When his mother begins to develop an interest in him and puts his future in jeopardy, Marty must do everything he can to make his parents fall in love and repair the damage he dealt upon his family history. I suppose you could call Marty a foil for Winston: while Winston is destroying history for the benefit of the Party, Back to the Future's protagonist is trying to fix it.
 * Element Analysis #1**



=//"Was he, then, alone in the possession of memory?" //= The architect had dedicated countless hours of thought toward this moment. He had built it up in his head over and over and over, worked out every imperfection, eliminated his plan of all possible flaw: his masterpiece and his greatest dream was finally in the process of becoming reality. He had saved the money, laid out the plans, assembled a team. All that was left was for it to come into being. It took months of heavy labor and sleepless nights, but eventually, it was assembled -- the construction that everyone had been dying to see, the structure that would serve as his stepping stone into the history books. When it was finished he stood proudly before it. He could not have been happier if he were a new father laying eyes on his child for the very first time. But not all was as well as it seemed. He had failed to take human error into account. His team, so haphazardly assembled, had built the dream without bothering to lay down the framework: he looked at it from outside and could see nothing wrong, but within the edifice itself, everything was falling apart. It was not long before it collapsed. It broke, and brought down all his aspirations with it: his masterpiece, his dream, his vision of perfection, laying useless now amongst the rubble and the dust.
 * IQ #1**

While composing, the theme I had in mind was this: Without memory to serve as a base, societies may often fall apart. In the passage that I wrote, memory is literally meant to be the framework, whilst the architect's masterpiece is meant to represent society -- specifically, Oceania and Airstrip One. Ingsoc's goal is to create a perfect society, but how can you know what perfection is if you have nothing to compare it to? Memories of the past should serve as a tool for creating a better future, but the Party chooses instead to destroy all traces of history. Nothing can be perfect if you have no evidence to define perfection. If Winston alone is capable of remembering, then he is the only hope for establishing a stable future -- one in which memory is not frowned upon, but openly encouraged.

//"Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they can never become conscious."// (70) With this quote, Orwell offers yet another example of paradox. If the proles are unaware of the Party's actions, they have no reason to rebel; however, they cannot become aware until after they have rallied their forces, which they have no reason to do as long as they remain oblivious.
 * Element Analysis #2**

Strangely enough, the situation with the proles reminds me of one of my favorite Disney movies, Aladdin. Aladdin, a street rat (not entirely unlike a prole, now that I think about it) wants to win the heart of Princess Jasmine, but feels he cannot do so because of their different social statuses. With the help of a Genie, Aladdin becomes a prince and does everything he can to make Jasmine fall in love with him, only to find out in the end (after becoming a street rat once more) that she would have loved him regardless. Aladdin had the power to win Jasmine over all along -- but it wasn't until it had actually happened that he came to this realization.

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//"A Whole New World"//

PRETTY COOL - I WOULD NEVER HAVE THOUGHT OF THIS!!

**IQ #2** =//"The end was contained in the beginning. But it was frightening; or, more exactly, it was like a foretaste of death, like being a little less alive." //= She had known that he was bad news from the start, but she had followed him anyway.  It might have been the way he smiled at her, his lips pulling upward in a crooked grin and exposing two rows of marvelous teeth, not entirely white but straight as could be and alluring all the same; or perhaps it was the scent of him that had so enticed her, a woodsy smell that left the taste of dark chocolate on her tongue. Whatever the reason, from the moment her gaze first met with the pair of eyes so dark that she could not distinguish any color in them other than black -- even though her heart beat double and her muscles howled in protest, one look into those eyes and she knew beyond question that there was no life for her beyond him. Their souls were as closely intertwined as the DNA that formed their very skin and bone.  He put her to work almost immediately. At first she had been nothing more than a distraction, meant to catch victims off guard while the men did the job; but as time went on and the steel of the pistol became warmer and more familiar at her hip, she too joined in the enterprise. She'd never shot a gun before she met him, and he'd never even bothered to teach her how to use it; but his blind faith in her was more than enough.  In a few short weeks they'd accumulated more money than she'd ever dreamt of seeing in her lifetime, but with each operation they undertook, the feeling of dread that had lodged itself in her throat welled up bigger and bigger, almost to the point of suffocation -- that is, until she glanced into his brazen eyes and was instantly calmed. It was not so much that his gaze chased away the dread, but rather, forced her to accept it: for there was no escape. There never had been, and there never would be.  They were able to carry on for only a week or so longer before their evils caught up with them. When the bullets began to rain, she was not at all surprised; she had been expecting it all along. It was not a cacophony that met her dying ears, but rather a soothing melody -- a lullaby welcoming her into the neverending.

This Bonnie and Clyde-esque short story is meant to draw a parallel to the situation that Winston is describing: that the cycle of life is eternal, and that every conclusion is decided from the start. Human beings are only given two guarantees in life: birth, and death. What lies between the beginning and the end is no more than a series of moments leading up to the inevitable -- the end of one life, and the beginning of another.

In the first section of book 3, there are numerous references to a place within the Ministry of Love called "Room 101". Orwell does not say what it is, but through the reactions of others it is understood that "room one-oh-one" is not a place where you want to be. People talk about it in "hurriedly whispered words" (228); when one is sent there they may "shrivel and turn a different color" (234) at the thought of it. Although the reader does not know what it is yet, the many references to the dreaded place foreshadow Winston's eventual trip there.
 * Element Analysis #3**

When I think of foreshadowing (especially within an AP English class), the first example that pops into my mind is the mystery of Boo Radley in To Kill A Mockingbird. He is referenced countless times throughout the novel; Jem, Dill and Scout flirt with his existence on several occasions, but never come in direct contact with him. The various references to Boo alone are enough to foreshadow his eventual appearance, but the gifts that are left for the children in the tree outside the Radley home are what hint at his kindness, despite the fear that the town seems to regard him with. The foreshadowing of Boo is the opposite of the foreshadowing of Room 101: the mood it establishes is encouraging and comforting, whereas Room 101's is foreboding and fearful.



