"Nobody ever escaped detection, and nobody ever failed to confess." page 103
The Party is predictable. The same thing happens every time they arrest someone moderately well-known. The person is arrested, they confess, and then they're vaporized. It always happens that way just like it did with Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford. But once the person is vaporized, the Party deletes all evidence of that person's existence. It doesn't make sense that the Party would go to the trouble of gaining a public confession if they're just going to remove that person from history. Why aren't they secretly kidnapped and vaporized in the middle of the night like the people who are not well-known? If they technically won't exist anyway, why bother with the confession? It just seems like a whole lot of work when they could do it secretively and have the same exact result.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
1984-page 2
"BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU" page 2
This phrase is the basis for Orwell's characterization of Big Brother. B-B is portrayed as the controller and the ruler. He is all-powerful and infallible, but he only seems that way. The perception of the people is all that they have. Because of this, Big Brother can manipulate them in ways he should not be able to manipulate them. Big Brother shows that power is not something that a person can possess just because he or she wants to. Power comes from others. Without the consent of the people "beneath" him, Big Brother would have no power. Because the people consent, and the proles do not realize that they have the option not to consent, Big Brother has power that he should not have.
This phrase is the basis for Orwell's characterization of Big Brother. B-B is portrayed as the controller and the ruler. He is all-powerful and infallible, but he only seems that way. The perception of the people is all that they have. Because of this, Big Brother can manipulate them in ways he should not be able to manipulate them. Big Brother shows that power is not something that a person can possess just because he or she wants to. Power comes from others. Without the consent of the people "beneath" him, Big Brother would have no power. Because the people consent, and the proles do not realize that they have the option not to consent, Big Brother has power that he should not have.
1984-Motif
"The past, though of its nature alterable, never had been altered. Whatever was true now was true from everlasting to everlasting." page 34
The idea of an alterable past appears often in the novel. Winston's job is to change people's memories of the past. He alters the way that people see the past so that the Party always tells the truth. People always assume that the past is done and gone. "What's done is done," people say. In the world of the Party, this is not the case. The past is done, but memories of the past are not. The tiniest sliver of doubt can send those memories out of someone's mind and change them into something entirely different. The Party uses this to "change the past" several times in the novel, and it shows that the past is only what we remember.
The idea of an alterable past appears often in the novel. Winston's job is to change people's memories of the past. He alters the way that people see the past so that the Party always tells the truth. People always assume that the past is done and gone. "What's done is done," people say. In the world of the Party, this is not the case. The past is done, but memories of the past are not. The tiniest sliver of doubt can send those memories out of someone's mind and change them into something entirely different. The Party uses this to "change the past" several times in the novel, and it shows that the past is only what we remember.
1984-Antimetabole
"Until they become conscious, they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious." page 70
The clauses are essentially the same, but the words are rearranged. In this same fashion, the meanings are reversed. The proles will not realize what power they have until someone shows them. They feel a sense of powerlessness which is a mistaken perception. A group as large as the group of proles could easily take over the Party, but they think they cannot. Because of this perception, they will not rise, but in order to gain that view, they must rise. This is the source of Winston's feeling of hopelessness. He knows that the proles have to see their power to realize it, but he knows that they will not realize it without some event that provokes that.
The clauses are essentially the same, but the words are rearranged. In this same fashion, the meanings are reversed. The proles will not realize what power they have until someone shows them. They feel a sense of powerlessness which is a mistaken perception. A group as large as the group of proles could easily take over the Party, but they think they cannot. Because of this perception, they will not rise, but in order to gain that view, they must rise. This is the source of Winston's feeling of hopelessness. He knows that the proles have to see their power to realize it, but he knows that they will not realize it without some event that provokes that.
1984-Paradox
"WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH." page 4
This quote represents the paradox upon which the Party is built. In times of war, people are vulnerable. The goal of the Party is to keep the people under their control to maintain the kind of peace they want to have. The vulnerability created by war sustains the peace the Party desires. The Party has trained people to believe that freedom makes them slaves to choice. They are free to make errors, and they are slaves to the consequences of those decisions. By making decisions for the people, the Party takes away the freedom of choices and gives the freedom from consequences. Ignorance in the people results in strength for the Party. If the people do not question what the Party does or says, the Party has no opposition. It also goes the other way. Those who remain ignorant and show no desire for true knowledge are not in danger of being "vaporized" or arrested, and they do not have to deal with the truth. The truth causes doubt. With no knowledge of the true occurrences, the people can stay strong in their beliefs and avoid doubt.
This quote represents the paradox upon which the Party is built. In times of war, people are vulnerable. The goal of the Party is to keep the people under their control to maintain the kind of peace they want to have. The vulnerability created by war sustains the peace the Party desires. The Party has trained people to believe that freedom makes them slaves to choice. They are free to make errors, and they are slaves to the consequences of those decisions. By making decisions for the people, the Party takes away the freedom of choices and gives the freedom from consequences. Ignorance in the people results in strength for the Party. If the people do not question what the Party does or says, the Party has no opposition. It also goes the other way. Those who remain ignorant and show no desire for true knowledge are not in danger of being "vaporized" or arrested, and they do not have to deal with the truth. The truth causes doubt. With no knowledge of the true occurrences, the people can stay strong in their beliefs and avoid doubt.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)