Nathaniel Arias Ms. Alcaraz Expository Reading & Writing Course 25 May, 2023 How a Totalitarian Government Would Be “The further a society drifts from the truth the more it will hate those who speak it.” This quote said by George Orwell who is an English novelist, writes about opposition to totalitarianism and support of democratic socialism. 1984, a book written by George Orwell depicts a dystopian society in which the government has total control. Orwell uses Winston to explain the society he lives in through his actions when alone, watched, how the government traits him, his job, and rehabilitation. In reading Orwell’s book, the character Winston is examined to show how his life reflects the society he lives in. Winston begins …show more content…
As Winstons meets people, he shows what he needs to do when being watched, even if the accompaniment is brief. Consider the text, “They had been standing straight in front of a telescreen when the thing happened. Nevertheless it had been very difficult not to betray a momentary surprise”(Pg.82-Panel.4). Winston needed to be careful when being watched because they would see him as a sign of betrayal. This reveals how the government views any sudden action of hiding to be suspicious through his cautiousness. Another text is support of this is, “Immediately beneath the telescreens, is such a position that anyone who was watching at the other end of the instrument could read what he was writing, he scribbled an address and tore out the page”(Pg,119-Panel.4). Winston again has an encounter where he's being watched, even tries to receive information through note. This encounter explicitly tells the reader that everything is being watched, not letting anything pass through the eyes of the government. Winston's actions show the life he lives in has no privacy, telling the audience the limited freedom there is in this …show more content…
Winston brings up his past which is no different from where he is now but also describes how the system tries to control its people. For instance, “He remembered te periodical panics about air-raids, the gangs of youths, the enormous queues outside the bakeries, the intermittent machine- gun fires in the distance- above all, the fact that there was never enough to eat”(Pg,121-Panel.4). He grew up with fear, violence, gun fire, and above all is that he never got enough to eat. This is no different in how he lives today as he lives with constant wars and limited food which is rationed by the government. Equally as important is when it said, “They could lay bare in the utmost detail everything that you had done or said or thought; but the inner heart, whose working were mysterious even to yourself, remained impregnable”(Pg.126-Panel.4). Winston tells the audience a little flaw in watching their people through the telescreens. It is revealed that they can’t see within the heart meaning they don’t know Winstons motives, thoughts, or what the person truly feels from just watching. As Winston reveals more about himself, it is known more about how chaotic their society is and having to deal with a government that wants to get to the
Yash Patel Mrs. Choi AP Literature October 2015 1984 Dialectal Journals for Part 2 Text Response 1. “In front of him was an enemy who was trying to kill him; in front of him, also was a human creature… He had indistinctively started forward to help her,” (Orwell 106) This quote shows that even in this time where they live in a life where they are being manipulated, Winston is still living in a time where he is experiencing hatred, but still maintains what keeps him normal or humane, which keeps him separated from everyone else. This hate is showing that people still have hate for each other and still want to kill each other but it also shows the true human he is by helping her when she was threatened.
Throughout the entirety of this passage from George Orwell’s, 1984, Winston Smith is portrayed as a rather paranoid person. While searching for quotes to support this claim, many are found and can be used for this argument. For example, in paragraph 5, sentence 2, it states how any sound that Winston makes is being picked up, recorded, watched, and monitored by the “thought police.” Winston is constantly looking behind his back, scrutinizing the “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” posters, and laying as low as he possibly can. Instead of just accepting the fact that the thought police are everywhere, all the time, as most of society seems to have, Winston is questioning the community in which he lives in.
It was safer; though, as he well knew, even a back can be revealing” (Orwell 3). This quote represents Winston very well because it shows his fatalistic nature. Knowing his is constantly under surveillance, he tries to retain what little privacy he has. He knows his every move is being watched and analyzed, yet he still tries to give as little away from his body language as possible. In a sense, it is as if Winston is turning from Big Brother himself.
This shows the contrast between Winston's career and his personal choices. His job is to alter the past so that everything agrees with the present, however, when given the slightest opportunity, Winston betrays the Party and begins writing in his journal about them and their lies. This is ironic because not only is the Ministry of Truth changing that past into lies, but Winston is also lying to the party about his loyalty. He is not openly admitting to disliking the Party and has continued to work for them despite his moral beliefs. This shows us to opposition between Winston’s job and how he feels about doing it.
