How My Thinking and Learning Was Affected By What Others Wrote Throughout the Blogging Process (3)

My thinking and learning process was somewhat affected by what my classmates wrote on each of their own blogs. I learned a couple of new ideas that I did not think of before looking at my classmates’ blog postings on the novel, 1984, by George Orwell.

One idea that Natschja brought in on of her blogs was that the members of the Party of Oceania in this novel are like “robots with no emotion.” I think that this is a really good way to think of how the members of the Party of Oceania are like. I can really understand and see why they are like robots because they are constantly told watched and controlled in what they can do. The telescreens that the government of Oceania put everywhere are a big part of that. That is something that makes them act in way that they probably do not want to act like, but they have to anyway or else they can be in a lot of trouble. This is also why the have no emotions to and from any other members of they Party. If they do have emotions they are arrested, which is exactly what happened to Winston and Julia. They were caught in Mr. Charrington’s flat together, which was illegal. Also, Winston was arrested for his strong, negative emotions that were against Big Brother, which was another thing that the Party’s government does not like. One quote that I liked from this blog posting of Natschja’s was "In reality there was no escape...To hang on from day to day and from week to week, spinning out a present that had no future, seemed an unconquerable [Impossible to overcome or defeat] instinct, just as one's lungs will always draw the next breath so long as there is air available." I like this quote because it describes how the members of the Party of Oceania are like “robots with no emotion.” There is no possible way to avoid the government and its extreme rules and ideas. As a member of the Party, you just have to go on and live with it like every other member of the Party does. If you do not go on by following the government’s rules and ideas, and you try to take matter into your own hands, you will be arrested and not get away with it. If the government does not punish you, they will try to cure you like O’Brien did to Winston, making Winston end up loving Big Brother. Winston did not win and live the way he wanted to, but rather the government won and made him live the way it wants all of its members including Winston to live.

Parallels between the World of the Novel and our Own World Today (2)

With the warnings that I first pointed out that Orwell is trying to show to us that may happen in the near future, there are threats to an individual’s freedom in the novel’s world including own real world. As I had discussed a little bit about before, the government of Oceania in the story, in my opinion, invades the Party members’ privacy when the government has a telescreen in every single area where any member could possibly be at anytime. This is just like how the United States of America’s government in our own real world is acting, but just not to that extreme of Oceania’s government in the novel. They are alike because President George Bush passed the patriot act which allows the government like the C.I.A., and other government agencies to tap in phone wire at anytime to hear any citizens’ conversation. In my opinion, this is also invasion of a citizen’s privacy just like it is in the novel with the telescreens listening in on Party members’ conversations. From Orwell’s warnings, he also shows that with these "invasions of privacy", the government may persuade its members (novel) or citizens (real world) that it is for the good of the Party (novel) or country (real world). The Party says this will be able to protect its Party from enemies and make it stronger. This is just like how our country’s government in the real world says that it protects our country from dangers such as terrorists, which is like saying enemies from the novel.
So in other words, both governments are saying that it is only good for everyone and not bad at all. That is not what I think.

Warnings That George Orwell Is Trying to Get Across To the Reader (1)

George Orwell is trying to tell the readers that someday in the future what is going on in this book may likely happen to us real world. It may not happen exactly like it did in the book or to this extreme, but there may be some significant events that occurred in the book that will occur in the real world.

Our own government in the real world may just become the way that the Party of Oceania’s government became. The Party members’ government was so controlling and kept a very close eye on all of its members. If a party member was doing something wrong, he or she may not have been caught right at that time, but sooner or later, he or she would have been arrested. This is just like when Winston and Julia meet each other. They start meeting each other very secretly for a while in hidden places, but then at one point they are finally caught by the Thought Police. It is proven later on in the story when Winston is already arrested that the Thought Police and O’Brien were already well aware of what he and Julia were doing. They had already known about the diary that Winston had been writing down his thoughts down in. One major thought that he had written in his journal was in huge, bold letters taking up at least half of a whole page.

It said:
"Down with Big Brother"
"Down with Big Brother"
"Down with Big Brother"
"Down with Big Brother"
"Down with Big Brother"

They were even well aware of what the two were doing at Mr. Charrington’s old flat that was above his antique store. There was even a telescreen in there. It was hidden behind an old portrait of Mr. Charrington’s. Orwell is trying to show that someday in the future, the government may become so controlling like it does in the story. A citizen of a country may not have any freedom and/or privacy pretty soon in the future like these members of the Party don’t. Orwell is basically comparing our people of the real world for the future to the members of the Party, Oceania. It is already slightly starting to become like Oceania in our own country after our own government is now able to listen to anyone’s conversations though phone lines. This like the telescreens that the government of Oceania allows in order to hear and see what their members are doing at all times.

The most shocking thing, which I believe, is that Mr. Charrington was not just an old man who appreciated antiques from the past, but he was a member of the Thought Police as well. When Orwell was revealing this shocking and interesting event, he was also trying to show that there may be one day that one may not even be able to trust another person, no matter how honest and trust worthy he or she is, especially if he or she is part of a government. In this case, Winston and Julia both trusted Mr. Charrington quite a lot, but he ended up being just another one of "them". "Them" as referring to the Thought Police just like the Thought Police is referred to in the story.

Dystopia Reflective Essay Blog Postings (Introduction)

The following final three blog postings will be a closing to our unit on 1984 (above).

