1) Where is Winston in this chapter?
Winston starts of the chapter in the Chesnut Tree Cafe, the place where he allegedly witnessed Aaronson, Rutherford, and Jones many years before.
2) What are a couple of things Winston can do now that he couldn’t before he was arrested?
Before Winston was arrested he had to be on close watch for anything that could give him away to the Party. After he is released from the Ministry of Love, the Party no longer feels that he is a threat to them, so they give him more slack. He is now allowed to show more feeling and is allowed to speak to Julia publicly, rather than in secret.
3) Discuss the symbolism of the chess game Winston plays (with himself…Orwell is so brilliant!).
When Winston is playing chess with himself, it symbolizes the battles throughout the book. He mentions that the white side always wins. One of these battles is his conflict between the Party and himself, with the Party as the white, and Winston as the black pieces. The other struggle is intrapersonal, where the fighting occurs between the black side (his memories and previous beliefs of the Party), against the white side and his new found love for the Party. Chess is also a symbol of war is many cases, so it is also referring to the everlasting war of the three superstates.
4) Winston says the story he has just remembered about his family is false. What does this tell you about what has happened to Winston?
When the memory of Winston as a child, playing with his mother and sister comes to his mind, he quickly washes out this thought, and labels it as worthless and untrue. By doing so it symbolizes that Winston is shifting to believe the Party's virtues and regards all of his past an unimportant.
5) What, according to the last couple sentences of the book, has happened to Winston?
After his treatment in Room 101, Winston has come to accept the Party, and is very excited about his country's small victory in the war, an excitement that would not exist before he was arrested. Winston has finally been converted into a good Party member, and he loves Big Brother.
Wednesday, 30 April 2014
Monday, 28 April 2014
Part 3: Chapter 5
1) How does Winston save himself?
When Winston enters Room 101, he still loves Julia, and is still his own person, not a Party supporter. Once the cage of rats enters the room, and he is threatened that they will attack him, possibly taking out his eyes or other gruesome activities, he thinks quick as to how he can save himself. At this point he is frozen in traumatizing fear, and will do anything they want so long as they take away the rats. In order to save himself he decides that he must throw someone in between himself and the looming threat of these carnivorous rats, and he can only think of one person. He screams to them to do this to Julia, not him. He states that he doesn't care what happens to her, as long as he is let go.
2) In the last paragraph of the chapter, what is symbolically happening to Winston. (Don’t worry if you find this difficult – we’ll discuss this)
After this traumatizing experience, Winston is becoming more of the citizen the Party wants him to be. They want him to betray the ones he loves to the Party, and love nobody but big Brother. When he is saved by throwing Julia under the bus, he is complying to the Party. By doing this, he is losing his freedom to them. He did exactly what he promised he would not do, and that was to betray Julia. The description of falling that he feels, symbolizes that he is losing himself and his individuality to the Party.
When Winston enters Room 101, he still loves Julia, and is still his own person, not a Party supporter. Once the cage of rats enters the room, and he is threatened that they will attack him, possibly taking out his eyes or other gruesome activities, he thinks quick as to how he can save himself. At this point he is frozen in traumatizing fear, and will do anything they want so long as they take away the rats. In order to save himself he decides that he must throw someone in between himself and the looming threat of these carnivorous rats, and he can only think of one person. He screams to them to do this to Julia, not him. He states that he doesn't care what happens to her, as long as he is let go.
2) In the last paragraph of the chapter, what is symbolically happening to Winston. (Don’t worry if you find this difficult – we’ll discuss this)
After this traumatizing experience, Winston is becoming more of the citizen the Party wants him to be. They want him to betray the ones he loves to the Party, and love nobody but big Brother. When he is saved by throwing Julia under the bus, he is complying to the Party. By doing this, he is losing his freedom to them. He did exactly what he promised he would not do, and that was to betray Julia. The description of falling that he feels, symbolizes that he is losing himself and his individuality to the Party.
Part 3: Chapter 4
1) In a single paragraph of at least 125 words, explain how Winston has changed physically and mentally since he last saw O’brien. Use evidence and some quotations to support your argument.
Since Winston and O'Brien's last session, he has grown healthier than he was when he saw himself in the mirror, a picture of skin and bones. He still couldn't stand on his own, and was still fairly frail, but he was being fed more, and was more accepting of his treatment. The Party has started to get to him, and he is beginning to doublethink himself, his existence, and his sanity. He still knows what he originally wanted, and he is still against the Party, but he is starting to comply to the Party's wishes. It came off as frightening to me, when he wrote out some of the Party slogans. It made me wonder if it was him trying to get better treatment by acting in accordance to the Party's demands, or if he was actually becoming brainwashed by them.
