Hey guys!By now you are finally realizing the magnitude of the political message in Orwell's 1984. Hopefully, the questions have been guiding your reading and it is all starting to make sense. With these final questions, you will be complete not only the assessment, but hopefully, your understanding of the novel, also.
There will be two additional assessments with the 1984 unit, beyond the workbook questions. You will be required to complete a propaganda poster (see the addendum to the workbook questions) and you will complete an analytical essay final similar to the final assessments for A Separate Peace and Julius Caesar.
The points breakdowns are as follows:
Workbook questions - 100 points each
Poster - 75 points
Essays - 200 points
Total: 575 points
The assessments will be due at the following times:
Workbook questions #1 - Nov. 17
Workbook questions #2 - Dec. 1
workbook questions #3 - Dec. 9
(December 8 will be the date of the English II Exam for all sophomore students)
Posters - Dec. 15
Final - Dec. 16
Nine weeks ends on Dec. 19.
BOOK III Questions
1. How would you feel if you were in Winston's shoes at the start of Book III? Are there any parallels that you can draw in your own life to try to understand his situation? Write a 300 word response in which you consider these questions.
2. What devices did the state have for enforcing total control?
3. What is Big Brother?
4. What thoughts did the woman hanging clothes in the yard cause Winston to have?
5. How had Winston and Julia been spied on?
6. Describe Winston's cell.
7. What crime did Winston's first cell mate commit? His second?
8. What appears to be the ultimate torture?
9. What methods of forcing confessions are used in the Ministry of Love?
10. What is O'Brien's job? How does this change our opinions of him?
11. Give one of Winston's "hallucinations" about the past?
12. Why does the party cling to power?
13. What is the picture of the future according to O'Brien?
14. What demonstrates the ultimate breakdown of Winston's rebellion?
15. How did Winston train himself to crimestop?
16. What sent Winston to Room 101? What is his ultimate terror?
17. Why did Winston and Julia not carry on their relationship after meeting again?
18. People are often shocked at the sexual content in 1984. Why does sex play such a large role in the novel? What could Orwell be suggesting by having Big Brother try to manipulate and control that part of people's lives?
19. What is the last sentence of 1984? What does it mean?
20. What are your final thoughts after having read the book? Write a 300-word minimum response in which you can discuss thoughts, feelings and details about the novel that you found difficult, interesting, profound, etc.
ADDENDUM: POSTER PROJECT
"Propaganda is aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience. Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the cognitive narrative of the subject in the target audience to further a political agenda.
Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist."
—Garth S. Jowett and Victoria O'Donnell, Propaganda and Persuasion
As you know, we have been reading 1984, which features a great deal of propaganda in it. The propaganda era reached a zenith during World War II, which finished only four years before this novel was first published.
Read more about propaganda, and see examples, here: http://www.teacheroz.com/WWIIpropaganda.htm
I have shown you some more modern interpretations of propaganda in the works of Shepard Fairey. Fairey is a politically-minded street artist who has created some of the most compelling works of art of our time.
Using the knowledge that you have gained about propaganda, you are to create a propaganda poster of your own that will be displayed in our classroom and in areas around the school. You may do a modern revisioning of a an old poster, or you may create a new one. For example, the school has cameras everywhere - a poster with a picture of one and the message "Big Brother is Still Watching" would not only make an attractive poster, but provide a thought-provoking message, too.
You poster is to be completed on a poster-sized sheet of paper, and can be incorporate any medium - paint, photography, drawing, screen printing, etc.
Good Luck!
42 comments:
Allison Rowe
Mr. Parsons
Advanced English II
December 1, 2008
1.) In the beginning of book three Winston was in a prison cell with a lust for food. If I were in Winston’s shoes, so to speak, I would be scared out of my mind. It sounds as if he had no idea how he had been arrested and didn’t have a clue as to where he was and how long he had been there. If I woke up in an unfamiliar place with nobody around me but the four telescreens arranged on each wall, I would simply start screaming bloody murder. If I were as hungry as Winston was I would just keel over and die, at least I would hope to. I love food and cannot go very long without it, so Winston is a much stronger person than I. When the old Smith lady joined Winston in the room and vomited in the floor I could not have withstood this. If an old hag randomly was thrown into a room with me and puked on me I would strangle her, no doubt.
In my life I have no incidents exactly like this I am very proud to say, but the most similar thing I can compare this to was the ice storm in fifth grade. It was hailing and sleeting and snowing and any other form of precipitation that you can think of. Many were without water and electric, basically all household utilities. No one could drive on the roads or go outside and at my house of normally four people we withheld thirteen crazy humans and seven dogs. All we had was the food that bare in our cabinets among all these people it was a disaster. Everyone groveled for food and at some points me and other children wrestled for the chips ahoy cookies. All I wanted was to taste the morsel of sweet chocolate. To top it all of I have my own room with a twin bed normally and during this storm of many days I had to deal with four people in my little twin bed. It was a horrible experience and I would hate to be in Winston’s shoes and imagine what he was going through.
2.) The state had many devices for enforcing total control. For on thing their citizens in Oceania had no privacy so the Party saw everything that anyone did. If they did something against the government like thought crime, they would be arrested and who knows what exactly. Another device they used was punishment by torture and torment. They tortured you on the thing with the knob that shocked you and any other means of hurting you. The worst of all was the worst thing in the world punishment in room 101. Whatever the victims worst fear in the world was, was what happened to them in that room. They would die or be nearing death by heir worst fear in the world.
3.) Big Brother is an idea. He is not a real person. Big Brother is a figure that is used to represent the government and the Party. He is basically the whole enforcer behind the rules of the Party and is the figure you should mostly fear when being a character in 1984.
4.) Winston had few thoughts when he heard the woman outside singing while hanging clothes. He thought of whether or not she took washing in fro a living. He also wondered if she were a slave of the twenty or thirty grandchildren. He talked to Julia, who thought the lady was beautiful, and wondered how many children the lady had given birth to. Winston thought that the woman had no mind, she had only strong arms, a warm heart, and a fertile belly.
5.) They had been spied on by a telescreen they knew nothing about. In their secret meetings in the room above Mr. Charrington’s shop they had been spied on. There were many miscellaneous objects found in that attic and behind one of the posters on the wall there was a telescreen. This was how they wee spied on by the Party.
6.) Winston did not remember his first cell, but his second one he was awakened in and kept in for some time. He believed that he might be in the Ministry of Love because his cell had no windows. There were no windows anywhere in the building for as he could see. There was no natural light and no darkness. Lights stayed on always. His cell had a bench, which he woke up sitting in. His cell also had four walls and aligned on each was a telescreen, totaling four in all. His cell was a very boring one without food or water and he was alone besides the old Smith woman and Ampleforth.
7.) Winston’s first cellmate was Ampleforth. He was arrested for something to do with literature and poetry. He found out that there was only twelve words in language that rhymes with rod. He was arrested for the word he wrote at the end of one of his lines, ‘God.’ Winston’s second cellmate was Mr. Parsons. He was arrested for thought crime and turned in by his family.
8.) The ultimate torture was different for each and every victim. Whatever the victim feared the most was the ultimate torture. Getting what they feared and making them deal with it. Another torture that seemed to be ultimate was the one in room 101 when they strapped him down and kept increasing the knob to make the shock more powerful. Winston hated this greatly and felt with every shock his spine was growing closer to breaking.
9.) There were many methods of getting confessions used in the Ministry of Love. First was scaring the people by simply arresting them and that pretty much caused them to confess everything. Then they were taken to room 101 and tortured beyond belief. They were held down and shocked throughout their entire body until they believed whatever the party did. The main methods are solitary confinement in the white cell and just simply inflicting pain.
10.) O’Brien’s job was him being a member of the government, the Party, and Big Brother all along. He had tricked Winston into thinking that he was part of the Brotherhood to see how far Winston would go. O’Brien’s job is to find the most worthy Brotherhood members and turn them into the Party. Torture them and make them confess everything and keep torturing them to make them think horrific thoughts; which tortures them more mentally. O’Brien called Winston’s rebellion a disease. O’Brien’s job is to simply cure this disease and make traders sane. I am very unhappy with O’Brien at this point. I think that he has been lying the whole time and it really makes me mad that he would trick Winston in this manner. My opinion of O’Brien is that he is the insane one and use to be like Winston until they brain washed him.
11.) Winston hallucinated many things while being in O’Brien’s presence. One thing that he hallucinated was that Julia was in the room with him. He had never felt more love for her or closer to her. He felt her inside and out him, but she wasn’t even there. Another thing Winston hallucinated was that Aaronson, Rutherford, and Jones were never guilty of their crime; he thought that he had made it up, when he really didn’t.
12.) The Party clings to the power because power is almighty. If you have power you control the world. If you control the world everyone in it is sane and under your power. Basically the Party creates in their view a perfect world. They have the most power of everything in the world because they do not believe in God. If there is no God the Party is God.
13.) The picture of the future according to O’Brien was a whole different world. The Party and Big Brother old control everything and everyone. Babies would be taken from their mothers at birth so that they wouldn’t become insane or go against the party. The Party was going to control the whole world because Oceania was the world. They would control the stars and planets because the Earth was the center and the stars and planets revolve around it. They would not kill off their enemies. They would capture them and change them so that they are no longer enemies, but with them. O’Brien said that the whole world would be sane, and that the whole world would be the Party.
14.) I think that the ultimate breakdown demonstrated by Winston was when he betrayed Julia. He hated rats and they were his greatest fear in the entire world. He couldn’t withstand the pain he was about to go through and telling O’Brien to torture Julia instead of himself broke his rebellion. Love was a big part of rebellion because being with Julia he rebelled much more than he did before they fell in love, so when he didn’t love Julia more than the worst thing in the world being done to him he rebelled no more. His rebellion had been broken down.
15.) Winston set to work to exercise himself in crimestop. He presented himself with many propositions and ideas of the Party. For example: “the Party says that ice is heavier than water” and “the Party says the earth is flat.” Winston trained himself to not see and not understand the ideas that contradicted him. He found out that stupidity was as necessary as intelligence, and as difficult to attain.
16.) Everyone that is arrested eventually goes to room 101. Winston was arrested and taken there because he committed thought crime, he wrote in his diary, he made love with Julia secretly, and because he was against the Party. They took Winston to room 101 to make him sane. Winston’s ultimate torture was rats. Rats were his worst fear and the Party knowing this, placed a cage full of rats on his head. O’Brien said that the worst thing in the world varies from individual to individual; for Winston it was rats.
17.) They did not carry on their relationship because they did not feel the same way about each other anymore. They use to be in love and that was why they were together, but when they became tortured love could not withstand. Thus, causing them both to betray each other by telling O’Brien to torture the other person.
18.) Today we have the freedom to do pretty much everything. Sex is one of those huge freedoms. Nobody controls who you have it with, when you have it, where or even why. In 1984 the main character Winston Smith’s number one passion is sex. He desires to have it and cannot sometimes because the party says no. This plays such a large role in the novel because Orwell is trying to show how little freedom they have. Orwell could be suggesting a lot by authorizing this. I think that he just wants to show that Big Brother is a dictatorship and if they don’t do what the government asks they get punished severely at the least. I think that he wants to show what people will do when restrained so much by rules and that not all people will follow them. If Big Brother could control that part of people’s lives, which is the most personal and self-controlled part in my opinion, he could control anything.
19.) The last sentence in the book is ‘He loved Big Brother.’ To me this means that he was just like every other Party member. O’Brien and the government succeeded in completely brainwashing Winston and torturing him to believe whatever the Party may say. The last sentence meant that Winston has went against what he had though his entire life. All of his rebellion was no more, because the past did not exist and he had never been insane. He had never been against the Part. He had always been a Party member and would continue to be. He would never die because the Party would live forever.
20.) The beginning of 1984 was strange and I didn’t like it. The detail was great in describing the Ministry of Truth and how solitary each and every individual was. Winston first seemed a very normal businessman, but as his life went on memories tormented him. I became interested when he rebelled against the government by writing in his diary and when the story changed to show his passion for sex I was very much caught off guard. I love reading about stuff like that though. When Winston met Julia and they started some sort of relationship I become interested more. This was because he was doing more and more things illegal and I knew trouble was nearing. I loved the passion and connection between the two. It was like they were teenager s and both falling in love for the first time. When O’Brien confronted Winston and wanted them to meet at his apartment I was excited. Then when I heard of the Brotherhood and that they were all a part of it now, I became even more eager to read more. I thought that they were going to rebel together and take down the party. In book three my feeling cannot be described through any emotion but pure anger and agony. I hurt for Winston and imagined the pain that he went through. I longed for Julia or someone to come and help him, but there was no one because they all betrayed him. I was fed up with O’Brien and had hatred for him because of his trickery and now torment. I became very disinterested in the ending. I though that it was a terrible way to end and wasn’t good at all, but it was unexpected. I will give it that satisfaction. Overall I like the book. It wasn’t the type of novel I usually read, but it was interesting and knowledgeable.
-Sam
5th period
1. 1. How would you feel if you were in Winston's shoes at the start of Book III? Are there any parallels that you can draw in your own life to try to understand his situation? Write a 300 word response in which you consider these questions.
Answer- If I was in Winston’s shoes, (even know I already had an idea what was to come) I would unquestionably be overwhelmed with the feelings of fear, nervousness, and anxiousness. I would contemplate on ways to escape, and would be thinking of ways to persuade them from my punishment. I wouldn’t move, or talk, or disobey in any way. I would be quite, as though I was the innocent one in this horror. I wouldn’t want to stand out. I would try my best to keep unnoticed by everyone. There’s a good change I would pee myself……….. Multiple times.
In my life I have felt this way before. Even though it was not to the same extent, it was enough feeling to figure out how Winston must have felt. One time my brother was 9 years old and he burned down a school fence (accidentally) and he ran away. Later that day he told me somebody had burnt down that fence so he wanted to walk down to the school to see what was going on. We arrived there quickly and when we got there the policemen came up to my brother to tell him somebody had said he was the cause of the fire. At first, I thought the cop supposed I was involved as well because I had just tagged along. He made us get in his cop car, and we had to go down to the station and wait for them to call our parents. I was only 8 so I had no idea what was happening. I thought I would be locked away in jail for my whole life, and eat cabbage for the rest of eternity. I was scared I didn’t know what to do or think. I was to young to understand what was happening. I didn’t even have anything to do with the fire, but I thought the policemen wouldn’t believe me even if I told them otherwise. I knew if I didn’t get thrown in jail, or beat to death or something like that, my mother would kill me for sure.
In the end it turned out I didn’t get in trouble, just my brother ha. When I thought I was in trouble though, I felt a little bit of what Winston must have felt when he was taken into that cell.
2. What devices did the state have for enforcing total control?
-Answer- On of the most important devices the State had for enforcing total control was the telescreen. If they could see what everyone was doing, then they would know if anyone was doing something against them, and they could fix the problem. No body could ever rebel. The Party was always able to keep watch, it could never be wounded. Also, the Party had things to torture people into believing in the Party, such as room101. Another reason they had told control was the thought police, they were very intelligent on how to catch people and determine who looks suspicious.
3. What is Big Brother?
-Answer- Big brother is the embodiment of the Party. He is not necessarily a man, but rather an idea that the Party uses to scare people into loyalty.
4. What thoughts did the woman hanging clothes in the yard cause Winston to have?
-Answer- “ He though if how beautiful and hard working she was. “He wondered whether she took in washing for a living, or was merely the slave of twenty or thirty grandchildren.” “As he looked at the women in her characteristic attitude, her think arms reaching up for the line, her powerful mare like buttocks protruded, it struck him for the first time that she was beautiful.” -1984
5. How had Winston and Julia been spied on?
-Answer- Julia and Winston had a rented room above Mr. Charrington’s shop. Behind a picture mounted to the wall was a telescreen they had known nothing about. Mr. Charrington was a member of the though police and was also spying on them. The telescreen was there from the very beginning, so everything that Winston and Julia did the thought police knew about it.
6. Describe Winston's cell.
-Answer- Winston woke up lying on some sort of bench in his cell. There were telescrenes on all four walls, and you could not say much without being yelled out. There were no windows in this cell, and few cellmates. One cellmate could possibly have been his mother, and the other was a poetry writer names Ampleforth.
7. What crime did Winston's first cellmate commit? His second?
-Answer-Winston’s first cellmate was Ampleforth. Ampleforth was thrown in jail due to the fact that when he was producing a definitive edition to the poems of Kinpling, he allowed the word god to remain at the end of the line because there was no other word that he could use.
Winston’s next cellmate was Mr. Parsons. Mr. Parsons was in there because his daughter had turned him in for thought crime. He was yelling “down with big brother” in his sleep and his family had heard it and turned him over to the police.
8. What appears to be the ultimate torture?
-Answer- The ultimate torture appears to be in room 101. At first it seemed like the shocking was the worst, until Winston was taken into that room. He did not know what was in it but he knew it was the worst of all.
9. What methods of forcing confessions are used in the Ministry of Love?
-Answer- Number one, which pretty much was the method for everything that they did, was torture. They would beat anyone into believing that they had committed the crimes that they were accused of. The ministry of Love also had a time of machine that would shock you throughout your entire body and the amount and shock would keep growing more and more if you said something wrong. Another device was room 101, they wanted to know just how far you would go, and that room would make anybody admit anything.
10. What is O'Brien's job? How does this change our opinions of him?
-Answer- O’Brien’s job was to find the most loyal brotherhood members and turn them into the Party. He was to make them believe in everything the Party did. He had tricked Winston all along; he had been a member of the Ministry of Love the whole time. My opinions of O’Brien have changed but not dramatically. I think he’s a trader and he’s a horrible person. However, he thinks what he’s doing is right, and he believes this is the only was to help Winston. So really when everybody thinks what he’s doing to Winston is mean and out of hatred, O’Brien really thinks that he’s helping Winston, and that this is the right thing to do. So he’s not entirely horrible for that. If he were doing it to be mean, then that would be a completely different story.
11. Give one of Winston's "hallucinations" about the past?
-Answer- One of Winston’s hallucinations about the past was when he thought he saw a picture of Aaronson, Rutherford, and Jones (men who were executed for treachery and sabotage after making the fullest possible confession) at a party function in New York. The same day they had been committed of their crimes.
12. Why does the party cling to power?
-Answer- O’Brien says: “The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake.” The party isn’t particularly interested in the good of other; they are only interested solely in power. With all this power they can control the mind, everyone and everything. They are god, anything they wish can happen.
13. What is the picture of the future according to O'Brien?
-Answer- He pictures Big Brother, controlling the world, everything and everyone. The world would be the Party. There would be no enemies because they would change them. Babies would be taken from their mothers so they could be helpers of the Party, and by then there would be no love or affection for anything, except Big Brother.
14. What demonstrates the ultimate breakdown of Winston's rebellion?
-Answer- Winston’s ultimate breakdown was when he betray Julia. He couldn’t handle the rats, the one and only thing he loved, he betrayed. He had no love in him anymore; the Party had got into him.
15. How did Winston train himself to crimestop?
-Answer- Winston taught himself to not believe the thoughts that contradicted him, to look past that and think what the Party says was right, really was. He gave him himself thoughts and ideas of the Party, so he could never question them.
16. What sent Winston to Room 101? What is his ultimate terror?
-I believe Winston was sent to Room 101 because he still loved Julia and had not betrayed her. He said her name and things in his sleep, and the telescreen picked it up. The Party didn’t want you to love anyone besides Big Brother. Winston’s ultimate torture was rats. O’Brien was going to put a cage full of rats over his head. Winston could not take it, that's when he betrays Julia.
17. Why did Winston and Julia not carry on their relationship after meeting again?
-Answer- they both betray each other and they were unable to love because of the Party. They did not love each other because of the Party, and all the things that had happened to them.
18. People are often shocked at the sexual content in 1984. Why does sex play such a large role in the novel? What could Orwell be suggesting by having Big Brother try to manipulate and control that part of people's lives?
-Answer- Sex is one of the most important things to a person, physically. It is a right and is not something that can, or should be taken away. It shows how controlling the Party was, and how far they could go, and how much they could take from the people. If they go so far to take that away, then they could take anything away, and make anyone believe anything and that's why I think George Orwell made sex play such a huge role in this book.
19. What is the last sentence of 1984? What does it mean?
-Answer- The last sentence said; “He loved Big Brother”
This meant he was just like everyone else that supported the Party. The Ministry of Love had gotten to him, O’Brien had conquered him. He was the Ideal Party man, he believed everything the Party said now, and he loved Big Brother.
20. What are your final thoughts after having read the book? Write a 300-word minimum response in which you can discuss thoughts, feelings and details about the novel that you found difficult, interesting, profound, etc.
-Answer- This book is one of the best books I’ve read this year. Though at first I thought I would fall over and die of boredom, the book started getting more and more interesting. Every page drawled me in more, and I wanted to find out what was coming. The most interesting things of this book that appealed to me, was how easily someone can get all this power, how easily people can be brain washed, controlled, and how easily this could happen to even us. This book has filled me with a lot of new knowledge, concepts and ideas I never knew existed. Although some parts were difficult for me to understand due to my lack of knowledge concerning government concepts, and my adolescence, that's keeps me from being able to understand some things pertaining government and new ideas. However, this book has taught me so much and had perhaps knowledged me further about the real world and things that can happen. I feel like I am a smarter person because of this book, and I understand how dictatorships work more clearly. This book also shows ho easily people can be betrayed, and that torture is not always a way of punishment, but can sometimes be use to help people, not hurt them. Even know I believe what the Party was doing was completely wrong and horrible, I now also believe that dictatorships are not necessarily meant by evil, sometimes the people that are dictating believe that what they are doing is right, and they can’t see past their own ideas and views. Even know some people are doing things to hurt you, it doesn't mean their performing this with bad intentions, and to me in this book the Party didn’t really have bad intentions for what they did to Winston, they thought that they were helping him. I really love this book. I think everyone should read it because it displays a million different lessons of life and ideas of rebel, solitude, control, bedrail, and many different things that happen in life.
Bradley Fyffe
Mr. Parsons
2nd Period
Book III
1) If I was Winston at the beginning of Book Three, I would be terrified of my fate. The Thought Police had just captured him and he believes that he is in the Ministry of Love. He describes the dull aching in his stomach and that he does not remember the last time he had eaten. He also does not know how long he has been there, in the plain white cell, arrested, and without food.
Being in Winston’s shoes, having just been arrested by the Thought Police, I would be horrified thinking about my future that awaited me. After being seized for thought-crime, I would be certain that death and torture would await me. The hunger would only prolong my wait and fear in anticipation of seeing what would happen. Next, plain white rooms and the bright lights along the screaming voice from the four telescreens would increase my fear of the place that I was in.
Surprisingly enough, I can relate to Winston’s situation in his cell in the Ministry of Love. After so called ‘back-talking’ my mother, I was immediately ordered to my room. I walked slowly to my room, thinking about my punishment. I made it there, safely, and shut my door quietly. I waited, and waited, for my mother to come and issue my punishment. It seemed an eternity for her to arrive. I thought about my punishment and what I had done wrong. Finally, she arrived. The door slowly creaked open and I was told to hand over my cell-phone.
The, what seemed to be, a long awaited time was just a fraction of what Winston is experiencing. Seeing the punishment for a simple crime of thinking, it is unimaginable what punishment would be issued for ‘back-talking’ the government. Although I didn’t get quite the punishment that Winston received, it’s the closest thing that I have in my history to compare to Big Brother.
2) The state uses extreme torture methods for people who commit crimes. They are then followed by immense interrogations. The government uses devices like telescreens to spy on people and to gather the victims that have betrayed the government. Also, propaganda plays a big role in absolute control. It reminds the citizens of how Big Brother is always watching.
3) Big Brother is the image created by the government to give people something, and someone, to fear. Big Brother is the image on posters and propaganda throughout Oceania. It is not clear whether Big Brother exists or not because he is never seen, in person, in the novel. Some clues lead us to believe that he in fact does not. For example, O’Brien says that Big Brother does exist, but when Winston asks him if he exists in the same way he himself does, O’Brien says that Winston does not exist. His indirectness leads us to believe that he does not. Then O’Brien proceeds to tell Winston that Big Brother will never die.
4) Winston’s thoughts were about wondering if the woman was a slave of washing clothes or of twenty or thirty grandchildren. After him and Julia gaze upon her and admire her, Winston realizes that she is beautiful. Winston tells Julia this and she replies with, “She’s a meter across the hips, easily.” Winston tells her that it is, “..her style of beauty.” Perhaps, the most memorable thing Winston says thinks is, ‘Why shold the fruit be held inferior to the fruit.”
5) In the room above Mr.Charrington’s shop, being the picture was a telescreen. When the picture falls off of the wall, Winston and Julia see the telescreen. Shortly after, the Thought Police arrive. They learn then that Mr.Charrington is a member of the Thought Police.
6) Winston’s cell was a high-ceilinged windowless cell with walls of glittering white porcelain. It was very bight, due to concealed lamps. There was a small bench on the wall just big enough for a person to set on. At one end of the cell, there was a lavatory pan with no wooden seat. Most haunting of all, there were four telescreens on each wall.
7) Winston’s first cellmate was Ampleforth. Ampleforth is a poet that was composing a piece, and then he allowed the word ‘God’ to remain at the end of a line. The reason for doing so, he says, is because that it was impossible to change the last line. Nothing rhymes with ‘rod’ besides ‘God’, he claims. His second cellmate was is neighbor Mr.Parsons. Parsons says that he is there for Thoughtcrime. His kids turned him in for saying ‘Down with Big Brother!’ in his sleep.
8) The ultimate torture varies from individual. O’Brien says, “…it may be burial alive, or death by fire, or impalement, or fifty other deaths. There are cases where it is some quite trivial thing, not even fatal.” For Winston, the ultimate torture is rats. O’Brien sets a cage of rats on Winston’s head causing him to submit and give in to O’Brien, but most of all, to betray Julia.
The most common method they use, before Room 101 where the ultimate torture takes place, is placing each limb in a separate cuff, and then when the dial is turned, each cuff pulls on the limbs. They make the person believe that they’re pulling them apart.
9) Like I mentioned above, in the Ministry of Love, they place each persons’ limbs in a separate cuff. They are spread out on a table, and then there is a dial that can be twisted to pull on their limbs. While they are on this table, they are put through extreme interrogation. If they lie, or give an incorrect response to the interrogator, the dial is turned up placing more pull on the person’s body. Once the pain is unbearable, they confess to crimes. Also, in between interrogations, they are induced into sleep by a shot. Once they awake, then get put to sleep, they loose track of time after this cycle. Also, their body becomes weak, frail, and fragile.
10) O’Brien works for the Ministry of Love. He is a member of the Thought Police. He also interrogates many victims and makes them confess. Then, he brainwashes them to love Big Brother and the Party, as he does Winston. O’Brien also wrote Goldsteins book. This makes the reader being to hate O’Brien. At first, we thought he and Winston had a special connection, then we see him being a part of and inviting Winston to the brotherhood, and lastly he tortures Winston. He becomes hated as the novel unfolds.
11) Winston had a hallucination of Julia. He yelled her name and felt that she was not only in his presence but also inside of him. He says that he loved her more than ever then, even more than before when they were free. One of Winston’s hallucinations was the picture of Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford. We, as a reader, know that Winston really held these photographs but O’Brien convinces that he merely pretended to see a piece of paper that proved them innocent of treason. O’Brien says that Winston created a legend that they were innocent, but in reality, we know that the legend is true.
12) The Party clings to power to control the people. O’Brien tells Winston that the Party isn’t interested in the good of the people; they are solely interested in power. With the power that the Party has, they can have anything they want; they even control the citizens’ minds. Having more than complete control keeps them clinging to this power that they have created.
13) O’Brien’s picture of the future is not a good one. He basically envisions the same thing that’s happening now, but only to a worse degree. He wants to have a world founded on hate instead of love. He also wants to corrupt the minds of the humans, and reshape the way they think. O’Brien says that there will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. The most haunting thing that O’Brien says is, “ If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face-forever.”
14) The ultimate breakdown of Winston’s rebellion was defiantly when he betrayed Julia. For me, it was one of the most significant parts of the book. It shows how the power of Big Brother can even strip love from two people. Winston’s rebellion was based on his and Julia’s love; they confided in each other. Once Winston was faced with the rats, he could not take it, he betrayed Julia.
15) Winston trained himself to crimestop by presenting himself with contradicting statements of the party such as, “ The Earth is flat” and “Ice is heavier than water.” He made himself believe what the Party says was right. He learned to never disagree and that his thoughts were “false memories.” He also learned that if two people were thinking the same thing simultaneously, that it would happen. The Party demolished Winston.
16) O’Brien asks Winston his true feelings towards Big Brother. Winston says that he hates him. This is what causes Winston to go to room 101. When the person hates Big Brother, it is time for room 101. Here, in this room, you learn to love him. That is the last step of being in the Ministry of Love for Winston. In room 101, they use the persons’ ultimate terror. O’Brien says that it varies from individual to individual. For Winston, it is rats. O’Brien then sets a cage of rats on Winston’s head.
17) Winston and Julia do not carry on their relationship. They are conversing about the Party and how they manipulate the mind to betray someone you love. They say that when they begged the torturer to torture the other, they meant it and all that you care about is yourself. After they betrayed each other, they both agree that you do not feel the same about the other person. During the end of their conversation, they say that they shall meet again.
18) Sex plays a very large role in the novel. It is one of the major desires of the human. The theme of sex shows the authoritarian grip on citizens by Big Brother. The Party wants to eliminate the desire of sex. O’Brien says one of the current goals of the party was to eliminate the orgasm. Their reasoning for this is because they want no love; expect the love of Big Brother. Loyalty also comes along with sex, the Party wants no loyalty; except the loyalty to Big Brother. Their method of doing this works too. It’s proven between Julia and Winston because after they are in the Ministry of Love, they do not love each other any longer. They love Big Brother.
19) The last sentence is, “He loved Big Brother.” It means that the Party actually manipulated Winston to the point of loving what he despised. To me, it is the most disappointing, yet astonishing, part of the novel. It shows the power of the Party and how they simply dominate the people. Whatever they want the people to believe, they can make it happen, even to Winston, who previously wanted to rebel against Big Brother
20) I could probably sum my final thoughts of 1984 into just a sentence. Such as, “One of the most dark, and haunting novels I have read. Especially since it’s the world we may come to.” But just one sentence does the book no justice. 1984 is one of the most influential works of our time. Its main theme about the totalitarian government, along with many sub themes such as Winston and Julia’s love relationship, creates a story that no reader could forget. Since the characters in the novel have absolutely no right to privacy, it makes oneself be more appreciative of the American basic right of freedom and what we as Americans strive and stand for.
One of the most amazing parts of the society that they live in is how the citizens get arrested for thought crime. Thought crime is simply thinking in ways that aren’t love for Big Brother and the Party. Having our, as humans, ability to think being controlled by the government eliminates the possibility of having a decent life. Thinking allows us to solve our problems by ourselves. It also allows us to escape and be alone without being judged or criticized by anyone. But of course in Oceania if you are caught thinking, you are tortured until you confess your thoughts.
Perhaps the most ruthless part of Big Brother, is taking the pleasure and meaning out of sex. Sex is one of the biggest, and most symbolic desires we possess. To engage in the act, it allows us to remain loyal to the other person and to love them. The reason for eliminating the act is that they only want people being loyal to and loving Big Brother.
We as Americans need to look at this novel and realize that resulting to things like the Patriot Act and spying on citizens may ultimately result in a Big Brother government. We need to stand up for what we believe in, the basic right to privacy that we all share, and put an end to any forms of government that are similar to the Party.
1. In the beginning of book three Winston woke up in a room and was starving for food. He had no clue how he got there or how long he had been there. He was trapped in a little cell while being surrounded by 4 telesreens (one on each wall). If I were in Winston’s shoes, I would be absolutely terrified. Waking up in an unfamiliar place, with no memory of how I got there, would make me go insane. I would be thing of ways to get out of trouble or even ways to escape. I would scream bloody murder and curl up into a little ball. I don’t see how Winston was able to go without food. Me on the other hand, I love food! I probably wouldn’t be able to go very long without it. I really don’t see how Winston didn’t was able to go without using the bathroom. I would have went on myself. But overall Winston is a very strong man.
In my 15 years of life I can only think of one thing that relates to Winston’s situation. It was a long time ago, probable sixth or seventh grade. I started lying a lot to my parents and being very disrespectful. One day I looked my dad in the eyes and lied to him. Well I found out a little later that he knew all along it was true. I was sent to my room and waited, for what seemed like a long time, for the rest of my punishment. While waiting, I was scared, nervous, and sorry. I realized what I did was very wrong but it was too late. I remember, sitting on my bed crying. I had to use the bathroom extremely bad, but I was to scared to ask. I ended up getting grounded for a very long time. My situation doesn’t compare to Winston’s at all. Winston received a horrible punishment.
2. The Party used many different devices for enforcing total control. For one, the citizens of Oceania had no privacy. They used telescreens to watch their every move. If they would commit a thought crime, they would be vaporized. Another device was the punishment they used. They would torture them with a knob that shocked you, they had several different ways of torturing you. The worst thing they did to enforce total control was taken people to room 101. They used your greatest fear against you. Room 101 was the worst thing in the world.
3. Big Brother is not a real person. But the idea of him is used to scare people into being loyal to the Party. He is a figure used to represent the government and the Party.
4. Winston had a few thoughts when he heard the woman outside singing while she was hanging clothes. He wondered whether or not she washed clothes for a living. He wondered if she was a slave to several grandchildren. He thought she was beautiful and very hard working.
5. Winston and Julia had secret meetings above Mr.Charrington’s shop. They were spied on by a telescreen they knew nothing about. It was hid behind a picture mounted to the wall. Also Mr. Charrington was a member of the thought police and was spying on them as well.
6. Winston didn’t know where he was; he figured he was in the Ministry of Love. His cell was high ceiling and windowless. With concealed lamps the cell was lit by cold light. He heard a low humming sound thought to be the air supply. There was a bench or shelf that was wide enough to sit on that ran around the wall. There were four telescreens, one on each wall.
7. Winston’s first cellmate was Ampleforth. He was arrested for something to do with literature and poetry. He used the word God at the end of his poem. His second cellmate was his neighbor, Mr. Parsons. He was arrested for committing a thought crime and his family turned him in.
8. Room 101 is said to be a place of mysterious and unspeakable horror. He takes Winston there and uses his worst fear ever to make him confess.
9. The number one thing they used was torture. They would beat you until you confessed. They also used a machine that shocks your entire body if you answer wrong. But the worst thing they did was take you to room 101. They used that room to see how far you would go until you confessed, and it made anybody confess.
10. O’Brien was a member of the government, the Party, and Big Brother. He lied to Winston about the Brotherhood; he tricked him into saying he was against the Party and that he committed a thoughtcrime. O’Brien’s job is tricking people into saying bad things about the Party; he would tell them that he was apart of the Brotherhood. He did this so they could catch them and turn them into a loyal Party member. My opinion of O’Brien has changed since he was first mentioned. To think that he would lie the whole time to Winston makes me dislike him and very unhappy. I think he’s crazy, what he did to Winston has happened to him.
