Alla inlägg den 30 maj 2010

Av 1984 - 30 maj 2010 21:30

When reading 1984 by George Orwell one can clearly see the similarities with a dictatorship. Take, for example, the business Winston is working at. He, along with his colleges, re-writes news items and burns the old ones. When it comes to independent media, Oceania’s lack is extreme. The Party’s slogan “IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” can have different meanings, but as far as I am concerned Orwell wants to show us the power of controlling the media at the same time as the inhabitants lack qualities of looking at the media with criticism (of its sources). When the media is controlled and news items can be “corrected” after printed the state can make anything look bad or good. If for instance the chocolate ransom is reduced, the government can erase, and change, all traces of the chocolate ransom before the reduction. When doing so, they can make the decrease an increase, because there are no documents left to tell another story.


Moreover, one must not forget that this novel was written recently after world war two, and therefore is inspired by Nazi-Germany. The previous paragraph illustrates the same conditions as Nazi-Germany had. Hitler and his associates had absolute control of the media and its power. Orwell wants to open his fellow citizens’ eyes. This has been going on for too long, and it will go on even today if we, the readers, watchers, listeners etc. stop looking at the media censoriously.


/Martin

Av 1984 - 30 maj 2010 11:58

Since Anders has already been describing the plot of the book, I decided to broach the subject considering the world´s appearance and the political aspects in 1984.


Initially, the word is divided into three world emporiums, Eurasia, Eastasia and Oceania, in which Winston himself lives. Oceania is in alliance with Eastasia. Together they are making war against Eurasia. No one really seems to know why, thus the war has no historical beginning and no visual end. As Big brother controls the past and the future, everything that is considered right now is being changed in history to fit today´s believes. Newspapers and speeches are being rewritten in order to destroy the past end make it more modern. In that way, the party will approach as the perfect party, which has never done, or said, anything wrong. Consequently, no one will be having anything to put against it, not from today´s happenings, nor happenings to be found in history. Winston work includes re-writing the past at The Ministry of Truth (Minitrue), and therefore he notices what is going on.


Due to the constant supervision from the party through the telescreens, no one has the chance to speak to one another about what they noticing. As Anders wrote, an opposition is therefore troublesome to build. Winston is constantly reminding himself of the fact that he is being watched and is afraid to make any move that would show his dislike, even though he still is an exceptional member of party. (Not considering the fact that he is writing a diary, which is not accepted). Moreover, the Party is creating a new language, “Newspeak,” which does not include any words that makes it possible to utter dislikes in any way. This of course prevents the building of an opposition as well.


Moreover, there are no such thing as laws in this world, although there are many things to be punished for. One thing that I especially reacted on while reading, is that looking at people being hanged is considered an enjoyment. At one point in the very first part of the book, Winston helps a neighbor with her sink. Her kids are constantly nagging about go down town to watch the hanging. Not only is it remarkable that they are seeing that as amusing, they already seem to be true subscribers of the party and have been learning to blindly follow Big Brother. What happens later in the novel is yet to be seen, although I believe, that if someone can make a change, it must be a person who has been living in times before Big Brother, and seen how the word has changed.


Oceania is being lead by “the party”; it is simply called that since there is only one. It is pure dictatorship and the society is build upon English socialism (INGSOC) and is consequently communistic. Everyone is working, in some way, for the party, and everything people own comes from the party. It feels almost like an extreme depiction of today´s China (where people also are being hardly monitored), or former Soviet. The strong dictatorship and all the terrible executes, seems influenced by the second world war, Big Brother figuring as Hitler. This might have been what Winston had in mind while writing the book, as it was written just after the end of World War 2.


//Sanna

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