Book 3 Chapter 4-6

"He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother" (Pg. 245)

Response:

                 I've never actually discovered an ideal ending of a story. At least for me there is no such thing as an ideal ending. In 1984, Winston survived room 101, the living hell room. But did he really survive? No. Physically he was fine, but mentally he was dead. The character was basically dead. He no longer possessed any beliefs or original opinions. He longer had any more freedom. It just ruined the entire story, and made me get a little agitated because all the development of the character was just gone, and the whole story turned 180 degrees. I would still be unsatisfied even if Winston died with his beliefs, but watching him lose his individuality was kind of worse in a way. In essence, I lost interest in the book and hated the ending. Maybe if it had an ending where Winston creates a secret underground movement and dies from lukimia a couple years later, or something like that, would provide satisfaction for me. But as far as how things ended, my ratings went down to 3.9 stars. 

Book 3 Chapter 1-3

"Do anything to me!" he yelled. "You've been starving me for weeks. Finish it off and let me die. Shoot me. Hang me. Sentence me to twenty-five years. Is there somebody else you want me to give away? Just say who it is and I’ll tell you anything you want. I don't care who it is or what you do to them. I've got a wife and three children. The biggest of them isn't six years old. You can take the whole lot of them and cut their throats in front of my eyes, and I'll stand by and watch it. But not Room 101!" (Pg. 195)

Response:

                  Ah, room 101. I find a lot of irony in that. 101 is supposed to represent basics. But in this story it represents the intermediates, radicals and the most extreme. You might have expected when first reading about it that it would probably just warn people off and give an introduction to what would citizens are expected of. But it turns out to be a hell room. People of Oceania fear it so much. There are so much coersion, torture, force and persuasion invovled. Physical and mental pain is inevitable in that room. The existence of such a room makes the story even more enternaining and catches more attention from the audience. Although horrifying, I'm glad I discovered the existence of this type of room throughout the story. 

Book 2 Chapter 7-10

"And yet to the people of only two generations ago this would not have seemed all-important, because they were not attempting to alter history.  They were governed by private loyalties which they did not question. What mattered were individual relationships, and a completely helpless gesture, an embrace, a tear, a word spoken to a dying man, could have value in itself. The proles, it suddenly occurred to him, had remained in this condition. They were not loyal to a party or a country or an idea, they were loyal to one another. For the first time in his life he did not despise the proles or think of them merely as an inert force which would one day spring to life and regenerate the world. The proles had stayed human." (Pg. 165)

Response:

Winston realizes that that the proles were great. They hold a regular and a great life, like the people of the past. The society that existed before the party took over. The proles hold dear to their hearts loyalty. They don't sell it to the party. He loves that and believes that is it genuine, true and natural freedom. He see's a clear distinction between his life and the life of proles, and his reaction is kind of envious. This was important to me because I was beginning to lose some hopes in the book. It was honestly so annoying that the only society that was first introduced was the society that had ben completely controlled by the Party. I really wanted there to be a regular socoiety and thankfully George Orwell included the proles. 

Book 1 Chapter 7-8 & Book 2 Chapters 1-2

"I love you. For several years seconds he was to stunned even to throw the incriminating hings into the memory hole. hen he did so, although he knew very well the danger of showing too much interest, he could not resist reading once again, just to make sure that the words were really there there...he felt as though a fire were burning in his belly".(90)

Repsonse:

          This is where the story began to get more interesting. Romance always makes stories a more interesting. Especially this one. A girl named Jullia who'm Winston has never spoken to, or barely see's or even knows of, decides to write Winston an I love you letter. There are a lot of badass and weirdness involved here. Julia is risking her life and also putting Winston life in danger, neglecting the power of the thought police. In addition, her personality is extremely weird. Love at first site??? That's interesting. This passage was important to me because it helped me better understand how Julia and Winston are as characters. It helped me spark more interest in the story and become more eager to read it. 

Book 2 Chapters 3-6???