11. Winston had several hallucinations. One was of Julia, in which he yelled her name. Winston felt her presents there but inside him as well. He said he has never felt more love for her or closer to her. He also has a hallucination that Aaronson, Rutherford, and Jones were never guilty of their crime. He believed that he made it up, but the truth is he didn’t.
12. The Party clings to power because power is almighty. He you have power you can control the world. When you have that much power of people, they will do whatever you want. They are not able to think for themselves. The Party controls the people in a way; they believe is a perfect world.
13. O’Brien pictures future, but it’s the same thing happen now. The future he pictures is much worse. He wants no love, except the love for Big Brother. He says babies will be taken from their mother at birth so they can teach them to love Big Brother. In the future he sees the Party controlling the whole world, with no enemies.
14. Winston’s ultimate break down is when he’s in room 101 and he betrayed Julia. He couldn’t handle his fear of rats, the one thing he loved and cared for, he betrayed.
15. He taught himself to crimestop by presenting himself with ides and statements of the party. For example: “The Earth is Flat” and “Ice is heavier than water.” He trained himself into believing these things and he told himself that his memories were false memories.
16. When O’Brien arrives with the guards, Winston tells him he hates Big Brother. O’Brien tells him that he must learn to love him. He than instructs the guards to take him to Room 101. They use Winston’s ultimate terror against him. The dream of being in a dark place with something terrible on the other said. O’Brien told him that rats, his ultimate fear, will eat is face off. At that point he screams that he wants him to subject to Julia to this torture instead of him.
17. Winston and Julia did not carry on their relationship. They both told each other that when they asked for the other to be tortured they meant it. The did not feel the same way the used to after they left Ministry of Truth.
18. Sex plays a major role in the novel, 1984. Today we have to freedom to have sex; it’s a major desire for humans. In the novel, sex is one of Winston’s passions. He absolutely loves sex, but he is not able to have it. It shows how controlling thee Party is for taking away such a desire. Orwell is trying to show the readers how little freedom they have. He shows how far people will go to get their freedom and how far the Party will go to take away that freedom.
19. The last sentence of 1984 was, “He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.”
20. At first my thoughts of the book was simple one word, boring. There aren’t many books out there like this one. The fact that one-day our world may become like this scares me. It makes you think about the future and what it may hold. When Winston first met with Julia in the meadow, it made me interested in their relationship. My interest grew more and more. I didn’t want to put the book down. Their relationship, and the fact that they committed thought crimes just to see each other and to have sex, was different. Winston and Julia’s love makes such an interesting story.
The citizens on Oceania had no privacy at all. You were watched constantly by telescreens. That part of the book made me realize how good I actually have it. A lot of people are very greedy and want more privacy than what they have. I’d be able as long as I had more privacy than Winston. I am very thankful for what privacy that I have.
The party and the government ruled the society they live in. The people of Oceania got arrested for committing thought crimes. It’s when you think something bad about Big Brother. Thinking allows ourselves to solve problems. I personally love to get away from everybody around me and just think. It lets us escape from the world, were able to think what we want without being judged or criticized. In Oceania, if you think about the wrong thing you are tortured. Today, we are able to think as much and about whatever we want without being arrested or tortured.
There are some things I didn’t really like about the book. I really didn’t like the end of the book. I did like O’Brien but I really didn’t understand why he would do that to Winston. Though I didn’t like that part, I think it also made the book. It shows the readers how powerful the party really is. But over all, I thought it was a good book.
1. How would you feel if you were in Winston's shoes at the start of Book III? Are there any parallels that you can draw in your own life to try to understand his situation? Write a 300 word response in which you consider these questions.
I would feel frightened and terrified of not knowing where I was or what day is it or even how I got to wherever I was . Especially not having food in my stomach and not knowing when I’ll receive another meal would make me feel even more panicked than what I already was. Winston was actually brave for all this to be going on although he mostly thought of food over everything else. If I was put in that predicament I would not have handled it so well, I would probably be kicking and screaming and most likely have a mental break down. I don’t know how Winston could have been so calm especially when that one guy got hit In the face fore trying to give a starving man food, I would have freaked out and try to run out of the cell screaming. I would probably get vaporized on the spot or tortured to death.
Knowing what Winston went through I can’t think of any of my life situation’s that could be similar to that of his situation.
2. What devices did the state have for enforcing total control?
The most important device for enforcing total control is the Telescreen. They can see what everyone was doing and what they were potentially thinking and they can use it against you.
3. What is Big Brother?
Big Brother is the embodiment of the party. He exists for the party’s uses but not in the same way as that Winston exists.
4. What thoughts did the woman hanging clothes in the yard cause Winston to have?
Winston thought about the woman hanging cloths in the yard were that she might be a slave to 20 or 30 grandchildren or took in washing for a living. It made Winston see how beautiful she was.
5. How had Winston and Julia been spied on?
Winston and Julia were spied by a telescreen mounted on the wall behind a picture, in the room they had rented above Mr. Charrington’s shop. They were also getting spied on by Mr. Charrington himself. He was a member of the thought police.
6. Describe Winston's cell.
Winston’s cell his a high-ceilinged cell that had no windows and with glittering white porcelain on the walls. It was cold with a slight humming sound. There is a bench or a shelf that was wide enough for him to sit on. It ran all around the cell, there were four telescreens on all four of the walls.
7. What crime did Winston's first cellmate commit? His second?
Winston’s first cellmate Ampleforth committed an indiscretion. He left the word god at an end of a poem. His second cellmate Mr. Parsons committed thought crime in his sleep, he was saying “Down With Big Brother.”
8. What appears to be the ultimate torture?
The ultimate torture is taking the prisoners greatest fear and turning it against them. This was held in room 101.
9. What methods of forcing confessions are used in the Ministry of Love?
The methods of forcing torture are that they slap his face, pulled his hair, wrung his ears, refused to let him to urinate and countless interrogations and even shock him through out his entire body.
10. What is O'Brien's job? How does this change our opinions of him?
O’Brien’s job is to find a worthy member of the brotherhood and turn them into one of the members of the party,
11. Give one of Winston's "hallucinations" about the past?
One of Winston’s hallucinations was about a photograph of Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford in New York. Winston came a crossed it 11 years before and destroyed it and suddenly it was in front of his face.
12. Why does the party cling to power?
The party clings to power but it’s for they’re on sake. The party wants more power so they can control everything in sight even peoples minds.
13. What is the picture of the future according to O'Brien?
O’Brien’s picture of the future is that there wouldn’t be any enemies against the party, because they would change them into party members and that big brother is going to control the world.
14. What demonstrates the ultimate breakdown of Winston's rebellion?
The ultimate break down for Winston’s rebellion is when he betrays Julia. He would rather have her be tortured than him because he’s being tortured by his greatest fear rats.
15. How did Winston train himself to crimestop?
Winston trained himself to crimestop by not seeing or not understanding the arguments that were being discussed and not to contradict himself, to look past it.
16. What sent Winston to Room 101? What is his ultimate terror?
Winston was sent there because he committed thought crime and they wanted to make him sane. Room 101 is where the prisoners get tortured until they are sane again for Winston the ultimate tortured was rats.
17. Why did Winston and Julia not carry on their relationship after meeting again?
Winston and Julia didn’t carry on their relationship because they both had betrayed one another, during their torturing and they couldn’t love each other the same as before.
18. People are often shocked at the sexual content in 1984. Why does sex play such a large role in the novel? What could Orwell be suggesting by having Big Brother try to manipulate and control that part of people's lives?
Sex plays a big role in 1984 because without sex there can be not reproduction and the party wants them to reproduce but not enjoy themselves but at the same time there wouldn’t be another generation after that of Winston’s. There for there wouldn’t be no one to help the party control everything in sight.
Orwell suggest that Big Brother manipulating the lives of the party member’s is for their own good that they don’t know how to take care of themselves or run their own life with out screwing up and getting vaporized for their thoughtcrimes. Humans cant resist the temptation of having sex and Orwell was thinking what if humans couldn’t have sex, and what would happen if it were not allowed to happen.
19. What is the last sentence of 1984? What does it mean?
The last sentence of 1984 is “He loved Big Brother.” This sentence means that Winston has changed from what he used to be in the first book. He hated Big Brother but now he loves him.
20. What are your final thoughts after having read the book? Write a 300-word minimum response in which you can discuss thoughts, feelings and details about the novel that you found difficult, interesting, profound, etc.
My final thought’s on 1984 that it was a very well written novel and that is was highly entertaining. The three books are so indescribable. The first book was when Winston wanting to rebel against the party and big brother but didn’t really know what to do. What I thought was interesting in 1984 was that Winston defied the party and Big Brother by writing in a book. I can understand when he writes Down With Big Brother and what he did with the prole but by writing in a book, it’s a good way to get everything out but the thought police punish you for your thoughts and or feeling toward something is very interesting.
The second book is what caught my attention because when Julia gave him the note that said “I love you” or when they first talked to each other in the canteen, it just made the entire book more interesting to read, but what really sparked my attention was in Winston and Julia met for the first time by there selves without the worrying of being caught or having telescreens spy on them. They could actually talk and express their selves how they want to and not talk in installments all the time. They could be together and not be vaporized for their actions and thoughts towards each other.
The third book put a totally different twist to the entire novel. It starts out with Winston being in the ministry of love for thoughtcrime. He didn’t know where he was or how he got their, and he was especially hungry. He didn’t even know what became of Julia. O’Brien was torturing Winston with a contraption that shocked your body. O’Brien apparently was trying to make Winston sane by taking him to room 101 and torturing Winston with his greatest fear of rats until he betrayed Julia. When Winston and Julia met again after the torturing seized they didn’t continue their relationship they once had. The overall novel was absolutely exciting, it was like nothing I’ve ever read.
1. In the beginning of book III of 1984 Winston is found in a room of white porcelain, flooded with a cold light, and one of four telescreens reside on each wall. He suspects he’s somewhere in the ministry of love. He is hungry but just as he slips his hand in his pocket in search of a piece of bread a voice on the telescreen screams at him to remove it. He had been placed in a larger dirtier cell just before this one.
If was in the same situation I could imagine myself terrified. I ‘m almost sure I would have already imagined a thousand different terrible things that could happen to me in the new future and remembered a thousand and one reasons why they could be punishing me. With thoughts racing through my head I’m sure I would imagine hours going by when only a few minutes had actually passed. Sitting in something similar to a cold sweat I imagine myself fidgeting and more and more irritable and fatigued by the second. I would be so afraid imagining myself being battered and tortured in every imaginable way. I’m sure I would be on edge and every time I saw a new person walk by or enter the cell, I would have probably imagined him or her as secret brotherhood agent, then changed my mind and imagined them as a thoughtpolice member, and then changed again and decide that they are just a regular criminal 5 times each before the person had a chance to sit down.
I can imagine this so vividly because comparable instances have happened before in my life, as I can imagine everyone having experienced something similar before. I have related symptoms (much less extreme of course) every time I am sent to the sent to the principles office or called up in front of class. Then again I have never dealt with anyone as serious as the thought police, and have never committed crimes as serious as the ones Winston is found committing in 1984, so I cannot be sure exactly how I would react in such a dire case.
2. The state used many devices in the novel, which they used to enforce total control. These would include, the hidden cameras and microphones found in the less populated areas of Oceania, and probably most importantly the Telescreen. This device not only transmits information the party wants to be released but also has a camera and microphone so that the party can spy on its people, and therefore decide whether or not each person is committing thoughtcrime. The “thoughtcrime” is another device the party has conjured up to control its people. Thoughtcrime is when a person thinks ill of BB or the party or even anything the party has ever done.
3. Big Brother is not necessarily a single person, but more of a name the party uses to imply that they always know what you’re up to. It’s been coined as sort of a nickname for the dreaded party, and is found on posters posted in the novel that say “big brother is watching”.
4. The sight of the women stirred up many thought provoking emotions in Winston that the reader had yet to see much of from him so far. He acknowledged her skillful look and pondered the reason of her having so much laundry to do everyday. He saw the years beaten on her person and admired her for her perpetual output of joyous energy in the face of someone who looked to have know reason for joy in her life at all. He saw her thick arms working and her powerful mare like buttocks protrude, and saw her still as beautiful.
5. The Thoughtpolice had been spying on Winston and Julia in there seemingly safe attic apartment above the shop. There was a telescreen behind a picture and Mr. Charrington was a member of the thought police who had been spying on them all along.
6. Winston woke up lying on some sort of bench in his cell. There were telescreens on all four walls, and you could not do anything without being yelled at. There were no windows but Winston guessed he was somewhere in the ministry of love. There were a few cell mates with him, one could possibly have been his mother, and the other was a poetry writer names Ampleforth.
7. Winston’s first cellmate was Ampleforth. He was a poet and found out that there were only twelve words in language that rhymes with rod and was arrested when he wrote at the end of one of his lines, ‘God.’. Winston’s second cellmate was Mr. Parsons. Parsons came in sobbing with remorse; he was arrested for thought crime and turned in by his child.
8. The ultimate torture seems to be room 101. We first got a hint of this when the skull faced man reacted to being sent there. The torture in room 101 is different for each person, and what is especially ironic is that, unknowingly to Winston, his reoccurring nightmare took place in room 101.
9. The ministry of love used many forms of torture to force confessions out of their prisoners. From gang beatings to shock to room 101, their main goal seemed to be completely stripping their victims of honor and respect. Winston experienced this first hand. He was starved and strapped down and had been beaten while rolling in his own vomit and urine.
10. O’Brien’s job was to find the most rebellious anti-party conspirators and turn them into the Party. He was to make them believe in everything the Party did. He had tricked Winston all along; he had been a member of the Ministry of Love the whole time. My opinions of O’Brien have changed but not dramatically. I think he’s a trader and he’s a horrible person. However, he thinks what he’s doing is right, and he believes this is the only was to help Winston. So really when everybody thinks what he’s doing to Winston is mean and out of hatred, O’Brien really thinks that he’s helping Winston, and that this is the right thing to do. So he can’t be considered completely evil can he?
11. One of Winston’s “hallucinations” about the past was when he thought he saw a picture of Aaronson, Rutherford, and Jones (men who were executed for treachery and sabotage after making the fullest possible confession) at a party function in New York.
12. The party clings to power in one of the most basic and treacherous of ways. O’Brien says: “The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake.” The party isn’t particularly interested in the good of other; they are only interested solely in power. With all this power they can control the mind, everyone and everything. They are god, anything they wish can happen. Winston finds this out when O’Brien asks him the why the party needs power. This was almost a trick question because Winston thought he knew what O’Brien wanted to her him say, and answered that they want what’s best for its people.
13. O’Brien pictures the future with Big Brother controlling the world, everything and everyone. The world would be the Party. There would be no enemies because they would change them. Babies would be taken from their mothers so they could be helpers of the Party, and by then there would be no love or affection for anything except Big Brother.
14. Winston’s ultimate breakdown was when he betrays Julia in room 101. He couldn’t handle the rats, so the one and only thing he loved, he betrayed. He had no love in him anymore; the Party had got a hold of him, the party was inside of him.
15. Winston had a hard time training himself for crimestop. He presented himself with many propositions and ideas of the Party. For example: “the Party says that ice is heavier than water” and “the Party says the earth is flat.” Winston trained himself to not see and not understand the ideas that contradicted him. He found out that stupidity was as necessary as intelligence, and also just as difficult to attain.
16. The reason Winston was sent to room 101 is not clearly defined in the book, but it is quite easy for one to infer from the text. I believe the reason for Winston being sent to room 101 is because he had yet to betray Julia. He spoke of her in his cell on accident, had been caught with her, and had even told O’Brien that that was one thing he had not done. The party knew that’s what they needed to break him, so they took him to room 101 and tested his ultimate terror, rats. They took a cage full of vicious hungry rats with a trap door and placed it over Winston’s head. It was too much. Winston could not take it for a second and he betrayed Julia instantly.
17. Winston and Julia no longer carried on their relationship after the ministry of love experience because they had both betrayed each other and neither of them felt the way they did about the other before being caught. The party had taken control of both of them and neither was able to love anymore.
19. The last sentence of 1984 read; He loved Big Brother. This was crucial and quite crushing after reading about all he went through especially with Julia and then even more in the Ministry of Love. Winston had fought for what he believed in and seemed to be the most freedom loving anti-party person found in the novel, and yet even he was taken over by the party. Now the party had taken a hold of him and O’Brien had accomplished what he set out to do.
1. At the start of Book Three, Winston finds himself, presumadly, in the Ministry of Love. If I were in Winston’s shoes, I doubt that I could be as calm. Winston is surveying his surroundings, and trying to figure out what’s going on. He takes in the furnishings of the bare cell and the four telescreens. He looks at his hunger and desparation objectively, and tries to come to terms with all that has happened to him. Winston panics very little, as he realizes that he has been caught, and nothing can save him.
I would most certainly panic if confronted with a situation like Winston’s at the start of Book Three. The idea that I am trapped and almost certainly going to die would have me screaming past the plain, bare walls. I wouldn’t be able to keep calm and analyze my situation the way Winston did. All objectability would be gone, at first. Eventually, I might be able to resolve myself with the horrible situation and the coming execution, but, if whoever was holding me hostage killed me immediately, I would never be able to except my fate the way Winston did in the start of Book Three. Though I have never been captured by agents of a totalitarian government, I do have a parallel in my life that enables me to sympathize with Winston and his situation.
When I was younger, I was diagsosed with an acute heart murmur, that, if left untreated, could kill me. When I was diagnosed, they took me to a psychologist that worked with the hospital that treated me. The small, thin, blue-eyed woman told me-in small words and a very gentle tone- that I might die, and that I had to come to terms with that fact. Being a child, I was so scared, and panicked, unlike Winston, in 1984. Winston was able to keep a hand on his panic and understand what was happening, but I couldn’t.
The feeling of helplessness that I felt as a child diagnosed with a potentially fatal disease would certainly be the same if I was placed in Winston’s situation when he and Julia are captured by the Thought Police and Winston is locked in a room by himself, as a prisoner. However, Winston reacted very differently than I would have if I were in the same situation. Even though parallels exist in my life for the feelings that Winston feels, I doubt that I could have reacted the same if confronted by the events in the start of Book Three in 1984.
2. In the book, 1984, the State has absolute control over the people it rules. Every aspect of everyone’s life is controlled completely. The devices the State uses to control the masses fall into two categories; physical devices, such as the telescreen, and psychological means, such as the excessive use of propaganda in the novel.
Devices such as the telescreen and microphones enabled the Party to spy and watch people in their everyday lives. If the Party were able to watch people for violations of law, mutinous feelings toward the Party, and signs of individuality, than they could correct it as soon as it occurred. If the party saw these things were occurring in even one person, than the Party could get rid of that person, before they did something to endanger the Party.
Another type of device used was psychological manipulation, including the use of propaganda and the changing of records. The Party could influence the easily manipulated people by using propaganda. This propaganda parroted the ideas and teachings of English Socialism, or Ingsoc in Newspeak. It told the ideas and the events that the Party wanted the people to know. By keeping the masses in the dark about alternative ways of thinking, the party restrics what can be thought, and crimes against the Party.
Another psychological device used by the Party is the changing of records. By changing the things that record the past, the Party is made to look as if they were always right, always fair, and always made the correct descisions, By controlling the past the Party made it so that if ever a person would want to rebel, there would be no evidence in which to build a case. By changing the records and contolling the past, the Party virtually eliminated any risk of rebellion.
3. Big Brother is both a person as well as the collective minds of many people. In the minds of Proles, he is a real human being; their ruler and a physical being. The posters they see show a rugged man with a small smile, so that is whom they envision as Big Brother.
But in all reality, Big brother is the collective minds of many human beings all watching and governing each other. Big Brother is a concept, meant to give a face to an idea that someone is always watching you. This idea, along with a few others, governs the people of Oceania, but most people won’t accept being ruled by an idea, so Big brother was created to give the people someone to fear and be controlled by. In essence, Big Brother is everyone watching and spying on everyone else.
4. Winston thought that women hanging wash outside the window in his room above Mr. Charrington’s shop was beautiful. Even though the woman was older, and quite large from having many children, she was just who she was, and that was beautiful to Winston.
After Winston and Julia were caught he worried about her, and what would happen to her. He was afraid that because she was associated with Winston, and because she lived and hung wash right outside Winston and Julia’s secret room, that she would also be vaporized, like him and Julia. Winston didn’t want things to happen to her, because she was innocent, despite the location of her house.
5. Winston and Julia had been spied upon by a hidden telescreen behind the picture frame.
6. Winston’s cell was small and bleak, with four telescreens, a narrow bench, and a latrine pan. The cell was void of any furniture, or color. Winston’s cell inspired fear and desolation, and kept Winston from thinking of anything to escape from the cell. Instead, he just accepted his fate and waited to die.
7. Winston’s first cell mate, who was the poet, Ampleforth, committed Thoughtcrime. Winston’s second cell mate, Parsons, was accused of speaking against Big Brother in his sleep. Parsons was turned inn by his young daughter.
8. The ultimate torture appears to be when, during Winston and O’Brian’s sessions, Winston is strapped to the chair, and shocked with electicity evryime he shows some individuality or alternate way of thinking.
9. Many devices of torture are used in the Ministry of Love, and they fall into two categories; psychological and physical torture. The physical devices are things such as an electric chair that can be adjusted to shock its victim with varying degrees of electicity. Devices of torture such as these are used to train the mind to associate pain with “impure” thoughts, thus training the mind to fear and control such thoughts.
Psycological devices include coercion and intense therapy sessions. These sessions dull the mind, wearing it down so that it can be taught to think differently, and when combined with physical torture, completely “cure’ a person’s thoughts.
10. O’Brian’s job is to torture and coerce secrets and confessions out of Prisoners captured by the Thought Police. O’Brian also “cures” those who have committed crimes against the party, and acts as an undercover agent to capture those against the party.
In the beginning of the novel when Winston shares a moment with Winston during Two Minutes Hate and O’Brian stars in Winston’s dreams, and then later on in Book Two when O’Brian recruits Winston and Julia to join the Brotherhood, the impression is given that O’Brian is a good, if slightly mysterious person. However, when Winston’ encounters O’Brian as an agent of the Party, and Winston’s own personal torturer, a totally new impression is given.
O’Brian is now seen as an under cover agent, a liar, and shrouded in espionage, but Winston cannot hate O’Brian for what he is doing to Winston. To Winston, very little has changed about O’Brian. O’Brian is still the same man Winston thought he was.
11. One of Winston’s earliest hallutionations is sitting in a cell that could have been either dark or light; Winston couldn’t tell. His vision is blocked completely by a pair of eyes. Beside him, Winston could hear a low rhythmic ticking as the eyes grew larger and brighter, until Winston was swallowed up by them, floating out of his chair and diving into the haunting eyes.
12. The party clings to power, because as O’Brian says, the only reason they want power is to have it. They do not cling to power for the good of others or because they seek to control, they are just greedy and corrupt. All they want is power and for no reason, other than to have it.
13. The picture of the future, according to O'Brian, is a place where the government controls everything absolutly.Every single right that a person is supposed to have will be taken away from them. The right to independant thought, the right to reproduce, the right to uderstand, and oppose other's ideas will be thoroughly wiped out, leaving only submission.
14. The action that demonstrats Winston's ultimate breakdown comes when O'Brian tortures Winston with the rats, which are Winston's greatest fear. Winston, looking for a way to escape the rats, sceams at O'Brian to torture Julia with the rats, instead of himself. This says that Winston is finally finally lets go of his last hold to reality and his old world; Julia.
15. Winston trained himself to crimestop by presenting himself with situations such as "The Party says that ice is heavier than water," and training himself to not understand the arguments that contradicted that statement.
16. Winston was sent to room 101, becuse, after yelling out Julia's name, and relizing that after all the training and torture, he still hates Big Brother, O'Brian tells Winston that it is time to take the final step in his correction. O'Brian says that it is not enough to obey Big Brother, Winston must love him. When Winston arrives, O'Brian explains that in Room 101, there is the worst thing in the world. For Winston, it is rats.
17. Winston and Julia didn't carry on their relationship after being released because they simply had no wish to. In the Ministry of Love, they both had become different people, people who were incapable of loving and caring for eachother the way they had before. When Winston met Julia in the park, he put his arm around her, and found her waist not as he remembered it; it was thicker and stiffer. He found the thought of having sex with her repulsive. They could no longer love and carry on a relationship because they were no longer the same people.
18. Sex plays such a big part in the content of 1984, because, to Winston and Julia, it was a political act against the Party. The party controlled everything about the people it ruled. It controlled thought, speech, press, and even the right to have sex with one's spouse. Orwell is suggesting that if Big brother can manipulate and control that peice of pepole's lives, than he can control anyhting.
19. The last sentence of 1984 is "He loved Big Brother." This sentence being the last symbolizes that Winston has been defeated. His correction is complete, and if they were to shoot him, he couldn't even claim a personal victory over the Party. The Party truly controls everything and everyone, and the fact that after everything Winston geos through, he ends up loving Big Brother, emphasizes this.
20. George Orwell's novel, 1984 was extremely profound, if a bit overly politically charged. The fact that the Party controls anything and everything, is , I think, the theme of the whole book. Independant thought and language are controlled by the Thoughtpolice and a new language called Newspeak that deletes words and makes many avenues of speech imposible, especially thoughts that contradicted the ideas and teachings of Ingsoc, or English Socialism. The fact that the Party can control and limit thought and the language that these thoughts are expressed in, is so different from the way of life that we have, that it's difficult to wrap our minds around such a concept.
In the beginning of the novel, Winston begins to resist the Party. He writes in a diary, thinks things that are against the Party,and falls in love with Julia. Winston thinks that although these things are illegal and he knows that he will get caught eventually, that his resistance is going unnoticed. Later on in the story, we find out that Winston had been watched by the Party for many years. They knew his every thought, every action, every desire. Winston is captured and totured for his "crimethink." The fact that the Party can watch anyone at any given time is very disturbing.
Orwell's 1984 is very unique, in that it introduces to us concepts that are foiegn to our way of life, but based on totalitarian regimes of the past. We, living in a nation where our rights are protected find it profoundly disturbing that what we feel are basic haman rights are being violated by the government, without resistance from the public. The book was extremly different from anything I have ever read, because the concept of government control is different and more disturbing, to me, than anyhting I have ever heard about.
1.)In the beginning of Book III, Winston is setting in a prison cell, having been captured by the thought police. If I were him I would most definitely have been consumed by feelings of fear and anxiousness, while also wondering what was going to happen next and possibly contemplating on what to do, because there would be no chance of making an escape. It also seemed that he didn’t know where he was being held exactly, or how long he had actually been there. All he woke up to was an empty cell with four telescreens watching him and an ache for food.
I can’t say that there are any parallels to compare his experience to in my life. I’ve never been put into a situation where I knew that no matter what happened, or how things played out, I would be doomed to an immeasurable amount of pain and suffering. If put into that sort of position I more than likely wouldn’t know how to react to the problem at hand.
2.) The state had a couple of devices for enforcing total control over the people of Oceania one being propaganda.
3.) Big brother is the dictator of Oceania, but is what seems to be only an image made up by The Party.
4.) When Winston saw the woman outside hanging clothes on the line he had a few different thoughts. One being that he wondered if she was a slave to all of the grandchildren she had. Also, he wondered how many kids she had herself. But in the end he only thought of her as having a warm heart, strong arms, and a fertile belly.
5.) When Winston and Julia were in getting spied on they were in the antique shop and there was a hidden behind a painting on the wall.
6.) Winston’s cell is bright and bare, the lights are always on and there are four telescreens watching him. The walls were made up of porcelain bricks and there was a small lavatory pan in the corner where he good use he bathroom, and there was a bench just wide enough for him to set on that ran all the way around the room and only broke off for the doorway.
7.) Winston’s first cell mate is a drunken prole woman, also by the name of Smith, who they both believe could be his mother. His Second cell mate is the poet Ampleforth, who happened to be his coworker. He says he thought he was arrested because he left the word ‘God’ at the end of one of his poems because he needed the rhyme.
8.) The ultimate torture would differ from person to person. Because the ultimate torture would be whatever the said person’s ultimate terror is.
9.) In the Ministry of Love they force confessions out of people by beating them continuously, until they give in and tell them what they want to hear, which in this case would be a confession of some crime. There were also other things that the people who worked in the Ministry of Love would do, such as a long line of espionage, sabotage, and other torture.
10.) O’Brien’s job is to trick people into thinking that he is in the Brotherhood, that way The Party will be able to find disloyal citizens more easily. This changes my opinion of him because at first I liked him because I thought he was part of the Brotherhood and was on Winston’s side of it all. Only to find out that he is part of the Party’s followers, and he is only trying to trick Winston into trusting him so he can help The Party arrest, and punish him. So at this point in the novel, I can’t say that I like him anymore.
11.) One of his hallucinations was that he thought Aaronson, Rutherford, and Jones were innocent. According to O’Brien the picture that proved their innocence was also a hallucination and none of it was true.
12.) The Party clings to power because power is omnipotent. Basically by having power you can control the world and everyone who lives in it.
13.) According to O’Brien the picture of the future is Big Brother having infinite control. The future will be different because The Party will control everyone and everything. Babies would be taken from their mothers, they would capture their enemies and make them side with The Party, and they would control the whole world, because the whole world would be Oceania.
14.) The ultimate breakdown of Winston’s rebellion was when he sold out Julia. He did this when they threatened him with rats, his greatest fear in the world, and he told them to torture her instead of himself.
15.) He trained himself to crimestop by figuring that being clueless was better than being in on everything. He would present himself with the ideas of the party and then he forced himself to not understand.
16.) He went there because he committed thought crime, wrote in the diary, had sex with Julia, and because he was plainly against The Party. However, everyone that got arrested eventually ended up in Room 101. Winston’s ultimate terror was rats. O’Brien said that the ultimate terror differed from person to person, and for Winston this was rats.
17.) They didn’t carry on their relationship because after everything they didn’t feel the same way about each other. After they were both tortured and betrayed each other, they didn’t feel love anymore, which sent them their separate ways.
18.) It plays such a large role in the novel because today we can do pretty much whatever we want and no one can say anything to us about it. Sex just so happens to be one of those freedoms. People do it in some of the most private moments in their life. By having Big Brother control this aspect of someone’s life is to show just how much conrol Big Brother has over everyone in Oceania.
19.) The last sentence in 1984 is “He loved Big Brother.” It means that in the end Winston lost and they brainwashed him into being like everyone else, following the rules and believing in everything The Party did and said.
20.) My feelings about the book changed from the beginning to the end. In the beginning I didn’t find it interesting at all and I thought that it was going to be quite boring. However as I got deeper into the pages and learned about all of the conflicts and circumstances in the book, I found it more entertaining and enjoyable, which I greatly appreciated.
The turning point in the book, for me, was when Winston began rebelling against Big Brother and The Party by writing in the diary. I also found it an interesting viewpoint to see how people would have to live if the government controlled everything, and basically every moment of your life was being watched and ridiculed. The worst part however would have been not having the freedom of expression, such as not being able to speak or think about how you really felt about things.
I was thrilled when Winston met Julia and then they both met O’Brien. I thought they had found someone who was in the Brotherhood and shared their views about The Party. It was a big disappointment when it’s found out that O’Brien is just there to trick people, like Winston, into proving that they are disloyal to Big Brother and then turning them into the thought police. I would have to say that, that’s one of my least favorite parts of the novel. I thought they were all going to go in together and destroy The Party and return everything to a state of what we would all call normalcy. However, over all I would say that this book was very interesting and brought up a lot of good viewpoints about a totalitarian leader.
Melissa Jackson
5th period
1. How would you feel if you were in Winston's shoes at the start of Book III? Are there any parallels that you can draw in your own life to try to understand his situation? Write a 300 word response in which you consider these questions.
If I were in Winston’s shoes at the start ob book III I would feel betrayed, worried about what would happen, and scared. Winston knew he had been arrested, and he knew that he had been caught. What Winston didn’t know was how long it had been since him and Julia had been arrested. If I were in a room with nothing except for a bench and telescreens on each of the walls I would most likely lose my mind.
I’ve never been in a situation like Winston’s, nor do I ever want to be in that situation. I wouldn’t be able to understand his situation at all actually. I guess a situation that would be kind of close would be the fire that happened in Florida when I was about 4 or 5. We were living in Florida and my mom was pregnant, my dad had just left to go up to Kentucky. We lived in a small town. I think we were in the middle of a drought, fires we’re starting easily then, I think it was about one street away from where we lived aught fire. We evacuated and went to my grandmas. There were about 10 of use in my grandma’s small house. Others in our town lost their cloths and houses to the fire. I guess a story that would go more along with Winston’s situation would be the ice storm when I was in like 5th grade. We actually had just got back into the state when it hit. Normally we had four people living in our house but that week we had like 6 maybe. There were many people stuck without water or electric. Without electric they wouldn’t be able to cook food unless the used a grill I guess. That would ever be as bad as what Winston went though. I would hate to have been him.
2. What devices did the state have for enforcing total control?
The telescreen was a device used for total control. While using the telescreen the party could see what everyone was doing. They also tortured people in room 101 into believe what the party tells them to believe.
3. What is Big Brother?
Big Brother is an idea. He is a figure that the party made up to make the citizens believe that there was someone watching them.
4. What thoughts did the woman hanging clothes in the yard cause Winston to have?
He thought that the woman was beautiful. He also thought that the woman took in washing cloths for a living.
5. How had Winston and Julia been spied on?
There was a telescreen in the room above Mr. Carrington‘s shop where Winston and Julia would go. Mr. Carrington told Winston that there was no telescreen when in fact there was, it was hidden behind the picture.
6. Describe Winston's cell.
The first cell Winston was in was a dirty cell full of people. The second cell was empty most of the time he was in there. It was white with telescreens. There were a few benches to sit on. He believed that he was in the Ministry of Love because there were no windows.
7. What crime did Winston's first cell mate commit? His second?
His first cell mate was arrested for something with literature and poetry. He found that there were only 12 words rhyming with rod. He was arrested for leaving the word “God” at the end of a poem. His second cell mate was turned in to the thought police by his daughter who heard him saying in his sleep “down with big brother.”
8. What appears to be the ultimate torture?
It appears that the ultimate torture is in room 101 where they are shocked or pain is used of them.
9. What methods of forcing confessions are used in the Ministry of Love?
Methods used in the Ministry of Love to force confessions would be starvation, torture, beating people until the confess, interrogations, and some kind of machine that they tie the people up to and turn a dial which in forces pain and can break their back or make it feel like their back is going to break.
10. What is O'Brien's job? How does this change our opinions of him?
O’Brien works for the Ministry of Love. His job was to find the people most against the party and make them like the party. I think that O’Brien is a traitor and that he really doesn’t care about anything other than everyone being robots to the party.
11. Give one of Winston's "hallucinations" about the past?
One of Winston’s “hallucinations” is when he was looking at the picture of Aaronson, Rutherford, and Jones. He believes it to be true but O’Brien tells him he made it up and it is not true, its just a hallucination.
12. Why does the party cling to power?
O’Brien tells Winston “The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake.” The party doesn’t care about anyone other than controlling them. They are not interested in the good of the people just the power over the people.