2) Explain what Winston means on page 294 when he says, “They would have blown a hole in their own perfection. To die hating them, that was freedom.”
By saying this, Winston is making a statement about how one can have a small victory against the Party, even in their last moment. The Party's goal of the treatments they give to prisoners is to make them love the Party until they die, so they die a slave to them, not free. Winston says that to die while hating them would be freedom, because it would mean he did not become a slave of theirs, he would die with his own thoughts and his own opinions.
Since Winston and O'Brien's last session, he has grown healthier than he was when he saw himself in the mirror, a picture of skin and bones. He still couldn't stand on his own, and was still fairly frail, but he was being fed more, and was more accepting of his treatment. The Party has started to get to him, and he is beginning to doublethink himself, his existence, and his sanity. He still knows what he originally wanted, and he is still against the Party, but he is starting to comply to the Party's wishes. It came off as frightening to me, when he wrote out some of the Party slogans. It made me wonder if it was him trying to get better treatment by acting in accordance to the Party's demands, or if he was actually becoming brainwashed by them.
2) Explain what Winston means on page 294 when he says, “They would have blown a hole in their own perfection. To die hating them, that was freedom.”
By saying this, Winston is making a statement about how one can have a small victory against the Party, even in their last moment. The Party's goal of the treatments they give to prisoners is to make them love the Party until they die, so they die a slave to them, not free. Winston says that to die while hating them would be freedom, because it would mean he did not become a slave of theirs, he would die with his own thoughts and his own opinions.
Sunday, 27 April 2014
Part 3: Chapter 3
1) According to O’Brien, what are the three stages in Winston’s re-integration?
O'Brien states the three stages of re-integrating Winston are learning, understanding, and accepting.
2) Who wrote “the Book”?
Winston originally is told taht the book was written by Goldstein, but during his sessions with O'Brien, he is told that the book was written by a number of people, including O'Brien himself.
3) Explain what Winston means when he says (p. 275) “What can you do…against the lunatic who is more intelligent than yourself, who gives your arguments a fair hearing and then simply persists in his lunacy?”
When Winston says this, he means that he views O'Brien as an intelligent man, but with a much different perspective than his own. Winston recognizes that they will be in constant disagreement, and that he will persist in countering O'Brien's statements with his own beliefs.
4) O’Brien states that the Party is different from all the other oligarchies of the past. Explain what he means by this? (p.275-76)
O'Brien means that the Party is different because they are conscious that their power will be everlasting. He claims that the previous oligarchies, such as the Nazis and Russian Communists, were fighting to eventually establish a place of equality in favor of themselves. The Party is not wanting equality at all, they are simply interested in maintaining power over everything, for the good of their citizens.
5) O’Brien asks Winston to strip and look at himself in the mirror. Why do you think he does this? How does Winston respond?
O'Brien asks Winston to look in the mirror at his frail, contorted body, because he wants to show Winston the horror he has brought onto himself by opposing the Party. O'Brien explains that Winston has always known what will become of him if he proceeds to fight the Party, and that this is what has become of him as a result.
6) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Discuss why.
’Yes, I consider myself superior.’
O’Brien did not speak. Two other voices were speaking. After a moment
Winston recognized one of them as his own. It was a sound-track of the conversation
he had had with O’Brien, on the night when he had enrolled himself
in the Brotherhood. He heard himself promising to lie, to steal, to forge, to
murder, to encourage drug-taking and prostitution, to disseminate venereal diseases,
to throw vitriol in a child’s face.
I thought this part was very cool, it was a twist where O'Brien turned Winston's own words against him, words that Winston had drawn out of him by the illusion that he was going to help in the overthrow of the Party.
O'Brien states the three stages of re-integrating Winston are learning, understanding, and accepting.
2) Who wrote “the Book”?
Winston originally is told taht the book was written by Goldstein, but during his sessions with O'Brien, he is told that the book was written by a number of people, including O'Brien himself.
3) Explain what Winston means when he says (p. 275) “What can you do…against the lunatic who is more intelligent than yourself, who gives your arguments a fair hearing and then simply persists in his lunacy?”
When Winston says this, he means that he views O'Brien as an intelligent man, but with a much different perspective than his own. Winston recognizes that they will be in constant disagreement, and that he will persist in countering O'Brien's statements with his own beliefs.
4) O’Brien states that the Party is different from all the other oligarchies of the past. Explain what he means by this? (p.275-76)
O'Brien means that the Party is different because they are conscious that their power will be everlasting. He claims that the previous oligarchies, such as the Nazis and Russian Communists, were fighting to eventually establish a place of equality in favor of themselves. The Party is not wanting equality at all, they are simply interested in maintaining power over everything, for the good of their citizens.
