Post #10

There are two slogans that stand out in the story, 1984  which are: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength. The goal of the Party is to achieve total control not only of the people, but their minds and overall soul as well. So they enforce these slogans by spreading posters all throughout the whole area of London so people won’t forget them. As if they are using subliminal messaging. As always nobody in the city seems to question the slogans, except for Winston. He starts to think about the meaning behind the phrases. For instance, War is Peace is one of the main ones that are constantly plastered since there is a lot of war occurring in the Oceania area and if the Party says that its normal and peaceful they will believe it. The people are like robots if the Party tells them to feel a certain emotion they will within seconds. The other phrase Ignorance is Strength is enforced so that people can just accept how things are. It’s used so nobody has any ideas to question or change how the society is. That they should have total faith in the Party and continue to follow their rules.

Post #9

George Orwell, the author of 1984, uses irony throughout the book but it stands out the most when it came to naming the four ministries of big brother. For example, it was ironic that Winston was a member of the Ministry of Truth. One would assume that their job was to keep the truth straight for the public but it ended up being a job for changing the history. Altering the past and making it to what they want. It was the complete opposite of what the title of the job said. It also goes for the other three ministries. The Ministry of Love is responsible for any torture, the Ministry of Peace was responsible for war and the Ministry of Plenty was responsible for starvation. He used irony to create suspense about the government also known as “Big Brother” what their main goal is with the society they are controlling.

Post #8

The cover page of the book 1984 is a plain white cover with a blue pupil like shape on the right side of the book. The simple cover symbolises the setting and basic problem of the story. The color white is the majority color of the cover because it the symbol for simple or basic. Describing the “Big Brother” government in the book. Keeping it simple in the society with a decreasing vocabulary each year and taking away the freedom of the people to have real feeling about anything and anyone. Also having taken away the right of free thinking or anything unique for that matter. They shape you into a mindless body that is controls by the government. The blue pupil represents “Big Brother” as well but suggests that he sees everything. Keeping a chokehold on the people of the land and restricting them of any chance to rebel against them. The shape of the eye on the cover is simple yet says alot about the book overall. The contrasting color of white and blue makes each color pop out as well. Making it easy to notice the eye just as the eye makes it look easy as it spys on its city.

Post #7

Chapter 10 of part 2 of 1984 describes the scene after they wake up. They discussed about the old lady who was singing outside of the room and the bird who sang when they first meet up in the room. This scene uses symbolism to describe the freedom and comfort that Winston feels now being around with Julia in the room. The lady singing was first thought as dumb and ignorant by Winston but now he thought of her as beautiful. He changed how he thought of her because he felt free. The lady singing represents the freedom both Winston and Julia want but can’t have. The bird that sang to them represents the ultimate symbol of freedom for them. Winston tells Julia that it sang to do them for them, but Julia insists that he was just singing for himself. Winston feels free and like a “real person” but Julia is not at that level yet.  

Post #6

Winston waiting for Julia to arrive to Mr. Charrington’s upstairs room, begins to hear a mysterious woman, who ends up being a prole, singing a song that was written by the infamous versificator. A machine that writes songs with no human intervention. It makes him paranoid about being caught but also doesn’t want to stop because of the thrill he gets when they sneak away. The lyrics of the song represents the the feelings that exist in Winston about his relationship with Julia, even if he does not know it as he hears them. He is becoming more and more in love with Julia after every meet. It has become hard for him to say goodbye for him. This means he has become more free about his feelings. He is having affection and he is not hiding anymore. Winston is becoming aware of it and it making him worry that soon enough they will get caught because its been weeks meeting at the same spot. He is sure that they will caught but it doesn’t matter to me because he has becoming his own person feeling what he wants without any restrictions. Feeling a comfort even though it is deceptive.

Post #5

As Winston and Julia begins to conduct their usual act of love to each other with Julia gracefully and swift fully taking her clothes off. Winston uncharacteristically looks at Julia’s freckled face and asks “Have you done this before?. Julia proceeds to tell him that she has done this hundreds of times with many party members but not inner party. Smith adores the thought of Julia being rebellious and tells her that “the more men you’ve had, the more I love you.” Winston not only wants love of one person but the animal instinct as well. Anything that means he is against the inner party is good because it gave him adrenaline. This is relatable to real life today in relationships. Couples these days are mistakenly confusing loving someone with loving the feeling of making love. Even worse than that is people only dating for the feeling of sex and end up hurting their partner emotionally. The “animal instinct” mentioned in 1984 can be considered a feeling of unruly. Only using someone to feel good about yourself. It happens all the time in our society. Only having a relationship for sex is an unhealthy and sometimes abusive pairing for both parts of it.