13. What is the picture of the future according to O'Brien?
The future according to O’Brien is Big Brother ruling everyone. He sees the party having power oer everything and everyone. He says that there will be no enemies because the party would change them and babies would be taken away from their mothers at birth. He says that there will be no love expect for the love for Big Brother.
14. What demonstrates the ultimate breakdown of Winston's rebellion?
Winston’s ultimate breakdown was when he betrayed Julia. He had no love in him anymore, the party had finally gotten to him.
15. How did Winston train himself to crimestop?
Winston taught himself to stop believe his own thoughts and just believe what the party tells him to believe.
16. What sent Winston to Room 101? What is his ultimate terror?
I think that what sent him to room 101 was the fact that he still loved Julia. He said her name when he slept. Winston’s ultimate terror was when O’Brien put a cage of rats on his head. He couldn’t take it any longer so that is when he betrayed Julia.
17. Why did Winston and Julia not carry on their relationship after meeting again?
They both betrayed each other and were not able to love anymore. The party had stopped them from being able to love anyone but Big Brother.
18. People are often shocked at the sexual content in 1984. Why does sex play such a large role in the novel? What could Orwell be suggesting by having Big Brother try to manipulate and control that part of people's lives?
Sex played a large role in the book because it was something that was looked down upon and the party wanted to stop sex from happening.
19. What is the last sentence of 1984? What does it mean?
The last sentence of 1984 was “He loved Big Brother.” I think it means that the party got to him and that he believed that all along he loved big brother. .
20. What are your final thoughts after having read the book? Write a 300-word minimum response in which you can discuss thoughts, feelings and details about the novel that you found difficult, interesting, profound, etc.
After reading the book I’ve realized that I actually like parts of it. The first book was extremely boring, the second book was interesting and the third book was interesting. I think my favorite part of the book had to be when Julia and Winston were caught. That part kept my attention. The first book was completely boring, it had me literally wanting to throw the book, which I might have a couple times . Just kidding about throwing the book. It was just boring and didn’t keep me interested. The second and thirds books were the most interesting. They were the most outgoing parts, and when I say that I mean the most interesting things happened in the entire book. I felt like the beginning could have been better but the middle and end were pretty good. The lack of privacy the characters had in the book was kind of annoying. They couldn’t do anything without fear of being caught, which made me mad with all the sneaking around. I thought that they should have been at least allowed to do some things. Where Orwell had made his own little language in the book was confusing. I could understand what they were talking about half the time. He also went on and on describing everything. I mean why couldn’t get just get to the point? I found the first book to be very difficult and confusing, the beginning of the second book was a little confusing when he was trying to talk to Julia but as it went on it became easier to read. The third book was kind of confusing also. I don’t really know how to describe the third book. I liked the book though. It was pretty good, if I may say so. I thought that it was a good choice and helped people understand a totalitarian regime
Book III
5th period
1. I would…go insane. Just that simple, sense I obviously didn’t crack when I was out of the ministry, I would go insane. First, I would know it was over, contemplate suicide and if I were to scared to do it (or couldn’t find a way to) the walls would start to close in on me. I might last a few tortures before they had to deal with a absolute insane nut job that can’t even distinguish if he were human or some kind of walking telescreen. What would happen then would be my sooner or later death, they can’t help an actually, freak out and jump threw the nearest window thinking he can fly, crazy man. Or can they? If somehow I would manage to keep my sanity at first, the end result would always be the same. Dead or crazy, I can’t stand to be helpless like that.
I do have a parallel to understand Winston’s situation. When I was a freshman I was grounded for getting a bad grade. I ended up being grounded for a whole 9 weeks. It wasn’t really a bad punishment either: I could only be on the computer or play with any electronic games for 2 hours a day (although it later changed to 2 hours a day on weekdays and either I think, unlimited time on the weekends). It was a troubling loss of freedom considering I lived on my computer. TV sucked then as it sucks now, maybe a few good shows but really it was worthless to me (besides the radio station that was a part of the Dish plan, I loved that station). Although I lost my freedom and life was a bore, more or less, it wasn’t THAT bad. I know what some loss of freedom is like, I remember waiting for the time when I could use my computer for as long as I wanted to again how badly I wanted it. I may only have one parallel to Winston’s situation, but the very thought of going through what he had to skill makes me loony.
2. What devices did the state have for enforcing total control?
The sate had all sorts of devices. There most common and most powerful were probably the telescreens and the hidden microphones. With these tools the party could remove all privacy and make it to hard to do anything BUT what they tell you to. Also with the telescreens comes a vent for using more of their devices such as, propaganda, and the constant music for detouring much of the deep-thoughts people could have if they were in a quiet room. Other devices they had were more subtle, such as controlling thoughts threw newspeak or keeping people from the truth with…the Ministry of Truth! These things along with thought crime and the thought police (both of those had to do with a person having a rogue thought against the party) kept people from thinking of anyway to not obey big brother.
3. What is Big Brother?
Big Brother is a group of people who have similar ideas that run the country of Oceania. They rule with absolute power and are the major image in everyone’s lives (even though they are seen as BB and not individual people).
4. What thoughts did the woman hanging clothes in the yard cause Winston to have?
He thought about the life of the girl. He contemplated on all the things she must have gone through (rasing a family etc.) He was amazed at how after all the stuff she had been throughout, not only was she sinning but beautiful.
5. How had Winston and Julia been spied on?
A telescreen was hidden behind a picture in the old room of the antique store.
6. Describe Winston's cell.
A square room, no windows and two telescreens on opposite walls. A bench ran around the walls of the room and was just wide enough to sit on. A break in the bench made room where a toilet had been placed, the toilet didn’t even have a wooden seat.
7. What crime did Winston's first cell mate commit? His second?
His cellmate used the word God at the end of a poem. The party does not tolerate religion so having a reference to one in anything is a crime. The second cellmate committed thought crime. He was turned in by his children for mumbling “down with big brother” in his sleep.
8. What appears to be the ultimate torture?
Going to room 101.
9. What methods of forcing confessions are used in the Ministry of Love?
Torture mainly. Physical torture and mental torture so the victim will not only confess but his mind will be reworked and he will become a product of BB. The other is after the torture, the party uses a “good-cop bad-cop” strategy to help “rebuild” the victim.
10. What is O'Brien's job? How does this change our opinions of him?
O’Brien is an interrogator for the though police. I don’t like him at all. He is just another product of BB, not really a person, more like a mindless slave to the party.
11. Give one of Winston's "hallucinations" about the past?
His mother goes to the store and promises to get him something good if he behaves while she’s gone. When she comes back, she has a shoots-an-ladders game. Him and his mom play the game and a have a blast (despite the fact that the game is in a poor condition). In the end, he was laughing and having a good time, his little sister, was also laugh (cause he was laughing, she was too young to play the game) and his mother was also happy. It was one of the only happy evenings spent in house when he was a kid.
12. Why does the party cling to power?
The party clings to power because that’s the party’s goal. They do what they do to keep power. As O’Brien said “The party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness; only power, pure power.”
13. What is the picture of the future according to O'Brien?
A bleak place where people only grow more merciless as time goes on. A world where people will only have three emotions, fear rage triumph and self-abasement. No one will trust anyone else, the ties between even mother and child will be broken. There will be no loyalty or lover unless its to the party and BB. However there will always be this : power.
14. What demonstrates the ultimate breakdown of Winston's rebellion?
When Winston Betrayed Julia. That was the only bit of rebellion left in him. He had loved her up to that point, but when he betrayed her, he became almost a complete product of BB.
15. How did Winston train himself to crimestop?
“He presented himself with propositions-“ The party says the earth is flat,” “The party says that ice is heavier then water” and trained himself in not seeing or not understanding the arguments that contradicted them.” Winston used a simple technique to train himself in crimestop. Just like completing a worksheet in school, one that focuses on a single subject so the student can learn. He presented himself with a series of problems and practiced with them.
16. What sent Winston to Room 101? What is his ultimate terror?
Winston woke up crying out his love for Julia. That meant that he still had not completely committed to BB.
17.Why did Winston and Julia not carry on their relationship after meeting again?
After they had found out that they both betrayed each other, the love was gone. That and they both followed to rules of the party, so love was meaningless.
18. People are often shocked at the sexual content in 1984. Why does sex play such a large role in the novel? What could Orwell be suggesting by having Big Brother try to manipulate and control that part of people's lives?
Sex plays an important role because it is our most primal and important freedom.
Orwell probably had BB try to control that part of the people lives for a reason like this. In 1984 sex is on the decline, and frowned upon. The freedom to have sex is such a necessity that Winston risks his life to partake in the act. The very fact that it’s a taboo to have sex at all is such a blow to human nature that the people acting more like “animated shells” is no surprise. With sex being the most important freedom, it being taken away means that people have absolutely NO freedom whatsoever. Thus complete control and power of the existence of the populous.
19. What is the last sentence of 1984? What does it mean?
The last sentence is “He loved Big Brother.” It means that despite how rebellious Winston was, despite how hard he tried to win, Winston still lost completely. Winston knew that being able to die and still hate BB meant freedom, and if he died while hating BB he would have beaten them. However he died while loving BB and therefore in the end, Winston lost completely.
20. My final thoughts of the novel… for one thing if I wasn’t so sure it wasn’t going to happen in, at leas my lifetime, I would be freaking out man! However I could be wrong about this, only time will tell. But for the record I found it most amusing. It was similar to a watermelon, when first going into the novel, the out sides were bleak and hard to swallow, however the closer I got to the middle the tastier it became. The first book was like cough syrup, I didn’t want to read it, It was horrible and I don’t want to read it again however it was good for me and helped my grade. The ends justified the means. Then (and I know I’m using the taboo “list” sequence you don’t want me to use, however this isn’t an analytical essay) comes book II, that was when the “love” happened. Yes that book was more interesting then the first. “Stuff” and “things” happened with the characters moving the book forward and although not exactly the least “profound” part of the story, it wasn’t boring, which is a books greatest fear.
Book III, this part forcefully took over my mind, making me its slave and demanding that I, instead of putting the book down, read each page in a (for lack of a better term) “systematically-chaotic-frenzy” while going hyper speed. That’s a mouth full, but that the truth. I really liked the last book, I kept waiting for the and when I finally read the last sentence “He loved Big Brother” I eagerly turned the page to find… APPENDIX?! (gasp) The book was over, like a slap to the face it just ended...ANYWAY I found the ending wasn’t too bad, but it never ended anything, which in my opinion was more or less the point: Big Brothers ruling never ends.
Overall I liked the novel. It made me realize how important it is that something like this gets out to the public, and comforts me to know that its been assimilated into our culture. Such as the never-used-to-mean-something-good “Big Brother is watching you!” quote people use form time to time. In the end, I just hope people heed 1984’s warning, so as to prevent Big Brother from fixing his gave upon me(and the rest of us).
1.How would you feel if you were in Winston's shoes at the start of Book III? Are there any parallels that you can draw in your own life to try to understand his situation? Write a 300 word response in which you consider these questions.
I would feel frightened and terrified of not knowing where I was or what day is it or even how I got to wherever I was . Especially not having food in my stomach and not knowing when I’ll receive another meal would make me feel even more panicked than what I already was. Winston was actually brave for all this to be going on although he mostly thought of food over everything else. If I was put in that predicament I would not have handled it so well, I would probably be kicking and screaming and most likely have a mental break down. I don’t know how Winston could have been so calm especially when that one guy got hit In the face for trying to give a starving man food, I would have freaked out and try to run out of the cell screaming. I would probably get vaporized on the spot or tortured to death. Knowing what Winston went through I can’t think of any of my life situation’s that could be similar to that of his situation.
2. What devices did the state have for enforcing total control?
The most important device for enforcing total control is the Telescreen. They can see what everyone was doing and what they were potentially thinking and they can use it against you.
3. What is Big Brother?
Big Brother is the embodiment of the party. He exists for the party’s uses but not in the same way as that Winston exists.
4. What thoughts did the woman hanging clothes in the yard cause Winston to have?
Winston had a few thoughts when he heard the woman outside singing while she was hanging clothes. He wondered whether or not she washed clothes for a living. He wondered if she was a slave to several grandchildren. He thought she was beautiful and very hard working.
5. How had Winston and Julia been spied on?
Winston and Julia had secret meetings above Mr.Charrington’s shop. They were spied on by a telescreen they knew nothing about. It was hid behind a picture mounted to the wall. Also Mr. Charrington was a member of the thought police and was spying on them as well.
6. Describe Winston's cell.
Winston didn’t know where he was; he figured he was in the Ministry of Love. His cell was high ceiling and windowless. With concealed lamps the cell was lit by cold light. He heard a low humming sound thought to be the air supply. There was a bench or shelf that was wide enough to sit on that ran around the wall. There were four telescreens, one on each wall.
7. What crime did Winston's first cell mate commit? His second?
Winston’s first cellmate was Ampleforth. Ampleforth is a poet that was composing a piece, and then he allowed the word ‘God’ to remain at the end of a line. The reason for doing so, he says, is because that it was impossible to change the last line. Nothing rhymes with ‘rod’ besides ‘God’, he claims. His second cellmate was is neighbor Mr.Parsons. Parsons says that he is there for Thoughtcrime. His kids turned him in for saying ‘Down with Big Brother!’ in his sleep.
8. What appears to be the ultimate torture?
The ultimate torture varies from individual. O’Brien says, “…it may be burial alive, or death by fire, or impalement, or fifty other deaths. There are cases where it is some quite trivial thing, not even fatal.” For Winston, the ultimate torture is rats. O’Brien sets a cage of rats on Winston’s head causing him to submit and give in to O’Brien, but most of all, to betray Julia. The most common method they use, before Room 101 where the ultimate torture takes place, is placing each limb in a separate cuff, and then when the dial is turned, each cuff pulls on the limbs. They make the person believe that they’re pulling them apart.
9. What methods of forcing confessions are used in the Ministry of Love?
Number one, which pretty much was the method for everything that they did, was torture. They would beat anyone into believing that they had committed the crimes that they were accused of. The ministry of Love also had a time of machine that would shock you throughout your entire body and the amount and shock would keep growing more and more if you said something wrong. Another device was room 101, they wanted to know just how far you would go, and that room would make anybody admit anything.
10. What is O'Brien's job? How does this change our opinions of him?
O’Brien’s job was to find the most loyal brotherhood members and turn them into the Party. He was to make them believe in everything the Party did. He had tricked Winston all along; he had been a member of the Ministry of Love the whole time. My opinions of O’Brien have changed but not dramatically. I think he’s a trader and he’s a horrible person. However, he thinks what he’s doing is right, and he believes this is the only was to help Winston. So really when everybody thinks what he’s doing to Winston is mean and out of hatred, O’Brien really thinks that he’s helping Winston, and that this is the right thing to do. So he’s not entirely horrible for that. If he were doing it to be mean, then that would be a completely different story.
11. Give one of Winston's "hallucinations" about the past?
One of Winston’s hallucinations about the past was when he thought he saw a picture of Aaronson, Rutherford, and Jones (men who were executed for treachery and sabotage after making the fullest possible confession) at a party function in New York. The same day they had been committed of their crimes.
12. Why does the party cling to power?
O’Brien says: “The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake.” The party isn’t particularly interested in the good of other; they are only interested solely in power. With all this power they can control the mind, everyone and everything. They are god, anything they wish can happen.
13. What is the picture of the future according to O'Brien?
A bleak place where people only grow more merciless as time goes on. A world where people will only have three emotions, fear rage triumph and self-abasement. No one will trust anyone else, the ties between even mother and child will be broken. There will be no loyalty or lover unless its to the party and BB. However there will always be this : power.
14. What demonstrates the ultimate breakdown of Winston's rebellion?
“He presented himself with propositions-“ The party says the earth is flat,” “The party says that ice is heavier then water” and trained himself in not seeing or not understanding the arguments that contradicted them.” Winston used a simple technique to train himself in crimestop. Just like completing a worksheet in school, one that focuses on a single subject so the student can learn. He presented himself with a series of problems and practiced with them.
15. How did Winston train himself to crimestop?
Winston taught himself to stop believe his own thoughts and just believe what the party tells him to believe.
16. What sent Winston to Room 101? What is his ultimate terror?
Winston woke up crying out his love for Julia. That meant that he still had not completely committed to BB.
17. Why did Winston and Julia not carry on their relationship after meeting again?
They both betrayed each other and were not able to love anymore. The party had stopped them from being able to love anyone but Big Brother.
18. People are often shocked at the sexual content in 1984. Why does sex play such a large role in the novel? What could Orwell be suggesting by having Big Brother try to manipulate and control that part of people's lives?
It plays such a large role in the novel because today we can do pretty much whatever we want and no one can say anything to us about it. Sex just so happens to be one of those freedoms. People do it in some of the most private moments in their life. By having Big Brother control this aspect of someone’s life is to show just how much conrol Big Brother has over everyone in Oceania.
19. What is the last sentence of 1984? What does it mean?
The last sentence in 1984 is “He loved Big Brother.” It means that in the end Winston lost and they brainwashed him into being like everyone else, following the rules and believing in everything The Party did and said.
20. What are your final thoughts after having read the book? Write a 300-word minimum response in which you can discuss thoughts, feelings and details about the novel that you found difficult, interesting, profound, etc.
George Orwell's novel, 1984 was extremely profound, if a bit overly politically charged. The fact that the Party controls anything and everything, is , I think, the theme of the whole book. Independant thought and language are controlled by the Thoughtpolice and a new language called Newspeak that deletes words and makes many avenues of speech imposible, especially thoughts that contradicted the ideas and teachings of Ingsoc, or English Socialism. The fact that the Party can control and limit thought and the language that these thoughts are expressed in, is so different from the way of life that we have, that it's difficult to wrap our minds around such a concept.In the beginning of the novel, Winston begins to resist the Party. He writes in a diary, thinks things that are against the Party,and falls in love with Julia. Winston thinks that although these things are illegal and he knows that he will get caught eventually, that his resistance is going unnoticed. Later on in the story, we find out that Winston had been watched by the Party for many years. They knew his every thought, every action, every desire. Winston is captured and totured for his "crimethink." The fact that the Party can watch anyone at any given time is very disturbing.Orwell's 1984 is very unique, in that it introduces to us concepts that are foiegn to our way of life, but based on totalitarian regimes of the past. We, living in a nation where our rights are protected find it profoundly disturbing that what we feel are basic haman rights are being violated by the government, without resistance from the public. The book was extremly different from anything I have ever read, because the concept of government control is different and more disturbing, to me, than anyhting I have ever heard about.
1.) How would I feel to be in Winston’s shoes at the start of book III? Winston had no idea where he was, how he got there, or what had happened. I would feel very worried and scared. I would have many questions running through my mind. Like “where am I”, and “what did I do”. Waking up in a place that is very bright and creepy would make me not only scare me but make me wonder. I would be very nervous to because after I came to know where I was I would be afraid to know what they were going to do next. After seeing the Thoughpolice come in and take person after person out of the room I would start to go a little crazy. Thinking when they are going to take me away it would drive me mad.
Relating to this situation that Winston is in is very easy for me to relate. Fighting with your parents can get you grounded sometimes. Much like Winston in jail being grounded shuts you off from the world. Winston had no recognition if it was day or night or even how long he had been there. This is how I feel when I am grounded because my mother completely shuts me off from the world, no phone, no computer, no T.V. Not knowing when my mother is going to come up the stairs to the dungeon I am being held in makes me very nervous while I’m in look down.
This is how I can relate to Winston at the begging of book III. My situation is not quite as extreme as Winston’s but still very horrible. Being scared and nervous would definitely be my feelings if I were in Winston’s shoes.
2.) Some of the devices the party used to have total control are their form of prison. Once you commit a crime they make sure you will never do it again. They will torture you beyond imagination and make you think what they want you to think.
3.) Big Brother is not one single person but is pretty much the government. Big Brother is over everything you do. You never know when he could be watching or listening to what you do.
4.) Winston thinks that the woman hanging clothes is beautiful. He can’t believe himself because she is old and kind of fat but he still thinks she is beautiful.
5.) Winston and Julia were being spied on by a telescreen in Winston’s house. They could not see the telescreen in plain sight because it was behind a picture on the wall.
6.) He was in a high-ceilinged windowless cell with walls of glittering white porcelain. Concealed lamps flooded it with cold light, and there was a low, steady humming sound which he supposed had something to do with the air system.
7.) Winston’s first cellmate was Ampleforth, a writer. He was arrested because he wrote god in one of his writings. Winston’s second cellmate was Mr. Parsons. His crime was thought crime much like everyone else in prison. He committed the thought crime in his sleep and his daughter turned him in.
8.) I think the ultimate torture is the guards coming in and beating you senseless. It could also be the machine O’Brien uses to pull you apart.
9.) The way they make people confess in the ministry of love is unbearable torture. One example is the machines in “Room 101” were they tie you down, and adjust the intensity that pulls you apart.
10.) O’Brien’s job is to torture the people and try to get the change there mind about what they committed thought crime on.
11.) Winston had many hallucinations while O’Brien was torturing him. O’Brien almost convinced him that Aaronson, Rutherford, and Jones did commit the crime. For a brief second Winston believed him, but he remembered the picture of them.
12.) The party clings to power because if they have absolute power than they can control the past, present, and future.
13.) O’Brien’s picture of the future is pretty much the same as it is now. The only difference is that he wants everything to be worse, and there will be no love except the love for Big Brother.
14.) The greatest breakdown that Winston had was at the end of the book when he betrays Julia and let’s himself go. He tries to with stand the torture, but once O’Brien takes him to room 101 he can not take his greatest fear.
15.) Winston trained himself to not commit crime by putting himself into situation to commit crime. But then he makes himself believe what O’Brien told him in the Ministry of Love.
16.) Winston was sent to Room 101 because one day he started to scream Julia’s name. When he got to Room 101 O’Brien straps you to a chair and presents your worst fear right in front of you. Winston’s worst fear is rats.
17.) Winston and Julia do not get back together because they both betray each other in the Ministry of Love. This caused them to not have a deep love for one another anymore.
18.) I think that sex’s plays such a large role because it shows what people will do just have pleasure in there lives. The reason for the party to want to do away with this is because they want no love except the love for big brother. O’Brien even stated in his picture of the future that he wants the only love to be the love for big brother.
19.) The last sentence of the book is “he loved big brother”. I think this is trying to say that O’Brien had conquered another person who might have been trying to run down the party. It also shows how that people can torture someone to where they will give up love.
20.) My thoughts on the book nineteen-eighty four are kind of lop sided. When I read the first page I was thinking this is just going to be another long book. Then it started to describe everything then I grew on it fast. At the begging of the book I was somewhat bored, even though there were a few interesting parts. Like when he is at work and the telescreen comes on and the people start screaming and yelling at the pictures of the enemy. Another interesting part was when Ms. Parsons asked Winston to come over to her house to fix something. Orwell did I great job in describing the conditions that some of the people where living and how bad they had it.
When I got to the second book I was actually surprised. Orwell surprised me because of the detail that he put into the sexual parts of the second book. But this book would not have been as powerful as a book without these parts. This shows that man kind cannot survive without pleasure in ones life. Another surprising part I thought is of course when Winston is caught. This surprised me because I truly believed that Winston was going to take over the party and everything was going to be good.
Then I got to the third book, “WOW”, is pretty much all I can say. This in my mind was the best of the three books. It keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole way through. It’s full of nasty, freaky, and nerve racking parts. My favorite part in book three has to be when O’Brien is torturing Winston with the machine that pulls you apart. Even though Winston is tortured horribly he will not give in.
This book is definitely one of my favorite books of all time. It is full of excitement and great detail. It starts a little slow but ends great and none expecting. But I do not love Big Brother.
1] In book 3 of the novel 1984, Winston awakes to a dirty, enclosed jail cell. If I were to put myself in his shoes, and describe my emotions, first would come shock. Winston did not know his exact whereabouts, what time it was, how long he had been there, or what was going to happen next. He was starving and the four telescreens around him were increasing his nervousness. If I were to put myself in his shoes and look at it from his perspective, I would have had a heart attack right then and there. That, or a seizure. I would not have been able to handle everything that was happening at that one time, and once reality set in, I would have freaked out. Also, my hatred for the party would have kicked up about ten notches. If I didn’t have a heart attack, then I would have tried to plan some way to kill the people holding me hostage.
I definitely have not had anything happen to me that is quite so traumatizing. There is one instance though, where I thought I’d be locked up for a while. I was attending a New Years party at my aunt’s house and there were at least twenty-five children there under the age of fourteen. We were all upstairs in a room that resembled a dungeon. It had brown tile walls and floors, and a secret passage that led outside. The others and I were forbidden to use the passage, for it was dangerous. About an hour of us all being in the room, which seemed very tine with twenty-five screaming kids, we realized the door was locked. It locked from the outside, which meant some one had purposely trapped us in there. The wild and uncontrollable children remind me of the drunken lady who annoyed Winston. After two hours, we were finally let out of the room. Even though this experience was nothing compared to Winston’s, it made me very nervous. That gives me some kind of understanding as to how Winston must have felt. I would never want to be placed in that situation.
2] The state possesses many devices for enforcing total control, such as manipulating people with their propaganda, telescreens and torture tactics. The thought police investigate people who look suspicious, which enable the party to control what people think, say and do. They arrest people for making wrong accusations towards big brother and/or simply looking guilty of thinking against it. There are no rules, but yet it seems there are only certain things a person can do to not be arrested.
3] Big brother is not just one person, but an idea that is run by an organization, otherwise known as the inner party. Big brother can be referred to as a totalitarian dictator and is a basic idea that can control an entire group of people. In Oceana, there are posters of a man everywhere who is said to be Big Brother. No one can know for sure though if it is a real person because he is never seen nor talked about other than his being great. Contrary to popular belief throughout Oceana, O’Brian told Winston that he did not exist when Winston asked, “……..”
4] While Winston watched the woman hang clothes, he wondered to himself if she did it willingly or because she felt as if it was demanded. He soon realized that the woman is beautiful in her own way. He questioned “Why should the fruit be held inferior to the fruit?” when Julia had insisted her hips were very wide.
5] Winston and Julia were staying in a room above Mr. Charrington’s shop. They soon realized he was a member of the thought police when the picture fell off the wall and the small telescreen was exposed.
6] Winston’s cell that he had been in for however long was a very plain, white room. It had no windows, which disabled Winston from knowing what time of day it was. Also, it had no darkness. There were lamps scattered about, beaming light on him from every direction. He awoke lying on a bench and noticed something similar to a toilet ahead of him. There were four telescreens, one on each wall, that watched Winston’s every move and yelled at him when he did something to quickly or suspicious.
7] Winston first cellmate was an uneasy man by the name of Ampleforth. He had a very dirty appearance and when Winston asked him, "What are you in for?", he replied, "Tell you the truth, there is only one offense, is there not?" Ampleforth went on to describe the situation and stated a ridiculous instance when he was reciting a poem and used the word God because it rhymed with rod. Winston's second cellmate was none other than Mr. parsons. His seven year old child had turned him in for thought crime, claiming that he chanted "down with big brother" in his sleep.
8] As Winston lye in the cell, watching prisoner after prisoner be taken to Room 101, he soon realized that in that room was the ultimate torture. Finally it was Winston’s turn to be taken to that room and O’Brian explained that the ultimate torture is not the same for every person. In Winston’s case, the ultimate torture was rats because he had nightmares about them.
9] In the Ministry of love, there were multiple methods used to make prisoners confess. The first and most used method was torture. The prisoners were beaten until they confessed all their crimes, and in Winston’s case, some that he didn’t think he had committed.
Also, there was a machine that shocked your entire body. The dial went up to 100 and the more you refused the higher amount of pain you received.
Lastly, there was the type of torture that messed with your head and not your body. The sleep shot was given to Winston many times, which caused him to lose track of time and become very weak. Eventually, he had no energy to argue anymore.
10] O’Brian worked for the Ministry of Love where convinced haters of Big Brother that he was in the Brotherhood. Once he caught them, his fellow thought police members imprisoned them. O’Brian then interrogated the culprits until they transformed their hate for Big Brother into love. O’Brian’s actions completely changed my opinion of him. When he first gave Winston the book, I though Winston was going to join the Brotherhood and eventually lead the downfall of Big Brother. But O’Biran soon grew from a hero to a zero when I realized he only a manipulator.
11] O’Brian informed Winston that his thoughts about the past were nothing but hallucinations. An example of this would be the newspaper clipping of Aaronson, Rutherford, and Jones. Winston knew that they were not guilty of the crime they were accused of. Contrary to Winston’s knowledge, O’Brian insisted that Winston was crazy and made it up.
12] The party is convinced that obtaining all power will allow them to control whatever they want whenever they want. With the amount of power the party has, they rule everyone’s actions, thoughts and beliefs.
13] According to Big Brother, the future holds a picture of nothing but love for Big Brother. He explains to Winston that babies will be separated from their parents at birth and be taught to confide in Big Brother. O’Brian said the enemies will always be defeated and controlled, and in time, the party would rule the world. Winston was completely disturbed when O’Brian stated that the future would be equivalent to a boot stomping on a face forever.
14] When Winston was sentenced to Room 101, that was definitely his ultimate breakdown. O’Brian held a box that contained Winston’s uttermost fear, rats. In this form of torture, Winston was supposed to have love for Big Brother. When the rats were close enough to Winston’s face, he finally wished that such things were happening to Julia and not him.
15] Winston taught himself to believe opposite of what he would have before the incident with O’Brian. His new thoughts were things the party would have said such as, “The Earth is flat.” The party did its job because Winston no longer thought against Big Brother, but with it.
16] Winston was sent to Room 101 because he still had love for Julia. One day he thought Julia was somehow inside of him and he shouted her name multiple times. That made O’Brian believe that Winston was ready for the 3rd stage of interrogation, loving Big Brother, and not Julia. Winston’s ultimate fear, which was rats, made him wish Julia were in the situation and not him.
17] After being sent to the Ministry of Love, Julia and Winston no longer loved each other because of their betrayals. They had nothing to say to one another, so they’re conversation was not lengthy.
18] Sex to a person is the greatest joy they can have physically. In the novel, it plays a very large role being that Winston often fantasizes of sexual occurrences. The party wishes for no love except for that of Big Brother. The fact that they can take away the sexual rights of the people in Oceana demonstrates their control.
19] In the novel 1984, the last sentence is, “He loved Big Brother.” In my opinion, that sentence was very disappointing, yet very real. Real in the sense that it made me realize the complete and utter control that the party had. I thought Winston would fight through it and stand up for himself, but Big Brother was so powerful that not even he could do so. I hate Big Brother.
20] After finishing the book 1984, I now have a better understanding of the importance of rights and privacy. I am thankful for my freedom after reading the book more so than I was before. The book was very informational rather than entertaining for me. I didn’t become interested until Winston and Julia began to see each other. The fact that they were sneaking to be together and hiding their relationship was something I could relate to and it was interesting to see how they handled it. There were parts in the novel that was not easy for me to understand, such as the terms. I didn’t realize what Newspeak exactly was whenever it was first mentioned, but the more I read, the more I was able to comprehend what was happening. Also, as I continued to read, I was able to put myself in Winston’s position and to feel his emotions and hate for Big Brother. That was what I really enjoyed about the novel, the fact that I felt involved.
If I were to enter a bookstore and buy a novel, 1984 most definitely would not have been the one I chose. I am glad I read it though because I feel I know more about governments and the way they could control people. The dictatorship of Big Brother was outrageous and I really feel strongly about my freedom now.
The sex factor, yes it played a big role in novel, but it was not one of the highlights for me. The part I was most interested in occurred in book three, when O’Brian was breaking down Winston and his thoughts. I’m not sure why I liked this part the most but it was amazing to me that O’Brian had so much power he could corrupt Winston’s mind. I really believed in Winston and I wanted him to be the downfall of Big Brother. It was very disappointing for me that the opposite of that is how the book ended; stating that Winston loved Big Brother.
Hillary Johnson
Mr. Parsons
Advanced English ll
December 8, 2008
1. How would you feel if you were in Winston's shoes at the start of Book III? Are there any parallels that you can draw in your own life to try to understand his situation? Write a 300 word response in which you consider these questions.
If I was Winston at the beginning of Book 3, I would be afraid for my life. Winston had just been captured by the Thought Police, for committing Thought Crime. Winston describes waking up in a white cell, and he felt like he had not eaten in a number of days, along with not knowing how long he had been in the cell. If I were Winston, I would be thinking about what was going to happen to me in the near future, knowing of what usually happens to most people who commit Thought Crime, torture and then death. The white rooms, and the hunger would drive me insane, and I would not know what to do. Honestly, being cooped up in a room like that, I am sure that committing suicide probably would cross my mind. If that did not happen, then I am sure I would have gotten myself into more trouble by screaming at the Party, which would probably have caused my death.
I have been punished lately by my mom, sort of for committing Thought Crime. I think about a certain someone all the time, and my mom always catches me while I am doing this. My mother usually sends me straight to my room, so that I can lay in bed and just think and dread the punishment that I am about to receive. This usually results in getting my room phone and my cell phone taken away, which would result in me having to wait to get my phones back, whenever my mother would release them to me.
Even though that this is no way near the stress and wait that Winston experienced, I was still kind of charged with Thought Crime, and that wait to get my phones back drove me crazy. Winston got a way worse punishment, but this is the closest thing I have ever experienced to what Winston experienced.
2. What devices did the state have for enforcing total control?
When someone committed a crime, most of the time, the state would torture, and/or kill the person. They also enforced total control by just scaring the citizens and letting them know that they were always watching them. They did this by having telescreens in their homes to watch them, or having their own children as spies. They also did this by having signs everywhere that had Big Brother on them, stating their slogans.
3. What is Big Brother?
When I first started reading the novel, I always believed that Big Brother was not just one particular person, but just someone that was made up to scare the citizens, when really Big Brother was just a group of people in the Party. Well, I was right. Big Brother was just an idea that was used to scare the citizens. They used the idea Big Brother to contribute propaganda to the citizens of Oceania. O’Brien tells Winston in the end of the novel that Big Brother will never die, which gives us evidence that Big Brother is not just on particular person, because everybody will die eventually.
4. What thoughts did the woman hanging clothes in the yard cause Winston to have?
Winston believed that the woman that was hanging clothes in the yard was beautiful. Winston loved to watch her, which soon became a frequent thing for Winston to do. Winston let Julia become aware of this also.
5. How had Winston and Julia been spied on?
Winston and Julia had been meeting each other in a room, above Mr. Charrington’s shop. There was a telescreen behind a picture in the room, and when it falls down Winston and Julia realize that it is there, and shortly after that, the Thought Police arrived. Earlier in the novel, Julia states that she wants to clean the picture, and if she had done so, then the telescreen would have been found sooner.
6. Describe Winston's cell.
Winston’s cell was a tall room that had to windows. The room was all white, and was very bright. There were four walls in the room, and each of them had a telescreen on them, giving Winston no privacy. There was a bench for Winston to sit on, that was attached to the wall.
7. What crime did Winston's first cell mate commit? His second?
Winston’s first cell mate was a poet. He used most of his time writing poems and music. In one of his pieces, Ampleforth, the poet, kept the word God in it, which was against the rules. His second cellmate was his neighbor, Mr. Parsons. He was there for committing Thought Crime, by his kids. In his sleep, he yelled, “Down with Big Brother!”
