1984 by George Orwell

[droodles]

So after rushing through this book to get to the sex passages between Winston and Julia, I decided to re-read this book and I still find it a bit hard to understand, Winston hates the Ministry and he rebels against them by doing things like keeping thoughts in his diary. From that onward I don't get it, the writer makes it difficult for me to see where everything is going

It's like I'm reading this:

Wassily Kandinsky, On White 2, 1923

I read the study guide but its too easy

[Toothpaste]

Warning: I've only read it three times. It might not be accurate.

I'd suggest reading up on why and when Orwell wrote this. (If I have my dates right, this book was written after World War II). Comparing fiction to facts might help. Try contrasting the story to Hitler and the Nazi. Big Brother was omnipresent and misled people just like many other dictators did; and the Youth League and the Junior Anti Sex League resembles the Hitler Youth in which they were both encouraged to denounce parents. The presence of the leagues, serves to exterminate natural affections and love. Get some background on the Russian Revolutions as well.
I know you've read Animal Farm, which was a satire on communist ideals. That tells us that Orwell was pretty much appalled with communism and stronger state control. So if you can just see where the writer is coming from while writing this, you'll understand it so much better. Nineteen Eighty-four focuses on a cruel totalitarian regime, the unfathomable control of reality, lone rebellion, production of lies, extent of trust and loyalty, political control and betrayal, etc. When you get more familiar with Orwell's background, you'll know that he based the majority of the book's themes around his own concerns and personal experiences.

Anyway a quick run through...

Winston Smith
-Minor member of the Outer Party
-Works in the Ministry of Truth
-Fucking ugly(from the descriptions of him, lol)

His job is to falsify records and official documents (even the news) so that the Party's preferred version of the past can be seen as "the truth". Society only receives the information which the Party authorises. From his work, Winston is disturbed by the knowledge that a real history exists. He has knowledge of the genuine past and he actually prefers it to the ones he is employed to make up. He's depressed by the total obedience given to lies by others around him, but effortlessly isolates his outer emotions to avoid extreme consequences. His world is oppressed by tyranny. Any signs of rebellion would probably get him convicted (to death), as his government disallows any signs of opposition. The Party’s surveillance is everywhere, through the telescreens. "Big brother is watching you".

He keeps a secret diary of his thoughts. This is the first sign of Winston's rebellion. He speculates whether the "proles" or "lower-class people" might one day overthrow the party. It turns out that he comes to value the life of the proles, but can not have any sort of relationship/friendship with them. Think: Dull, android, mediocre world. He yearns for a life outside government control; freedom.

In Winston's world, four departments run the country: Ministry of Truth, Peace, Plenty and Love.
Peace: In charge of the "war*" that is going on. A never-ending war.
Love: Terror enforcement
Plenty: (quote from insight) deliberately makes the people endure ‘a chronic shortage of half the necessities of life’ (page 199).
Truth: Propaganda, fraud

*after many years of war with Eurasia, Oceania(Winston's place) goes to war against Eastasia, taking Eurasia for its ally. The enemy constantly changes and there's a reason for this. The never ending war is made up to keep order in the people. It declines prosperity, keeps the people ignorant and creates a sense of enmity between everyone and the always changing foe. Without the luxuries, the people would have no chance of an uprising; no chance of overthrowing the Party. (The proles make up the majority of the population. I think it was 85%?). The Government continues to distract the proles by introducing incentives such as gambling.
 
As with the above, Winston's job is to rewrite records of the past to make them conform to the official version of events. So the employees of the Ministry of Truth had to ensure that the issues associated with the war meet the recent version of history which satisfies the Party's requirements.

Julia
-no last name mentioned
-works in the fiction department (Pornosec). Produces pornography foor young proles.

Winston suspects her of being a spy. There is also a possibility of her being a member of the Thought Police. You could argue whether the relationship between Julia and Winston was authentic or not. 

... Okay. CBF now. Sleep. I'll add more later. No one quote anything from this post, it might change.

Side note: If you liked this book, I'd also recommend you read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

[AppleXY]

1984 seems like a really interesting book. I might do it for the exam, who knows. But it's an extremely hard book lulz.

