Tuesday, April 9, 2013

A Public Service Announcement

My two favourite passages are actually two that are completely contradictory of one another within the plot.

The first passage being when Winston first decides to begin writing in his book. His first thoughts are DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER. But at the point that he starts writing these words, it's already a stronger force than he knew he had in him. He scrawls it largely across the page, dozens of times. It really shows how much he has cracked within the walls of this society. He may have not always been consciously aware, but by allowing himself an outlet, he was able to discover his true feelings towards everything.

My second favourite passage was at the very end when Winston finds himself comforted by Big Brother as if he was being embraced. He feels fear until he knows that Big Brother will protect him. then he is comforted. He loves Big Brother.

It's such a dramatic change in character. Torture and violence and strains on the mind caused him to completely change his entire perspective, not just thoughts, on the society in which he found himself. He was so willing to do anything for the Brotherhood's cause...and then he just fell apart. He found himself back in the clutches he desperately tried to seek refuge outside of. "He had won the victory over himself." As long as he truly believed and perceived the world around him to be protective and good for him, he was contented. 

I really don't think that any citizen of any country should take any type of comfort like that. I don't mean to say, "Never trust your government and always believe the conspiracies," but a little bit of paranoia never hurt anyone. It's important to know when your rights and your privacy are being stripped. Your human rights are being stripped by other humans. It's easy to think of the government as an impenetrable force that cannot be stopped at any rate. It's ran by people and at least in this country, it's also for the people. Your privacy is your own. The safety of people is necessary, yes, but there is a line. 1984 skipped right past that line and sprinted to the other end of what's okay. Winston wasn't allowed to converse, to write, to express anything as a result of the Party's measures to maintain power. This book was a warning to what would happen if the government got too far out of anyone's hand. We as people need to keep in check the other people we trust to lead us. The breach of this is wrong. And by taking away our basic human rights, we don't have much left. 

No comments:

Post a Comment