8. What appears to be the ultimate torture?
The ultimate torture, according to Winston, is to let a cage of rats out on him. O’Brien threatens to do this, causing Winston to tell him and everything, and betray Julia. When it is not Winston’s case, some people are buried alive, death by fire, and many more. The most common death is to make the “criminal” believe that their limbs are getting pulled off.
9. What methods of forcing confessions are used in the Ministry of Love?
In the Ministry of Love, they make the criminal believe that their limbs are going to get ripped off. They put each limb in a cuff and they turn the switch which caused their limbs to get pulled on. They are then getting interrogated while this is happening and every time that they get an incorrect response, they their limbs are pulled on harder,
10. What is O'Brien's job? How does this change our opinions of him?
O’Brien is part of the Thought Police. This does not change my thoughts of him at all, because since the beginning of the book, I never thought that O’Brien was currently a part of the Brotherhood, like Winston believed. If I did not think this though, this would make me hate O’Brien and consider him a traitor in Winston’s eyes.
11. Give one of Winston's "hallucinations" about the past?
Winston had many hallucinations about the past, in the novel. Winston had a hallucination about Julia. He yelled her name out of no where, and felt as if she was with him, and better yet, inside of him. At this moment, he loved her more than anything, even better than when they were together.
12. Why does the party cling to power?
The party clings to power because that is what keeps them together. They do this to control people. O’Brien even convinces to Winston that the party does not care about the people, but are interested in just having power.
13. What is the picture of the future according to O'Brien?
O’Brien thinks the future will be the same as what it is now, but far worse. Nobody will leave each other and the only love expressed will be toward big brother. Then, Big Brother only controlled Oceania, but in the future, Oceania will control the World.
14. What demonstrates the ultimate breakdown of Winston's rebellion?
Winston’s rebellion toward the Party gets ruined when he gets placed in room 101. There, he is threatened with rats. Winston has a great fear toward rats, so when he is threatened with them, he lets out everything. He tells the Party everything he has ever done to break the rules, including everything about Julia.
15. How did Winston train himself to crimestop?
Winston has to put in his head that every memory he has ever had is false, and that none of it ever happened, and this is all just his imagination. He tells himself incorrect statements that the Party is trying to make him believe, so that he can train himself to crimestop.
16. What sent Winston to Room 101? What is his ultimate terror?
Winston gets sent to Room 101 because he tells O’Brien that he hates Big Brother over and over again. At this time in the novel, Winston comes back to his senses and believes all of his rebellion again, and makes sure that it is known. O’Brien used Winston’s all time fear against him, by putting him in a dark place, with something terrible on the other side of the wall. Winston’s greatest fear is rats, which O’Brien tells him will eat his face off.
17. Why did Winston and Julia not carry on their relationship after meeting again?
When Winston and Julia met again, they both realized that their feelings had changed toward one another, and that them being together was not worth getting tortured anymore. Whenever they both gave into the Party, they both wanted the torture to be put on one another, and they both admitted that. Therefore, they should not be together anymore.
18. People are often shocked at the sexual content in 1984. Why does sex play such a large role in the novel? What could Orwell be suggesting by having Big Brother try to manipulate and control that part of people's lives?
Sex was such a huge part in 1984 because it was something that Winston desired dearly, but was not allowed to do. This shows how the Party has so much control over the citizens, that they are taking away a huge part in human’s lives, reproduction. It shows the readers how little freedom the people have in the novel.
19. What is the last sentence of 1984? What does it mean?
The last sentence of 1984 was, “He loved Big Brother.” This means that all of the hate that Winston ever had toward Big Brother, was gone. He had been brainwashed, to believe that he loves Big Brother and everything the Party stands for.
20. What are your final thoughts after having read the book? Write a 300-word minimum response in which you can discuss thoughts, feelings and details about the novel that you found difficult, interesting, profound, etc.
Honestly, I did not like how the novel, 1984, ended. I really wanted Winston and the Brotherhood to bring Big Brother down, even though Winston was never really an official member of the Brotherhood. I really did not like how Winston became brainwashed and believed how everybody else did, afraid to have his own opinion about anything. I found interesting that at the end of the novel; both Winston and Julia gave in to the torture and wished that each other would have been tortured. I think it is funny how that both betrayed each other. This shows to me, that they just liked each other for sex, and that they really never loved each other.
At the beginning of the novel, it was very hard to keep up with what was going on, because I could not understand what was going on. I was just then getting used to the political views, and figuring out how the government worked, so it was hard to understand.
If I was a character in the novel, I believe that I would be a rebel, and be a part of the Brotherhood. Because in this world, it really bothers me how my mom controls my life, and I could not realize how I would react when people I was not even related to control my life. When I would be captured, I would not give, and I would probably be killed, because I would just go crazy. I would make sure that I let everybody there know how I felt about Big Brother and the Party.
I did not think that 1984 was a bad novel, I just did not like the way that it ended. The novel described a completely new type of government that I really had never heard of, and I enjoy reading things that are different from the way I live.
Honors English 2
12/04/08
Amanda Harris
2nd period
Parsons Class
1) In Book three of the novel “1984” by George Orwell the character Winston Smith has been caught by the party for committing a crime against Big Brother. Therefore, he is sent to prison. The building has no windows, no clocks, no way of knowing what day it was. He has to sit on the edge of the seat with his hands crossed on his knees. Any move that he makes he get reprimanded for it. For example he was hungry and he reached into his pocket to get out some breadcrumbs that he had left over from earlier. As soon as he did that the telescreen screamed “6079 Smith W! Hands out of pockets in the cells!” While you were in the prison you were always under the eye of the telescreen, Big Brother is always watching.
I can relate to what Winston must be feelings while he is a prisoner in that horrible cage. In order to punish me my mother and father no longer whip me, but instead they ground me. That hurts me worse because I cannot go more than a week without my cell phone, or my computer. I cannot take it when I am sent to my room, and not aloud to come out for so long. I am attracted to sunlight and the outdoors, if I am not out there or I cannot go out it kills me. There is no worse punishment for the wrong that I do than being grounded. And when people are in prisons it is like they are grounded for so many months, weeks, or years even. Some however are grounded for life. A life sentence in prison, and some just dies. It all depends on what they have done.
2) What devices did the state have for enforcing total control?
The state uses horrid torture methods for the ones who betray the government. After that in interrogations begin. Big Brother also has what the call telescreens that are used to spy of the citizens. The people always know that they are being watched because there are posters that say “Big Brother Is Watching.”
3) Big Brother is the government for Oceania. They rule over all, and they make the rules. Not only do they just make the rules but also they punish people who break them. And usually their punishment is torture, or death. They are the big time people; no one ranks higher in Oceania than them.
4) What thoughts did the woman hanging clothes in the yard cause Winston to have?
He began to wonder if the girl was a slave. After he looks at her for awhile with Julia he comes to the realization that she is beautiful.
5) How had Winston and Julia been spied on?
Julia and Winston were in the room above Mr. Charrington’s shop and there was a telescreen placed behind a picture. Then picture ends up falling off of the wall, that was when they noticed the telescreen. Then soon after the thought police came. They find out then that Mr. Charrington was a member of the thought police.
6) Describe Winston’s cell.
Winston is in a cell that has a high ceiling, and that has no windows. The walls are of white porcelain and they sparkle. There is a lavatory pan but it had no seat, and a small bench that was just big enough for you to sit on. His cell was in view of the telescreen, every move that he made was noticed by the party through the telescreen.
7) What crime did Winston’s first cellmate commit? His second?
Winston’s first cellmate was Ampleforth. He was a poet who was writing a piece and he was brought in for allowing the word “God” to remain at the end of a line. His reason was because nothing else rhymed with “rod” that fit. The second cell mate was his neighbor, Mr. Parsons. He told Winston that he was in there because he committed thought crime. His children had turned him in because he had said “Down with Big Brother.” While dreaming in his sleep.
8) What appears to be the ultimate torture?
The punishments all depend on who the individual is. “..it may be burial alive, or death by fire, or impalement, or fifty other deaths. There are cases where it is some quite trivial thing, not even fatal.” O’Brien had told Winston that. But, for Winston his ultimate punishment is rats, O’Brien sets a cage that was full of rats on Winston’s head. By doing so it caused Winston to give in to him, and when he did he gave up Julia.
9) What methods of forcing confessions are used in the Ministry of Love?
When you are in the Ministry of Love they put you on a table and cuff each of your limbs in one, there is a dial that will cause the machine to pull on their limbs. As they do this the victim will be extremely interrogated. If they are caught lying or they give an unacceptable response the dial is turned, and this causes the machine to move putting more pressure on the limbs. Once they have had all the pain they can they end up confessing their crimes.
10) What is O’Brien’s job? How does this change our opinions of him?
O’Brien is a spy for the party, and he works in the Minitstry of Love. He is a member of the thought police who gets the victims to confess and then brain washses them into loving Big Brother. O’Brien also was the writer of Goldsteins book. He tries to make people think that he is part of the brother hood, when truly he is just looking for information to pass onto Big Brother. My opinion changed because I thought that O’Brien was the good guy, but now I am beginning to see his true colors and I am not so sure that I like this guy.
11) Give on of Winston’s “hallucinations” about the past?
One of Winston’s hallucinations was of Julia. He begins yelling her name, he feels her not only in his presence then but that she was inside of him. He confessed his love for her, that is what more so felt now that they were no longer free.
12) Why does the party cling to power?
They want all control, that is why they cling to power. They do not care about the good of the people, but only that of power.
13) What is the picture of the future according to O’Brien?
The picture according to O’Brien would not be a good one. He sees that it will be the same that is happening now, only worse. He wants the world to be based on hate instead of love. He wants control of all the minds of the people, to make them think what he wants them to. The only thing that will be loved in this world you be Big Brother.
14) What demonstrates the ultimate breakdown of Winton’s rebellion?
The untimate breakdown of Winston’s rebellion demonstrates how much hold that Big Brother has on the people. They have the power to strip every ounce of love from two people. They can turn them against each other, make them betray each other just like with Winston and Julia. It is heart breaking, and wrong.
15) How did Winston train himself to crime stop?
Winston trained himself by using statements that contradicted their selves such a this one “Ice is heavier than water.” He made himself believe that the party could do no wrong, they were always right. And he thought himself never to disagree.
16) O’Brien asks Winston what his true feelings for Big Brother are and he says that he hates him. That was what sent him to room 101. This was the room that you learned to love Big Brother. It was the Ministry of Loves last step. Winston’s ultimate terror is rats. And that is what the Ministry of Love uses to get him to confess.
17) Why did Winston and Julia not carry on their relationship after meeting again?
Winston and Julia do not carry there relationship on after meeting again because instead they converse about how the government manipulates people. When they begged for the other to be tortured they meant that all you could care about was yourself. Since they had betrayed one another they agreed that the feeling was lost between them.
18) People are often shocked at the sexual content in 1984. Why does sex lay such a large role in the novel? What could Orwell be suggesting by having Big Brother try to manipulate and control that part of people’s lives?
The reason that George Orwell made sex such an important role was because he wanted to show just how strong the government was. And their hold on the people. They wanted no love for any person to go around, only Big Brothers. And sex is a natural part of human life, and the government took that away from the people of Oceania to show control and eliminate all the love.
19) What is the last sentence of 1984? What does it mean?
The last sentence of “1984” is “He loved Big Brother.” It means that the party won. The manipulated Winston into loving something in which he hated more than anything. That upset me, because the bad guys are not suppose to win. And I had such high hopes for Winston, I thought he would defeat the government, but he crumbled.
20) What are you final thoughts after having read the book? Write a 300-word minimum response in which you can discuss thoughts, feelings and details about the novel that you found difficult, interesting, and profound, etc.
My thoughts and feelings of the book changed drastically throughout the novel. At first I thought it was the most boring book on the planet. Just being honest. But, then I was introduced into Julia and Winston’s relationship and it got so interesting that I couldn’t stop reading. I was constantly wondering what would happen next.
Also, the things that happened in the book scare me. It is very possible that the world we live in now could turn to be like that. I pray that is does not, but it could. That is why we should never take what we have for granted. I think everyone in the United States should read this book, maybe then there would not be as many complainers as there are now.
Also, the book opened my eyes to see how great my life truly is. I have the right to think the way that I want to, I have the right to privacy. And I have the right to love who I want to, and I have the right to be intimate with whoever I choose to. The people of Oceania in this novel did not. The only person they were aloud to love was Big Brother. If they even thought about another being in a sexual or romantic way they were sent to prison for committing thought crime; that is when you think against Big Brother. I could not live like that. I use my mind for a means of escaping, if I did not have that I would go insane.
1. How would you feel if you were in Winston's shoes at the start of Book III? Are there any parallels that you can draw in your own life to try to understand his situation? Write a 300 word response in which you consider these questions.
Winston was in a huge deal of distress from being kidnapped. If he same thing happened to me I would absolutely freak out. I don’t think I would be as calm as Winston was. He was scared but he was very still. There’s no way I could do the same.
The only time that I could relate to this experience was when my brother locked me in the closet. Momand Dad weren’t home so it was like WWF at my house. Brent decided that it would be funny if he locked me in the closet. For me it was dramatic experience that ill never forget. I was only in the closet for about an half-an-hour but it still scared me for life! I cant imagine if I were in Wintons position. I’m pretty sure I would fall over dead. It wouldn’t be a fight.
Even though that this is no way near the stress and wait that Winston experienced, I was still lcked up for a crime I didn’t commit. This is no where near the kind of stress that Winston endured but it the only thing I could closely relate to.
2. What devices did the state have for enforcing total control?
The government might torture with the person greatest fear until the person completely loves Big Brother. The government would also kill on the spot.
3. What is Big Brother?
Big Brother is a representation for the government and all of the governments workers.
4. What thoughts did the woman hanging clothes in the yard cause Winston to have?
Winston believed that the woman that was hanging clothes in the yard was beautiful. Winston loved to watch her, which soon became a frequent thing for Winston to do. Winston let Julia become aware of this also.
5. How had Winston and Julia been spied on?
There was a teleascreen behind a picture frame at the place they were meeting.
6. Describe Winston's cell.
It was lighted room, and loud with an evil smell. There were four telescreenon each wall. There was also a bench to sit on.
7. What crime did Winston's first cell mate commit? His second?
His first cellmate’s, Ampleforth crime was writing the word of God in Rudyard Kipling translation. His second cellmate was parsons. His crime was a thoughtcrime.
8. What appears to be the ultimate torture?
Finding a persons deepest darkest fear and subjecting them to it. For Winston it was rats all over him.
9. What methods of forcing confessions are used in the Ministry of Love?
In the Ministry of Love, they make the criminal believe that their limbs are going to get ripped off. They put each limb in a cuff and they turn the switch which caused their limbs to get pulled on. They are then getting interrogated while this is happening and every time that they get an incorrect response, they their limbs are pulled on harder,
10. What is O'Brien's job? How does this change our opinions of him?
He is a spy. I think he is a liar. I also think he is a very evil conniving person.
11. Give one of Winston's "hallucinations" about the past?
Winston had many hallucinations about the past, in the novel. Winston had a hallucination about Julia. He yelled her name out of no where, and felt as if she was with him, and better yet, inside of him. At this moment, he loved her more than anything, even better than when they were together.
12. Why does the party cling to power?
They control everything by fear. They make everyone fear them so much that not many people would even want to rebel. The party knows that if they lose power they will have no cause to fight for or there afraid of the idea of being taken over.
13. What is the picture of the future according to O'Brien?
O’Brien thinks the future will be the same as what it is now, but far worse. Nobody will leave each other and the only love expressed will be toward big brother. Then, Big Brother only controlled Oceania, but in the future, Oceania will control the World.
14. What demonstrates the ultimate breakdown of Winston's rebellion?
Winston’s rebellion toward the Party gets ruined when he gets placed in room 101. There, he is threatened with rats. Winston has a great fear toward rats, so when he is threatened with them, he lets out everything. He tells the Party everything he has ever done to break the rules, including everything about Julia.
15. How did Winston train himself to crimestop?
Winston has to put in his head that every memory he has ever had is false, and that none of it ever happened, and this is all just his imagination. He tells himself incorrect statements that the Party is trying to make him believe, so that he can train himself to crimestop.
*16. What sent Winston to Room 101? What is his ultimate terror?
Winston is sent to room 101 because he told O’Brian that he hated big brother. He told him this because Winston trusted O’Brian.
17. Why did Winston and Julia not carry on their relationship after meeting again?
They knew that if they continued to be together they both would be killed.
18. People are often shocked at the sexual content in 1984. Why does sex play such a large role in the novel? What could Orwell be suggesting by having Big Brother try to manipulate and control that part of people's lives?
Sex is a basic instinct. If the right to have sex is taken away Big Brother controls even the most basic need of mankind.
19. What is the last sentence of 1984? What does it mean?
I think the sentence “He loved Big Brother” means that he gave up his individuality. He had been brainwashed, to believe that he loves Big Brother and everything the Party stands for.
20. What are your final thoughts after having read the book? Write a
300-word minimum response in which you can discuss thoughts, feelings and details about the novel that you found difficult, interesting, profound, etc.
In my own opinion I feel the book was amazing all the through till the very end. I love the ending. Orwell makes you start to think that Winston’s rebellion will lead to a take over of Big Brother but then turns it completely around. At the end of the book Winston finally gives up all hope and loves Big Brother. I truly enjoy books the keep the reader guessing.
At the begging of the book I was somewhat bored, even though there were a few interesting parts. Like when he is at work and the telescreen comes on and the people start screaming and yelling at the pictures of the enemy. Another interesting part was when Ms. Parsons asked Winston to come over to her house to fix something. Orwell did I great job in describing the conditions that some of the people where living and how bad they had it.
When I got to the second book I was actually surprised. Orwell surprised me because of the detail that he put into the sexual parts of the second book. But this book would not have been as powerful as a book without these parts. This shows that man kind cannot survive without pleasure in ones life. Another surprising part I thought is of course when Winston is caught. This surprised me because I truly believed that Winston was going to take over the party and everything was going to be good. This book is definitely one of my favorite books of all time. It is full of excitement and great detail. It starts a little slow but ends great and none expecting. The ending leaves the reader hanging and I love it.
1.) At the start of book one, Winston is mistreated, starving, and is under constant surveillance. He moves from a cramped, filthy cell, with nasty, and what I imagine to be extremely low class people into a cell with the same conditions except for it’s a little cleaner. He has no idea what is going to happen to him, or what has happened to Julia. He’s in a place where people who have committed what would be severe crimes in our society, are treated with more respect and even favored to those who have merely though about doing crimes. He knows he has food in his pocket but knows the consequence for eating it would be unbearable. He is no doubt scared of what is going to happen to him and can only imagine his fate by the screams for mercy yelled by his cell mates. It is impossible for me to seriously imagine what Winston is going through. I have never been exposed to a situation of that magnitude before and I am not eager to gain that experience. Winston’s gut-wrenching nervousness I can semi- relate to. I have horrible speaking skills, and can sympathize with Winston on that point. Also Winstons being in a place where people who are actually bad, yet they are given more respect is also relatable to me. My entire step-family is made up of people who should never, in a world that makes any sense at all, be given anything. Yet I am the one who is looked down on. When Winston knows he has food in his pocket but can not reach for it, I can also relate. It is like knowing the answers for a test are in your notebook, but not being able to get them without getting caught. On most points I can only guess how Winston feels but the points that I can relate to make me feel really bad for Winston and his situation.
2.)The party enforces complete control with really and hypothetically watching them at all times. The telescreens and thought police where everywhere which made the citizens too scared to comit crimes. The signs of Big Brother reminded them of the law at all times. And reinforced the fact the even when you think your alone your really being watched
4. The woman hanging clothes in her yard made Winston realized who beautiful human instinct is. And showed him has ugly the party made the world. The woman was actually not pretty at all on the outside. But the fact that she still sang and showed emotion and had many children showed she still had his basic human instincts and that made her beautiful.
5. Julia and Winston had been spied on thru the hidden telescreen in Mr. Cherrington’s upper room. The telescreen was behind a painting and heard everything they said when they thought they were safe and secure.
6. Winston cell looked like how you might imagine any cell to look. It had a hard plank bed jetting out of the wall and a tin wash basin. In his cell Winston was feed hot meals and ever given a shave.
7.)Winstons first cell mate was Ampleforth. He was sent to jail for leaving the word “God” at the end of a line. His second cell mate was Parsons. Parsons daughter had caught him committing thoughtcrime in his sleep. He was yelling “down with Big Brother”.
8. The ultimate torture was whatever the individual worst fear was.
9. They beat people almost to the brink of death let them recover and beat them again. They starve and interrogated the prisoners too.
10. O’Brian’s job is to interrogate and convert the news of prisoners to that of the party. He is like the head honcho of torturing prisons. My view of O’Brian’s was that he was a chief figure in the brotherhood. At one point I thought that maybe he would even be Goldstein. But O’Brian’s true job undoubtedly disproves my theory.
11. O’Brian tells Winston that all of his proofs of the party’s wrong doings were hallucinations. One of his hallucinations was that Winston found a picture of Jones Aaronson and Rutherford that proved their innocence.
12. The party clings to power because past ruling structures have set out for power knowing that soon they will relinquish it. The party recognizes a pattern in that seeking power with intentions of distributing it causes an era to ruling party. So by clinging to powers, they become endless.
13. O’Brian’s future is based on hatred. It’s a future without emotion and without human connection. O’Brian plans on elimination, trust between humans, starting at birth by taking newborns immediately.
14.) Winstons ultimate breakdown was when he betrayed Julia. Through all the beatings and interrogations he stayed loyal to her. Even when O’Brian said that she betrayed him Winston would not betray her. When he went to room 101 and had to face his greatest fear, Winston finally broke down completely and said he would rather Julia go through that than himself. It showed the party they had won by ridding him of his last humane behaviors.
15.)Winston trained himself to crimestop by only pretending to catch on to what Winston has been telling him. He tries to keep his true feelings buried deep down and hides his rebelliousness. He wanted to keep his individuality and block out the parties ideas, and at the same time look like he completely believed and understood their ideas.
16. Winston got sent to room 101 by yelling ‘Julia, Julia, Julia my love Julia.’ Which showed that deep down he was still rebellious. His ultimate terror was rats.
17. They didn’t carry on a relationship because they lost their love for each other during their imprisonment. When they met and got the fact that they both betrayed each other out into the open, they realized they didn’t have a relationship to carry on anymore.
18. Sex plays such an important role in 1984 because it symbolizes with one act met everthing the party is trying to abolish. Privacy, a band between people and emotion are all involved and the party is attempting to eliminate all of these by giving big brother the power to control that part of peoples lives,Orwell shows that big brother is successful in killing human instinct and successful in training people to ignore their human instinct.
19.) The last sentence of 1984 is, “He loved Big Brother.” This means that in the end O’Brian and the party broke Winston down and converted him into a true, 100% faithful believer of the party.
20.)My final thoughts from reading this book are of feeling let down. Book one was dull, boring, uninteresting and truthfully made me want to take a nap. I know that book one was like a back story for books two and three, but I think that George Orwell could put a little action in book one not only so he doesn’t bore his readers to tears, but also so that the reader will have a will to read the rest of the book on their own, and not because their grade depends on it. Book two was a lot better and in my opinion the best of the three books. It had action, suspense and I actually cared whether Winston was alive or dead. Book two evoked emotion. I was happy that Winston was happy. Orwell describes Winston’s happiness so well, I’m pretty sure you would have to be heartless to not feel happy for him. Book two transformed 1984 from just another inexcusably boring political novel, into a story about a man’s struggle in a politically corrupt world; it made the book ten times more relatable to the average person. Book three is where my let down began. In the midst of his happiness, he was ripped away from his new found love of life and sent straight to his inevitable death. He had found love, he had been accepted into the brotherhood which he had always dreamed of being a member, and he was physically and emotionally in a good state of mind. In book three, the party beat him down into a submissive zombie willing to say anything to avoid being “interrogated” again. They took his dignity and made him betray those closest to him. However book three would have been just as good as book to if Orwell would have given it a better ending. I find it impossible to understand why Orwell would just cut the book off where he did. I finally wanted to know what would happen to poor Winston and then he just quits at, “he loved big brother”! I know that it implies that Winston died but I wanted definitive proof, so the ending left me unsatisfied. Instead of a dumb newspeak dictionary at the end he could have put an epilogue or something that people might actually care about.
1. If I were Winston at the beginning of Book III, I would be terrified, not only of the situation that is currently happening, but of the imminent fate that will occur. He was taken with force from a typical and quiet meeting with Julia. In this instance, it was revealed that he had been spied on via a telescreen in the seemingly safe room above Mr. Charrington’s shop, and that Mr. Charrington himself was a member of the Thought Police. The betrayal alone would be enough to have me livid. Once Winston was imprisoned, he had no idea where he was. He had an idea that he was in the Ministry of Love, but it was impossible to tell exactly. It was not long before he had lost track of time. He did not know if it was day or night, or how long he had been at the Ministry, or if minutes, hours, days, or weeks had passed. I find that scary, as I cannot even imagine just, sitting, waiting, and wondering of what is to inevitably come, in this case death. Winston knew he would be punished, but what exactly he did not comprehend. He could not possibly fathom the numerous beatings, electrical shocks, starvation, and other sick forms of torture imposed upon him by O’Brien.
I have several minor incidents slightly comparable to Winston’s experience, but obviously much more subdued. Whether it is sitting alone in your room waiting for your parents to come report your punishment, when a teacher calls you out and asks to see you after class, or getting screamed at by a coach, it make you wonder, what is going through their head? What could they possibly be thinking up to punish me? The minutes tick by, and it seems like an eternity, and you cannot wait to get it over with, but in a way you fear what will follow. After all, what comes next may be even worse than the waiting. I assume this is how Winston must have felt as well.
2. Telescreens and members of the Thought Police were used to watch the citizens of Oceania at all times, and detect Thought Crime. In the different Ministries, processes were used to enforce total control as well. In the Ministry of Plenty, food types and rations were controlled. In the Ministry of Truth, assorted tools are used for the correction and manipulation of histories. In the Ministry of Love, various torture devices are used for those who think against Big Brother. Criminals are subjected to endless interrogations, electrocution, and are inflicted great pain.
3. After Winston asks if Big Brother exists, O’Brien answers, “Of course he exists. The party exists. Big Brother is the embodiment of the Party,” (page 231). Big Brother is a representation of complete control in Oceania. It represents the totalitarianism government, and how the ideas and processes of the government are carried out.
4. As Winston watches the prole woman through the window of his room he thinks to himself, “Tirelessly the woman marched to and fro, corking and uncorking herself, singing and falling silent, and pegging out more diapers, and more and yet more. He wondered whether she took in washing for a living, or was merely the slave of twenty grandchildren. Julia had come to his side; together they gazed down with a sort of fascination at the sturdy figure below. As he looked at the woman in her characteristic attitude, her thick arms reaching up for the line, her powerful marelike body protruded, it struck him for the first time that she was beautiful,” (page 195). Winston even goes on to tell Julia how he considers the woman to be beautiful. When Julia tells him, “She’s a meter across the hips easily,” Winston replies, “That is the style of her beauty.” Although the prole woman is very different from the slender, young Julia, Winston finds her beautiful due to her hardworking and caring look.
5. Winston and Julia had been spied on the entire time they spent in Mr. Charrington’s shop. There was a telescreen behind the picture of the church, and it was later revealed that Mr. Charrington himself was a member of the Thought Police. The two were caught in bed together. Almost immediately, members of the Thought Police surrounded the building. The two were beaten and harassed and then taken to the Ministry of Love.
6. “He was in a high-ceilinged windowless cell with walls of glittering white porcelain. Concealed lamps flooded it with cold light, and there was a low, steady humming sound which he supposed had something to do with the air supply. A bench, or shelf, just wide enough to sit on ran round the wall, broken only by the door and, at the end opposite the door, a lavatory pan with no wooden seat. There were four telescreens, one in each wall,” (page 201).
7. Winston’s first cellmate is the poet, Ampleforth. He is convicted for leaving the word God at the end of a Rudyard Kipling poem publication. He claims, “It was impossible to change the line. The rhyme was ‘rod’. Do you realize there are only twelve rhymes to rod in the entire language? For days I had racked my brains. There was no other rhyme,” (page 206). His second cellmate was his neighbor in Victory Mansions, Mr. Parsons. Parsons was convicted of Thought Crime. His seven year old daughter heard him cry out in his sleep, “Down with Big Brother.” Unlike most, Parsons is thankful for his conviction, declaring “Thank you for saving me before it was too late,” (page 208).
8. The ultimate torture varies from individual to individual. Criminals go to Room 101 and receive their punishment, although it is unknown what exactly goes on there. O’Brien claims, “Everyone knows it: The thing in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world. The worst thing in the world varies from individual to individual,” (page 253).
9. Various forms of torture are used for extracting confessions at the Ministry of Love. Criminals are starved for days, forced to stay in an uncomfortable cell, and blasted constantly through the telescreen for any wrongdoing. Room 101 is used as a constant threat, where a particular individual’s greatest fear lies is the ultimate form of torture. There are various forms of torture devices, including an electrocution device, used while questioning in which the dial of electric current can be adjusted all the way to one hundred. Violent beatings are commonplace; “There were times when his nerve forsook him that he began shouting for mercy even before the beating began, when the mere sight of a fist drawn back for a blow was enough to make him pour forth a confession of real and imaginary crimes. There were other times when he started out with the resolve of confessing nothing, when every word had to be forced out of him between gasps of pain, and there were times when he feebly tried to compromise, when he said to himself: ‘I will confess, but not yet. I must hold out till the pain becomes unbearable. Three more kicks, two more kicks, and then I will tell them what the want,’” (page 215).
10. O’Brien is a member of the Thought Police and works at the Ministry of Love. He questions Winston and inflicts torture upon him, as well brainwashes him into believe party policies. This changes the reader’s opinion of him drastically, as we once thought he was a “good guy.” He befriended Winston, and Winston even idolized him, as in writing the journal for him, when all along he had been observing him, and waiting for the precise moment to turn him in.
11. One of Winston’s so called “hallucinations” about the past was a picture of Rutherford, Aaronson, and Jones. This picture proves their innocence, as they are in New York in the picture on the same date they were supposedly in Oceania and committed a crime. Winston had encountered this picture years earlier, and held it in the back of his mind. However, O’Brien shows him the picture once more during his torture, and tells Winston that he never saw it, and therefore it never happened, and is simply a hallucination.
12. The Party clings to power solely for the purpose of having power. As O’Brien says, “Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution to establish a dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power,” (page 235). This is ironic, because unlike most governments who have the well being of citizens in mind, the sole purpose of Oceania is to conquer, defeat, and do anything necessary to have power.
13. According to O’Brien, “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever,” (page 239) He continues, “And remember that it is forever. The face will always be there to be stamped upon. The heretic, the enemy of society, will always be there, so that he can be defeated and humiliated over again.” “Every day at every moment, they will be defeated, discredited, ridiculed, spat upon – and yet they will always survive. This drama that I have played out to you for seven years will be played out over and over again, generation after generation, always in subtler forms. Always shall we have the heretic here at our mercy, screaming with pain, broken up, contemptible – and in the end yet utterly penitent, saved from himself, crawling to our feet of his own accord. That is the world that we are preparing, Winston. A world of victory after victory, triumph after triumph: an endless pressing, pressing upon the nerve of power,” (page 239). In this, he describes the future of Oceania: one of defeat resulting in victory and power.
14. Winston’s ultimate breakdown occurs in Room 101. When presented with the ultimate terror of having rats eat his face, he yells, “Do it to Julia not me.” The party has finally broken down the bond between the two. Earlier in the novel, when Winston asked himself if he would double his pain to alleviate Julia’s he would. However, in Room 101, he betrays her to the ultimate degree, and in his selfish ways claims that he would rather have them take her life rather than his.
15. Winston learned to Crimestop by presenting himself with the preposterous Party theology such as, “The party says the earth is flat,” and “The party says that ice is heavier than water,” (page 249). He goes on to say that he, “Trained himself in not seeing or not understanding the arguments that contradicted them. It was not easy. It needed great powers of reasoning and improvisation,” “It needed also a sort of athleticism of mind, an ability at one moment to make the most delicate use of logic and at the next to be unconscious of the crudest of logical errors. Stupidity was as necessary as intelligence, and as difficult to obtain,” (page 249). Winston ultimately has to learn to be ignorant of things the party does not want him to know, simply overlook them, and accept what the Party says, no matter how ludicrous it may be.
16. Winston is sent to Room 101 after he cries out Julia’s name in his sleep. O’Brien comes in to investigate, and Winston stupidly admits that he still hates Big Brother. He is taken to Room 101 as the last stage of his torture, and to transfer his last bit of love to Big Brother. Winston’s fear of rats is used against him in his ultimate terror. In his recurring nightmare, there is a dark wall and something lies on the other side, trying to escape. In Room 101, a large box-like contraption is put on his head, blinding him with darkness and the other side holds carnivorous rats that are ready to attack his face whenever they are released. Winston begs O’Brien to inflict this torture upon Julia, anyone but him. O’Brien is pleased with this answer, as it has broken his final bond to Julia, and he has betrayed her to the point he would rather have her die in his place.
17. Winston and Julia met again briefly in the park. They both reveal that they have betrayed each other at the Ministry of Love. Julia had changed, as Winston says, “It was her waist that had grown thicker and, in a surprising way, had stiffened,” (page 260). Winston was even repulsed by the fact that he ever had sex with her. The two speak momentarily, and then go on their separate ways.
18. Sex is a major theme of Orwell’s 1984. It is a common bond between two people, and usually accompanied by love and loyalty. As O’Brien says, “The sex instinct will be eradicated. Procreation will be an annual formality like the renewal of a ration card. We shall abolish the orgasm. Our neurologists are at work upon it now. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no loyalty, except loyalty to Big Brother,” (page 238). By abolishing one of the basic human desires, the ideas behind it, such as loyalty and love are eliminated as well. If people have no means of expressing their love for one another, the feeling is lost, and the only outlet they have for this love is to apply their feelings towards Big Brother.
19. The last sentence of 1984 is: “He loved Big Brother.” Winston had finally been brought down; this was his final demise. After trying to rebel against the government, he had finally been manipulated enough to transfer his love from everything else to Big Brother.
20. I consider Orwell’s 1984 to be one of the most profound politically inspired novels of all time. He captures the totalitarianism regime with poignancy, and describes in depth the nation of Oceania under Big Brother and complete control. He paints a picture of a place where people have no freedom, choices, privacy, or liberty. I cannot imagine such a place, let alone fathom living under these conditions. This book made me thankful for my rights as an American citizen.
Throughout the book, I found myself rooting for Winston. He committed numerous times against the party, including writing in a journal, buying contraband antiques, renting the room above Mr. Charrington’s shop, and having a torrid love affair with Julia. He had the audacity to commit crimes against the party, although he knew he would eventually be caught and have to endure terrible torture. I admired Winston for his rebellious acts and his hatred for the party. He knew that the Party was corrupt, full of lies, and that was not the way a typical society should go.
