Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Modern Connection of 1984

1984 portrays the fear the nation withheld about advanced surveillance combined with public knowledge of their private life. One of the reasons 1984 is a prized work of literature is due to the fact that the future that George Orwell predicted is a parallel to present day, at least some aspects are.  Edward Snowden acts like the hero, or possibly a villain depending on your stance, because while to the government he is an unloyal citizen he is thanked for his bravery of exposing the government and unraveling that knot that revealed how much the government and corporations really know about us. Snowden and Orwell are similar because they both reveal to society what kind of world we are going to be living in with advanced technology surrounding us, both mention the extensive work it takes to expose this to the public, and both were knowledgeable about the subject.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Practice 1984 Writing #1

Discuss the idea of Room 101, the place where everyone meets his or her worst fear. Keeping in mind that for most of Winston’s time at the Ministry of Love, he does not know what he will find in Room 101, what role does that uncertainty play in making Room 101 frightening? Does the cage of rats break Winston’s spirit, or does it merely play a symbolic role?
 
In 1984 by George Orwell, Room 101 symbolizes the power of the Party, and Winston's spirit is crushed due to what the Party has behind Room 101 for him.

Room 101 is frightening for the readers and the people of the dystopia because of the overflowing amount of questions that it brings up.  The security guard would call a man or women to Room 101 and each time the people scream and fight, they even sacrifice each other by saying "take him, not me!" (Orwell 237) this leaves the mystery behind the door never ending.  Everyone in the waiting room for Room 101 is guilty of Thought Crime or disobeying the government (Orwell 232).  This just leaves room for the criminals to blame the technology because they have become desperate, "something is wrong with the telescreen...he's the one that's against the Party, not me"(Orwell 237). The Party has so much control over the people, because they are all paranoid that they are going to slip.  When Joseph Kony 2012 was infamous he would target children to be apart of his army, because they were the easiest to brain wash.  In this society as well children are targeted,  some children are apart of Junior Spies just to ensure that they grow up to be loyal to the government.(Orwell 233)  The technology runs the society and it is up to the telescreens to be an extra set of eyes to make sure everyone is in order.  Countless parallels can be drawn from the book to society, but one thing we can not say is that we are being watched just as much as in the people of the story are, because people of 2014 say things like "no cop no stop" when driving a car through a red light.  We need order and a government to keep us in line so the society does not become chaotic, but we do not need so much control that people can not be themselves respecting society.

When Winston enters Room 101 his spirit is crushed and he sacrifices the one thing readers thought he would never let go.  Winston lives a life where he is constantly watching for those watching him, he always has to be careful about the things he says and does, sadly it is near impossible to escape this kind of life, because of certain rules like the telescreens must be in every home, but he still attempts.  Winston tries to join the Brotherhood which is a group of anarchists where he lives in 1984 (Orwell 172).  Also, he sneaks out with a young girl named Julia who is also against the government, together they find an area to spend their time with one another away from telescreens in the country side (Orwell 139), Julia understands the importance of keeping this low key, however Winston decides to take it to the next level which leads to Julia and Winston getting caught and sent to the the Ministry of Love (Orwell 221).  The government plays with the minds of the people because although it is called Ministry of Love it contains Room 101 which is pure torture.  This goes with all the Ministry's of the dystopia, everything is not what it seems, which leads to people getting brainwashing into thinking that they are living the perfect utopian lifestyle.  Winston is able to break away from this in the beginning of the book, understanding there is more to explore, literature to read, and girls to talk too, but at the end of the book his soul becomes just as destroyed as everyone else when he realizes there is no way to get out of the governments watch.  Winston is destroyed by the government through torture, and he confesses that he would rather not have Julia, than the rats eat his face which is the climax of the book (Orwell 286).  The last lines to the book are that he loved big brother, which proves how he was a dynamic character in this book. (Orwell 298)