Post #4

In the climax of 1984 , we hear the whispers of the, “ Room 101.” It seems that everyone knows about this room except for Winston. Winston sees the prisoners getting pulled one by one to this secretive room. Almost every person they take looks terrified and one person even suggested that he rather witness his family being murdered right in front of his eyes than entering that room. Winston is at the Ministry of Love for what seems like months and he still doesn’t know or have encountered this so called, “Room 101.”. When he finally enters Room 101 we learn it is a basement torture chamber that contains the thing we fear the most to break down their resistance. Whenever someone enters the room it is never the same since everyone fears different things, like being buried alive. For Winston his worst nightmare is being in the darkness and huge rats. So waiting for him in that room is a cage filled with large rats and a masked to be placed on his face so he experiences being in the dark alone. When they place the mask on him he can hear the clicks opening the cage filled with rats and he panics. He screams out, “Do it to Julia ! Do It to her!,” realizing that he betrayed her and if he had to chose he would chose himself instead of her. This Romeo and Juliet love story went from forbidden love to betrayal. This shows their love wasn’t as strong as he thought or maybe they were kidding themselves and were never in love.

Post #3

Chapter five in part one of 1984 starts of by saying “Syme has vanished” and explains the behavior of the workplace. The first day after his disappearance, “a few thoughtless people commented on his absence”. The second and third day no one seemed to mention it and Winston noticed that his name on the list of members of the chess committee had disappeared without a trace. It was as if Syme had never existed. This small paragraph is relevant to today’s society concerning a death of anybody. Today if someone passes away very few people talk about it but the few people who do talk about are more likely than not looking for likes on social media. Considered to be the “ thoughtless people who commented on his absence” from the book. After the first day when the news of a passing has spread, I seems as if everyone stopped caring and they continue to live their life as if the deceased person had never existed. Everything they were apart of or created just ignored and forgotten just like Syme was in 1984. It is all so true in today’s world where everyone is distracted by technology and online drama around the world.

Post #2

In the beginning of 1984, we are presented the possible protagonist of the story, Winston Smith, as he proceeds to enter Victory Mansion and climbs the stairs as we can assume he occupies a job at. It is revealed he may be entering his mid 40s due to his “heavy black mustache and ruggedly handsome features”. As he climbs the stairs, slowly I may add, he takes many breaks in between due to a varicose ulcer above his right knee. We can assume Winston may have gone through some form of physical trauma or maybe just cause he has aged and genetics. It shows that he could be a hardworking man who likes to get his hands dirty. Also in the little paragraph it is said that the lift doesn’t work because of the government put the city on no power for daylight saving for “Hate week”. Raising questions like what is hate week and why does it need to by prepared by cutting off electricity currents. It gives off vibes of what could possibly be a purge like event where all the hatred boiling up in people’s body is released in a violent way without any authority to stop them.

Post #1

In the first chapter of Luis Rodriguez's "Always Running" he recalls the early years of his childhood as he moved to the Barrios. He was forced the move to the barrios as a kid due to the fact that his dad, Alfonso, was unable to hold a steady job to provide for his family even though he had credentials to be a teacher at Mexico. On top of all that, they also moved because of discrimination and violence in the neighborhoods. In my opinion, the neighborhood is described as "incubators of rebellion" because the people believed that Mexicans were criminals, rebellious, and "didn't belong". (Pg 20-21) and with the neighborhood consisting of mostly Mexicans it was perceived as place where they grow up just to rebel and fight the "perfect world" the "Whites" built. Luis got involved with 2 of his friends, Earl and Jamie, who also face challenges and his older brother Jose because he was unable to make friends due to not being able to speak English. This sets a tone for Luis to join a gang of violence in the future so that he can be with people who he can relate to and feel welcomed in a society where he has been bullied and hated. In the first chapter of Luis Rodriguez's "Always Running" he recalls the early years of his childhood as he moved to the Barrios. He was forced the move to the barrios as a kid due to the fact that his dad, Alfonso, was unable to hold a steady job to provide for his family even though he had credentials to be a teacher at Mexico. On top of all that, they also moved because of discrimination and violence in the neighborhoods. In my opinion, the neighborhood is described as "incubators of rebellion" because the people believed that Mexicans were criminals, rebellious, and "didn't belong". (Pg 20-21) and with the neighborhood consisting of mostly Mexicans it was perceived as place where they grow up just to rebel and fight the "perfect world" the "Whites" built. Luis got involved with 2 of his friends, Earl and Jamie, who also face challenges and his older brother Jose because he was unable to make friends due to not being able to speak English. This sets a tone for Luis to join a gang of violence in the future so that he can be with people who he can relate to and feel welcomed in a society where he has been bullied and hated