5) O’Brien asks Winston to strip and look at himself in the mirror. Why do you think he does this? How does Winston respond?
O'Brien asks Winston to look in the mirror at his frail, contorted body, because he wants to show Winston the horror he has brought onto himself by opposing the Party. O'Brien explains that Winston has always known what will become of him if he proceeds to fight the Party, and that this is what has become of him as a result.
6) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Discuss why.
’Yes, I consider myself superior.’
O’Brien did not speak. Two other voices were speaking. After a moment
Winston recognized one of them as his own. It was a sound-track of the conversation
he had had with O’Brien, on the night when he had enrolled himself
in the Brotherhood. He heard himself promising to lie, to steal, to forge, to
murder, to encourage drug-taking and prostitution, to disseminate venereal diseases,
to throw vitriol in a child’s face.
I thought this part was very cool, it was a twist where O'Brien turned Winston's own words against him, words that Winston had drawn out of him by the illusion that he was going to help in the overthrow of the Party.
Saturday, 26 April 2014
Part 3: Chapter 2
1) Make a list of the things to which Winston confesses.
Winston confesses both true and imaginary crimes to the interrogators, such as murdering a Party member, distributing propaganda against the Party, and sabotage. He also confessed he was religious, and that he had been a Eastasian spy, admired capitalism, murdered his own wife, and was a sexual pervert.
2) What does O’brien say is wrong with Winston?
O'Brien is telling Winston that he is insane, that he is a flaw, and that the Party doesn't care for his crimes, but rather are trying to cure him of his illness.
3) On p. 259, Winston thinks: That was doublethink. To what is he referring.
When Winston thinks that, he is referring to the way O'Brien had been holding a real, solid photograph, then placed it into the memory hole, and claimed it had never existed. This is doublethink because O'Brien is saying that something absolutely real that was in his hand a moment ago, had never existed.
4) What is O’brien’s view of reality which he describes to Winston?
O'Brien gets Winston to state one of the Party slogans,“Who controls the present controls the past”, and he questions Winston's beliefs as to whether the past exists or not. According to O'Brien the past only exists if the Party wants it to.
5) Open the following site: Ivan Pavlov In a short paragraph, discuss how Ivan Pavlov’s research is similar to O’brien’s methods with Winston.
Ivan Pavlov's research was similar to how O'Brien worked on getting in Winston's head because they both used stimuli to draw out a certain reflex. Pavlov got his dogs to drool at the sound of a bell or the sight of a lab coat, and O'Brien gets Winston to confess and agree with him through the less humane stimulus of torture.
6) According to O’brien, why has Winston been brought to the Ministry of Love?
Winston has been brought to the Ministry of Love because he needs to be cured, according to O'Brien. He states that Winston is having delusions and that the Party is simply trying to fix him.
7) On page 266 O’brien says “And above all we do not allow the dead to rise up against us.” What does he mean by this? (This is an interesting question that deserves your time – read from the bottom of 265 and all of 266 for the answer.)
O'Brien is making references to famous cases of martyrdom and torture to those who do not agree with the ruling party. Each of these examples are famous cases which O'Brien says the Party had learned from to not make executions public, and to beat the criminals into believing what they had done was wrong.
8) When Winston asks why he s being tortured (p267), O’brien says, “But we make the brain perfect before we blow it out.” In a short paragraph, explain what he means by this. (Read all of 267-268 to provide your answer.)
O'Brien means by this that the Party doesn't want thoughtcrime anywhere, even in the most powerless state of death. He believes that thoughtcrime cannot exist even in the last moment of life. A criminal needs to die believing that he/ she was wrong.
9) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Discuss why.
"He had never loved him so deeply as at this moment, and not only because he had stoppped the pain. The old feeling, that at bottom it did not matter whether O'Brien was a friend or enemy, had come back. O'Brien was a person who could be talked to,"
I found this part to be very strange, that Winston still had such admiration and faith that O'Brien was saving him, even though he was being tortured.
Winston confesses both true and imaginary crimes to the interrogators, such as murdering a Party member, distributing propaganda against the Party, and sabotage. He also confessed he was religious, and that he had been a Eastasian spy, admired capitalism, murdered his own wife, and was a sexual pervert.
2) What does O’brien say is wrong with Winston?
O'Brien is telling Winston that he is insane, that he is a flaw, and that the Party doesn't care for his crimes, but rather are trying to cure him of his illness.
3) On p. 259, Winston thinks: That was doublethink. To what is he referring.
