(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.

(1984) - Reading Journal 1

1984, a book by George Orwell, opens up with an explanation of who Winston Smith is. He works for the totalitarian party in charge except for he's a pretty low rank. His work is to write history to make Big Brother and the Party look good. The Party is in complete control of what people are doing and what they see and hear. The only thing the Party does not have absolute control over is people's thoughts. Winston is the character who begins to interpret what he is seeing and feels a rebellion. He hates the Party. Orwell opens the book like any other hero book. Times are bad and no one likes it except the people in charge. Orwell's times are a little more cynical because the people don't even have the ability to think that the government is bad. But our hero, Winston, has this ability. He realizes the Party's lies and it looks as if he may succeed. We are also introduced to another character, O'Brien. O'Brien is an inner Party member meaning that he is the top of the food chain. For whatever reason Winston thinks he can trust O'Brien because O'Brien has a look like he would hate the Party. This again continues to follow this hero story where theres an inside man helping the protagonist out. On top of O'Brien there is a women he is interested in. He wants her yet can't have her because of the Party's rules and for this reason wants to rebel anymore. The hero's story just continues to sink in as there is lady he has to fight for which makes it all the more intriguing. It'll be interesting seeing how the story plays out.

(Dracula) - Reading Journal 2

After Harker disappears into Count Dracula's Castle, the story fades to a collection of letters and journals written by Harker's fiance, Mina, to her friend, Lucy. The writings tell whats happening in their lives and feelings. Lucy reveals her craze for three different lovers while Mina reveals her wish to help her husband in any way possible. Mina represents a stereotypical woman, being controlled by her man and being happy about it. Lucy represents an atypical woman, being able to pick whichever man she likes and controlling her men. During their stories, they also discuss this suspicious Russian ship. All that was found on the ship was a dead captain with the rest of the crew missing. There were also fifty boxes of earth on the ship, similar to the boxes Harker found in the Count's room earlier in the story. Stoker is hinting at what is going to happen with Dracula. Lucy is scared by the entire event and begins sleepwalking. The sleepwalking leads to Dracula biting her. Dr. Seward begins to try to treat her. Soon after he calls upon his old mentor, Van Helsing. Helsing puts up garlic around Lucy which seems to help. This leads to the idea that vampires can't be near garlic. Although Harker ends his scene with the words "Good-bye," he reappears in Buda-Pest with Brain Fever. Lucy's treatment ends up failing and she dies. Helsing is convinced she is undead and gets Holmwood, Seward, and Quincey Morris to finish her off. The Harkers return to England and help Helsing and gang to defeat Dracula. They collect information to track him down. In the process, Mina gets bitten. Once Dracula is killed by the team, Mina is cured and they all live happily ever after. The entire story is a quintessential vampire story. If it was written today, the story would just be cliche. The book is not cliche because it was the first real book about vampires. The book is what gives us these ideas about a cliche vampire book. Helsing as an evil hunter, vampires hating garlic, and the physical appearance of vampires all came from Dracula. That's what makes the book so interesting and makes it a classic.

(Dracula) Reading Journal 1

Bram Stoker's Dracula is a composition of letters, journal entries, and articles. Each chapter is one of the previous that describes the character's about events taking place. The actual story starts out with Jonathon Harker being invited to Count Dracula's Castle. From London to Eastern Europe he travels and talks to people of his travels. All of the people he talks to warn him of the evils that he is going to encounter. A female inn keeper even gives him her crucifix to aid him against evils. They also remind him it is St. George's Day Eve. which means that evils are stronger at his time. Also, while on the train the over passengers were pointing at him and wishing him luck against the "evil eye." When he gets off the train, his chariot is late. Once on the chariot riding to the Count, he realizes that there is no real driver of the chariot. Harker's first journal entry ends with him terrified standing at the entrance to Dracula's castle. Despite this fear, Dracula quickly cures his fear with a very warm welcome. Later on in the night Harker realizes Dracula has sharp teeth, is extremely pale, and has pointed ears. Harker continues to stay with Dracula growing more and more cautious of Dracula. Harker never sees Dracula in the day and Dracula always has an excuse. Harker also encounters three mistresses in what could be a dream or reality. They are going to harass Harker until Dracula steps in and stops the girls reassuring them that Harker is all theirs once he is done with him. Harker quickly realizes that he is not actually a guest but a prisoner of Dracula. Dracula continues to act wierd. He asks Harker to write letters with future dates. Finally, Harker decides to investigate. He scales up he castle in the middle of he day and finds Dracula eiher dead or asleep in a box. He decides to try and kill the Count with a weapon however the weapon was simply deflected by Dracula's head. Harker's journal entries end with the words, "Good-bye, all! Mina!" The interesting thing about reading this book in 2011 is thinking about how people reading Dracula in the early 1900s would think. Because Dracula is directly linked to vampires. Without Dracula there just simply are not vampires. But reading this book before that link would make the book a good bit less predictable. For instance, when Dracula tells the mistresses "after I'm done with him." We immediately know he means to suck his blood while if you were reading this book in the 1900s you wouldn't make that connection instantly. Even knowing what he means the entire thing is still creepy, so without knowing what he means and there could beinfinite possibilities the book must have been terrifying.