As the book progressed, I held on to some hope that Winston and Julia would miraculously run away together and escape Oceania, Big Brother, power, and control, the ultimate happy ending. However, quite frankly, I was incredibly disappointed by the ending of the book. By this time, Winston embodied the exact thing he was so against, a fumbling imbecile with nothing in his heart but a love for Big Brother and nothing in his mind but Party propaganda and rubbish that they were forced to believe by their own government. The idea of a totalitarianism government also befuddled me. I cannot imagine a society in which every aspect of your life is controlled and decided. The government grossly asserted their power in any way possible, and brainwashed the citizens to the point that they thought their treatment was acceptable.
However, all in all I thought 1984 was a well written book and made me question, “What would happen if this happened in our society?” and truly examine my freedoms.
Book III Questions – Period #2 – Tyler Hurst
1. At the beginning of Book III, if I was Winston, I would be horrified to say the least. The thought of having no idea where I am and what is going to happen to me would be a truly frightening experience. Although Winston had expected the inevitable, it would still be hard to accept the reality of the situation.
To begin with, Winston had no idea where he was to be exact. He was hauled away to some prison holding cell that he presumed to be in the Ministry of Love. Winston also has to wait for an extended period of time. As the third book continues, Winston is one of the last people left in the cells. This would also be frightening for me if I were in Winston’s shoes.
In my life, I can only think of one parallel between Winston’s predicament and myself. In the 5th grade, I seemed to find trouble (to say the least). I have a list of all the crazy things I did back then, and I wouldn’t be surprised if my parents thought I was headed for delinquency. One day, I, well, let’s just say I did something stupid. I was caught and was told to go to the principal’s office (Mr. Claxton at the time) to “talk about what I had done”. And so I awkwardly walked (very slowly) to his office. Once I reached the office (in five minutes time) I told the secretary I needed to see “el jefe”. And so she pointed me towards the seats and I began to wait. I felt like I had sat there forever, and the worst part was just pondering the idea of how much trouble I was going to be in when I got home. With all the time on my hands, I felt miserable, as did Winston while he was waiting. Through my getting sent to the office in 5th grade, I can find a parallel between Winston’s situation and myself.
2. The state had many devices through which they enforced total control, one of them being the telescreens. Through this “two-way televisions,” the government could monitor nearly everyone, even some of the proles. The constant glare of the telescreen would help to scare anyone away from committing illegal acts against the party. These screens helped to maintain a constant party presence in the rooms of all people. Other devices include the torture device that O’Brien uses on Winston and the use of propaganda.
3. Big Brother is the embodiment of the Party. It is unclear if he exists, but the fact still remains the same: he is the ultimate leader of Oceania. Whether there is a man who they call Big Brother or not, his image is the sign of ultimate power and absolute authority. More than likely, Big Brother merely puts a face on the not so living party. Through the use of an older brother, the party establishes their role of guiding the people. His image gives the people something to relate to within the government.
4. Winston begins to speculate on her daily tasks and her beauty. Winston sees her as the embodiment of the proles. Even though she is always working, almost as a slave to whomever dirties the laundry, she always has time to sing a tune. He also witnesses a person who seems to be free of the party’s rule.
5. They had been spied on by not only Mr. Charrington, but by part officials through a telescreen hidden behind the portrait in the room above the shop.
6. The room was very small, and was described as being very similar to modern day holding cells. The cell contained four telescreens that were used for constant monitoring of those who were in custody. The cell also had a bench and a latrine pan for, well you know what.
7. His first cellmate, Ampleforth the poet, was detained for using the word “God” in a poem he edited. The second cellmate, Parsons, was being detained for speaking out against Big Brother in his sleep.
8. The ultimate torture is a person’s biggest fear. Everyone knows what lies in Room 101, because it is what he or she fears most. In Winston’s situation, he fears rats. O’Brien uses rats as a way to frighten Winston in Room 101.
9. The Ministry of Love utilizes sheer force and the threat of pain as a way to extract confessions. They use an electrical torture device to coerce people at the Ministry. A person is strapped to a table, and every time they don’t say the right thing they are zapped. Guards also beat the detainees to send a clear message to prisoners.
10. O’Brien is not only a member of the Inner Party, but he is also charged with taking care of those who try and separate from the party and the principles of Ingsoc. At first, the reader places a lot of hope in O’Brien. The image of a place where there is no darkness creates hope for Winston and the reader. Further in the novel, the reader and Winston are almost certain that O’Brien is an active member of the Brotherhood. In Book III, I truly find myself disappointed that O’Brien isn’t “one of us”.
11. Just one of Winston’s hallucinations was about the photograph of “the big three,” Rutherford, Aaronson, and Jones. The photograph was taken in New York and Winston believed it proved their innocence. Winston tries to restore his belief in the photographs existence after O’Brien declares the photo never existed through the process of doublethink.
12. The party clings to power for a very simple reason: they are power hungry. They don’t care about the people, and their role as a government is not to better peoples’ lives. The party is obsessed with power and will do whatever it takes to hold on to that power.
13. A vision of the future is that of the government trampling over its people. The future, in the eyes of O’Brien, is a world where all people submit to the government and love Big Brother more than anyone and anything. O’Brien, essentially, sees a future where all humans are robots. With the progression of Newspeak and Doublethink, the people of the future will not even be human.
14. Winston breaks down in Room 101 while being interrogated by O’Brien. As the rats steadily approach his face, he betrays Julia. This goes to show that the party has the power to break down the most human parts of us, and break the bonds of love to other people, replacing that person with the image of Big Brother.
15. Winston basically acts stupid as a means to grasp the concept of crimestop. He learns that he must submit to the party’s teachings, even though they are truly false. Winston had to learn that what the party says goes.
16. Winston’s continued resistance of Big Brother and the concept of Big Brother is what gets him sent to Room 101. He had also failed to betray the only person he had in his life, Julia. The ultimate terror in Room 101 is different for everyone. A person meets their worst fear in the Room. In Winston’s case, he has a rendezvous with his worst fear: rats.
17. Their betrayal is the reason they cannot continue on with the relationship. After betraying each other, and really meaning what they confessed, they cannot see themselves together.
18. The party has one goal: to eliminate everything human about its people. Sex, one of the most human desires, is an obvious target for the party. The party attempts to downplay sex as merely a means of procreating. Even if one does submit to having sex, it is still considered their “duty to the party”.
19. “He loved Big Brother”. The last sentence shows the profound effect the party has on Winston. The party is all-powerful, and can turn a person in the completely opposite direction. The part took a “Big Brother hater” like Winston and made him “love Big Brother”.
20. The novel 1984 by George Orwell was an exceptional novel in my opinion. Orwell’s creation of a state ruled by a single party with absolute power serves as a clear warning against totalitarian regimes and governments. His vision of Oceania has been a manual for citizens against oppressive governments. The novel informs people about holding back from handing over your rights to the government.
I enjoyed the novel, especially book one and book two, but I found myself disappointed towards the end of the novel when Winston’s dream was lost (when he discovered O’Brien was actually out to get him). I had hoped that Winston would be able to get away with his crimes and forever hate the government, but instead, he is brainwashed into loving Big Brother by O’Brien at the Ministry of Love.
I found the concept of newspeak most interesting in the book. The whole idea of shortening a vocabulary in order to, well, keep order is profound. If there is not a word to express an action or emotion, then how can you try to pursue it, if it has no word representing it? How can you know what freedom means if there is not a word for freedom?
I was also disappointed that Julia did not necessarily feel the same about the Party as Winston. He knew she didn’t understand the significance of the party’s actions. It was for this reason that Winston had to pursue someone who he felt was capable of grasping the significance of the party, but the person was unfortunately a member of the Inner Party who secretly posed as a Brotherhood leader.
All in all, 1984 has been one of the greatest novels I have ever read. The novel helped to even further shape my views against Stalinist and Nazi-like beliefs. Even though I would have rather witnessed the fall of Big Brother, I am still capable of understanding the weight of the last words in the novel: “He loved Big Brother”.
1)I would be scared out of my wits and probably peed my pants multiple times. I would be thinking of ways of escape and or suicide. I would also be wondering what in the world was in room 101 and hoping that i would not go there. I would also be thinking if O' Brian would help me and how Julia was. But more i would think of how to escape. But all the while i would probably have a sense of helplessness and that i was most certainly dead. I would know that death was coming but not when or how which is a horrible feeling and i would just hope it to come fast and not be drug out. The only situation of mine that kind of paralells Winston's situation would be when i got sent to the office for giving a kid an indian burn. I knew i was guilty just like Winston and i knew there was know escape. I just had to sit and wait for the punishment i knew was inevitable but not knowing what it was.
2) There was a lot of things done to ensure total control. A couple devices used were propaganda and the two minutes hate. They use posters with Big Brother on them that read Big brother is watching you. This instilled a constant feeling of being watched. They also had telescreens in every party members house to make sure they knew what they were doing and saying every second of every day. They also had the thought police. If they even suspected you of being against the party they would arrest you and eventually kill you. They controlled the language the population even food and clothing rations. They almost even controlled the thoughts of the people in Oceania.
3)Big brother is i believe the embodiement of the party pretty much just a figure head. i don't believe he is just one person. As long as the party endures so will big brother. Big Brother is just a symbol of the inner party and for the outer party. The party just needed some godlike flawless leader that the people of Oceania would trust in.
4)The woman mad Winston realize the beauty of family and friendships. Although physically the prole woman was a little over weight from many children and mad rough from working all the time she was still beautiful. Winston could see that relationships such as family, friends, and huband and wife was still surviving in the proles. He could see that family and love was still a value of the prole woman and he wished it could be the some for himself.
5)There was a telescreen in the upper room in Mr. Charrington's antique shop. Mr. Charrington was a thought police member and O' Brian is not the leader of the brotherhood but a member of the thought police.
6)Winstons cell was small andgrimy. There were telescreens on all four walls and you couldnt move or talk without being yelled at. There was some type of bathroom pan on there as well. And the bench Winston was setting on.
7)Ampleforth put the word god in a poem and was arrested. Parsons was caught by his daughter saying Down With Big Brother in his sleep.
8)Whatever is in room 101.
9) They use torture. And they make you suffer by not feeding you by isolating and beating you. They keep you in a state where you dont know what time of day it is or even how long you have been there this would drive anyone mad. They also interrigate you for hours on end and instill there crazy doctrine into your brain.
10)His job is to change the minds of the people convicted of thought crime into a mind like the partys'.
11) One of Winstons first hallutionations is when he is sitting in a cell. Winston couldn’t even tell if it was dark or light in the cell. His vision is blocked completely by a pair of eyes. Beside him, Winston could hear a low rhythmic ticking as the eyes grew larger and brighter, until finally Winston was swallowed up by them, floating up out of his chair and diving into the haunting eyes.
12. The party clings to power because they want complete and utter control. The only reason they want power is to have it. They do not want power for the good of others, they are just greedy and corrupt and want pure raw power for themselves. The party needs it wants it and thrives on it. They just want absolute power and control.
13) In O' Brians words this is what the future will be like. A world of fear and treachery is torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself. Progress in our world will be progress towards more pain. The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love or justice. Ours is founded upon hatred. In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement. Everything else we shall destroy everything. Already we are breaking down the habits of thought which have survived from before the Revolution. We have cut the links between child and parent, and between man and man, and between man and woman. No one dares trust a wife or a child or a friend any longer. But in the future there will be no wives and no friends. Children will be taken from their mothers at birth, as one takes eggs from a hen. The sex instinct will be eradicated. Procreation will be an annual formality like the renewal of a ration card. We shall abolish the orgasm. Our neurologists are at work upon it now. There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. There will be no art, no literature, no science. When we are omnipotent we shall have no more need of science. There will be no distinction between beauty and ugliness. There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always -- do not forget this, Winston -- always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face -- for ever.'
14)When he betrays Julia. When he is about to suffer the fate in room 101 and he wishes Julia to take his place. When he said it he really meant it and the love he and Julia once shared would never be the same. It was the straw that broke the camels back.
15)He set himself up with scenarios such as 2+2=5 and he would just convince himself that it was a possiblity and could in fact be true. He would convince himself that what the party said was true. And anytime he went against this thinking he would stop himself and agree with the party.
16)Winston has a dream and yells out Julias name and realizes that even through everthing the torture and questioning he still loved Julia and hated Big Brother. This is when O' Brian said it was time to take the final step. He thent takes Winston to room 101.
17)Because they both knew that they had betrayed eachother. They both knew that at one point in time they had wanted to switch places with eachother in room 101 and had wanted the other to suffer a horrible fate. And the love they once shared was not the same. They had both been changed by the evil workings of the party and were incapable of love except love for the party.
18) In the book 1984 they try to eliminate anything that makes a human human. Sex is one of the sacred things that define us as humans. We naturally want to reproduce. Sex is an instinct that everyone is born with and it is also a desire. This is something that big grother cannot have. Because usually if two people are having sex they are in a relationship or in love. With relationships, friendships, and love in peoples life it would be alot harder for Big Brother to control peoples lives. The sex instinct is a primal desire and instinct that they have almost eradicated in 1984. This takes away the ability to have intimate relationships with people which limits there freedom and allows Big Brother more control. Taking away the sex instinct is taking away a human like quality. This makes the people in 1984 kind of like zombies just walking shells of the people they should be.
19) He loved Big Brother. The party had won. Even through all of Winstons effort and with how much he hated the party he ended up being changed. In the end Big Brother had won and he had become just like the party the very thing he hated he died loving.
20)I was really interested in this book more than most books i have recently read. I loved it right up until the end the end of this book absolutely ticked me off i hated it. After i realized that Winston had lost the battle and become like the party i just dropped the book and was very dissapointed. I really expected Winston to triumph and beat the system and cling to the values that make us human even until death but nope i was completely let down. I was also shocked when Julia said I Love You. I was really glad she said that but i was thinking how could she love him they had never spoken or anything and in a world like theres how could anyone love especially someone they didnt know. I also think it is impossible for love sex and friendships to be eliminated it is impossible. Why anyone would want to eliminate those things i have no idea it is what makes us human. And if the party is so obsessed with power why dont they control the proles? What also astounded me was the people that worked with Winston were falsifying things all the time but they didnt know or seem to care. And none of them realized the miserable stae they lived in. Overall i liked the book until the crappy ending.
1.) At the beginning of book three, Winston finds himself in a cell in the Ministry of Love. He explains his gnawing hunger and lack of comfort. He also describes the monotonous setting of the porcelain walls and floor, and the four telescreens that encircle the room. The mood of the novel is suddenly bleak and ominous, and for the first time you get the feeling that Winston will lose.
I feel that, personally, I would hardly be able to survive in that situation. The hunger wouldn’t bother me so bad, so much as the sudden loss of hope. I would feel as if there was no way to win, and according to O’Brien, there really isn’t. Without any hope I would hardly be able to go on, and would succumb pretty quickly to the torture and agree to all confessions that were fed to me. If the situation seemed more hopeful, I might be able to fight it off for a good while, but in the exact same place as Winston, I wouldn’t have made it nearly as long.
I’ve never been in a situation nearly as desperate as Winston’s, but we’ve all had moments where there seemed no real reason to keep on fighting. They can range from simple things, like a bad grade, to enormous things, like a near-death experience.
However, the thing that affected Winston more than anything else was his inability to escape from the situation. Even when you’re going through terrible times, if you can separate yourself emotionally from the situation you can save yourself from many things. Winston, though, couldn’t do this, because the Ministry always had him doing what they wanted him doing, and when they didn’t, he was in a forced sleep that was full of terrible dreams.
2.) In the novel, the state uses many devices to enforce total control on the people of Oceania. A few of these are things like the telescreen, the Junior Spies, or the Anti-Sex league. Also, they use the Thought Police
3.) All of Oceania is supposedly ruled by a man named Big Brother, who all of the citizens are trained from birth to love. In reality, however, Big Brother is more of a figurehead that represents the government. Ingsoc decided to make a “Big Brother” because people feel a stronger sense of connection with one person than with a collective group of people.
4.) Before Winston is captured by the thought police, he sees a woman out of the window of the antique shop who is hanging clothes. In seeing her, he thinks of how wonderful it must be to be able to live like that, nearly normal. He thinks that even though she is large and sunburned, she is beautiful in her own way, much as, “…the rose hip to the rose…”.
5.) At the end of book two, we discover that Julia and Winston had been spied on all along. As they are speaking with each other in the room inside the antique shop, a telescreen pops out from behind a picture, and Mr. Charrington reveals himself to be a member of the thought police.
6.) After being captured by the thought police, Winston is thrown into a rather peculiar cell. The floor, walls, and ceiling are all white porcelain, and there are benches against each wall. Also, there are no windows, and apparently the lights never get turned off. The fact that the lights never go out is a direct reference to O’Brien saying, “We will meet again in a place where there is no dark.”
7.) Once Winston finds himself settled into the cell, the guards bring another man into the cell. His name is Ampleforth, and he is mentioned once previously in the novel when Winston is talking about people at his workplace. Apparently, Ampleforth had left God at the end of a line of poetry, because the line previous it ended with rod and he could find no substitute. After the guards come and take Ampleforth to the dreaded room 101, they bring in another of Winston’s acquaintances, Mr. Parsons. Parsons explains that his daughter caught him saying “Down with Big Brother” in his sleep, and quickly turned him in.
8.) In 1984, everyone seems to agree that room 101 is the ultimate form of torture. Now, what occurs in said room is different for every person. However, no matter what the specific torture is, they are all similar in the fact that it is what each separate person fears most. It can be anything from drowning to falling, but it always breaks the person down.
9.) The Ministry of Love uses devices in order to force confessions out of people, but all of them run on one ruling factor: pain. No matter what they do to people, the point is to harm them in some way, be it mentally or physically. Winston himself is subjected to many forms of torture, either by being kicked and bludgeoned to near death, or not being able to eat or sleep during long interrogations. A few times they even try to act nice to him, and make him feel as if everything he has done is wrong.
10.) We discover early on in book three that O’Brien, the man whom Winston trusts heavily and believes to be a member of the brotherhood, is actually a devoted member to the party. O’Brien explains that his job is to gradually break Winston down, and make him a true member of the party again. During the more important interrogations, O’Brien is the sole person in the room, or at least the sole person in Winston’s view.
11.) During the first interrogation between Winston and O’Brien, O’Brien tells Winston that all of his supposed memories of life when he was younger, or other important events, are hallucinations. One of these hallucinations, O’Brien explains, is when Winston saw the photograph of three men who no longer (in other words, never) existed. He goes on to say that Winston only remembers this “false” memory because he wishes to remember it, and that it never really happened.
12.) During another interrogation, O’Brien finally answers the question of why the party clings to power. He says that there is no need greater than the need to have power, and that the party has discovered how to reach that ultimate goal. All in all, the party clings to power simply to have power, and for no greater reason than that.
13.) According to O’Brien, the future will be no different than the present, or, once the party gets done changing history, the past. The Proles will stay oppressed and oblivious to what is happening, the Party will stay under a self-inflicted submission, and there will always be a Big Brother.
14.) After months (or maybe years) of torture and interrogation, Winston is finally allowed to see himself. As soon as he witnesses the horror that is his body, he gives in almost immediately, and asks when the party will shoot him.
15.) Finally Winston receives a break from his constant interrogations, and is placed back into a cell. During his time in the cell, Winston teaches himself to crimestop by stopping himself anytime a bad thought enters his head, and quickly diverting it into something else that isn’t against the party.
16.) During Winston’s stay in his new cell, he finally cracks and screams out for Julia. Shortly after this, O’Brien shows up at the door to his cell and tells him it’s time to go to room 101. Once getting there O’Brien reveals Winston’s ultimate fear: rats.
17.) After having been released from the Ministry of Love for quite some time, Winston spots Julia on his way home from work. He makes light conversation with her, but he realizes that neither of them feel any love for each other any longer. Winston remembers the moment when he betrayed her, telling O’Brien to make Julia suffer the rats instead of him, and decides that it is better simply not to talk to her anymore.
18.) 1984’s biggest point is that humans need many forms of privacy and freedom. The ultimate form of freedom is to procreate, and when you finally take that away, there is no reason to be alive anymore. If you don’t have the ability to make more of your kind, then why should you even be considered a species?
19.) The novel closes with an incredibly saddening line, “He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.” What is being said here is that Winston had finally achieved making himself a member of the party, and, just like everyone else, would forever remain a slave of his own will.
20.) After finally finishing the novel, I found myself asking what I would’ve done in that situation. Or what many other people would’ve done if they had to live like that. It left me wondering if such a thing could ever happen to the world. Now, there have been a few socialist uprisings during the last few generations, but most of them lasted only a few years, at least in comparison to Ingsoc. What would humanity be like if everyone only hungered for power? There would be no love, and like Winston said to O’Brien during one of their interrogations, “It would have no vitality. It would disintegrate. It would commit suicide.”
However, what if Winston was wrong, and O’Brien wasn’t just spouting Party lies? What if there really is no underlying human spirit and that we are simply taught to believe there is our whole life? Now I personally believe in God, but in our society where that is becoming less common, what if eventually even religion is eliminated? Then what will humans have to value over government? Nothing is what. Of course, that may be delving to deep into the novel and taking it for more than it is. However, there’s a reason that authors write, and it definitely isn’t just for the money.
Another point about the novel is that, even in all its cliché glory, I would’ve liked to see Winston triumph over the Party. The fact that he doesn’t, however, makes a much more powerful point. If Winston had simply managed to destroy the Party, then it would almost make it seem like 1984 wasn’t a tale about what could happen to the world, but more of a simple child’s tale with a wonderful hero who defeats the bad guy and gets the girl.
All in all, 1984 is most certainly one of my favorite books, and I’m incredibly glad to have read it. It’s one of the few books that actually make me think in such strange theoretical strings as I did before.
1. How would you feel if you were in Winston's shoes at the start of Book III? Are there any parallels that you can draw in your own life to try to understand his situation? Write a 300 word response in which you consider these questions.
If I were Winston in the beginning of book three, I would have been horrified of the outcome that awaited me. As Winston described at the beginning of book three, he had been captured by the thought police, and contained in a small scary white cell, and was clueless to the last time he had eaten. At this moment if I were Winston, I would be lost completely in thought; Contemplating on the horrific punishment or death sentence that awaited me because of my arrest by the thought crime. Not only would the simple thought of what would happen to me make the time seem forever long, but the hunger which I felt prolonged it even more. As a child I can think of countless times in which I would have been in an similar situation as Winston. One example would have been when I would get in trouble with my mother, for a reason I was unsure of, then being sentenced to my room, once in my room the time that It took her to finally punish me seemed forever, and became worse with the crying that followed. Even though the small punishment that I received with crying could never compare to the punishment the Winston had in store for him; it is a great comparison to the anticipation and fear that comes with punishments.
2. What devices did the state have for enforcing total control?
The state used many devices to enforce total control. One of the most effective is the telescreen. Not only did the telescreen publish the media that the party wanted it to, it could also spy on the people with a camera and microphone.
3. What is Big Brother?
Big Brother could be called the dictator of Oceania, just as Hitler was to the Jews. Most people only recognize big brother as being an image that the party created.
4. What thoughts did the woman hanging clothes in the yard cause Winston to have?
Winston had many thoughts about the Woman who was hanging clothes in the yard. Not only did Winston wonder about her previous life and obstacles of raising a family. He was awestricken because of the beauty she still obtained.
5. How had Winston and Julia been spied on?
A telescreen was hidden behind a picture in the old Antique store.
6. Describe Winston's cell.
Winston’s cell was described as a square room, which had no windows and obtained two telescreens which were placed on opposite walls. A bench just wide enough to sit on ran around the walls of the room. A break in the bench made room where a toilet which did not have a wooden seat was placed.
7. What crime did Winston's first cell mate commit? His second?
Winston’s first cell mate used the word god at the end of a poem. The party did not tolerate religion. Winston’s second cell mate was turned in for thought crime. His children caught him murmuring “down with big brother in his sleep.”
8. What appears to be the ultimate torture?
The ultimate torture appeared to be going to room 101.
9. What methods of forcing confessions are used in the Ministry of Love?
Torture was one of the main methods of forcing confessions in the Ministry of Love. They used mental torture so not only would he confess but his mind would be reworked so that he would be a product of big brother.
10. What is O'Brien's job? How does this change our opinions of him?
O’Brien’s job is an interrogator to the thought police. He is basically a mindless product to big brother.
11. Give one of Winston's "hallucinations" about the past?
One of Winston’s hallucinations about the past was that Aaronson, Rutherford, and Jones did commit the crime. But then Winston remembered seeing the picture of them.
12. Why does the party cling to power?
The party clings to power, because if they have absolute power they can control the past present and future.
13. What is the picture of the future according to O'Brien?
The picture of the future is basically the same as the present only without love. The only love he pictures is the love for Big Brother.
14. What demonstrates the ultimate breakdown of Winston's rebellion?
Winston’s ultimate breakdown was when he was sentenced to room 101. In room 101 he was tortured with rats. Because rats were his worst fear, he began to spill everything, and even wished it was Julia being tortured and not him.
15. How did Winston train himself to crimestop?
Winston basically acts like a fool so he can fully grasp crimestop. Even though Winston sees the parties ways as wrong finally understands what the party says goes.
16. What sent Winston to Room 101? What is his ultimate terror?
Winston’s persistent resistance of Big Brother is what sent him to room 101. In room 101 the ultimate terror is different for everyone. There you are faced with your biggest fear, which for Winston was Rats.
17. Why did Winston and Julia not carry on their relationship after meeting again?
The betrayal that entered their relationships is the reason that cannot continue to carry on their relationship.
18. People are often shocked at the sexual content in 1984. Why does sex play such a large role in the novel? What could Orwell be suggesting by having Big Brother try to manipulate and control that part of people's lives?
Sex played such a great role in the novel 1984, because intimacy is one of the most private things. Also sex is probably one of the greatest human desires once experienced. Orwell could be suggesting that if Big Brother can stop sex, then big brother can take away one of the things which make us human.
19. What is the last sentence of 1984? What does it mean?
The last sentence of 1984 said that “He loved Big Brother.” This shows that big brother has all the power. If Big Brother can turn someone in the complete opposite direction then they are all powerful.
20. What are your final thoughts after having read the book? Write a 300-word minimum response in which you can discuss thoughts, feelings and details about the novel that you found difficult, interesting, profound, etc.
After completing the book, I was literally in shock. I was truly disappointed when I saw that Winston caved and became just like the other party members. I thought that he would push through and break the system, or you could say take down big brother. I also found it a little ridiculous that Julia loved Winston and hardly even knew him. I was also very intrigued on how big brother strived to take away everything that made us human, such as sex and privacy. All in all this was a well written book, that grabbed my attention and held it steadily throughout the end.
1. How would you feel if you were in Winston's shoes at the start of Book III? Are there any parallels that you can draw in your own life to try to understand his situation? Write a 300-word response in which you consider these questions.
At the start of Book Three in “1984,” by George Orwell, I would be scared and afraid of what was going to happen to me because I hadn’t obeyed the laws. I was hoping that there would at least be some kind of lead that would help bring down the Party and Big Brother. Instead, Winston joins all the other people that just go along with what the Party tells them to do, and at the end of the book we find out that Winston truly loves Big Brother, despite everything he went through and said he would do to help take the Party down. The book kind of is pessimistic; telling you to give your hopes up, because sometimes the bigger person is always is going to win. It makes you want to give up on what you really want to happen and just follow along with the crowd. I thought it was interesting how O’Brien knew everything about Winston even though Winston had not told him those specific things about himself. It made you wonder about O’Brien and how he really knew those things about Winston, like his thoughts. It made you think about how much control the Party really had to control every citizen of Oceania. They had eliminated everything in society so that you were not your own person, and you couldn’t choose your own path to follow. The people lived in constant torture, and all they thought about was staying alive, though you think that after all of that, you would rather be dead than have to cooperate with all that the Party does. Overall, the novel makes you think about society today, and how lucky you are that you do not live in a totalitarian regime, like 1984 is described as. It makes you realize all the freedoms you have now, but also how far people will go to accomplish something that they want.
2. What devices did the state have for enforcing total control?
The state had many devices for enforcing total control. One major way was the telescreens that were everywhere throughout Oceania. At the other end of the telescreen, there was somebody who watched you. They could watch your every move, interpret your facial expressions, and hear what you say, which in turn could tell whether you were obeying the Party and loved Big Brother. Another way that they enforced total control was the microphones which were placed all throughout Oceania. Even when there was no place to put a telescreen, there could be a microphone, so you could never get away with anything. There were always daily and weekly things that every comrade had to attend. If you weren’t there, the Party would know that you were acting against the Party. The last thing is the propaganda that was posted everywhere. The propaganda that the Party had was a picture of Big Brother, which said “Big Brother Is Watching You,” which kept all the people in control, and scared them from doing anything against the Party.
3. What is Big Brother?
Big Brother is the ruler that is over all of Oceania, and the only time he is seen is on the posters that are posted over the city. We never truly figure out if Big Brother is a real person, and that he exists like you or me. When Winston asks Big Brother if he exists, O’Brien replies that it is of no importance and that he does, but when he asks if he will ever cease to exist, O’Brien replies with “How could he die?”
4. What thoughts did the woman hanging clothes in the yard cause Winston to have?
Before the Thought Police caught Winston and Julia in the room above Mr. Charrington’s shop, Winston was looking out the window at the woman hanging clothes in the yard. From looking out at her, he came to the conclusion that she was beautiful. He was wondering how many kids she had had, realizing that him and Julia could only pass on the secret by word of mouth, mind to mind. He realized that the hope lay with the proles, because when looking at the woman in the yard singing, he knew that they were immortal, and someday they would overthrow, whenever that time might be.
5. How had Winston and Julia been spied on?
Winston had been spied on when they were in the room above Mr. Charrington’s shop. The telescreen was behind the picture on the wall. Also, Mr. Charrington that owned the shop, and let Winston and Julia use the room, was a member of the Thought Police.
6. Describe Winston's cell.
Winston’s cell was a high-ceilinged cell that had no windows. The walls were made of glittering white porcelain bricks. There were concealed lamps that flooded the cell with cold light, and then a low humming noise which had to do with the air supply. On each of he four walls, there was also a telescreen. Then, and bench, or shelf, that was just wide enough to sit on, ran around the wall, which was only broken by the door and the lavatory pan, that had no wooden seat.
7. What crime did Winston's first cellmate commit; his second?
Winston’s first cellmate, Ampleforth, is a poet, was trying to produce a definitive edition of the poems of Kipling. The crime was though, that he left he word God in the translation. Winston’s second cellmate was Parsons, who was his neighbor previously. He committed the crime of saying “Down with Bog Brother” in his sleep. His daughter, who listened at the keyhole, and told the patrols the next day, was the person who caught him.
8. What appears to be the ultimate torture?
The ultimate torture appears to be when Winston is strapped in the chair, and O’Brien has control of the dials, so that it inflicts serious pain to Winston. When you say something that they don’t like, or disagree with, they would turn the dial, so that you are in pain. This is the most harmful method of torture that you come across before Room 101. When Winston finally gets to go to Room 101, you find out the ultimate torture varies with each person that enters the room. For Winston, his ultimate fear was rats, so his ultimate torture was having rats burrowing into his face.
9. What methods of forcing confessions are used in the Ministry of Love?
There are many ways in which they reveal secrets at the Ministry of Truth. One way consists of beating, sometimes with fists, truncheons, steel rods, or their boots. Also, they had people that would question him. The questioning went on for hours, and they saw to it that he was always in slight pain, so like slapped his face, wrung his ears, pulled his hair, and made him stand on one leg, or shine bright light in his face. They did this to constantly humiliate him so that he would not be able to argue or reason. Also, the torture that stands above the rest is when you get strapped in a chair, and then there are dials that they control to inflict torture upon you when you say something that they do not agree with.
10. What is O'Brien's job? How does this change our opinions of him?
O’Brien’s job is to help interrogate criminals that come to the Ministry of Truth. He helps each person learn to love Big Brother, shows them how that their thoughts are incorrect, and that the Party is always right by causing pain and questioning them. He helps change people into what the Party wants them to be. At the beginning of the book, Winston meets with O’Brien and he tells Winston that he is a part f the Brotherhood, which is against Big Brother. He acts like a friend to Winston, showing him that he is on his side. This changes my opinion of him because now just doing what the Party is telling him to, and now he’s just another Party member.
11. Give one of Winston's "hallucinations" about the past.
Winston has a few hallucinations about the past while he is in the Ministry of Truth. It starts out with Winston and him being in a blissful reverie. He is walking through the Golden Country when he suddenly breaks out shouting Julia’s name. He had the hallucination in which he felt her inside of him and that she had got into the texture of his skin. This made him realize that he loved her and that she was out there somewhere,
12. Why does the party cling to power?
The party seeks power entirely for its own sake. The Party says that power is not a means, but an end. They never plan to relinquish their power, and that one makes a revolution to establish a dictatorship. That Party does not care about wealth, luxury, a long-life, or happiness, just power.
13. What is the picture of the future according to O'Brien?
O’Brien describes the picture of the future as a boot stamping on a humans face-forever. The civilization will be found on hatred and there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement. Everything else that exists now will be destroyed like the links between people, art and science, and no loyalty and love except for the love and loyalty for Big Brother.
14. What demonstrates the ultimate breakdown of Winston's rebellion?
The thing that happens, that is the ultimate breakdown of Winston’s rebellion, is when Winston is in Room 101. When O’Brien is going break out the rats on Winston’s face, Winston does the only thing that can save him, which is to tell him that they should give them to Julia instead of him. Winston could not rebel any longer; the Party had gotten to him, n
15. How did Winston train himself to crimestop?
Winston knew he needed to develop a blind spot in his mind whenever a dangerous thought presented itself. So he began to exercise himself in crimestop. He presented himself with propositions, like, “the Party says the earth is flat,” and then trained himself not to see the counterargument. He found out that he needed to have great powers of reasoning, improvisation, and that he needed to be able to make the delicate use of logic while in the next moment be unconscious of the crudest logical errors.
16. What sent Winston to Room 101? What is his ultimate terror?
The thing that sent Winston to Room 101 was that he was dreaming and then he involuntarily screamed out “Julia! Julia! Julia, my love! Julia! As we know, Winston’s ultimate terror is rats, as we saw as Julia and Winston were in the room above Mr. Charrington’s shop. Because of this, the thing that was in Room 101 was rats, because that was what Winston feared most. O’Brien had a cage that was full of rats, and on one end of the cage there was a thing that attached to Winston’s face, so that the rats would bury into his face. He got out of this though be telling them to do it to Julia instead.
17. Why did Winston and Julia not carry on their relationship after meeting again?
Winston and Julia decided not to carry on their relationship after they were released from the Ministry of Love, because they didn’t feel the same way about each other. They had realized that when you are on the brink of death, and you yell out, ‘don’t do it to me, do it to somebody else, do it to so-and-so,’ you think that you don’t mean it and that it was just an act of saving yourself, but really, all you care about is yourself. From that point on, you don’t feel the same towards that person, any longer.
18. People are often shocked at the sexual content in 1984. Why does sex play such a large role in the novel? What could Orwell be suggesting by having Big Brother try to manipulate and control that part of people's lives?
Sex plays a large role in the novel, because it is one of the ultimate things that go against the Party and Big Brother. The Party is trying to abolish relations that people have and by doing this is unlawful to have sex with another person, unless you are a prole and thought of as not a human. Orwell is trying to show how when people are in control, they can try to manipulate every part of your life, even your instinctive desires.