When Winston thinks that, he is referring to the way O'Brien had been holding a real, solid photograph, then placed it into the memory hole, and claimed it had never existed. This is doublethink because O'Brien is saying that something absolutely real that was in his hand a moment ago, had never existed.
4) What is O’brien’s view of reality which he describes to Winston?
O'Brien gets Winston to state one of the Party slogans,“Who controls the present controls the past”, and he questions Winston's beliefs as to whether the past exists or not. According to O'Brien the past only exists if the Party wants it to.
5) Open the following site: Ivan Pavlov In a short paragraph, discuss how Ivan Pavlov’s research is similar to O’brien’s methods with Winston.
Ivan Pavlov's research was similar to how O'Brien worked on getting in Winston's head because they both used stimuli to draw out a certain reflex. Pavlov got his dogs to drool at the sound of a bell or the sight of a lab coat, and O'Brien gets Winston to confess and agree with him through the less humane stimulus of torture.
6) According to O’brien, why has Winston been brought to the Ministry of Love?
Winston has been brought to the Ministry of Love because he needs to be cured, according to O'Brien. He states that Winston is having delusions and that the Party is simply trying to fix him.
7) On page 266 O’brien says “And above all we do not allow the dead to rise up against us.” What does he mean by this? (This is an interesting question that deserves your time – read from the bottom of 265 and all of 266 for the answer.)
O'Brien is making references to famous cases of martyrdom and torture to those who do not agree with the ruling party. Each of these examples are famous cases which O'Brien says the Party had learned from to not make executions public, and to beat the criminals into believing what they had done was wrong.
8) When Winston asks why he s being tortured (p267), O’brien says, “But we make the brain perfect before we blow it out.” In a short paragraph, explain what he means by this. (Read all of 267-268 to provide your answer.)
O'Brien means by this that the Party doesn't want thoughtcrime anywhere, even in the most powerless state of death. He believes that thoughtcrime cannot exist even in the last moment of life. A criminal needs to die believing that he/ she was wrong.
9) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Discuss why.
"He had never loved him so deeply as at this moment, and not only because he had stoppped the pain. The old feeling, that at bottom it did not matter whether O'Brien was a friend or enemy, had come back. O'Brien was a person who could be talked to,"
I found this part to be very strange, that Winston still had such admiration and faith that O'Brien was saving him, even though he was being tortured.
Thursday, 24 April 2014
Part 3: Chapter 1
1) Winston notices a stark difference between the way Party prisoners behave and are treated and common prisoners. Find at least 10 points of comparison between the two and fill out a table similar to this:
Common : casual, familiar with guards and prison treatment, relaxed, chatty, accepting their fate, no regrets
Treatment: Guards treat them with friendliness, less harsh, are able to bribe, and aren't looked upon as suspicious as the political criminals, they are sent to labour camps
Political : afraid, dreadful, they are very still and silent, some of them, such as Parsons, believe the Party will give them a fair trial and they'll be left off easy, they are too afrai to speak to one another
Treatment: The political criminals are looked down on by the common criminals, the telescreens are quick to order them, the guards beat them mercilessly, they need to watch their tongues more cautiously, dragged off to Room 101 screaming, and they are tortured ruthlessly.
Wednesday, 23 April 2014
Part 2: Chapter 10
1) Where does the voice “You are the dead” come from?
After Julia and Winston make their statement, “We are the dead,” a voice chimes in from the telescreen and says, "You are the dead," which eventually the two of them find out to be Mr. Charrington.
2) What happens to the paperweight? How is this symbolic of Julia and Winston’s story?
The paperweight is smashed when the troops come over to arrest Julia and Winston, and it represents their relationship being smashed apart, and them being torn away from each other, and out of their eternal sanctuary that Winston found them within the glass walls of that paperweight.
3) What does Charrington turn out to be?
Mr. Charrington, the kind and accepting antique store owner turns out to have been a Thought Police, leading Winston and Julia on in thinking he is just an innocent prole storekeeper.
After Julia and Winston make their statement, “We are the dead,” a voice chimes in from the telescreen and says, "You are the dead," which eventually the two of them find out to be Mr. Charrington.
2) What happens to the paperweight? How is this symbolic of Julia and Winston’s story?
The paperweight is smashed when the troops come over to arrest Julia and Winston, and it represents their relationship being smashed apart, and them being torn away from each other, and out of their eternal sanctuary that Winston found them within the glass walls of that paperweight.
3) What does Charrington turn out to be?
Mr. Charrington, the kind and accepting antique store owner turns out to have been a Thought Police, leading Winston and Julia on in thinking he is just an innocent prole storekeeper.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)