=//"Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood." //= No one really liked Penny. She was rude, she was abrasive, her tongue had the sharpness of daggers; she had a violent disposition and was known to lie, to cheat on tests, even to steal. She had a bad reputation and she knew it -- she reveled in it; the status made her proud. Nothing good would ever come from Penny Lane. But I was friends with her anyway.  Everyone else probably thought that we were friends because of proximity. Our parents had been buddies in high school, and we grew up on the same street. She was a bad seed even back then, always getting into trouble and dragging me down with her. We got into fights about that a lot. I'd try to make her understand how I felt, and she'd get physical -- she'd bite and kick and pull my hair, and I'd run crying off to mommy. And no matter how much I hated her back then, even though I knew that her behavior was wrong, I always came back.  To Penny, the proximity theory was probably true. She didn't care anything about anybody, including me. I didn't like her when I was a kid, but as we grew older, I developed a certain affection for her; a protectiveness, of sorts. No one could see why -- my parents included. But I saw some of myself in Penny Lane. The inexplicable animosity I harbored toward the world, my inability to trust anyone, even silly things like the music I liked -- Penny felt all these things. It was like looking into a mirror and seeing the same heart; the rest of the body just manifested itself in a much different way.  I don't think she ever shared this belief. I'd certainly never asked her about it; she'd probably just yell at me for being stupid and thinking too much. To be honest, I didn't need to know. For me, Penny was my friend because she understood me; and even when weighed against all the negativity that otherwise defined her as a person, that was more than enough.
 * IQ #3**

Can you tell I was listening to The Beatles while writing this? Ha -- anyway.  This story draws a parallel to the torture that Winston is suffering through in the Ministry of Love. Penny's friendship offers no benefits whatsoever to the nameless protagonist, other than the comfort of knowing that they are not alone in their feelings. The same can be said of the relationship between Winston and O'Brien: Winston remains affectionate toward O'Brien, even through all the torture, because he is someone whom he feels he can talk to. This kind of poisonous relationship is seen everywhere in real life. Too often, people become friends because of status, even when the individuals involved feel absolutely nothing for one another. There is no value in these friendships, other than the quiet knowledge that there is a similarity between them, however faint. Understanding is what cements people together. If there is understanding, a person is willing to put up with anything that comes packaged with it -- even torture.

=//<span style="color: #161192; font-family: Georgia,serif;">"Nothing exists except through human consciousness." //= He was a prisoner to the cave. Of course, he was completely unaware of this fact; he'd been captured when he was too young to remember the life he enjoyed before imprisonment. Every day he would sit around the fire and watch the shadows dance on the wall. The fire was his only light. He lived in a world of shadows. The cave was all he knew. One day when he was older, for no apparent reason at all, his captors disrupted this pattern -- they unchained him, had him walk around and stretch his lazy muscles. The sensation was strange to him, but the odd warmth that spread through his legs as he walked could not compare to the utter shock that befell him when they took him outside. It was not real. It could not be. The stone beneath his feet gave way to a soft green sponge; there was warmth, even though he was not in the presence of a fire; there were noises and smells that he had never experienced before, never even imagined. In the vast spread of blue up above hung a ball of light that made his eyes water when he looked at it. A fear gripped him; he must have been dreaming. This was not reality. His world was one of shadows, not of things. The blue up above and the green underneath and all the things that existed in between -- they were imaginary. He would never accept them as truth.
 * IQ #4**

This idea came to me during my Ethics class today. The concept of the cave prisoner being introduced to the real world was actually first suggested by Socrates; when I heard this I immediately thought of 1984 and the concept of reality existing only in the human mind, so I decided to elaborate on it a bit. Both the cave (the "world of shadows") and the above (the "world of things") represent reality. To people like us, people who were born and raised in daylight, spending life in a dark cave is a horrifying idea; we are used to the sun and trees and grass and the rain; it is our reality. To the person who has spent his whole life underground, however, the exact opposite is true. He rejects the world above because he does not understand it, but that doesn't mean it isn't real. In both this situation and in 1984, reality is being manipulated according to human desire. Nothing can be proved. Human beings cannot say what truly //is//; they can only see what they feel //should// be. Reality is all a matter of perception.

Room 101 is the driving force behind the despairing mood that permeates the end of the novel. It is the ultimate symbol of fear: what awaits an individual in the room is essentially fear itself. Room 101 is the Party's ultimate means of controlling people; when faced with the thing that terrifies them the most, even the strongest of minds will break.
 * Element Analysis #4**

This technique of controlling people through fear reminds me of a villain in Batman Begins, the prequel to The Dark Knight. 'Scarecrow' is the alias of Dr. Jonathan Crane, a phsychiatrist who pays off the mob to get a toxic hallucinogen shipped into Gotham City. Exposure to this toxin leads to hallucinations, a heightened sense of fear, and, in some cases, even death. Crane uses this toxin to force people into bending to his will, using a Scarecrow mask to strengthen the effects.

Both Room 101 and the Scarecrow toxin are tools to manipulate the human mind; they use fear as a tool to break down a person's psyche, leaving nothing but the shell of a human being behind.



The //"Scarecrow"//