Important ideas i learned from other classmates.

I enjoyed blogging a lot. If i was stuck and didn't understand something, i could just go check someone elses blog and see what they thought about it. I understood the first part of the book a lot better when i read Matt's blog, he also let me understand the symbolism of the paper weight better. At first i did not really think the paperweight could symbolize anything, but Matt explained it in a way that made sense and was easily understood. I also liked blogging better than regular assignments because you didn't have to bring anything home at night, I would just turn on my computer and do my homework as i was talking online or listening to music. I am also a very disorganized person, so it helped that i didn't have to carry papers around with me, and that i couldn't lose my homework once i did it. As i talked with other classmates I understood a different perspective on the book, we made predictions about what would happen with O'Brien, and we asked questions about how the whole society came about. It helped me form ideas in my mind that i would have never thought of unless i discussed it with other people. Another important idea i learned from other classmates was that while i was reading the book i would right down or try to remember questions that i had about it, that way i could come in the next day and get them answered instead of me not understanding it. For about the first half of the book i would read the book, than answer the questions in the packet, it was hard to do and i had to go back and look in the book for some of the answers, than in class Garret just told me to answer the questions as i read, instead of after i read, this helped tremendously and it was much easier for me.

Parallels between reality and the book.

At first glance there doesn't seem to be many parallels at all between the US government and the government in 1984. At a closer look you could see that our government does have a lot of power we do not know about. After 9/11 our congress passed the patriot act, which gave the government some rights that let them track terrorists better, or so we thought. In reality though the government could exercise those rights on anyone. If they go through the legal system they can listen to our phone calls, and spy on our house. We have to make sure that our government doesn't start doing that whenever they feel like it, as in 1984. Another parallel is that our government makes all the children in the country go to school, in a way this is controlling them totally and it is kind of scary, this is similar to 1984 because they tell the parents where to go to work and the children where to go to school.

Warnings that the author is trying to get across

I think that the author did a good job warning us about dystopia by writing this book. He makes the whole book believable by not having any items or technology that would be impossible to create. Because the book is believable than it makes it even more scarier because we know it would be possible in our world. He also writes and makes the society as worse as he could imagine. I think that the author was scared of a society like this happening in the real world, so he created a book to show us how bad it would be and make sure we would stop it. The last line of the play says, "He loved Big Brother," The author shows in the book that if a society like this gets established, than even if there are people that want to rebel against it, than they are probably not going to stop it. He shows in the book that as soon as the government starts taking away our freedoms, we have to act against them, because if we wait too long, than we will end up like winston. I think one of the things Americans fear the most is if we did not have our privacy. In the book the people in the society have no privacy whatsoever because the telescreens can listen and see what they are doing no matter where they. I think that if the government started taking away our privacy than there would be an uproar in our country. For example when Bush ordered a phone tap without congresses approval a few years ago, it was a huge debate on the news and widly televised. He also shows how corupt people could get if they get power, because as soon as a person gets a little power, than they want more and more, and they will never give away their power.

How???

I was reading on bekah's blog and how she was talking about how she could not fathom how people didnt realize how bad their living conditions were. I think we could not understand it because we do not realize how powerful altering the past could be. If you could alter the past, you could make any changes you want and make it seem it is for the better. Altering the past means you could change what happened, so nothing is absolute anymore, nothing is for sure. In order to alter the past the governement has to practice doublethink, which is also very difficult to grasp as a concept. I think that if we were actaully living in this society we would understand so much better how no one realizes their living conditions. In our society, you would be considered insane if you said 2+2=5, but in 1984, 2+2=anything the party wants it to be, which is very scary. I just hope that this will never ever happen in our lives, because there would probably be no way to stop it.

Reality

At first, it seemed very surprising to me that people living in the 1984 society did not know how bad their life is. Than i thought about it and realized that the government controls EVERYTHING in the society. Since the government controls the past the people cannot read or learn about how people lived in the past, thus making it impossible for them to compare their life to someone elses. I think another method the governemnt uses that is very effective is doublethink, because with this the government could control every single belief the people have, even basic math, "2+2=5". Because of doublethink, everytime they make the poeples life more difficult and bare, the people think that they are getting a good deal and that the government is helping them. For example if the government was giving them 30 oz of coffee a month, and than lowered it to 20, than they could just say that they had raised it from 15, and everyone would believe it 100% and not even remember that they once got 30 oz. It is scary to think about how the people do not realize what it going on because if they do not realize it than there is no way they would even think about rebelling. I think if a society like this really existed, than it would work the best and last the longest time if they just did everything that is in the 1984 society.

doublethink

Doublethink is a very wierd and confusing concept. It is when you know something to be true one minute, and the next minute know it to be totally opposite of what it was. When Obrien is questioning Winston it was very confusing and interesting the think about at the same time. Everytime Winston knew he was right, Obrien just explained it away with doublethink or talking about the party altering the past. Winston ended up very confused on how Obrien could be right and how it was poosible.
I do not think doublethink is possible because someone would just have to be tricking themselves that something is true, but there will always be doubts in the back of his mind because he knows the real truth. The party cannot destroy the power of human reason and inteligence so there will always be people that do not believe in doublethink or believe what the party says. I am just at the point in the book when obrien is trying to convince winston that even though he is holding up 4 fingers it really is 5 because obrien says it is. I think that there is no way on earth that a person can decieve themselves that much that they would believe totally 100% that there were 5 fingers being held up.

Paperweight

One of the questions that was not numbered said, What happens to the paperweight and how is that important. When Winston was arrested the paper weight was smashed by one of the thought police. The paper weight represented his life and hit hideout. When they were arrested his whole world was crashing down and disappearing, just like when the weight was smashed. The paperweight could have also symbolized Winston's struggle to find out about the past and to over throw the party, the paper weight was smashed when he got arrested because his struggle was over and he couldn't do anything anymore.
Since he is in the custody of the thought police, he is probable not going to be able to find out anything about life of the past. I think that he will probably confess about everything when they start torturing him. He might actually get to live maybe if he follows what they say and cooperate