I keep laughing at pornosec hahaha. (newspeak talk is really strange)

[brendan]

you should watch this movie:
The Lives of Others

[Collin Li]

I keep laughing at pornosec hahaha. (newspeak talk is really strange)

Pfft... it's a government run monpoly, so the porn is probably crap anyway. In the free market, there's competition, so you'll have much better porn

[Mao]

Thanks Toothpick!!

i'm half-way through a thorough first-read, it is indeed a very interesting book

but: correction: Julia used to work in pornosec, she now does something or rather with book-printing machines.... x]

EDIT: removed quote as suggested, lol

ADDED:
Also I have a question, its just a minute detail that was probably overlooked by Orwell, but in the several "encounters" between Julia and Winston there seemed to have been no mention of contraceptives at all. given the anti-sex propaganda by the Party, one would think that there will no contraceptives available either. so why have Julia/Winston never been afraid of impregnation that will lead them to inevitable death??

[lishan515]

I have only read it once thus far- enjoyment/ initial read

Is Julia working for bigbrother? Or is it left ambiguous. As I know the shop is a setup and that fellow- (name escapes me) who tells him all about an underground society, is really the one who is chasing him.

[droodles]

What's O'Brien's role in the story?

[Collin Li]

My teacher (well-read sort of guy, unfortunately a communist) talked about the sterility of the sex scene(s?) between Winston and Julia. In contrast, he talked about the amazing detail that other authors went into in sex scenes, and said that Orwell just wasn't good at writing about it.

In my opinion, it is done this way in order to show that there is still a limit to the feeling of liberation one can achieve in society. Despite them breaking the rules, and trying to break free from the construct of society, they are still limited, whether this is through inhibitions imprinted in the early stages of life, or just fear of being caught from the government.

...not because Orwell can't write sex scenes.

[Collin Li]

I want to start a thread about Newspeak in current society: if you control the language, you control the thoughts!

One such example: I think "left" and "right" on the political spectrum are very restrictive terms that lump you in categories with people who may even be your political opponents! (Stalin is left, but the Greens are also left)

[/0]

What's O'Brien's role in the story?

O'Brien is an agent of the Inner Party, and his job is to 'cleanse' potential rebels of all hateful thoughts of Big Brother. Although he pretends to be Winston's friend when Winston comes to him asking about Brotherhood, this is only so O'Brien can weed out any of Winston's potential allies, while Big Brother watches him ever more intensely.
O'Brien raises questions as to the Brotherhood's actual existence, or whether it may have been even created by the party as a kind of bait for nonconforming citizens. Indeed, many things in the book may not exist, such as the rival superpowers of Eurasia and "I forgot the other one's name", but may have been created by the government in order to incite fear and confusion.

The interesting thing about 1984, if you think about it, is that the Big Brother system of government is inescapable. There is no way for any rebellion to fight, or for that matter, even form, because Big Brother controls the population's thoughts. And as the new generation of people emerge under Big Brother, they will be even more brainwashed, thanks to the Youth League etc. So really, the only hope I see for the people to overthrow the government would be by apocalyptic means (Nuclear meltdown, comet, plague etc.).

P.S BE SURE TO CHECK SPARKNOTES!!!

[AppleXY]

Yeah, is brotherhood real or fake ? Hmm..

[Toothpaste]

What's O'Brien's role in the story?

He's a member of the Inner Party.
He inducts Winston into the Brotherhood, which was just a trap.

I have only read it once thus far- enjoyment/ initial read

Is Julia working for bigbrother? Or is it left ambiguous. As I know the shop is a setup and that fellow- (name escapes me) who tells him all about an underground society, is really the one who is chasing him.

This answers droodles' question about O'Brien.

Yep, ambiguous. It's debatable whether Julia was a double agent with the Thought Police or not. You could go through the book again reading suspiciously. You'll find that certain events that you may have missed are questionable in terms of which side she was really on. Eg; she was able to obtain supplies of forbidden luxurious goods such as coffee and chocolate easily.

Yeah, is brotherhood real or fake ? Hmm..

Big Brother - Brotherhood. It is usually perceived as a creation by the Party, made up to catch rebelling thought criminals.

O'Brien raises questions as to the Brotherhood's actual existence, or whether it may have been even created by the party as a kind of bait for nonconforming citizens. Indeed, many things in the book may not exist,...

Yep. Big Brother: a person, the whole Inner Party or an imaginary godlike figure for scare tactics?
Reality is being manipulated and suppressed so that the Party has total control over everything.

[AppleXY]

Wow toothy lol. You're good

You should do it for the exam, full on ace it

[Toothpaste]

Wow toothy lol. You're good

You should do it for the exam, full on ace it

Toothy needs to work on The Kite Runner.

I can't write under pressure.