Quote/Text:
                    When you make love you're using up energy; and afterwards you feel happy and didn't give a damn for anything.They can't bear you to feel like that. They want you to be bursting with energy all the time. All the marching up and down and cheering and waving flags is simply sex gone sour. If you're happy inside yourself, why should you get excited about Big Brother and the Three-Year Plans and the Two Minute Hate and all the rest of their bloody rot? (Pg. 133)


Response
                      Ok. This short excerpt of 1984 seized my attention because it suddenly reminded me of one of the anime's I used to watch. If I'm not mistaken, this short text is something that Naruto would probably say. It's filled with courage, deviance, strength and hatred and honestly, these are the types of things I like reading. It's a basic text and very easy to understand. It's simply been stated after Winston and Julia's sexual experience, breaking the law's of the Party. The Party is extremely prude and basically punishes citizens who have sex without the intention of reproducing and "contributing to the Party". They are also against intimacy. By breaking these rules and risking her life, Julia came out to be one of my favorite characters in this book. Her intelligence, bravery and hatred toward the Party is very similar to mine. Her personality is a little bit weird, but I actually like it. Very sneaky. In essence, this excerpt was important to me because it helped me discover one of my favorite characters in the book. Ultimately helping me get more connected with the book. 

Book 1 Chapter 2-6

Quote/Text

                  "It was three years ago. It was on a dark evening, in a narrow side street near one of the big railway stations. She was standing near a doorway in the wall, under a street lamp that hardly gave any light. She had a young face, painted very thick. It was really the paint that appealed to me, the whiteness of it, like a mask, and the bright red lips. Party women never paint their faces. There was nobody else in the street, and no telescreens. She said two dollars. I - ". (Pg.63


Response
                  This was a text right from the beginning of chapter 6. Winston had started writing in his journal again, providing a piece of his mind and more information of about him.Compared to the narrators', the content provided in Winston's journals are probably a bit more important because we get to connect with Winston on a personal level. Anyways, back to the text, this is just one of the random memories that Winston likes to share. It's one of those things that Winston thinks of when living his tedious and unrealistically horrible life. It took me 2 times to read and finally understand what the text was indicating to come to realize that Winston was talking about his first experience of a hooker. It gave me more insights about the illegality of prostitution in Oceania, since Winston made sure to include the fact there weren't any telescreens around. And it gave me more information about Winston's love/sex life. Although I can't be completely sure as to whether Winston took the 2 dollar deal the prostitute offered (2 'dollars' in England? I thought they used Euros), all the information implies that he inevitably did take it. Overall, this texts made changes to how I now see Winston, in other words new lenses. Before, I just saw him as a person who feels he didn't fit in with the society he lives but kept quiet, but now I think that he maybe entirely deviant, nearly in all aspects.

Book 1 Chapter 1

Quotes:

1. "WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH" (pg. 4)
2.  "An unmistakable message had passed. It was as though their two minds had opened and the thoughts were flowing from one into the other through their eyes. 'I am with you', O'brien seemed be saying to him. 'I know precisely what you are feeling... I am on your side'". (pg. 17)
3.  " 'Why can't we go and see the hanging' roared the boy in his huge voice" (pg. 23)

My Reaction:

Quote #1
                It actually took me a while to get hooked to this book. The first couple pages of the book were weird, and my response was literally, "ok... no comment", in a bored manner. But when I got to page 4, and got introduced to this propaganda, I thought that the book was beginning to get interesting. I always imagined myself being a leader or any other form authority (governor, police, legislator, etc.), and I always believed that in order to maintain such a position stable, Quote #1 must always be advocated and implemented. At the same time, I also imagined myself being an ordinary citizens: and ironically, if I sensed anything related to this quote expected from me, I would inevitably revolt. I don't really have an argument for this quote, it's just something that stood out and grabbed my attention which lead me to be a lot more interested in this book.

Quote #2
                In all honesty, this quote stood out to me because I can relate to it on some levels. Reading it made me reflect on some of my past experiences of when majority group of people believed in B.S and I felt alone in holding an opposing perspective. In such instances, just like the protagonist in 1948, I would also be extremely observant in other people in hope of finding someone who shared similar opinions. Some of even the smallest signs by other people, would cause me to react the same way Winston did: force myself to to believe that I found a comrade.

Quote #3
                This was a quote by is Mrs. Parson very young son, who wanted to participate in the traditional once a month activity of watching people get hanged. Apparently, children in those areas usually just go and normally engage in these activities, and their parents provide them permission without any form resistance. I was very shocked when I read this passage, the lack of even the smallest morality but rather encouragement of inhumane activities actually got me a little upset. This passage just basically showed me something I wasn't prepared for, and it basically felt like the climax of the book.