19. What is the last sentence of 1984? What does it mean?
The last sentence of the novel, “1984,” is “He loved Big Brother.” Winston is the one who is proclaiming this statement. He is saying this because he has given up trying to go against what the Party says, and now the Party has taken control of him like everybody else.
20. What are your final thoughts after having read the book? Write a 300-word minimum response in which you can discuss thoughts, feelings and details about the novel that you found difficult, interesting, profound, etc.
After reading the novel, “1984,” by George Orwell, I had mixed feeling about the novel. When I first started out reading the book, I felt it was dull, until Winston started to rebel against the Party. I was hoping that there would at least be some kind of lead that would help bring down the Party and Big Brother. Instead, Winston joins all the other people that just go along with what the Party tells them to do, and at the end of the book we find out that Winston truly loves Big Brother, despite everything he went through and said he would do to help take the Party down. The book kind of is pessimistic; telling you to give your hopes up, because sometimes the bigger person is always is going to win. It makes you want to give up on what you really want to happen and just follow along with the crowd. I thought it was interesting how O’Brien knew everything about Winston even though Winston had not told him those specific things about himself. It made you wonder about O’Brien and how he really knew those things about Winston, like his thoughts. It made you think about how much control the Party really had to control every citizen of Oceania. They had eliminated everything in society so that you were not your own person, and you couldn’t choose your own path to follow. The people lived in constant torture, and all they thought about was staying alive, though you think that after all of that, you would rather be dead than have to cooperate with all that the Party does. Overall, the novel makes you think about society today, and how lucky you are that you do not live in a totalitarian regime, like 1984 is described as. It makes you realize all the freedoms you have now, but also how far people will go to accomplish something that they want.
1) At the start of book 3, Winston is being kept in a cell somewhere in the Ministry of Love. He does not know where he is exactly, or what time of day it is, or even how long he has been held. It must have been a frightening experience, knowing that something bad was going to happen to you, but not knowing how or when it would happen. Having to wait endlessly without food or water in a cell with other people who had gone against Big Brother as well, must have also been painful. Growing weaker and weaker from lack of nutrition or sleep, would also affect me greatly. I can't even go a day without eating or I get a severe headache. Awaiting my punishment would be the harshest on me. My nerves get hte best of me in every situation; even if it's something I shouldn't get nervous about, I do. Not knowing what my fate was, or constantly thinking about my well being would be very hard to deal with.
2) The state used devices like the Telescreens to watch over its' people, and enforce its' rules. A telescreen was able to send in information about every person in Oceania, so that the party was able to know their where abouts, and what they were doing. This helped the party enforce its laws on thoughtcrimes, and anything else that could lead to bad things for Big Brother.
3) Big Brother is what some might call the government of Oceania. They set rules for the people, and control everything that happens. They watch all and know all that happens.
4) While observing the woman hanging clothes, he wondered about her life, and if it consisted of watching over her many grandchildren. He looked at the shape of her body, and the look on her face and labeled her as beautiful, even though she seemed to have been through a lot.
5) Winston and Julia were being spied upon through the telescreen hidden behind a painting in the room above Mr. Charrington's shop.
6) Winston's cell is very bland to say the least. There are no windows in his cell, or anywhere else in the building. The walls are a glittering white, and are made almost blinding by the bright lights. His cell also includes a bench, a lavatory pan, and four telescreens.
7) Winston's first cell mate was a poet named Ampleforth. He was charged simply because he used the word "God" in one of his poems. Even though he used the term because no other word would have had the same affect in its' place, because of ryhming difficulties, he was still charged. Winston's second cell mate was his own neighor, Mr. Parsons. Mr. Parsons was charged with thoughtcrime. He was found to be chanting "Down with big brother" in his sleep, by his daughter. She was the one who turned him in.
8) The ultimate torture, believed by O'Brien, was to take a person, and make them experience their greates fear, to submit to the party, and betray all others, including themselves.
9) In order to get confessions from their prisoners, The Ministry of Love would perform many various rituals. They would beat you, until they recieved an answer, they would drug you, until you weren't aware of anything, but worst of all they would take you to room 101. Room 101 is known to be a horrible room, where horrible things happen.
10) O'Brien works for the Ministry Of Love. He tortures, and interrogates Winston. This changes the readers views on him, because at first he is thought of as being someone Winstons could trust, or a sense of protection. But as things unfold the reader finds O'brien to be a sneaky liar.
11) One hallucination that Winston experienced was that of a picture of Aaronson, Rutherford, and Jones. These were men that were killed because they were thought of being guilty of treason, but the picture was proof of their innocense.
12) The party clings to power for various reasons. The party wishes for power over all simply because it keeps them in control of everything. They can control the thoughts of their own people, because of power.
13) O'Brien's picture for the future isn't very bright at all. He bases his wants on the love for Big Brother. He believes that the love for Big Brother should be the only love, and everything else should be based on hate. He wants to change the way humans think to make them hate all except Big Brother.
14) The ultimate breakdown of Winston's rebellion was when he betrayed Julia. It showed O'Brien that he didn't love Julia enough to let himself be faced with the rats. It showed him that Winston was willing to betray his love for Big Brother.
15) Winston was able to crimestop by pretending more or less. He pretends that what the party says is true. He pretends that what he used to know was a lie. He makes himself believe that the party is always correct.
16) Winston is sent to room 101 when he confesses to O'Brien that he hates Big Brother. Room 101 was made to make people love Big Brother, and in order to do that, they use their worst fear against them. Winston's ultimate terror was a cage of rats.
17) After both experiencing room 101, and betraying one another, Winston and Julia agree that they do not feel the same as they did before hand. They state that they could not love each other again because they betrayed one another and the party caused them to forget about love.
18) The party wants to eliminate all the love, trust, loyalty, and respect, that people have for one another, so that all is left is the love, trust, loyalty, and respect for Big Brother. Sex is an ultimate result for people that feel those things listed above for one another. If the party can take away sex, in the end they might be able to take away the desire to feel compassionate towards another human being.
19) The last sentence in the novel is "He loved Big Brother". This sentence means that the party has successfully brainwashed Winston. It proves that above all love means nothing in the end, when Big Brother gets ahold of you.
20) "1984" by: George Orwell, was a fascinating novel. It makes the reader wonder if the lives that we live now haven't been aultered in some way, or changed. It adds a sense of paranoia to the minds of its' readers, causing them to ponder the actuality of their own lives. If it is so easy to change a person into something that they are not, into something they despise, into something that isn't really a human being at all, then is there hope in the end? It is a wonderful piece of literature that describes a world full of hate, and torture; where everybody is nobody in the eyes of Big Brother. The book opens the eyes of its' readers to the fact that sometimes things aren't what they appear to be. I enjoyed this novel because it made me appreciate my life today; The privacy I am allowed to have, The love I am allowed to feel, and the thoughts I am allowed to have, whether they be thoughts of hate or love. It made me wonder how someone could want so much hate. How could a so called government want it's people to feel this way. Sure rules need to be followed, but who wants rules like "no thoughtcrime"? Where you can't be yourself. The fact that a character standing up for what they believe in, in the novel, is cause for being killed, is a dissapointment. The way the party can just take over everything, and do whatever they want to Winston, Julia, and everyone else, is a dissapoinment. The fact that Winston could actually love Big Brother, no matter what it did to him before, is just sickening. I loved the book, but the thought of something like the plot happening to me is almost sickening.
BOOK III Questions
1. How would you feel if you were in Winston's shoes at the start of Book III? Are there any parallels that you can draw in your own life to try to understand his situation? Write a 300 word response in which you consider these questions.
Book III opens with Winston awaking to a room full of telescreens. He was unaware of how he got there or even where he was. He was overwhelmed with fear as he contemplated his actions carefully. He knew why the thought police had brought him there; for obviously committing thought crime but the question left interrogating him, was what they were going to do to him there? If I was in Winston’s shoes during this time, I would probably be trying to find logical explanations and thinking of ways to either to save myself or convince them of my loyalty to the party. Winston had heard story’s and suspected questioning, but what comes next? Winston wondered this for he had never heard of a person to survive. Winston did not appear hopeful as he watched other prisoners enter his cell who had committed nothing but petty crimes. He mostly spent his time tormented by the wait, the hunger and the fear. That in itself would probably drive me insane, not having a reason to live and slowly being tormented to death. I don’t know if I could have stayed strong in Winston’s situation in the beginning of book III. Given the loneliness, the questions left unanswered, and the pure misery would have pushed me off the edge and I would have given up.
Only one situation stands out in particular in which I not only felt fear but loneliness as well. One time I was at Ichthus with my youth group and we were at main stage with thousands of other people, when there was a warning that we needed to seek shelter immediately because of strong winds and a tornado. We fought the wind barely standing and a group of us piled into a huge boxtruck. I was not only scared because I witnessed a circus tent fly up on one side but I didn’t know where my family was and if they were safe. All that there was to do was wait and be miserable. Although this doesn’t compare to Winston’s misery it kind of gave me a better understanding.
2. What devices did the state have for enforcing total control?
There were many different devices used in 1984 for the state to have total control. A major method used was spying. The government had telescreens and hidden microphones used to monitor actions and make sure nobody was disobeying. The government also sort of brainwashed people by starting young and raising children to tell on their parents and teaching them against there normal temptations, such as sex. The past was also altered so that the government was always right and the people had to believe what they saw. If anyone was to disobey, they practically beat the life out of them.
3. What is Big Brother?
Big Brother represents the party, a mere figure or symbol used to instill fear. When you think of Big Brother, you think of someone watching over you. That’s exactly what the party does, they watch over your every move to make sure your obeying. They want complete control over your actions and they do this by making you suffer.
4. What thoughts did the woman hanging clothes in the yard cause Winston to have?
The woman who was hanging clothes in the yard was singing, and it made Winston think that even though she is overwhelmed with slaving to the needs of others, she is perfectly content. He also admired her true human beauty that was still present through her lifes hard work.
5. How had Winston and Julia been spied on?
The one place that they considered safe was the upstairs bedroom in Mr. Charrington's shop. It turns out that Mr. Charrington was a member of the thought police and there was a telescreen behind the picture. They had been spied on the whole time because this created suspicion and there every act was monitored.
6. Describe Winston's cell.
The cell that Winston was placed in was porcelain colored and the ceiling was high. He was surrounded by telescreens on all sides for constant supervision. It was bright and merely consisted of a single bench and a lavatory pan.
7. What crime did Winston's first cellmate commit? His second?
The first cellmate of Winston’s was Ampleforth. He was a poet that left the word “God” at the end of a line. His next cellmate was his neighbor, Parsons. Parsons said “Down with Big Brother” in his sleep and his daughter turned him in to the thought police.
8. What appears to be the ultimate torture?
Being sent to room 101. The previous cellmates of Winstons shuddered at the thought of being sent there.
9. What methods of forcing confessions are used in the Ministry of Love?
In the ministry of love, they feel that obeying is not enough and that you have to suffer. When forcing confessions, you have to go through a series of questions, you get beat regularly and starved till your body is a mere skeleton. Since O'Brian can detect your lies, he has a pain dial which changes according to his reaction to your thoughts. When they are satisfied for the most part they feed you and make you stronger, yet all the while you know it’s just a matter of time before you get shot.
10. What is O'Brien's job? How does this change our opinions of him?
O'Brien we soon learned was not in the brotherhood and was merely luring Winston and Julia into a trap. He worked underground in the Ministry of Truth, torturing citizens into confession. He could be compared to a human lie detector, which made him perfect for the job. This confused me because even through the torturing, he still seemed to protect Winston in a way.
11. Give one of Winston's "hallucinations" about the past?
Since the party altars the past, many of your memorys become hallucinations in the eyes of the party. When what you remember doesn’t coincide with what the party creates, they brainwash you and say it was only a hallucination. Winston once found a picture of Rutherford, Aaronson and Jones proving their innocence. O’Brien entitles this a hallucination.
12. Why does the party cling to power?
The party only wants power for the sake of having it. They want total control over your mind and actions. Its not enough to simply obey, but they want you to suffer as well. With the power that the party controls, they are literally indestructible.
13. What is the picture of the future according to O'Brien?
O'Brien states "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face-forever."
14. What demonstrates the ultimate breakdown of Winston's rebellion?
Winston’s ultimate breakdown occurred in room 101. He betrayed Julia, the one person most important to him and actually meant it. He describes it as a point of unbearable pain in which you wish it upon someone else. An act of selfishness that can only be imagined if put in the situation. Winston had to face his greatest weakness in life and wished Julia to take his place.
15. How did Winston train himself to crimestop?
The act of crime stop is creating a blind spot whenever a dangerous thought presents itself. Winston decided to practice not thinking of the thoughts that oppose the party. For example when O'Brian tells Winston that two plus two equal five, he must not think of four.
16. What sent Winston to Room 101? What is his ultimate terror?
After he had been beaten and questioned, they finally thought that he was cured. However one time when Winston was laying in bed thinking, he thought of Julia and started screaming her name aloud. O'Brian sent him to room 101 which would torcher him with his weakness. Winston's weakness happened to be rats, so he was put a situation where the rats could rip him to shreads.
17. Why did Winston and Julia not carry on their relationship after meeting again?
Upon meeting for the first time since their imprisonment, Winston and Julia knew their relationship had changed. They discovered each other’s betrayal and knew that they truly meant it. They had been conformed to the way of Big Brother. They decided to end their relationship because it no longer felt real.
18. People are often shocked at the sexual content in 1984. Why does sex play such a large role in the novel? What could Orwell be suggesting by having Big Brother try to manipulate and control that part of people's lives?
Sex is one of the most powerful roles in Big Brother. It solely takes loyalty, love and rebellion to a greater extent. It takes away your energy and stands between you and the party. For this reason, the party is trying to eradicate the sex instinct.
19. What is the last sentence of 1984? What does it mean?
The last line of 1984 was “He loved Big Brother.” The party had finally gotten the best of Winston. Everything he spent his life against, was now nothing because he was corrupted. The party won and the one goal they have for everyone’s life was finally accomplished. He began to see things in the way of the party.
20. What are your final thoughts after having read the book? Write a 300-word minimum response in which you can discuss thoughts, feelings and details about the novel that you found difficult, interesting, profound, etc.
When I finished the novel I was shocked. The best thing about 1984, was not only it’s complexity but that it surprised me.
In the beginning I was a little confused and bored. It took me a little while to understand that it was kind of laying the seen and explaining the book and government. Although the farther I read the story line picked up more and more. It kind of made me wonder why? Why did Winston even bother? What was his reason for living? I was curious as to his background, which it never really explained until later on in the book.
The second book stepped things up and sparked my attention more. You get to know a little more about Winston. Instead of just thinking he hated the party, he actually did something about it. Not only that but he found a companion to rebel with. Julia really surprised me and was not how she seemed, which made it all the more interesting. The end of the second book completely threw me for a loop and I liked it. I was definitely not expecting Mr. Charrington, who I considered one of the nicest little characters in the book to betray them as he did. I was so excited at the thought of the Brotherhood; I thought it would take down the party but no. They were being lured into a trap the entire time.
The last book was quite depressing yet intriguing at the same time. I had my hopes for Julia and Winston; I thought that they were the one bond the party couldn’t come between, and they betray each other. The party I soon came to realize won and always would; despite my optimistic outlook. I thought Winston was so strong throughout the whole book and he conforms. It was disappointing in a way, but still I thought it was a great book.
1. How would you feel if you were in Winston's shoes at the start of Book III? Are there any parallels that you can draw in your own life to try to understand his situation? Write a 300 word response in which you consider these questions.
If you would have put me in Winston’s shoes at the start of the book I know for a fact I would not have handled the situation like he did. He is very strong mentally and that is something I need to improve on, for example when he was getting tortured for asking how many fingers O’Brian is holding up and he is really only holding up 4 but he is supposed to say 5 because the party controls every thought and how to do everything. He keeps getting brutally beat down physically and mentally and it is astonishing to show how tough Winston is.
My life is not close to Winston or nor is it as crucial but I have been in some situations where I had to be punished to get the truth I kept inside me from the rest of the world. One memory I have always stored in my head that I can compare to Winston’s even thought it has no link to one another was when I was a young boy and I was riding with my mother and I was mad at her for not getting me some candy and I told her that I hated her that’s when I went wrong. She stuck me across the face with what seemed to be ungodly force, that wasn’t the end of it when we got home she told me to go to my room and stay there till I was told otherwise. When I seem her come in with the belt I thought my world was over, I didn’t even get hit yet and I started crying begging, screaming, pleading trying to get my mom to stop coming toward me with the belt but she keep coming and the more the tears keep coming out. Being a loving mother she stopped because I was scared to death and yet has it crossed my mind that I would ever say it again to her.
2. What devices did the state have for enforcing total control?
The party used different ways to have total control the most common was the telescreen that watched every move you did. For the people the was caught and needed to be punished would be sent to room 101 and shocked with a device that had a knob on it and the high it went up so did the pay that shot threw your body.
3. What is Big Brother?
Big brother is not just a single person but the party as a whole he does not really excised like O’Brian says he is different from Winston but does not tell how
4. What thoughts did the woman hanging clothes in the yard cause Winston to have?
It caused Winston to have thoughts about life and it made him wonder how a lady could still look so beautiful after having some many children so in general made him think about life
5. How had Winston and Julia been spied on?
There was a telescreen looking directly into the room in the antique store
6. Describe Winston's cell.
Winston’s cell was like a small square room with a small bench where someone could sit it had 2 telescreens in it watching and hearing everything he did, the room also had a place where a toilet should be.
7. What crime did Winston's first cell mate commit? His second?
His 1st cell mate put the word God in his poem his second cell mate had kids and they heard him say down with big brother bumbled in his sleep
8. What appears to be the ultimate torture?
Being sent the room 101
9. What methods of forcing confessions are used in the Ministry of Love?
Torture is what the ministry of love likes to do, it was not only physically torture nut mental to and after they would shock you they would be nice to you like nothing really happened to rebuild your self confidence
10. What is O'Brien's job? How does this change our opinions of him?
O’Brien’s job is the torturer. It changes my opinion of him because he really is for big brother unlike what he tells Winston
11. Give one of Winston's "hallucinations" about the past?
One of the “hallucinations” he has id when he is looking at the picture of Aaronson, Rutherford, and Jones and Winston is convinced that the picture is real but he is told by O’Brien that its just a hallucination
12. Why does the party cling to power?
They cling to power because they want all the power because of there own sake according to O’Brien
13. What is the picture of the future according to O'Brien?
In the future O’Brien says that there will be no love but the love for Big Brother and b.b will control everyone and always will, he also says that all the other countries will not hate Oceanic
14. What demonstrates the ultimate breakdown of Winston's rebellion?
The ultimate breakdown was when Winston betrayed Julia the power of big brother has finally caught up with him
15. How did Winston train himself to crimestop?
Winston over time taught himself to just believe in what B.B told him and to stop thinking of his own thoughts
16. What sent Winston to Room 101? What is his ultimate terror?
Winston was sent to room 101 because he still loved her. His ultimate terror was when O’Brien had the rats put over Winston’s face and he couldn’t take it no longer he had to spill on Julia
17. Why did Winston and Julia not carry on their relationship after meeting again?
The reason they could not carry on their relationship was because Julia had spilled on Winston and Winston had did the same he leaked information while being tortured
18. People are often shocked at the sexual content in 1984. Why does sex play such a large role in the novel? What could Orwell be suggesting by having Big Brother try to manipulate and control that part of people's lives?
Sex places such a big role in the book because it’s apart of life its how people show love for one another and in the book Big brother only wanted love for the party and if they was having sex then they are showing a way of love to one another
19. What is the last sentence of 1984? What does it mean?
“He loved big brother” was the last sentence I think it means that Winston after all the trouble and punishment he went threw really loved big brother the whole time but he was lost and tried to be a follower in the start of the book
20. What are your final thoughts after having read the book? Write a 300-word minimum response in which you can discuss thoughts, feelings and details about the novel that you found difficult, interesting, profound, etc.
I will start at the begging of the book and how my thought has changed throughout the book. At the start I was bored and didn’t really get the book it was like I was reading words but they were getting lost after I read them. When the book got deeper and deeper the book started to change with all how he really felt things he would not tell at the start on his own, but with the love of Julia he had no problem telling them and that’s what got in caught was Julia meeting her all the time.
At the end of the book I could not put it down because it was so good and it keep you wondering what would happen next but to me I think the ending could have been better then what he had it layed out to be because, if you had it going down the path he still didn’t love Big brother then you could choose multiple way of going. My main interest in the book was how the people and a whole would let the party control them without a fight and how they lived in fear and would not revolt again them as a whole. I found it very hard to see how the party could tell who and who wasn’t against them because in the book they call seemed to act the same on the outside and they all seemed to act the same to me which was miserable. Over all I really liked the book even thought the main places I did not like the best the begging and the end.
1. I would be terrified if I were in Winston’s shoes. Winston is in a situation where his fate lies in someone else’s hands. This would be a very scary situation. There is not much Winston can do to save himself. He also knows he is going to be tortured and changed. Winston is at the point where his life as he knows it is over. Even if he does survive, it won’t be the same.
Winston will never be happy. Sanity is hard to keep at this point. Winston has been broken down both mentally and physically. He is helpless. Winston knows what may happen to him. His biggest obstacle is his own mind. Winston is trying to clear the negative thoughts from his head. He is trying not to think of the events ahead, and he is trying to prepare himself.
I have not ever been in a situation such as Winston’s. I have never feared for my life or the way my life is lead. I have had a few down places in my life, but none like this. I have also never been as unhappy as Winston.
The closest I have been to a situation like that in 1984 is when my great grandmother passed away. I felt a lot like Winston, but maybe not to such a harsh degree. I felt regretful and sad. I also felt helpless, just like Winston. I did not fear for my life like Winston, but my way of life. I was afraid my life would change and never be the same. I think Winston felt this way also. I was not as afraid as Winston, but just as confused as to what was happening and why. I can not imagine what I would do if I was in a situation like Winston.
2. Fear is the method that is used by big brother to obtain loyalty from its members. Propaganda also plays a big role in this. People who are convicted of crimes are subjected to extremely cruel torture. This keeps the people too afraid to act against big brother. Also, telescreens are everywhere. The telescreens keep people updated with new propaganda that makes them hate their enemy and love big brother even more. The telescreens are also always watching them, making them afraid to rebel.
3. Big brother is the government. It is not really a person or a thing, but more a symbol representing the government as a whole. It gives the people a picture of the government. Big brother is never seen in the novel. He is on posters and signs. Winston does not believe big brother exists, until O’Brien tortures him into believing the way he does.
4. Winston thought that she was beautiful. He wondered whether she was a slave of washing clothes. He also wondered if she had 20 or 30 grandchildren. He thought that her strong arms and warm heart accentuated her beauty.
5. Winston and Julia had been betrayed by Mr. Charrington. He was actually a member of the thought police. When they thought they were alone in the secret room upstairs, they were really being spied on. There was a telescreen hiding behind a picture on the wall, which was exposed when the picture fell. The thought police arrested them shortly after this discovery.
6. There were four telescreens in Winston’s cell, which were constantly shouting orders. The cell had high ceilings, and no windows. There is a small bench and a lavatory pan in the room. There are concealed lamps that make the room extremely bright.
7. His first cell mate was a poet named Ampleforth. Ampleforth was arrested for putting the word “God” into one of his writings. He says that he had to because nothing else rhymed with rod. His neighbor Mr. Parsons was his second cell mate. He had been turned in by his children, who were members of the junior spies, for saying “Down with Big Brother.” in his sleep. This was considered thought crime. Mr. Parsons was not angry, but proud of his children.
8. Ultimate torture lies in room 101. For Winston, it is rats. The starving rats may be released at any moments to consume Winston’s flesh. This scares him into giving in to O’Brien and betraying Julia. The “ultimate torture” may be different for others. A common way is a machine that pulls apart the limbs.
9. There is a machine used that pulls on the person’s limbs. There is a dial that makes the machine pull harder. If the person lies or does not full cooperate, they are pulled on by the machine, causing excruciating pain. The dial can be increased or decreased to suit O’Brien. This method is effective in making people crack.
10. O’Brien works for the ministry of love. He is also a member of the thought police. His job is to torture people and make them love big brother. This is what he does to Winston. O’Brien writes Goldstein’s book, which turns people against O’Brien. The reader’s opinion of O’Brien changes a lot throughout the story. At first, Winston feels a connection to O’Brien and thinks that they feel the same about the party. Later on in the story O’Brien betrays Winston and they become enemies.
11. Winston “hallucinated” that he had found evidence to prove that Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford were innocent. Winston actually did find proof that they were innocent of these crimes. O’Brien tortured Winston into believing that he had not actually done this. He makes him believe it was a hallucination and big brother would never falsely convict someone.
12. The party believes that power will let them control everything. They can have anything they want if they have power. They are able to control people’s minds with their power. Knowing that power gives them all of this, they cling to it.
13. O’Brien says that the future would be like “a boot stamping on a human face.”. He says that this would last forever. He describes the world as all happiness is gone. It is like the world now, but harsher. There will be no love, but that for Big Brother.
14. Winston betraying Julia is the ultimate breakdown of Winston’s rebellion. When Winston is faced with the rats, he breaks down and says he wishes they would torture Julia instead. This is significant because it shows the power of Big Brother. They made Winston betray the one that he loved most.
15. Winston trained himself to crimestop by cramming the ideas of the party into his head. He uses doublethink like the party does. He thinks things such as “The earth is flat” and “two plus two is five”. These ideas help him keep anti party thoughts away.
16. Winston gets sent to room 101 for saying that he hates bog brother. A person is sent to room 101 when they hate big brother, and are tortured into loving big brother. In room 101, Winston is tortured by rats. If Winston lies, starving rats will consume his flesh. This causes Winston to become loyal to the party.
17. They do not feel the same as they thought about each other. They meant it when they said they wanted the other one to be tortured instead. They realize there love isn’t the same. They then talk about the power of big brother and say they will meet again.
18. Sex plays a large role because it is a sinful human desire. Many people get much pleasure from sex. In the book, it shows how big brother eliminates all happiness as to make people loyal. It makes sex unenjoyable, just like everything else. Big brother makes being loyal to the party the only enjoyable thing.
19. The last sentence says “He loved big brother” It shows the power of big brother. The party took the one thing Winston hated and made him love it. They controlled his mind. If they did this, they could do anything.
20. At first, I did not like the book at all. I thought it was boring and hard to read. I think I started to get into the book at about the beginning of book 3. I actually wanted to read more and see what happened. I do not necessarily like the idea of the book, but I think it is well written and draw the reader’s attention.
I didn’t at all enjoy the first two books. I found them drawn out and boring. All that seemed to happen was he committed petty crimes against a harsh government. I only enjoyed it after he was captured. I then wanted to know what happened.
I think the author did a good job on this book. It is a very good and surprising turn when Mr. Charrington turns in Winston and Julia. I think he did a good job of building up anticipation to what would happen at the end of the book. It also gives the reader some ideas to what will happen, based on what happens in other parts of the story.
I found it amazing how much the government controlled the people in the story. It controlled every aspect of their lives. It seemed to be the only important thing and made everything else seem insignificant. There was no pleasure, for the good of the government. Power meant everything in 1984.
I also was surprised by the sexual content in the book. It emphasized sex a lot in the book. It seemed as the main human pleasure in the book before big brother changed it. It showed that big brother could control everything..
Overall the book was good. The final book saved my opinion of the whole book. I think the book had a good ending. I think it was a well written interesting book.
Sara Hardin
Mr. Parsons
Advanced English ll
December 8, 2008
1. How would you feel if you were in Winston's shoes at the start of Book III? Are there any parallels that you can draw in your own life to try to understand his situation? Write a 300 word response in which you consider these questions.
In the beginning of book three Winston woke up in a room and was starving for food. He had no clue how he got there or how long he had been there. He was trapped in a little white while being surrounded by 4 telescreens (one on each wall). If I were in Winston’s shoes, I would be absolutely terrified. Waking up in an unfamiliar place, with no memory of how I got there, would make me go insane. I would be thinking of sly ways to get myself out of the situations, and probably would have considered suicide, because I would know that torture would have been coming. Going without food would have made me go insane. I probably wouldn’t be able to go very long without it.
A situation that I have been in that was even close to what Winston went through was whenever I had to lie to my mom to her face. I wanted to go out with my boyfriend, and she would not let me, so I lied to her and told her that I was going to my friend’s house. Whenever my mother figured out, she sent me to my room and told me that she would come into my room in a little bit and talk to me about it. While I was sitting in my room, I was really nervous because I knew what was going to happen, and the suspension was like killing me. This is kind of like Winston, because he sat in his cell, knowing what was going to happen to him. My situation does not have as bad of a punishment as Winston’s, because he received a horrible punishment.
2. What devices did the state have for enforcing total control?
The government would torture the person with their greatest fear until the person would give in and tell everything that they had done. They would brainwash the person until they completely loved Big Brother.
The government would also put up signs of propaganda to scare the citizens, so they could control them also.
3. What is Big Brother?
Big Brother is an idea image made by the government to scare the citizens, to make them think that he is a real person, which he is not. Posters are hung with an idea picture to make the citizens believe that he is real, though he is not.
4. What thoughts did the woman hanging clothes in the yard cause Winston to have?
Winston thought that the woman in the garden was a slave. He thought that the woman was very beautiful. He shared this information with Julia and she agreed with him.
5. How had Winston and Julia been spied on?
Julia and Winston had been meeting each other in the room above Mr. Charrington’s. There was a picture hanging in the room that had a telescreen hidden behind it. While Julia and Winston were in there one day, the picture fell down, and they found the telescreen. Minutes later, the Thought Police came and took them away.
6. Describe Winston's cell.
At the beginning of Book Three, Winston was captured and taken to a cell. The cell was very white inside, and was very bright, due to all the lamps. There were four telescreens in the cell, one on each wall.
7. What crime did Winston's first cell mate commit? His second?
Winston’s first cell mates name was Ampleforth. He was writing a poem, and it had the word God in it. He refused to change, so he got caught. The second cellmate was Mr. Parsons. His children caught him while he was sleeping because he yelled out, “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER!”
8. What appears to be the ultimate torture?
The ultimate torture depended on the individuality of the person. Whatever the persons worst fear, they used it against them in the interrogation, to get information out of them.
9. What methods of forcing confessions are used in the Ministry of Love?
When Winston first got there, they just did normal torture. They would hurt him by kicking him or punching him. Whenever they wanted to get information out of the person, they would get the persons greatest fear, and threaten them with it, until they told them what they wanted.
10. What is O'Brien's job? How does this change our opinions of him?
O’Brien works for the Ministry of Love and is a member of the Thought Police. He is the person who interrogates Winston. I thought that O’Brien was a part of the Brotherhood, and was going to help Winston out, but I was completely wrong. Now, I do not like O’Brien and I came to figure out that he was caught by the Thought Police before, which means that he knew what tortures were going to come toward Winston, which is not a nice thing to do.
11. Give one of Winston's "hallucinations" about the past?
One of Winston’s hallucinations was that Winston found a picture of Jones Aaronson and Rutherford that proved their innocence.
12. Why does the party cling to power?
The Party clings to power because that is their goal that they want to achieve. O’Brien told Winston that the Party does not care about the people that all that they want is to control everybody.
13. What is the picture of the future according to O'Brien?
O’Brien thinks that in the future, Big Brother will control the World. Everybody will love Big Brother, and Big Brother will never have any enemies in the future. Everybody in the world will obey the Party’s rules and everybody will obey.
14. What demonstrates the ultimate breakdown of Winston's rebellion?
Whenever Winston gets into room 101, O’Brien starts to tell him that there is something he is very terrified of on the other side of the wall. Then, O’Brien pulls out a cage of rats, and threatens Winston that the rats will eat his face off. Winston is terrified of rats, so he gives in.
15. How did Winston train himself to crimestop?
Winston trains himself to crimestop by telling himself facts that the Party wants him to believe. He believed that not knowing about anything would be better than believing anything at all.
16. What sent Winston to Room 101? What is his ultimate terror?
Winston was sent there because he committed Thought Crime. His ultimate terror was to be in a dark room, with his worst fear on the other side. His worst fear was rats.
17. Why did Winston and Julia not carry on their relationship after meeting again?
Because they both agreed that they really did not love each other. They both sold each other out by telling on each other, and wishing pain upon one another. When they left the Ministry of Love, they felt as if they did not feel the same toward one another.
18. People are often shocked at the sexual content in 1984. Why does sex play such a large role in the novel? What could Orwell be suggesting by having Big Brother try to manipulate and control that part of people's lives?
Sex played such a great role in the novel to Winston and Julia, because it was a political act against the Party. This represents how much control the Party has over the citizens, because they have taken away a human instinct, which results in reproduction.
19. What is the last sentence of 1984? What does it mean?
The last sentence in 1984 is, “He loved Big Brother.” This means that Winston has been brainwashed and now agrees with everything that the party has ever tried to make anybody to believe. Everything that Winston had ever rebelled about is completely gone out of his mind.
2) The state had many devices for enforcing total control. They had the power to listen to any word spoken, by any person at any given time. They heard and saw EVERYTHING that happened among the citizens of Oceania. Their freedom was stripped away by the fact that they had no privacy. If one had any thought or malicious feeling or disbelief against the party, one was tortured mercilessly and retaught by the laws of the party.
3) He is just the name that is used to refer to the party as a whole. Big Brother represents the party, which is never-ending, therefore "Big Brother" never dies.
4) Winston saw great, unparalleled beauty in the woman hanging clothes in the street. Though she was not necessarily attractive in outside appearance, Winston saw through her materialistic exterior into the true, pure, and happy soul she really was. He admired the fact that she freely lived her life happily and even sung loudly with pride, something Winston had not the privilege to do.
5) They had been spied on by the telescreen conveniently placed behind the picture hanging in the room.
6) Winston's cell can best be described as a tall, windowless room with bright lights always illuminating it. A telescreen is placed on each wall.
7) His first cellmate was Ampleforthe, he was jailed for leaving the word God in a work of literature. The second cellmate was Parsons, who was turned over to the law by his daughter for thoughtcrime.
8) The worst torture was supposedly located in 101. This is implied by the reaction that is gotten when prisoners are sent there.
9) There are many methods for getting confessions in the Ministry of Love. One method used is brute physical force. The prisoners are beaten mercilessly. Also, they are strapped down and shocked greatly until confessions are made.
10) O'Brien's job was to rehabilitate criminals who have worked or committed crimes against the party. This changes my opinion of him because I was under the impression he was the only person who could be completely trusted, and he couldn't be.
11) One hallucination Winston has is in his jail cell after intense torture. He dreams of his time spent with Julia and realizes he has a deep love for her.
12) The Party clings to power because power is control. They care not for the well being of citizens, but that they reign almighty.
13) O'Brien's image of the future in the Party having total power over the world. The pleasures of human life will be stripped away and the people will be completely dominated.
14) When he betrayed her when threatened with his worst fear in room 101... rats.
15) While in the solitary of his cell, he forced himself to believe the statements made by O'Brien. He made himself believe the laws of the party to escape torture.
16) He was sent there because he was not completely broken, he had one think left to do, betray Julia. His worst fear was being attacked by rats.