The major characteristic of Winston’s society is the lack of individual thought and privacy. Every aspect of their lives is monitored by telescreens and microphones in the
In his efforts to rebel and reveal the true nature of the head of Oceania, Big Brother, he only finds himself broken and despaired by the ones he was most fond of. In further explanation, Winston’s life has been a spiral of people who have entered and parted, without bidding farewells. First, his greed as a young
The telescreens play a similar role. They create a lack of transparency between the government and the people. The Party can see Winston at all times. Winston knows the telescreens are there which affects his behavior as he always needs to seem like a Party supporter and cannot display any rebellious behavior. Winston can barely remember a time before all these physical reminders of the Party’s power existed.
They start to always become paranoid that all of their actions are being monitored. Winston within this quote shows just how little free will all of the people have. Any sound that they make and any action that they make within the vision of the television will be recorded. Almost nothing goes unseen by the government which completely invades the privacy of all of the common people and takes away all of their free will. Orwell uses this moment to show how dangerous the conflict of having no free will truly is.
With this act of rebellion against the oppressive system of Oceania, Winston showcases his courage because he does all of this to aid him in his journey towards uncovering the truth of the past. Next, there is the selflessness that Winston possesses. For this specific quality, it is shown most prominently when Winston gets into a disagreement with Julia on their goals for their rebellion. During this argument, Winston firmly states that the reason for his desire to obtain and keep incriminating records of the Party’s lies is so that they can be left behind, thereby allowing for “‘the next generations [to] carry on where [they] leave off’” (196). From this, Winston demonstrates how unselfish he is because, rather than worrying about himself – like Julia – he wants actual change and progress to come as a result of his rebellion.
Winston conveys the clear message to beware of the ‘eyes’ of the party, enforcing the slogan “big brother is watching you. Winston promotes this awareness towards the other rebels of the party and general people to overall spread his knowledge and hopefully influence revolt. While
To satisfy the learning outcome of the Part 4: “Analyse elements such as theme and the ethical stance or moral values of literary text”, I wrote a speech as Winston, the protagonist, of 1984 by George Orwell. Winston gives the speech just before Thought-police catches him in the book 2, chapter 10. Therefore, the context is the same dystopian society as in the work itself although the message of the speech is actual even nowadays or in the late 1940s when the work was written. In the speech, Winston refers to the message of the author about the danger of dystopian society, reality control, class struggle and the importance of freedom, showing my knowledge on the thematic level as well as the social significance of the work.
This passage is significant since it reflects the theme of dangers of totalitarianism, in this case, the dangers of censorship. Winston is George Orwell’s example of the dangers of censorship since throughout the book Winston breaks the government 's rules, until one day he gets caught and the government breaks him. If a government censors everything people will wonder what else is out there and want to go against the laws. Once Winston comprehended this he started to gain resilience against the party, until he entered room 101 and the party finally broke
In the end he learns to love Big Brother. In this book, technology is far more advanced than today, it ultimately leads the same path as Feed. Society is brainwashed, controlled and under constant surveillance. “Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely”
After a day of work, he wrote “I do not understand WHY” when questioning the motive and purpose of his job of falsifying the past (Orwell 88). People are supposed to blindly conform to the norms of their society, but Winston thinks beyond what is told to him. This symbolizes rebellion because intelligence is a powerful tool when opposing a stronger force. Furthermore, Winston wondered, “how to get in touch with” and “arrange a meeting” with Julia, even though it would be a forbidden affair. Outside of arranged marriages, there are no allowed relationships in his society.
This passage summarizes how Winston lives in a world completely being watched 24/7 where he has no freedom to do nearly anything, and everything that he wants to do is considered a crime. One of the most serious crimes in this world is thoughtcrime, and this passage talks about the dangers of him getting the diary and writing down everything that he has stored up in his mind, and how this act is committing a serious crime. This passage really helped me understand the basis of this society, and how hard it would be to live this way. I always need someone to or something with to vent about anything going on in my life that I just can’t keep inside. It is so hard to live with something inside of you that only you know, and it always is such a relief when you can get it off of your shoulders and be able to talk to others about what is going on.