The first blog posting will be concerned with the warnings that the author, George Orwell, is trying to get across about how governments can really suppress individuals’ freedoms.

The second blog posting will be concerned with any parallels between the world of this novel, 1984, and our own world today. I will explain any modern day threats to individual freedom that I believe fit the warnings for the future that Orwell points out.

The third and final blog posting will be concerned with the important ideas that I learned from doing the blog postings with my classmates. This will have to do with how my thinking was and how it was affected by what my classmates wrote. Lastly, I will describe how the blogging process benefited me or not.

Response to Bekah's Very First Blog (6)

I agree with Bekah on how extreme the Party' s government goes to control all of the people. If it actually got to this point in our own world like it is in this story, I do not know what I would do. I enjoy my freedom without so much control like there is in this story even though I still do have my own boundaries in what I can and cannot do which controls myself from doing or not doing those things. I think that if it got to such an extreme in our own world/country like it is in this story, the government doing this would eventually get overthrown by all of the citizens who do not like it. I think I would be one of those many, many people doing so. What I do not completely agree with Bekah on is when she says, "I don't think that I'll ever have a government that reads my thoughts or has a telescreen with the ability to hear and see my every move, but just the idea is pretty strange." I do not agree with this completely because our own president of the United States of America is allowing people to listen into our own conversation on the phone, computer, etc. With this action taken by Bush, the government is having the ability to hear what you say. Who knows. Maybe someday we will be at a point that the government will be able to hear AND see our ever moves, which no offense, will make her prediction even more false. If our president(s) allow more of these actions to be taken place, it might come to that point. It would be probably considered "Invasion of privacy." What the government is doing right now, though, does have a good side to it. Listening into anyone's conversations can protect many of us from terrorism and other dangers. This can prevent a planning of a terrorist attack somewhere that we may not know about, but we could if the government taps into that line and hears about it.

How can the people of 1984 be so unaware of the reality in their own society? (5)

I think that the people that make up the society in the book, 1984, do not know what the Party's government is actually doing to them because they have become so "brainwashed" and manipulated into doing exactly what they have been told to do. What they are told to do is the only thing that the people ever worry about. They do not even think about what they are being told to do, but rather they just do it. They do what they are told to do without even worrying about what the future effects from what they are doing are. They do not actually know what the government is doing because they never even think about it because they are too busy with so many things like the Anti-Sex League, Two Minute Hate, etc. They also do not know because the government is very good at hiding what is actually happening. The government does this by separating all of those people into the Outer Party and all of the other more important people from the Party are part of the Inner Party. The people are also unaware of what the government is actually doing because they are told that what the Party is doing is the best way to live and everyone else's ways in which they live are not. Lastly, they are also unaware of what the government is actually doing because they are lied to constantly. Everything from the past is constantly changed. For example, Winston works at the Ministry of Truth. His job is to fix anything given to him that was wrong or predicted wrong in the past and to make it true or correct as though it was never there or wrong. For example, Winston says, "They were like the ant, which can see small objects, but not large ones." This is an example of the people, especially the older ones who lived before the Revolution and remember or know useless things and do things without thinking. Instead, they just do what the government tells them. The people of the Party can only notice the little things about the government like what they usually do everyday like their meetings, groups, etc. What they do not notice is the main idea which has to do with the main idea as to why they have to do these things and live the way that they are living instead of in other ways of living and doing things that they are not made to do.

After Starting Part II... (4)

After starting part II of the book, 1984, an event that is quite interesting has occurred. Winston was on his way from his room to a lavatory and was walking down a hallway toward a girl who had some type of bandage or sling on her wrist. as they both kept on walking, the girl suddenly falls down to her knees. I kind of curiously thought that it was a little unusual that she would just fall down right in front of Winston for no apparent reason. It was not like the story said she had tripped over something or something else. I started getting the feeling as I read on that she was acting or pretending her "fall" because as Winston helped her up, she secretly and quickly slipped a square-folded piece of paper into his hand. She had just fallen to give him a note, and then right after that, she just walked away as though she was fine. She was probably fine, and i think she was very clever in doing this whole act out when there was a telescreen right in front of where this was all going on. If the telescreen had caught her giving the note to Winston, they would have both been in trouble. The most interesting thing was that when Winston finally was able to safely open the note without anyone seeing him open it, it said "I love you." I would have never thought that the note had those words on it. I was thinking just like what Winston was thinking. I thought that it was some sort of threat that he will die if he does not do something. I really thought it was about how maybe this girl was the only one who knew that he was writing in a journal. If she knew about it, I thought that she was warning him that the Thought Police would be soon taking him away and killing him for it. I had this idea because I also thought that she might have been from the Thought Police, but still wants to be nice to Winston, and not turn him in. I do not think that she is part of the Thought Police now because the girl and Winston have met each other at a couple of places that have a lot of people (up to where I have read to so far).
I think the two of them will start meeting each other more often. Up to where I have read they are supposed to be meeting somewhere that sounds as though that no one can find them or see them and report them to the Thought Police. I predict that Winston will start teaching her what he knows about the history and the State (the "truth"). I do not think that this girl Winston is with is completely dumb and "brain-washed" like all of the other girls which is why I think that she will understand and learn what Winston will probably try to at least tell her. Unfortunately, I believe they might get caught after the girl has the Thought Police catch her thinking about things that she is not supposed to be thinking about like what Winston will probably explain to her and learn about.
I guess I will just have to see what will happen next.