17) Because the love they thought they had was broken, they had both betrayed each other and didn't feel the love any longer.
18) I think it is used in the novel because it is a natural and legal act witch should not be controlled by the government. By Big Brother trying to manipulate this as well, it shows the Party's lust to control everything, even reproduction, which is enabled through sex.
19) The last sentence in the book is "He loved Big Brother." This is a perfect last line for a novel of this type. This is because it is known that the party recruits criminals into citizens before they assassinate them. They must love and accept big brother. By the last line it is implied that he had completed his reformation, as was killed as forewarned.
1)At the beginning of the book Winston was in a room
sitting on a bench not knowing what was going on,
surrounded by telescreens. He wasn't sure of where he
was at but he thought that he might have been in the
ministry of love. At this time I would have been scared
regretting not knowing where I was and I would be in
fear of what they might do to me.
2.)The most important device is the telescreen. They
can see what everyone is doing at any given time.
3.) Big Brother is, basically just a picture. The face
was used to strike fear into the people and make them
paranoid that someone was always watching and making
them obey the rules.
4.)It made Winston think that she might have been
working to keep clothes clean for a lot of grand
children or she had washed clothes for a living. It
made him see that she was truly beautiful.
5.)There was a telescreen behind a picture. Hidden,
watching them.
6.) The firs cell had a whole bunch of dirty people in
there surrounding him. The second cell was a blank room
with a bench and every wall had a telescreen on it.
7.)The first one was arrested for there writings,
poetry and all that. He found that there were 12 words
rhyming with "Rod" and he ended it with "God". The
second was turned in to the thought police for his
daughter turned him in. She had caught him saying in
his sleep something like "down with big brother"
8.)The ultimate torture is in room 101 where they
change your thoughts about Big Brother.
9.)They have many different methods, such as torture,
interrogations, beating the people, and starving them.
One other device that almost breaks people's backs.
10.)He works for the ministry of love. He changes
others thoughts and beliefs about the party. I think
that he is a traitor and is just set on making everyone
believe that big brother is right.
11)He had hallucinated that he was with Julia in the
same room. He was so in love with her and felt so drawn
to her.
12)The party clings to power because power controls.
They're power strikes fear into the people and keeps
them in line. They can make them do anything they want
to because they have to power to do so.
13.)He pictures Big Brother to have absolute control
over the world. NO one would have any enemies, there
would be no love, it would be a mindless society.
14)The ultimate breakdown is when he betrayed Julia. He
betrayed her and he loved her so much but the party
changed him.
15)He trained himself to crimestop by finding out to
contradict his beliefs. He learned to never disagree.
16)O'brian asks Winston what he thinks of Big Brother
and he responds by saying he hates them. Once u admit
you hate Big Brother you are sent to room 101. In room
101 they change you to love big brother.
17)They could not love eachother because of the party.
The taught them not to love anymore.
18)Sex in the novel plays a big part because it is one
of the most un appreciated pleasurable freedom. You
dont know what you have until it is gone. You realize
that it is there but once it is gone and you can not do
it anymore you begin to want it.
19)He was changed, the ministry of love changed him,
changed his thoughts. He was a part of the flow he went
with all the other party members. He loved Big Brother.
20)This book is probably one of my favorites. I really
do not like to read but this book I did. It was boring
at first but got better when it finally developed it's
idea. This book had brought up past thoughts that I
have had. It also had brought new concepts in. I think
all of it was necessary. Most people would be appalled
by the sexual content but I really think that it needed
it. It makes you appreciate what you have. I found the
book decently easy to read. Some parts were a little
hard to understand but later made sense. It really had
an unexpecting end for me. I really liked it though.
You find that even the most strong willed can be
brought down. This book would have had a better effect
if I were to read it before the year 1984 because it
would give that edge, make you fear the future. It is
still possible to fear it. You never know what the
future will behold. Government can be dangerous, and
when the wrong people are given power we can all
perish.
1.) How would you feel if you were in Winston's shoes at the start of Book III? Are there any parallels that you can draw in your own life to try to understand his situation? Write a 300 word response in which you consider these questions
The third book in 1984 starts out with winston inside a prison with no windows, just walls and a giant telescreen that watchs his every move. He dosent know if its day light or dark and he dosent know how long he has been there. He is starving to death in the cell beacuse he hasent eaten in weeks. If I was winstons shoes I dont know what I would do, every person that is in the cell with winston is taken to room 101 where they are tortured. I would feel nervous know that at anytime that the guards would come and take me away and not know what would happen to me. In my life it would be like waiting outside the principles office knowing that I did something wrong and know that somethiing bad was going to happen to me but just dont know what. I feel really bad for Winston because he was just sitting there in his cell and a drunk women is thrown in the cell and sits on me and then pukes all over me. I would feel very uneasy and restless, so if I was in Winston shoes I would be very scared of what is going to happen to me.
2.) What devices did the state have for enforcing total control?
The devices that the party used to keep control the people were some nasty ones. First they dont allow you to have any privacy beause of the telescreens. Then if you are caught by the telescreens doing something that you are not suppose to you are tortured by the police. If you crime is bad enough you are taken to room 101 where you worst fears try to kill you.
3.)What is Big Brother?
Big brother is the name given to party and goverment. He is suppose to be the figure that repersents them, he is not an actual person. He the enforcer of all crime that are broken in 1984
4.) What thoughts did the woman hanging clothes in the yard cause Winston to have?
He had many thoughts about her weather she had to do that or if she was doing that for a living. If she had twenty or thirty grandchildern. He talked to Julia about the women and she thought that she was beautiful and she to wondered just how many children that she had.
5.) How had Winston and Julia been spied on?
They were spied on by telescreens that they had no idea about and they were eventually caught in the attic of the antique shop because there was a hidden telescreen behind a painting.
6.) Describe Winston's cell.
Winstons cell reminds of a cell that you would put an insane person in. It had no windows and only a bench to sit upon. Its walls were surrounded by telescreens, he could do nothing without being seen by the moniters. He had very few visitors the old smith women, ampleforth, and parsons who made one of the funnier parts of the book happen in the cell.
7.) What crime did Winston's first cell mate commit? His second?
His first was the ampleforth and he was arrested because of the book he was writing he wrote the word "god" in it because he could not of anything that could ryhme with a word. His secound was parsons who caught by his kids of thought crime because he was screaming "down with big brother" in his sleep
8.) What appears to be the ultimate torture?
The ultimate torture was differnet for everyone, it was what they feared the most of all and they had to deal with it. They also had to deal with being shocked as torture as well.
9.) What methods of forcing confessions are used in the Ministry of Love?
They would do anything for a person to confess or believe in the party. They would just arrest them then release them, They would shock them until they believed what the party did, then they had room 101 which was the ultimate way of getting someone to confess.
10.)What is O'Brien's job? How does this change our opinions of him?
O' brian was apart of big brother. his job was to find the best brotherhood members and turn them into party members, he would tortue the people mentally and make them confess to everything. He calls Winston a rebelleous disease. My opion of O'brien was that he was very misterous and after this point I think that he was just like everyone else until he was tortured and brain washed by the party.
11.) Give one of Winston's "hallucinations" about the past?
Winston was hallucinations where that he say julia in the room with O'brien in the room with him as he was being tortued and he loved her so much and he felt for her inside and out but she wasent really there. The other was that aaronson, rutherford and jones were never guilty of there crimes.
12.) Why does the party cling to power?
The party clings to power because if they have the power to control the world than they can control everyone in it. In there world there is party and nothing else because they are gods in there eyes.
13.) What is the picture of the future according to O'Brien?
The picture of the future is that babies are taken away from there mothers and grown up under the party so they are not insane and go against the party. There enemies are not kill but captured and brainwashed to where they all believe in the party. To O'brien everything is sane and the world is at peace and the party contols everything on the earth and the stars.
14.)What demonstrates the ultimate breakdown of Winston's rebellion?
When ever Winston was betrayed Julia, He could not bear the pain that he was going through because they were going to tortue julia instead of him. Julia was a big part of Winstons rebellion because of her his rebellius was started tp surface and love played a big part as well in this.Because his only true love was being tortured he was broken down on the inside.
15.) How did Winston train himself to crimestop?
Winston trained himself by using statements that made the party think about themselves such as “ the party says the world is flat." He had to make himselve think that the party could do no wrong. He only thought to himself how bad the party was. He only believed what ever the party was telling him and he didnt believe what he though and only believed in the party.
16.)What sent Winston to Room 101? What is his ultimate terror?
Winston was sent to room 101 because of the many things he had done, thought crime, had sex with julia, had a diary, and he was clearly against the party in all ways. His ultimate terror was rats and it would differ from people to people.
17.)Why did Winston and Julia not carry on their relationship after meeting again?
They didnt not carry on there relationship because after they were changed they didnt not feel they same as they did when ever they where in the minstry of truth and so they did not get back togther.
18.) People are often shocked at the sexual content in 1984. Why does sex play such a large role in the novel? What could Orwell be suggesting by having Big Brother try to manipulate and control that part of people's lives?
In 1984 sex is such a big role because the party need more members of the party so they can more people to brain wash and follow them. They do not want people to enjoy having sex, they see sex as a way to make more party members. Orwell in the story was trying to show the reader how party went to make sure that the people of oceania had no freedoms they would even take away religion.
19.) What is the last sentence of 1984? What does it mean?
The last sentence is; " He Loved Big Brother" the meaning behind this to show how the goverment and party can control everyone even people like winston who hated big brother but is not convinced that he loves big brother.
20.) What are your final thoughts after having read the book? Write a 300-word minimum response in which you can discuss thoughts, feelings and details about the novel that you found difficult, interesting, profound, etc.
My first thoughts about 1984 were that this book dosent make since and its to boring ofr me to read. But as the book went on it kept drawing me in and i could not put the book down it was very additcting. I was curious about how a single party or goverment could get so much power and it scared me. It amazed me how our goverment it becoming more and more like the book. Our goverment is limiting everything that we can do or say. Some parts were a little hard to understand my knowledge of government concepts, and my adolescence, kept me from to understand some things sbout the book. However, the book had perhaps taught me further about the real world and things that can happen. I feel like I am a smarter person because of this book, and I understand how monarchs and bad people can control other people. This book showed me that torture is not always a way of punishment, but sometimes it can be helped, not hurt them but to better the country. I believe what the Party was doing was completely wrong and horrible, sometimes the people believe that what they are doing is right, when ever its completely wrong. Even though some people are doing things to hurt you, it doesn't mean their performing this with bad intentions, and to me in the book the Party they really didnt know wjat they were doing was wrong, they thought that they were helping everyone. I think everyone should read this book because it displays a wide verity of view points for people to learn from such as rebel, and solitude and many differnet things that people can learn from and like me have a clearer mind as what the goverment can do.
1.) If I were in Winston’s shoes at the beginning of the novel I would be very scared. I would have no idea of what was going on so I would be sniffling and bawling my eyes out the entire time. Winston did not know what was going to happen to him but he was pretty sure he was going to die. There has been no time in my life where I thought I was going to die except for a brief five-second period when I was in a car and the brakes went out. I thought I was definitely going to die because my mom told me she was going to crash into a pole because we could not stop. I was surprisingly really calm for an eight-year old. So I think I would have been really calm and just accepted the fact that I was going to die. I would be really stressed though and probably would not be able to eat so I would most likely die of malnourishment before being sent to Room 101.
Knowing that I had committed a crime like Winston would have sent me into insanity. Just knowing that I could have not done something to keep me from being executed would have angered me. I would have been mad at myself. I do not control myself very well when I am having an inner conflict. Seriously, just knowing myself and knowing I was doomed anyway I probably would have committed suicide before Big Brother could do it themselves. Later in the novel they say they never kill someone until they have been cured. Well killing myself before I am “cured” would be my own little victory over Big Brother. This would technically make me a martyr but no one would ever find out because Big Brother is all too powerful.
2.) The state enforced control in many ways. First, they have a telescreen to et people know that they are always being watched. Then when the people do commit “crimes”, they torture them. Not your good ol’ republican waterboarding but enforcing immense pain followed by intense interrogations.
3.) Big Brother is the government. It is not a person. Big Brother is the entire government. Big Brother is to the Oceania government as Ronald McDonald is to McDonalds. That seems like the perfect analogy.
4.) Winston sees this woman hanging clothes and wonders if she does it for a living or if she is a slave to her grandchildren. Winston also says she is beautiful even though she does not have the typical supermodel type body.
5.) There was a telescreen hidden behind a picture in Mr. Charrington’s shop. Winston and Julia visited there frequently and thought that there were no telescreens in the building. Also Mr. Charrington was a member of the thought police.
6.) Winston’s cell was very small. It was plain and white. Here were no windows which is why he had no idea what time of day it was. There were four telescreens. There was one on each wall of the cell. The room was always bright because there were lamps and lights everywhere. This made it difficult for Winston to sleep.
7.) His first cellmate wrote poetry and literature. At the end of one of his poems, he had to rhyme with “rod”. He found that there were only twelve words that rhymed with “rod” and was arrested for leaving “God” at the end. His second cellmate committed thoughtcrime. His daughter turned him in for saying “Down with Big Brother” in his sleep. He was very proud of his daughter and very ashamed of himself for saying such things.
8.) The ultimate torture happens in Room 101. It is different for every individual. For Winston the ultimate torture were rats being let loose in the same room as him. For others it could be a multitude of things including death by fire, being buried alive and death by heights.
9.) The Ministry of Love used torture to get you to confess. First, they take you into a room and beat you senselessly. After that they take you into a room where they interrogate you but if your answer is “wrong” then a machine shocks your entire body. Room 101 is the ultimate torture though because it’s where people’s worst fears come true. Room 101 always gets a confession.
10.) O’Brien is a member of the thought police. This changes my opinion of him dramatically because Winston believed him to be a major part of the Brotherhood. As it turns out he is a part of Big Brother making me hate him because of his deceitful nature.
11.) Winston’s “hallucinations” was that he saw a picture of Rutherford, Aaronson, and Jones that proved they were innocent. They had apparently committed a harsh crime and Big Brother punished them for it. Winston “hallucinated” a picture proclaiming their innocence.
12.) The Party clings to power because it enables them to control everybody. Without power a government is nothing. They have no control over their people therefore making them completely useless. The party clings to power to be in control.
13.) The future according to O’Brien is Big Brother having complete control. They will have control over everyone. They would control the entire world. They will have no enemies because their enemies would’ve been defeated.
14.) Winston’s ultimate breakdown of rebellion was when he told them to kill Julia instead. They threatened him with rats which is his ultimate fear. He confessed and then told them to take Julia instead of him.
15.) Winston trained himself to Crimestop by convincing himself that the Party’s theology was correct. He persuaded himself to never question the party’s ideals. The Party was always right even when they were wrong.
16.) Winston was sent to Room 101 for being resilient. He was not giving in to the interrogation and confessing so he was sent to Room 101. Winston’s ultimate terror, although different for everyone, is rats. He has a phobia of rats so Room 101 worked to perfection.
17.) Winston and Julia did not carry on their relationship because they betrayed each other. They felt that they could never care about the other after betraying them and agreed that the feeling was gone. It was a mutual breakup.
18.) George Orwell was trying to convey the message that Big Brother was all-knowing and all-controlling. By controlling people’s sex lives Big Brother had taken away the ultimate civil right. Sex is the ultimate freedom.
19.) The last sentence of the novel is, “He loved Big Brother.” It means that Winston was defeated. Winston had lost the battle, Big Brother had won because they had “cured” him. They convinced Winston that the Party was always right.
20.) My final thoughts on this novel is that it is a great book. I enjoyed reading and even though it was a little too described, the plot was simply amazing. This novel has made me think in so many ways. It is surely one of my favorite books now. Along with Animal Farm, George Orwell has made me question many aspects of my life. He is definitely one of my favorite artists. Overall I believe that Big Brother will eventually take over. It may not be in the foreseeable future but it will happen. Our own government continues to take away more and more of our civil liberties and is expanding more than was ever expected.
This novel scared me basically. The United States economy is going to crap while China’s is doing way better. Money cures all whether we want it to or not. Eventually evil will defeat good. If all evil wants is control then it will have it. Control is simple to get. Being sane in getting it is impossible. For America to get control of itself we had to kill people. Is that what we stand for? Killing people just for control? Are we not any better than the British who took away civil liberties when living is the greatest freedom of all. Maybe America is Big Brother. Maybe China will eventually be. Who knows who is good and who knows who is evil. We could all be conquered by propaganda. Maybe propaganda is the reason we think the way we do.
The novel was way better than I expected it to be and has made me question my own philosophy about life, about government. I am truly glad I read it. I look forward to reading more novels by Orwell in the future even if they didn‘t become famous.
BOOK III Questions
1. How would you feel if you were in Winston's shoes at the start of Book III? Are there any parallels that you can draw in your own life to try to understand his situation? Write a 300-word response in which you consider these questions.
-In the start of book III Winston is located in a cell, which is also known as Jail. He was caught for all the things he done in the past, like writing in his diary and having secrete meetings with Julia. Him being put in Jail for stuff he did in the past is kind of a horrible thing, yes he did commit the crime. Still, though. It’s something that happened in the past. If I were in Winston’s shoes and I had done all of the stuff I have done then WOW! I would be put in that cell for life. I would not be able to handle the situation as Winston did. I could not live without eating for so many days, and weeks. There has been time in my life that I have felt like Winston when he was in the cell. Being grounded for in my world is just about as bad as being put in a cell with four telescreens. It’s like I can’t even breathe. Mom takes everything away from me, just as the party takes everything away from Winston. Winston is locked in a cell; I’m locked up in my house. I can refer to so many things in my life that could help me understand Winston’s situation.
2. What devices did the state have for enforcing total control?
The state had many devices for enforcing control. For one thing their citizens in Oceania had no privacy so the Party saw everything that anyone did, which was caused by Telescreens. Another device they used was punishment by torture. They tortured you on the thing with the knob that shocking and also another punishment was when you were sent to room 101. Whatever the victims worst fear was, appeared in that room.
3. What is Big Brother?
It’s the government of Oceania. Big brother is controlling their town along with the party people.
4. What thoughts did the woman hanging clothes in the yard cause Winston to have?
Winston saw great, beauty in the woman hanging clothes in the street. Though she was not necessarily attractive in outside appearance, Winston saw through her outsides and saw the true, pure, and happy soul she really was. He admired the fact that she freely lived her life happily and even sung loudly with pride, something Winston had not the privilege to do.
5. How had Winston and Julia been spied on?
By the Telescreen, that hung behind the picture.
6. Describe Winston's cell.
-The cell was high-ceilinged and windowless, with walls of glittering white porcelain. Concealed lamps flooded it with a cold light, there was a low humming sound that seemed to be the air supply. A bench sat against the wall that was barely big enough to sit on. Opposite of the door was a lavatory pan with no wooden seats. On each 4 walls was a telescreen.
7. What crime did Winston's first cellmate commit? His second?
Ampleforth was saying/making a poem, and the word “rod” was the last word he had said, he needed to come up with another word to rhyme with rod, and the only word he could think of was “god” and he said it. God was the last word to come out of his mouth when he had finished the poem.
8. What appears to be the ultimate torture?
-Room 101. After a prisoner is caught doing something wrong, a guard comes to their cell and demands them to go to Room 101. Which no one seems to want to go to.
9. What methods of forcing confessions are used in the Ministry of Love?
One method used is by beatings. The prisoners are beaten mercilessly. Also, they are strapped down and shocked greatly until confessions are made.
10. What is O'Brien's job? How does this change our opinions of him?
O’Brien's job was to gather criminals who have worked or committed crimes against the party. This changes my opinion of him because I thought Winston could actually trust him
11. Give one of Winston's "hallucinations" about the past?
One hallucunation is when Winston is in his jail cell after intense torture. He dreams of his time spent with Julia and realizes he actually loves her
12. Why does the party cling to power?
-The love controlling other people. They want power, to make rules and have everyone live what they consider a perfect life.
13. What is the picture of the future according to O'Brien?
O'Brien's image of the future is, the Party having total power over the world, human life will be destroyed and the people will be like dead zombie slaves.
14. What demonstrates the ultimate breakdown of Winston's rebellion?
When he betrayed her when threatened with his worst fear in room 101, which was rats.
15. How did Winston train himself to crimestop?
While in the solitary of his cell, he forced himself to believe the statements made by O'Brien. H
e made himself believe the laws of the party to escape the torture that lay ahead of him
16. What sent Winston to Room 101? What is his ultimate terror?
He was sent there because he was not completely broken, he had one thing left to do, and it was to betray Julia. His worst fear was being attacked by rats.
17. Why did Winston and Julia not carry on their relationship after meeting again?
Because the love they thought they had no longer exsisted, they had both betrayed each other and didn't feel the love any longer.
18. People are often shocked at the sexual content in 1984. Why does sex play such a large role in the novel? What could Orwell be suggesting by having Big Brother try to manipulate and control that part of people's lives?
-Sex plays a big role in this book, because in real life it’s an instinct to do it, its nature to us. And in 1984 sex is a major no-no. Your not allowed doing it, it’s against the government’s laws.
19. What is the last sentence of 1984? What does it mean?
-The last sentence of the novel is; "He loved Big Brother." This is because it is known that the party recruits the bad people into good citizens for Oceania before they assassinate them. They must love and accept big brother. By the last line it tells me, that he chose the fact that he had to love big brother to live.
20. What are your final thoughts after having read the book? Write a 300-word minimum response in which you can discuss thoughts, feelings and details about the novel that you found difficult, interesting, and profound, etc.
The Book in the begining, was absolutly horrible and i hated it. I thought it was boring and hard to read. It litterally took me 10 times to get the first chapter, just because it didn't gain my attention.
The 3rd book recieved my attention. I actually enjoyed reading it, it was very exciting and made you want to read to see what happened to Winston.
I didn’t at all enjoy the first two books, the 2nd one was actually a little bit better, just because all of the Drama that happened between him and julia. It also seemed that Winston just committed pitty crimes against a harsh government. I only enjoyed it after Winston was caught for his crimes.
I think the author did a good job on this book. It is a very good and surprising turn when Winston and Julia get caught for the things they did. I also think he did a good job of building up anticipation to what lead into the 3rd book.
I found it amazing how much the government controlled the people in the story. It controlled every move people made, every word they spoke, and every thought they had. It seemed to be the only important thing and made everything else seem insignificant. There was no pleasure for people to enjoy, just for the good of big brother. Power was a big meaning to the government in 1984.
It had a very big outbreak to "sex" which i came to realize why it was such a big subject in this book. it's a human nature thing for us, and the government was trying to stop it from happening.
I didn't really enjoy the book, just the thought of the book. The 3rd book, actually helped me alot, if nothing exciting happened in book 3 then i would of gave it a poor comment..
2. What devices did the state have for enforcing total control?
The state has many different ways to enforce total control upon the citizens of Oceanie. The single most important device is the telescreen tha is installed in every home. Used to spy, and observe everything about the person's actions, and to prevent thought crime. Not only did they use devices, but they had them so brainwashed, they tortured themselves just to think about crime.
3. What is Big Brother?
Big Brother is a particular group, not just one person, that controls everything you do. You live your life under Big Brother.
4. What thoughts did the woman hanging clothes in the yard cause Winston to have?
He questioned if she was a slave or not, although he didn't know the answer he thought she was a very beautiful woman.
5. How had Winston and Julia been spied on?
They were getting spied on by the thoughtpolice. This was by a hidden telescreen behind a painting on the wall.
6. Describe Winston's cell.
Winston's cell was a windowless room that revealed no darkness. It contained only telescreens, a bench, a toilet, and guilty people.
7. What crime did Winston's first cell mate commit? His second?
His first cell mate spoke in the words of God. Religon is not acceptable in Oceania. His second cell mate(Parsons) spoke in his sleep repitively "down with big brother". His daughter turned him in to the thought police.
8. What appears to be the ultimate torture?
The ultimate torture seems to be your own personal greatest fear. The torturing takes place in room 101, after being held prisioner.
9. What methods of forcing confessions are used in the Ministry of Love?
There are many different methods to forcing the truth. The main method is the "shock treatment". The use a machine to send an electrical shock throughout ur entire body. They beat you until your body couldn't handle much more.
10. What is O'Brien's job? How does this change our opinions of him?
O'Brien's is a member of the party, the thoughtpolice, and big brother. He fooled Winston into believing he was in the brotherhood, to catch Winston in crime.My opinions changed in a big part. Mainly because in the start of the novel you feel as if he and Winston have a connection, and the more you read the more you realize he betrayed him.
11. Give one of Winston's "hallucinations" about the past?
Winston has a hallucination about Julia. He felt as if she was inside of him, under his skin. He then realized Julia had to be out there, somewhere.
12. Why does the party cling to power?
Because they want total power of each person, they cling to power simply for their own sake.
13. What is the picture of the future according to O'Brien?
He believes that the future will behold nothing but the love for big brother.
14. What demonstrates the ultimate breakdown of Winston's rebellion?
His ultimate breakdown happened while he was sent to room 101. He gives in almost immediately after he realizes a few things, and waits for death.
15. How did Winston train himself to crimestop?
He trained himself to believe that the party was always right, and what they thought, he though also. He eventually learned to never think the other side of things and to go along with what happened.
16. What sent Winston to Room 101? What is his ultimate terror?
His dream about Julia, that eventually led to him shouting her name sent him to room 101. Winston's ultimate terror is anything to do with rats.
17. Why did Winston and Julia not carry on their relationship after meeting again?
They simply did not feel the same way, and they both realized after being willing to danger the other for life that they cared for no one but themselves.
18. People are often shocked at the sexual content in 1984. Why does sex play such a large role in the novel? What could Orwell be suggesting by having Big Brother try to manipulate and control that part of people's lives?
It plays a huge role because sex is a very natural thing for humans, and for big brother to be able to take away the desires for something natural shows just how dominate Big Brother really is.
19. What is the last sentence of 1984? What does it mean?
The last sentence is "He loved Big Brother". It is one more example to how powerful Big Brother is. They completley have Winston's live a flip upside down, and made him believe.
20. What are your final thoughts after having read the book? Write a 300-word minimum response in which you can discuss thoughts, feelings and details about the novel that you found difficult, interesting, profound, etc.
I have many different feelings towards George Orwell's novel, 1984. When the novel started I had trouble keeping my attention to it, and really understand the true meaning of the party, and thought police, and everything about it in general. As it went on you dig deeper into Winston's life, and the book digs deepers into your attention. You begin to realize what he was going through, and how he really felt about the party and Big Brother. However, I was very dissapointed in how the novel ended. I expected for Winston to rebel against the party, and eventually lead to many party members following and the thought police not being able to control them. Instead, he was brainwashed into being just like the other perfect party members. I was also very shocked to find out the O'Brien was a member of Big Brother. I was upset that he let Winston down, but it was very interesting to find out, and helped keep my attention. It makes you take into consideration what it would be like to fill Winston's shoes, and how horrible it would be to live in a world like this. At a first look 1984 seems like a boring, dull book, but as you unfold it, it truly becomes a great novel.
Kala Brown
2nd Period
12-02-08
Mr. Parsons
Book Three Questions
1) At the start of book three Winston was Sitting in a jail cell, locked up with other people he didn't even know. Some of them were in there for crimes while others were in there for thoughtcrime like Winston was. The people who had committed thoughtcrime was just thinking, and sharing how they felt about things going on around them. The cell that Winston was in was described to be bright, and bare with hardly any thing in it. It had lights that were always on and he said that he had finally arrived at a place where there was no darkness. The room also had four telescreens monitoring him, and his and everyone else’s movements. While he was there the guards had brought in a huge prole woman who had the shared the same last name as Winston did. They both wondered if she might have been his mother because she was probably around the right age. To me it seemed like everything was being thrown at Winston all at one time. If I was put in Winston's shoes, or put into a situation like this, I probably wouldn't have been able to handle what he was going through then. I would have rather have been killed, and then have to set there and suffer and go through the pain like all the others in the cell with Winston. Then it would even be worse to have to sit and wait days to find out what was going to happen to me. I would feel bad for what I had committed like thoughtcrime, but I think that everyone has the right to think, and say what he or she want to, because it is a freedom given to us, and we shouldn't be punished for that. There are a few parallels that I can draw from my own life that I can use to help understand Winston’s' situation, like when me and my siblings didn't do our chores we would be sent to our rooms. That would be our punishment and the rooms would be the jail cells, and O'Brien would be our parent, just without the torture and the beatings.
2) There were many devices that the state had for enforcing total control. Some of those devices were things like propaganda. They used this stuff to scare people and make then not want to go against big brother, and also to abide what the government says.
3) Big Brother was the dictator of Oceania. He was also thought to be an image made up by the Party. He controlled everything that everyone was doing pretty much.
4). What thoughts did the woman hanging clothes in the yard cause Winston to have?
The thoughts that the woman hanging the clothes in the yard caused Winston to have thoughts going back to memories with his mother.
5) As they were in the Charrlinton’s shop, there was a telescreen watching them from behind a painting.
6) Winston’s cell was bright, bare in which lights were always on, and was made up of porcelain bricks. In the cell concealed lamps flooded with light, and a low steady humming noise that seemed to be coming from the air supply. A bench or shelf just wide enough to sit on, that ran around the wall, broken only by the door. Also there on the other end of the door was a lavatory pan, with no seat. There was no darkness were he was at, and there was four telescreens monitoring him. He was moved to a holding cell, to a solitary cell
7) Winston’s first cellmate was a huge prole woman who shared the same last name as him. She wondered sometimes if he was her son. She was a prostitute, of the age of sixty, and was drunk. His second cellmate was Ampleforth. He was a coworker to Winston. The put him in jail because they said that he was producing a definitive edition of the poems of Kipling. He had allowed the word “God” to remain at the end of a line.
8) The ultimate torture probably depended on what that person had done. If the person done something simple than it wouldn’t be that bad, but if it was worse than the person could be beaten or hurt very bad. Sometimes it was fists, truncheons, steel rods, boots, and also being kicked into the ribs.
9) There were a few methods of forcing confessions, used by the Ministry of Love. Some of those methods were to beat the person until they could get out what they needed. In Winston’s case O’Brien betrayed him, and was one of the men to beat him. O’Brien was part of the party. There was a long range of crimes espionage, sabotage, and like to which everyone had to confess as a matter of course.
10) O’Brien’s job was to trick people into believing that he was their friend and that they could trust him, but really they couldn’t. O’Brien had Winton’s thinking that they were friends, but when it came right down to it Winton found out the real truth. O’Brien was part of the party, or Big Brother you could say. By doing this he got a lot of people to confess to what they had done. This changes my opinions on him because he betrayed his friends, and pretended to be someone he really wasn’t.
11) There were a few hallucinations that Winton had about the past. The hallucination’s was like pictures with blackness all around them. One of them was with a certain photograph. It was an oblong slip of newspaper had appeared in the hands of O'Brien, and within seconds Winston knew what it was of. It was another copy of Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford at the party function in New York. Before that he had believed that he had seen unmistakable documentary evidence proving that their confessions were false.
12) They said that whatever the party holds to truth is truth. It was impossible to see reality except by looking thought the eyes of the party. It was kind of like the saying, "Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past. So what it is trying to say is that the party will always control the people, and the country they live in.
13) The picture of the future according to O'Brien was kind of telling them that no matter what the party or Big Brother will always be right. Just like the time when they had Winston in the chair they asked him how many fingers were up a he said four, and O’Brien said that it was five. He was telling Winston’s that what the party says goes.
14) There were many things that demonstrate the ultimate breakdown of Winston's rebellion. One of these was O'Brien because he brain washed him, and made him believe things that weren't even true. This was so that he wouldn't want to do the things he done before, and by brainwashing him, he had no remembrance of them. Awareness, and something foisted upon Winston by the Party, which made him think that he was a prisoner of his own body. This is really what ultimately makes Winston breakdown. Once he believed that he was a prisoner of his body, he realized that he had no reason to think, act, or even rebel.
15) Winston trained himself to crime stop in a few ways. One of them was by just going along with what O'Brien an everyone else had to say. Another thing was, he would either agree with them, or just say what they wanted to hear. By agreeing he was able to keep him from getting stuck with needles, and having pain shoot through his body.
16) The thing that sent Winston to room 101 was because he started crying out and screaming. Even though he knew that by crying out that O’Brien would torture him, the more he realized his hatred feelings for the Party. When O'Brien arrived with the guards, Winston said to him that he hated Big Brother, O'Brien replied back to him, and said by obeying Big Brother it is not sufficient, and you must learn to love him. Then after that being said, O'Brien commanded the guards to take Winston to room 101. Winton's ultimate terror was being put into the chair and chained to it, also being put into pain.
17) The reason why Winston and Julia did not carry on their relationship after meeting again was because they both knew that they had betrayed one another. Also neither one really wanted to continue to carry on with their relationship, and they both were content were they were in life you could say.
18). People are often shocked at the sexual content in 1984. Why does sex play such a large role in the novel? What could Orwell be suggesting by having Big Brother try to manipulate and control that part of people's lives?
Sex played such a large part in the novel 1984 because it is what most people desire, and want to do. Also it is a freedom for them to choose to do it. Another thing is it shows that the party can take way all freedom and some rights of its people or country.
19) The last sentence in the novel of 1984 said, He loved Big Brother. This meant that everything was all right, and that the struggle with everything that had been going on was all over. He thought it himself that he had one the victory over himself. He had confessed, and was forgiven for everything he had done.
20) After having read the book I was left in a sort of, kind of not surprised because of O'Brien. It seemed like to me that O'Brien was really trying to enforce everything that Big brother wanted, like having everyone think, act, and be exactly alike. Then when they would get people in jail, they would take them to a place called The Ministry of Love where they would have them confess all of the wrong, or bad things they had done in their lives that had to do mostly with Big Brother. When they were at the Ministry of Love, they would hook them up to a thing called a dial and stick them with needles that shot uncontrollable pains up through their bodies, or torture them. They done this if the person didn't say what they wanted them to say, or hear what they thought should have been said. So pretty much they would brainwash them, and have them think the way they thought it should be. I didn't understand the few pages in the book, where Winston was saying how long it took him to realize who he really was, and how much he loved Big Brother. Why would he have loved the government after all the torturing and everything that they put him through, and then after all was said an done with, he was perfectly fine with what had happened. 236 Throughout the book my thoughts about everything was kind of hard to understand at times, and left me thinking about a few things. Like for example when they kept on saying that Big Brother controlled everything in the past and will in the future, how does that happen? They don't really know what people do in their free time, or what they do in their privacy, so how do they know really what goes on in reality. I think that since that we have the right to freedom, we should be able to do what we want as long as it involves nothing going against the law. We were given the right for a reason and we need to be able to use it, and not be punished for something so little. The government has every right to watch over and keep their country and their citizens’ safe, but also give them their rights.
1984 Book 3 Questions
1) How would you feel if you were in Winston's shoes at the start of Book III? Are there any parallels that you can draw in your own life to try to understand his situation? Write a 300-word response in which you consider these questions.
Answer:
I would feel very scared if I was in Winston’s shoes. He was always doing thing to try and go against the party, but he also knew that he was going to get caught. He showed a little of the fear himself. He knew he would get caught it was just the matter of waiting on when they would catch him. I would have just given up what he was doing and went with the rules to stay safe.
