(1984) - Reading Journal 3

When part 3 starts, the reader is on his/her toes. The reader is eager to find out what happens to Winston and Julia. They have been taken to the Ministry of Love. In the Ministry of Love, Winston meets O’Brien, who identifies himself as an agent of the Party and of the Ministry of Love. At the Ministry of Love, they are tortured over and over again until they break. Winston is told by O’Brien that the Party controls everything, and you can’t do anything to stop them. O’Brien eventually breaks Winston into turning on Julia when he threatens Winston to have rats eat his face and body. He has now become one of the other sad citizens who blindly follow Big Brother. The story shows how the government will control us. No matter how bright the future is, Winston’s “revolution” for example, if the government is in control, there is no hope. The reader is devastated by the end of the book. His/her perception of government declines as the book ends. Orwell’s depiction of society also shows a shift in belief. In the beginning we believed in strong governments with monarchy. Then as we adopted revolutionary ideas we started this idea that governments needs to be ran by the people or have an extremely weak government. Then we eventually got to a point where our governments were too weak to help us so we had to gradually increase the power of the government. We, of course, were extremely cautious and thus far have kept them completely controlling us. According to Orwell though, there is a point where we won’t be able to stop them. I don’t think Orwell’s title 1984 is supposed to guarantee that this will occur in 1984, but just the general future since he wrote it in 1949.

(1984) - Reading Journal 2

The book enters its second third revealing secrets from the very beginning. The woman who Winston earlier despised comes to show Winston her love for him. Her name is Julia. They revolt against the Party just the two of them by going against the Party's wishes. O’Brien contacts Winston to come visit him. Winston and Julia go to visit him and reveal their wish to join the Brotherhood, an organization wishing to rebel against the Party. O’Brien tells them that he is part of the Brotherhood and initiates them into the organization. He also gives Winston Goldstein’s book which is the book of revolution. Winston and Julia continue to see each other against the Party’s terms until they are betrayed by Mr. Charrington and are arrested by the Thought Police. Orwell’s vision of 1984 shows the governments control over everything. Winston and Julia were not able to trust anyone because anyone can be working for the Party. No matter how close they are to you they can turn on you. In ways this is true today. The government can track everything, from your phone calls to your text messages to your emails they do minor searches over them for plans of terrorism. As long as its digital you need to watch what you’re saying just as the characters in 1984 need to do except theirs is a little more extreme. They even have to watch what they think. Orwell is also turning on the impression that he gave us in the first third of the book. The impression of a hero’s tale, that Winston would end up leading a revolution against the Party and generally succeeding. However, there is still hope in the story for a revolution to occur. Just as in any hero’s tale there is always a hiccup this one just may be a little too large. It engages the reader to continue to read and find out.