(The Crucible) Reading Journal 4 - All of Act 4

Act four starts out in the jail. Tituba is talking about the land of the Devil, Barbados. She says it is a great land and the Devil is going to take her there soon. Sarah Good tells Tituba to get the Devil to take her to Barbados as well after hearing about how the Devil is kind to her there. Tituba also offers Marshall Herrick if he wishes to come with them and he claims its the proper morning to go to Hell. This sets the mood for the scene; it preludes all the havoc in Salem that day. Afterward Parris, Hale, Hawthorne, and Danforth discuss the hangings scheduled for that morning. Reverend Parris reveals that his niece, Abigail Williams, has ran off with his fortune, and Reverend Hale reveals his true feelings about the court's ruling. He shows that he believes the accusations wrong and that he is trying to tell people to lie about their witchcraft to keep their lives. He believes that their deaths is as if he murdered them because he signed off on multiple rulings. They specifically address John Proctor who refuses to talk to them. They decide that they should have his wife, Elizabeth, talk to him and attempt to convince him to live. After their conversation Proctor begins to confess his dealings with the Devil, but refuses to give his name and we are led to believe he hangs along with Rebecca Nurse. The entire situation defeats the purpose of religion and God. By confessing the people of Salem are allowed to see the light of God. However, most of these people did not actually do what they are confessing to and therefore are lying which is against the word of God. So, if the people of Salem truly believed in God then there would be no confessions. The people in the "light of God" were actually disobeying God while the people who "dealt with Satin" are the people with God. It is a huge confusion that ends up with many dead. The most odd thing of it all is that Danforth refused to withdraw charges after all evidence pointed towards their innocence. The accusers have left Salem which leads us to believe it was all a lie, while the people who are accused are best Christians of them all for not confessing. It makes you wonder if this really was a Puritanical society with its corruption. In the end Proctor talks about how God's vision of his confession is enough and they shouldn't have to nail his signature to a wall, and Danforth refuses to accept this. This is especially odd since Puritans believed that God should be the only one to judge which means by not accepting his confession to God is disobeying their beliefs. Everything in this situation completely disobeys both logic and religion. Throughout the book there is a continuous build up for a need for righteousness, but it never comes. The ending is unpredictable to the unlikely events that took place in Salem. These people were crazy and from the first page to the last word Miller does an excellent job displaying their insanity.

(The Crucible) Reading Journal 3 - All of Act 3

Act three starts out in court where Francis, Giles, and Proctor have unexpectedly shown up. They claim to have evidence. The court is not happy about their appearance and takes them aside to talk to them. Reverend Parris claims they are there to uphold the court while Reverend Hale wants to hear them out. The men have brought Mary Warren with them who claims that she never saw any spirits and that the other girls are lying about them as well. It is clear she does not want to tell them but Proctor is forcing her to because good people, such as his wife, are going to be hung. They bring Abigail to check Mary Warren’s statement and she claims it false. Mary Warren calls Abigail a liar and Proctor calls Abigail a “whore.” Abigail and the other girls start repeating everything Mary says, claiming that Mary is trying to possess them. Mary finally breaks and says Proctor made her sign with the devil. The act ends with Proctor being taken to jail. There is definitely prejudice in Miller’s writing. I strongly believe that Miller does not find these events that took place in Salem sane. Although no one will ever know one hundred percent whether the girls were lying or not, Miller tries to make them look like the bad guys. Proctor was an honest man in Miller’s eyes and the “spirits” never existed. Miller uncovers these strange events as fact. It fascinates the reader that any human would take part in these events and makes the reader continue and stay engaged. There also seem to be a lot of grammar mistakes in the dialogue that make the reader stay awake or else you will soon be confused why they are using were when referring to themselves. Miller wrote The Crucible for older audiences. Due to strange plot and sequence of events, it would be rare for younger audiences to completely understand the content. Also younger audiences would not understand the references to their Puritanical society due to the lack of knowledge about American life before the revolution.