In the beginning of book three when he was in his cell at the ministry of love I would have been freaking out. He took it pretty well. He just sat there and talked occasionally to the other prisoners. I would have been in the corner having a fit. When they took him to the other room and started torturing him I wouldn’t have lasted. I would have spilled my guts from the start of the torture session.
Then they did begin to be nice to him and let him get meals and clean himself up. I would have been very grateful for that. O’Brien left him alone for a while to build up his strength and which I thought was cool. After the time he had in that cell they took him to room 101. That was when I would have been scared to death. They strapped him down completely in the chain and he couldn’t move. Then O’Brien brought the rat cage out. I would have done the same thing as Winston did because I have a large fear of mice. I would have been the happiest when they let me go for a while if I was Winston. I would have still worried a lot about being shot. End the end though I sort of agree with Winston about the shooting because he won the battle with himself so he could have at least died at peace about one thing in his life.
Really there are not many parallels that I can think to draw from in my own life. My mother controls me a little bit. She’s not the type though to tell whom my friends can be. She just does what she does because she’s a good mom. There is one thing that I parallel I can draw from in my life. My mom controls what things that she buys for me. She either gives me a certain amount of money or buys the things I need for me. She is pretty cool but the things that she does control are her just being a good mom.
2) What devices did the state have for enforcing total control?
Answer:
The state had many devices to enforce total control. One of the big devices they used was the telescreens. They used these machines to watch the people everywhere hey went and to bombard them with propaganda all day long. Another device was the thought police. These were the people that went around trying to find people committing thought crime.
3) What is Big Brother?
Answer:
Big brother is the embodiment of the party. In the room when O’Brien is torturing him Winston asked him if Big Brother actually did exist. O’Brien told him that he does exist in a sense. O’Brien wouldn’t tell him if Big Brother was an actual person though. He told Winston that he would never know the truth of Big Brother’s existence.
4) What thoughts did the woman hanging clothes out in the yard cause Winston to have?
Answer:
He kept thinking that one day the proles would bring down Big Brother. He thought that she was beautiful. He thought that she either washed clothes for a living or was merely the slave for twenty to thirty grand children. He thought that she had strong arms a warm heart and a fertile belly. He also thought that she never learned to think but she stored up the strength to one-day help take down Big Brother.
5) How had Winston and Julia been spied on?
Answer:
Julia and Winston were spied on by the telescreens behind the picture on the wall, in Mr. Carrington’s shop. Mr. Carrington was the person who was spying on them. They stayed there on and off for along time thinking they could trust him. Then he gave them over to the thought police and they were captured. Then they beat them a little and took them to the ministry of love.
6) Describe Winston’s cell?
Answer:
It was a high ceiling windowless cell with walls of glittering white porcelain. Concealed lamps flooded the cell with light. A bench just wide enough to set on ran around the wall broken only by the door. At the end, opposite the door was a lavatory pan with no wooden seat. There were also four telescreens, one on each wall.
7) What crime did Winston’s first cellmate committee? His second?
Answer:
Ampleforth was his first cellmate. He committed an indiscretion. He left the word god in one of the plays that he wrote. His second cellmate was Mr. Parson’s. He committed thought crime. His own daughter turned him in. She caught him when he was talking in his sleep.
8) What appears to be the ultimate torture?
Answer:
The ultimate torture was room 101. For Winston the ultimate torture was rats. When O’Brien brought that cage of rats in and told Winston what they were he started crying. Then when Winston kept saying what do you want from me? After that when O’Brien started to put his face in the mask he told O’Brien to do it to Julia, which made O’Brien stop.
9) What methods of forcing confessions are used in the Ministry of Love?
Answer:
There are many methods used for confessions in the ministry of love. The guards start out by beating the prisoner if they don’t tell them what they want to hear. This type of torture goes on for a while. Then if that doesn’t work someone straps them to a table and hooks them up to a machine that will shock them. It varies in strengths of power and the person that interrogates the prisoner raises the level whenever they wanted. The last resorts for the guards were to put the prisoner in room 101.
10) What is O’Brien’s job? How does this change our opinions of him?
Answer:
O’Brien’s job is that he’s a member of the party, the brotherhood, and the government all at once. He tricked Winston to think that he was just a member of the Brotherhood to see how much Winston would admit to. O’Brien also found the best brotherhood members and turned them into the government. He also tortured them to make them confess and then kept torturing them to think horrible thoughts, which tortured them more mentally. He said that Winston had a disease and his job was to cure it.
At that point I really didn’t like O’Brien. In a sense he is a trader himself because he got all the people of the brotherhood to trust him and then stabbed them in the back. That was really dirty of him. My personal opinion would be that they should torture O’Brien for a while to let him know how it felt.
11) Give one of Winston’s “hallucinations” about the past?
Answer:
Winston hallucinated many things while at the ministry of love. The major one was when he was in the cell and he thought that Julia was in there with him. He started to scream her name. He said it felt like she was inside of him. He also thought that he never loved or felt more close to her.
. 12. Why does the party cling to power?
Answer:
The party clings to power because they just wanted power. O’Brien said that the party does not care for the good of other’s they just wanted pure power. He said that the oligarchies before them were cowards. He said that the others never had the courage to recognize their own motives. He said that the party knew no one every seized power with intention of relinquishing it. He said that power was a means to an end. He also said that one makes a revolution in order to establish a dictatorship.
13) What is the picture of the future according to O’Brien?
Answer:
His future is a world of fear and treachery, and torment. He thinks that progress in our world would be more pain. Then he said the government was found upon hatred. He said the best world would be a world of trampling and being trampled upon. He also thought that it would be best to grow more merciless.
14) What demonstrates the ultimate breakdown of Winston’s rebellion?
Answer:
The ultimate break down of Winston’s rebellion was when he betrayed Julia. He said that he loved her so much but then he told them to make her face be eaten off by rats. Love was a large part of the rebellion. That was probably the reason that O’Brien used rats. Rats were the ultimate fear for Winston, so O’Brien new that would break him.
15) How did Winston train himself to crime stop?
Answer:
Winston trained himself not to think of the contradicting ideas to the party’s slogans. He would think of one of their ideas like the party said 2+2=5 and would make himself believe that. He found that stupidity is as necessary as intelligence. He also found that it was hard to obtain. The one thing that made him do it probably was that he knew if he didn’t agree with O’Brien they would just start the process all over again.
16) What sent Winston to room 101? What is the ultimate terror?
Answer:
What sent him to 101 was love. O’Brien was upset that he loved the party now but still hated big brother. They took Winston to room 101 to make him sane. His ultimate terror was rats. With the party knowing this they placed a cage full of rats on his head. When they did that they got exactly what they wanted out of him.
17) Why did Winston and Julia not carry on their relationship after meeting again?
Answer:
They didn’t carry on their relationship because their feeling changed and they didn’t want each other any more. When they were tortured their love couldn’t withstand it. They ended up betraying each other. Winston told O’Brien to torture Julia and she did the same thing to him. They did talk one time after they were released but then they went their separate ways.
18) People are often shocked at the sexual content in 1984. Why does sex play such a large role in the novel? What could Orwell be suggesting by having Big Brother try to manipulate and control that part of the people’s lives?
Answer:
We have freedom to do anything that we please. Sex is one of the freedoms for us. No one controls when you have it, who you have it with, where you have it, or even why. In the novel that is Winston’s number 1 passion. He desires to have it but does not because the party said no. That plays a large party in the novel because Orwell is trying to show us how little freedoms they have in the novel. He also wanted to show us big Brothers dictatorship in the novel. It shows if Big Brother could control this aspect of people’s lives he can control anything.
19) What is the last sentence in 1984? What does it mean?
Answer:
The last sentence is that he loved Big Brother. I think that shows he had finally given up his believe. It shows that O’Brien has succeeded in brain washing Winston. The last sentence showed that Winston went against what he believed in for his entire life. It showed that he had never been against the party.
20) What are your final thoughts after having read the book? Write a 300-word minimum response in which you can discuss thoughts, feelings and details about the novel that you found difficult, interesting, and profound, etc.
Answer:
The beginning of 1984 was weird and I really didn’t like it. It was really cool of how descriptive Orwell was about how solitary the people were. At first I thought that Winston was a just a depressing person. All he did was go to work the come home and never did anything fun. I started to get interested when he rebelled against the government.
When Winston met Julia I became very interested. I thought that he had finally found someone that would bring him out of the doom and gloom. She did wonders for him. She made him happier and a more delightful person. They also started to do more things illegally, which made me read on because I knew trouble was coming.
When O’Brien confronted them for the first time I was really excited. When I found that the brotherhood really did exist I was reading non-stop. I thought that the brotherhood was going to rise up and take the party down. In the last book I was very upset. I thought that O’Brien was a traitor for the way he did Julia and Winston. I also thought that it wasn’t right that they tortured him so much. I thought that Julia should come and help him. I was very disinterested in the ending. After all of that fighting he just gave up.
BOOK III QUESTIONS
1. At the start of Book III, Winston was taken to his cell in the Ministry of love. He had no idea of the time, where he was, what would happen to him, or even how long he would be there. If I were in his shoes, I would have so many emotions running through my mind that I would not be able to think straight. First of all, I would have felt betrayed. Winston put his trust in so many people, and all of them lied to him. I have had a situation in my life before similar this. I put my trust in one of my best friends and told her one of my biggest secrets. Within a couple of days I had people coming up to me and asking me about it. I did not think that I would ever trust anyone again. If I was Winston, I would have also felt alone and scared. I would have been anxious, wondering what was going to happen to me. Winston had no idea where he was and he knew no one. He knew he was going to die, but he did not know how long he was going to suffer through torture before they shot him. I can compare this to when I moved to Greenup. I knew I was not going to die, but I was in a new strange place with no friends. I did not know where I was going or what to expect. I had no idea when I would make friends, or even if I would ever make friends. I still had to go and just wait for 3:05 to come. Even though I would have had all those strong emotions rushing through my mind, I would still be hungry. I can barely make it to lunch every school day. If I was in Winston’s place, I would not be able to handle the hunger from not eating for days.
2. The state had many ways of enforcing control. The Thought Police and telecreens kept an eye on everyone, making sure no rules were broken. They used propaganda to remind everyone of the power they had over them. Posters of Big Brother kept the people in fear, giving the state control over them.
3. Big Brother isn’t a real person. He is something the Party created to scare the citizens of Oceania. His face is everywhere on posters and telescreens.
4. When Winston saw the red-armed woman in the yard, it mad him think of how everyone lives under the same sky, yet they don’t even know of anyone else’s existence. They are separated by lies and hate. The woman gave Winston a sense of hope. That woman had been through so much in her life, and yet she was still singing. It also reminded him that if the Party was ever going to be overthrown, then it would be done by the proles.
5. Winston and Julia had been spied on in many ways. Mr. Charrington was a member of the Thought Police. He knew about the diary that Winston had bought and it was read without Winston’s knowledge. The apartment about the shop had a telescreen behind it. Although it couldn’t see them, it could hear everything.
6. When Winston was taken to the Ministry of love, he was put in a “high-ceilinged windowless cell with walls of glittering white porcelain.” The lamps were the only source of light. There was a narrow bench that ran along the wall that had the door, and across from the door was a lavatory pan. There were a telescreen on each of the four walls.
7. Winston’s first sell mate was a poet named Ampleforth. He had been arrested for indiscretion. He left the word “God” in a poem while working on a Kipling translation. Winston’s neighbor, Parsons, was his second cell mate. His children turned him in for thoughtcrime that he had committed in his sleep.
8. The ultimate torture is Room 101. Winston heard a few whispers about it during his time in the cell. Another clue was when “one, a woman, was consigned to ‘Room 101,’ and, Winston noticed, seemed to shrivel and turn a different color when she heard the words.”
9. In the Ministry of Love, confessions are forced out of people by torturing them. They shock them, beat them until they are on the edge of death, and starve them. Finally, they are taken to Room 101 where they re tortured with their ultimate fear.
10. O’Brien’s job is to change Winston. He controls everything from when Winston eats or sleeps, to when he screams out in pain. He won’t stop until Winston wants to be a member of the Party and loves Big Brother. Before, we thought he was a member of the Brotherhood. Now that we know he was lying, this makes us not trust and hate him.
11. One of Winston’s hallucinations was when he imagined that he saw Aaronson, Rutherford, and Jones in the Café years ago. Then he saw a picture of them at work and he knew that they must have existed. O’Brien convinced Winston that he had made the whole thing up and they never existed.
12. Winston tries to believe that the Party wants power for the good of the citizens, but O’Brien admits, “the Party seeks power entirely for its own sake.” They have power over the people not only physically, but they control their minds as well which is complete power. And since they control the mind, then they control matter.
13. In the future, according to O’Brien, Oceania will be built on fear, hatred, and torment. People will not have connections of loyalty and love to other people, only to Big Brother. The Party will have even more power and everyone will be the same. O’Brien believes there will be more victories and more power. He said, “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.”
14. Winston’s ultimate breakdown of rebellion was when O’Brien made him look in a mirror. Winston was frightened of the “bowed, gray-colored, skeletonlike thing that was coming toward him.” This sick looking man brought Winston to the realization of how bad off he really was. He knew that he couldn’t take much more of it, so he finally broke down and attempted to change.
15. Winston knew that if he wanted to survive, he had to learn how to crimestop. While sitting in his cell, he would imagine propositions like “the Party says the Earth is flat,” and then he would block out all opposing thoughts. He had to throw out all of the logic he had learned, which was not easy.
16. Once while Winston was sitting in his cell daydreaming, he shouted out, “Julia! Julia! Julia, my love! Julia!” This had woken him up and he quickly realized that he was going to be punished. O’Brien came into his cell and told him that he was improving, but he still didn’t love Big Brother. O’Brien sent him to Room 101 where Winston found out that he was going to be tortured with rats, his ultimate terror.
17. When Winston saw Julia again after they had been released, he knew that there was no risk in talking to her again. They both had changed and there was nothing there anymore. There old relationship was based on their similar hate for the Party and desire to rebel. They had also betrayed each other while being tortured and knew that their relationship was over.
18. Sex plays a large role in the novel because it is an important part of humanity. We have the desire to reproduce to keep up the population. The fact that the government could control that part of people’s lives shows how much power they truly have.
19. The last sentence is “He loved Big Brother.” This means that the bad guy won. Winston finally broke and was brainwashed just like everyone else into following the government.
20. When I first started the book, I thought it was extremely dry and boring. I did not really want to read about a lonely old man or about totalitarianism. But after a few chapters, I started getting into it. I thought it was interesting how the government could control so many people. They controlled their language, their hate, their jobs, even their thoughts and no one tried to do anything about it. The people were completely brainwashed. Everyone was scared into loving Big Brother, except Winston. I liked Winston’s courage and how he stood up for what he believed. He knew he was not the crazy one and knew what the Party was doing. When Winston finally met Julia, he wasn’t alone anymore. He had someone to talk to and he wasn’t alone. This lightened the mood of the book and made me want to read it. This is when the book started getting more interesting. I had trouble getting through the part where Winston gets “the book.” I kept getting lost and I did not really understand any of it. When they were finally caught, I expected them to stand their ground, which would cause their death. It surprised me when Winston started giving an effort to change. I was very disappointed when Winston betrayed Julia. If he really loved her he would not have wanted those rats anywhere near her. The end of the book was not how I expected it to be, and not in a good way. I wanted them to make a difference or stop the Party or die for their beliefs. But in the end the Party won, and life went on with everyone controlled, not getting to experience life the way it should be lived. But besides the ending, I really enjoyed the book.
1. How would you feel if you were in Winston’s shoes at the start of Book III? Are there any parallels that you can draw in your own life to try to understand his situation? Write a 300-word response in which you consider these questions.
If I were in Winston’s shoes at the time that he awoke in a place that I knew I could and very likely would die in, I would feel angry, and sad. Angry at the fact that I have been kidnapped, sad that I might not see daylight again, or be happy with somebody I love. Most people would be scared, and I would be in some way, but I would hold that emotion for later. Winston saw a co-worker from the Ministry of Truth while he was in his cell. He learned that he was not the only one who was committing crimes, but was comforted by the fact that he saw a friendly face. My sadness would spread knowing that my family and friends may never see me again, and happy that wouldn’t have to endure being in a place full of hatred, fear, and death.
The fact that if I were placed in Winston’s cell, or sent to the Ministry of Love at that, I would pray that my family would not have to endure the same that I would have to go through, and hope they wouldn’t try to end up with me. After knowing that Winston was beaten, and was broken in two was painful to read.
Not once in my life have I ever done something to turn myself into a prisoner, even though I feel like one in my own home sometimes. If in the future I manage to get myself into a situation like that, I would try to escape.
2. What devices did the state have for enforcing total control?
The devices the party used to enforce total control is the party stricken privacy from the people of Oceania. They also poisoned the minds of the children and turned them against their parents, to report them to the authorities if they messed up.
3. What is Big Brother?
Big Brother is the embodiment of the party. He ‘exists’ in a way, but he doesn’t actually physically exist. Big Brother was an idea made by the party; they created him because they needed somebody that seemed to be as big as or bigger than them.
4. What thoughts did the woman have hanging clothes in the yard cause Winston to have?
Winston’s thought that he had been why was she singing, was she singing because she was actually communicating with somebody or was it something else. Julia explained that she was singing because she wanted to, or because she was happy.
5. How had Winston and Julia been spied on?
When they went into the room above the antique shop, there had been a telescreen behind the picture, where the party listened to them.
6. Describe Winston’s cell.
His cell had a plank bed, a shelf that stuck out of the wall, and a tin washbasin.
7. What crime did Winston’s first cellmate commit? His second?
Winston’s first cellmate had been brought in because he left the word ‘God’ in a paper that he was suppose to change. His second
8. What appears to be the ultimate torture?
The appearance of the ultimate torture is their worst fear brought to life. This fear is use against the prisoner. Each person has their own fears; all are different among the each person. Winston’s fear was rats. He hated them and was
9. What methods of forcing confessions are used in the Ministry of Love?
Some methods of forcing a confession are beating the prisoners after they are already weak form hunger. They also go through a process that ‘cures’ them and turns them ‘sane’.
10. What is O’Brien’s job? How does this change our opinion of him?
To torture and ‘purify the insane’ to make them ‘sane’, and then kill them. My opinion about him in the second book was that he was very shady; he was the one that would be the ‘guide’ down a path of two. Path one takes you to your death through pain, the other through eternal happiness. O’Brien being very shady, I was very weary of him and had no idea how far he was involved with the party. I expected him to only report him, but was farther than that.
11. Give one of Winston’s “hallucinations” about the past?
One of Winston’s hallucinations was when he was in the Ministry of Love in his cell; he had a dream of Julia. He loved her even after everything. When he awoke to him screaming “Julia! Julia! Julia, my love! Julia!” he had an overwhelming feeling that she was there. He had felt that she was inside him, not around or near him.
12. Why does the party cling to power?
The party seeks only pure power because they want it. If you control with complete and pure power, you control everything. This means that you control the people and their thoughts, turning them against the world. I think it is because they think that with ruling everything, it will lead to happiness, but it only ends in complete destruction, look at the world around Oceania.
13. What is the picture of the future according to O’Brien?
The future picture is a future without love except for big brother, no laughter except for the
14. What demonstrates the ultimate breakdown of Winston’s rebellion?
Winston’s ultimate breakdown of his rebellion is when he betrays Julia, while being tortured, ‘cured’ as it is through O’Brian’s eyes. He was made to think that Big Brother was always right, no matter what is said, like “2+2= 5” or “Ice is heavier than water.” He was deceived into thinking like everybody else that lived in Oceania. Also, along the lines of him betraying Julia, they made him think that his memories of the things he had done, had experienced throughout his eyes, they were false memories, thoughts that he had that were like dreams. They had never happened and were a figment of his imagination.
15. How did Winston train himself to crimestop?
Winston trained himself to crimestop by putting himself to work at exercising. A crimestop is stopping you from doing a crime.
16. What sent Winston to Room 101? What is his ultimate terror?
Winston failed in humility, and self-discipline. Facing your fear.
17. Why did Winston and Julia not carry on their relationship after meeting again?
Winston noticed that they, meaning Julia and him, were different, and had not felt the same way about themselves.
18. People are often shocked at the sexual content in 1984. Why does sex play such a large role in the novel? What could Orwell be suggesting by having Big Brother try to manipulate and control that part of people’s lives?
Sex is against the law in Oceania; Big Brother’s idea of control is to take out the pleasures of the human kind. Orwell had a good idea of how the people can be manipulated. Big Brother managed to turn everybody against everybody; he took out sex altogether, and any other pleasurable things.
19. What is the last sentence in 1984? What does it mean?
He loved Big Brother. The meaning of his fight was that while he was in the ministry of love, he had argued, fought everything that came up to challenge him, has always thought that he hated big brother. He had always wanted to rebel against him. He had from the start seemed to only deal with it. Nevertheless, in the end, he loved Big Brother.
20. What are your final thoughts after having read the book? Write a 300-word minimum response in which you can discuss thoughts, feelings and details about the novel that you found difficult, interesting, profound, ECT.
My thoughts about this book are concluded in my final statements.
Book 1-
Book one has been the starting of the book. The book was a man named Winston. He lived in terror and war. The city description is very well thought out and for a time was confusing a little, not understand where the book was coming form. What was the purpose of having telescreens that never turned off, but was later explained.
He was a prisoner wherever he went. It was intriguing that he was watched throughout the entire city, or the fact everybody could be singled out between everybody else. He found somebody that he had never seen before, a girl that was part of the anti- sex league. At first, Winston had thought that she was a thought was a though police. I found this interesting that he decided that he thought she was pretty, but what was amazing was that she was the complete opposite to that.
It was adequate when it came to description or background information about characters, but along the lines of story plot, it was good.
Book 2-
Book 2 was very pornographic, Winston had his dreams come true, but I think that he would be better off if he married her. It was the feeling of anger when they decided not to and wait that over took me when reading that. My other feelings among the other chapters are that they did a good job of concealing the fact that they were together at all, with everything that happened in Oceania.
My feelings toward the fact that O’Brien was apart of the party farther baffles me. I knew that something was going to happen, but could tell if it were going to be good or bad.
Book 3-
Book three went to the next step. It was amazing that O’Brien had been the one who had to ‘cure’ Winston, and the fact that their methods were very brutal and monstrous. My sympathy went to Winston when he was beaten repeatedly, but continued reading to find out what happened to him. My thoughts were also what was happening to Julia, what was he fear and where was she? All the questions were never answered. The other thoughts that went through my head after reading that all the people that visited the Ministry of Truth had been shot and killed, but why was Winston let out? Was it the sympathy that O’Brien had shown so many other times? Was it because O’Brien was lying about killing them and instead released them under a different name?
After Winston had been let out, he was in a good life, had no trouble, but my thoughts when he learned the two lines he needed to the rhyme Julia had told him about, he remembered. It made my heart sink to the bottom of my stomach because that was the one thing that I think could put them back to themselves before they were sent to the Ministry of Love.
Those are my closing arguments.
1. At the beginning of book 3 I would have been scared of what the party would and could do to me, but I don’t think that I would be scared into having the same thoughts of betrayal that are running through Winston’s self preserving mind. Yeah sure I love life just as much as everyone else but I would not be thinking of giving up the one person that truly cares and understands me so easily. I know that Winston was trying to save himself but the way he was doing it was pure cowardice of the things about to occur.
20. My final thoughts on the book are as follows; I hated way that the book ended due to the fact that the party won over Winston and Julia in the end. Not only this but if Winston really loved Julia as much as he says he did he wouldn’t have broken so easily, I know that I wouldn’t have in that matter. If George Orwell hated the Totalitarian way of life so much then why did he let the ultimate embodiment of evil in his novel; The Party win so easily over the protagonists’ Winston and Julia’s wills and minds?
2. The state had many devices to force control over people. They seemed to be fond of beating the prisoners until they had broken their body and their spirit to rebel, and then teaching them through different therapies to love big brother and the government.
3.Big Brother is nothing more than an idea for the civilians to have and be scared of. He doesn’t exist; he is a form of propaganda for the parties to fear.
4. The thoughts that Winston had about the woman in the yard were that she represented fertility and that one-day the paroles would rise and rebel to take control from the party.
5.They had been spied on by a telescreen in the wall behind a painting of Saint Clements church. Not only was the telescreen spying on them but Mr. Charrington, from down stairs was a member of the thought police.
6. Winston’s cell is bright white with concealed lamps, no windows, and benches all the way around it. He is in this cell with a large parole woman whose last name is smith, which leads her to think that she could be Winston’s mother.
7.Winston’s first cellmate; the woman was a drunk and this is shown in how she acts and that she vomits on the floor. Winston’s second cellmate a man named Ampleforth and was put in prison for leaving the word god in a Rudyard Kipling translation.
8. It appears the ultimate torture is room 101 because every one that has left Winston’s cell that has been taken there has begged and pleaded not to go. One of the men even begged the guards to kill his family, his wife and three kids one not even six yet, to cut their throats in front of his eyes, instead of him going to room 101
9. The usual methods of getting confessions are beating the prisoners with pipes and other objects, the pain machine that Winston is hooked to later, and worse of all room 101
10.O’Brien’s job is an operative for the ministry of love, what we see him doing though is torturing Winston and trying to reeducate him. He apparently has been watching Winston for sometime now trying to figure out how far he would go to rebel.
11. O’Brien convinces Winston that most of his memories were just hallucinations and that they never happened. Winston begins to believe that the party switching war opponents was all a major hallucination.
12. The party clings to power because they think it is what stopped the other totalitarian regimes from ruling unchallenged. This is shown when O’Brien is talking to Winston.
1.If I was in Winston’s shoes during this time, I would probably be trying to find logical explanations and thinking of ways to either to save myself or convince them of my loyalty to the party. Winston had heard story’s and suspected questioning, but what comes next? Winston wondered this for he had never heard of a person to survive. Winston did not appear hopeful as he watched other prisoners enter his cell who had committed nothing but petty crimes. He mostly spent his time tormented by the wait, the hunger and the fear. That in itself would probably drive me insane, not having a reason to live and slowly being tormented to death. I don’t know if I could have stayed strong in Winston’s situation in the beginning of book III. Given the loneliness, the questions left unanswered, and the pure misery would have pushed me off the edge and I would have given up.
2.The telescreen was a device used for total control. While using the telescreen the party could see what everyone was doing. They also tortured people in room 101 into believe what the party tells them to believe.
3.All of Oceania is supposedly ruled by a man named Big Brother, who all of the citizens are trained from birth to love. In reality, however, Big Brother is more of a figurehead that represents the government. Ingsoc decided to make a “Big Brother” because people feel a stronger sense of connection with one person than with a collective group of people.
4.When Winston saw the woman outside hanging clothes on the line he had a few different thoughts. One being that he wondered if she was a slave to all of the grandchildren she had. Also, he wondered how many kids she had herself. But in the end he only thought of her as having a warm heart, strong arms, and a fertile belly.
5.Winston and Julia were being spied on by a telescreen in Winston’s house. They could not see the telescreen in plain sight because it was behind a picture on the wall.
6.The room was very small, and was described as being very similar to modern day holding cells. The cell contained four telescreens that were used for constant monitoring of those who were in custody. The cell also had a bench and a latrine pan.
7.Winstons first cell mate was Ampleforth. He was sent to jail for leaving the word “God” at the end of a line. His second cell mate was Parsons. Parsons daughter had caught him committing thoughtcrime in his sleep,he had been yelling “down with Big Brother”.
8.Ultimate torture lies in room 101. For Winston,the ultimate torture is rats. The starving rats may be released at any moment to consume Winston’s flesh. This scares him into giving in to O’Brien and betraying Julia. The “ultimate torture” may be different for others. A common way is a machine that pulls apart the limbs.
9.Some methods of forcing a confession are beating the prisoners after they are already weak form hunger. They also go through a process that ‘cures’ them and turns them ‘sane’.
10. To torture and ‘purify the insane’ to make them ‘sane’, and then kill them. My opinion changed,but not much. What o'brain is doing, He thinks that it is right. that is what he was taught.
11.One of Winston’s hallucinations was about a photograph of Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford in New York. Winston came a crossed it 11 years before and destroyed it and suddenly it was in front of his face.
12. They said that whatever the party holds to truth is the truth. It was impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the party.
13. O'Brien's picture for the future isn't very bright at all. He bases his wants on the love for Big Brother. He believes that the love for Big Brother should be the only love, and everything else should be based on hate.
14. The ultimate breakdown was when he betrayed Julia. He loved her and it was because of her that he released his true rebellion towards Big Brother. Know they were going to torture her.
15. Winston trained himself to crimestop by not seeing or not understanding the arguments that were being discussed and not to contradict himself, to look past it.
16.Winston failed in humility, and self-discipline. Facing your fear.
17.After being sent to the Ministry of Love, Julia and Winston no longer loved each other because of their betrayals. They had nothing to say to one another, so they’re conversation was not lengthy.
18. Sex plays a very large role in the novel. It is one of the major desires of the human. The theme of sex shows the authoritarian grip on citizens by Big Brother. The Party wants to eliminate the desire of sex. O’Brien says one of the current goals of the party was to eliminate the orgasm. Their reasoning for this is because they want no love; expect the love of Big Brother. Loyalty also comes along with sex, the Party wants no loyalty; except the loyalty to Big Brother. Their method of doing this works too, They proved it because Julia and Winstony do not love each other any more after being sent to the ministry of love. They love Big Brother.
19.The last sentence of 1984 is "He loved Big Brother." This sentence being the last symbolizes that Winston has been defeated. His correction is complete, and if they were to shoot him, he couldn't even claim a personal victory over the Party.
20.After finishing the book 1984, I now have a better understanding of the importance of rights and privacy. I am thankful for my freedom after reading the book more so than I was before. I like controlling some things in my life. I hated the fact that Big Brother controlled every thing that the Party members did. The book wasn’t something I would have chosen to read. I couldn’t get into the first or second book. The third part of the book was all right I guess for the fact I did want to know how it ended. Something in the book had me confused for a while. For example, at first I didn’t understand what newspeak was. But I continued to read and fell the hatred for Big Brother. To put myself into Winston’s Shoes. That helped make the book more interesting for me. I prefer interesting mysteries like murders or something like that. Not book that have a major part being about sex. I didn’t like that. It made it extremely hard for me to even get through the book.
1.If I was in Winstin’s shoes in jail I would be really scared and nervous to the point I would be shaking be put in such a terrible situation. The room that none of the walls had any windows and in the Ministry of Truth. It would be scary to me to see what the party and the ministry would say or the punishment they would uphold onto me if I was in Winstin’s seat. Plus to have a drunk woman there as his cell mate with the same last name, Smith, she complied saying she may be his mother would be completely weird and frightnening if I was him. Then to be afaid for Ampleforth going into the most frightning room in the ministry, 101. Then to have his orthodox neighbor to be put into the cell with him would of surprised me too. I can draw a few parallels in my own life to Winstin’s life in the way of being like you feel so nervous and backed into a corner not knowing what to do. Then getting really anxious, if I was in his shoes, to see what the future holds and what they would say. Also I have felt betral. However instead of someone, Julia, betraying me I have that in someways I have betrayed myself by letting my anxiety control my life. Also Winstin has a hard time controling his life at the beginning of section 3 for if he has no privacy and can not make his own decisions. Only the party is right then we both have problem in controling. Also if I was in his position of getting brainwashed and having to believe that the party is always right and Big Brother is good for Oceania then I would have trouble to believe when you know that it is the wrong thing to do. For Big Brother is a dictatorship and is not a right way to goven over the people.
2.The state used different devices for enforcing total control. One they used Big Brother for making sure the citizens had little privacy. If they did something wrong they would catch them. Also the telescreen was a device used.
3.Big Brother was Oceania’s thought police. They were at the top of the social pyramid. They were a representation of the government. He was sort of a mysterious dictator reminding them that they were watching them.
4.He starts wondereing if she was a slave or had a large family to wash clothes for. Also then he sees how beautiful she was.
5. As their love deepened and his views started changing they found out they were being spied on. They were being spied on by the thought police.
6.It was kind of like a regular cell with no windows. Then it had a high ceiling with a bench. It also had a telescreen watching his every move.
7.Ampleforth was a poet and was his first cell mate and used God at the end of a piece. Second was Mr. Parsons was there because of the thought police. Also he was in a cell with a drunk woman saying she could be his mother.
8.For Winstin the torture was seeing the rats and afraid to have them strip him down to the bone. However I believe the ultimate torture and final fear is acceptance.
9.They use the person’s greatest fear against them. In which this case was the rats against Winstin. Then use the steps for acceptance.
10.O’Brien works for the inner party. He oversees his treatment and he is the one who tortures him in room 101, the most feared room in the Ministry of Truth. It makes him seem more of a bad guy for Winstin as the story goes.
11.One of them was he thought he had seen a picture of Aaronson, Rutherford, and Jones at a place in New York the day they commited their crimes.
12. The party clings to party because they are greedy and love to have power. The power over people just like the dictatorship in Hitler with Germany. They also want people to look up to them and be afaid due to power.
13.A place where people have no mercy or forgiveness. A place full of feelings of rage and fear. Plus no trust between anything and a place full of power.
14.Winston trained himself in crimestop to demonstrate the ultimate breakdown of Winston’s rebellion. This is by simplifying things to learn and practice with them.
15.He trained himself in crimestop by forgetting his own beliefs and start believing in the parties beliefs instead of himself.
16.He started crying out for Julie. The ultimute terror was to use the persons fears against them. They used Winstin’s fear of rats to create the worst situation.
17.Julie had betrayed Winstin that in which made them hard to love again. Also Winstin learned to only love the party.
18.Sex in life is a very private thing in life. Big Brother, Orwell shows, controls even this in the people’s life. Orwell shows what people would do for power.
19.The last sentence was, “He loved Big Brother.” It tells of what power Big Brother had over him and the whole place of Oceania. That’s due to the brainwashing they did to him and the way they interigated him. The party won in the end.
20.After reading the book by George Orwell’s 1984 it showed of a place called Oceania that is politically controlled. Winston lived in a place called Victory Mansion, that in which did not live up to his name because it was not a mansion but a run down building with tears and holes . It was interesting of the dictatorship in the book. They really were giving the citizens little privacy and control them beyond belief. They did not even want party members to go to regular stores. However Winstin did against the law and did buy a book and started a diary. Surprisingly to me that he said that he would get in trouble by Big Brother. He could of even been put to death for his actions. Then he fell in love with Julia who worked in the fiction department. It was a little weird how he was all interested in sex and even divorced because of it. Julia ended up betraying him as well as a fellow party member from the inner party O’Brien. He ended up becoming brainwashed to go with the party’s ways. Also he was interigated in room 101 in the Ministry of Truth, the most feared room. They use the person’s fears against them, so they used Winstin’s scare of rats to terrify him. They said they were going to have the rats cage put against his face and eat to the bone. He ended up giving up saying, “Do it to Julie.” Then he ended up having to forget about his own beliefs and just go with whatever the party believes. Winstin and Julie ended up meeting again, coencidently, however the betral was just to much for them to love each other again. Plus the party made him to not love anything but the party and Big Brother.
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