Oh No!!!

Oops!! I totally forgot to post about Orwell's view on society! Life has been a bit hectic around here. Anyway, Orwell has a very negative view on society. In many different ways Orwell makes reference to the fact that he thinks humans are dumb and follow other people instead of making their own decisions. He also seems to be afraid of a government takeover or increase in power. Orwell might believe that language is the key to society. It seems like a lot of the issues in Oceania are caused by a lack of language and ways to explain certain ideas like rebellion or strong emotions like love. Orwell seems very bitter and a bit paranoid about many different things!

In other news...

HEY!!  Mrs. Stariha!  I wasn't able to grab my Whitman essay "grade".  Do you think you could e-mail the grade/letter to me (if you remember it)?

And on a lighter note, yesterday I aquired a stomach flu.  I felt sick to my...stomach!  But alas, I could not hurl it out as hard as I tried.  So, while my family left me home alone to sleep while they went Christmas shopping, I took action.  I couldn't sleep with the pain that I was in, so I forced myself to drink LOTS of water.  And in no time at all, I barfed my guts out!  I felt great afterwords, and have been on the road to recovery ever since.

1984 Quote

I did not get to share my quote in class so here is mine, it is found on page 80 when winston was talking to himself about how big brother changes the past and he says "I understand HOW: I don not understand Why." I chose this quote because it shows that winston realizes what they are doing but has been so brainwashed that he can't understand why somebody would want to do change the past

Favorite Quote

My favorite quote from 1984 is found on page 24 about half way down the page. It states:

"With those children, he thought, that wrteched woman must lead a life of terror. Another year, two years, and they would be watching her night and day for symptoms of unorthodoxy. Nearly all children nowadays were horrible."

This quote astounds me. I can't imagine a day where the government would turn children into spies in an effort to keep tabs on their parents. Its a very frightening thought that government could in some way overrule the basic sense of loyalty a child feels for its parents and turn them into spies that would rat their parents out without a second thought.

Confused about 1984...

Since I was one of the people who didn't get to share a "quote" or question I had about the book in class on Friday, I thought I would share it here.

I guess that I've never really understood the whole "Thought Police" concept in Winston's society. What I am confused about is how exactly they are able to read minds of the people in the society. And if they are, how come they haven't caught Winston for his free and opinionated thoughts. Which adds another question of mine: Is Winston really thinking these things? If he was, wouldn't he have been caught by now?

These are just a few of the many things I am confused about in the book. Otherwise, so far, I am really enjoying the book (although I will probably re-read the whole first part just to make sure I understand it before our quiz when we return)!

So much Hate!!!!!

The quote that I picked for class but was not able to share is;

"The horrible thing about the two minute hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in."

(p. 14)

This quote demonstrates how much big brother has control of these people. Winston did not truly believe in his heart the things that were coming out of his mouth. Unlike most others, Winston did not actually hate Goldstein, the government had messed with his mind so much that he found it impossible not to participate.

Personally, I can not imagine feeling this helpless. Not having a choice is something that really scares me. What I have a difficult time remembering is that they really are not bad people, this is the way they have been raised or brainwashed and they do not realize how ridiculous some of their actions are.

Concerned...

I haven't gotten my rough draft emailed to me yet, and I was really hoping to start working on it tomorrow. Has anyone else not gotten their rough drafts? I have been waiting for it and I was expecting it on Friday of last week.

I'm really concerned about how my Argument Essay is going to turn out because I thought my Whitman Essay was really good and it was marked up quite a bit more than I was expecting. I'm hoping that my mom can help me with the next essay, but I'm not so sure if it will be good enough. I'm kind of worried....