1984 Journal 1 - Part 2

It is just a pretty bleak existance there. I'm cuious as to what happens. I really want Winston to rise up and lead a revolution. To escape from this country (kinda makes me think North Korea) to a place where people are free. I keep thinking that there really is no big country, that its just this city that exists and everything else is a lie, and that just beyond the border is freedom, but no one knows it because they are all controlled.

I have a feeling that girl that Winston saw in the 2 minutes hate is going to be an important character later on. That she will lead him out of the country, or that she was catch him, or something. Its hard to tell, I don't know. Its just a scary book that shows that its important to be educated, and I really hope that America never lets that slip away.

1984 Journal 1 - part 1

Book 1: Chapter 1-4

This book is pretty bleak. The opening sets the stage for the rest of the book, like most books. At least this book has something interesting to talk about. To speculate about. Like the party slogans:

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

I don't understand how anyone could ever come to believe those things. They don't make any sense. In fact they are a complete contradiction of one another. War is definitely not peace. And freedom, while it may be quite a tough responsibility, isn't slavery ("a fool and his freedom are soon parted"). And I think that knowledge is strength. The power to make your own decisions is strength, not to be strong in your ignorance of other options. If you don't have the power to choose, you become a slave of those with knowledge and power. I guess that's how this works, the poor people are ignorant and have no power and are forced to go along with anything Big Brother says because they are ignorant. An entire population enslaved by themselves all because the government tells them to enslave themselves. Pretty sad actually.

The fact that the main character, Winston, has a job where he "fixes" articles and is forced to ignore and accept the inaccuracies and changes. I understand why he is frustrated. I don't understand how anyone could ever accept it. Why doesn't the entire working class just rise up against the government? Why should they be forced to live this way? I just don't get why.

The Two Minutes Hate is an interesting practice. I think that love is a better emotion than hate, and that hate is uncontrollable, at least to some degree. Big Brother seems to have harnessed everyone's hate pretty well. Maybe I'm wrong. Mabe hate is more powerful. maybe its easier to make someone hate something than to make them love it, especially when everyone is in such a crappy mood all the time.