1984mr. Becker's Classroom

1984

How does technology affect the Party’s ability to control its citizens? In what ways does the Party employ technology throughout the novel? Of the many iconic phrases and ideas to emerge from Orwell’s 1984, perhaps the most famous is the frightening political slogan “Big Brother is watching.”Many readers think of 1984 as a dystopia about a populace constantly monitored. BECKER'S CLASSROOM! Home 8th Grade ELA JCC1510 JCC15301540 This Week in Class! 8th Grade Authors 8th Grade Writing 8th Grade Research 8th Grade Growth 11th Grade. Class of 1984 is a 1982 Canadian action thriller crime film directed by Mark L. Lester and co-written by Tom Holland and John Saxton based on a story by Holland. This website is a good opportunity for parents and students to connect with the classroom. I know we are going to have a fantastic term together exploring a variety of topics in English and Social.

Summary: Chapter IV

After some time, Winston is transferred to a more comfortable roomand the torture eases. He dreams contently of Julia, his mother,and O’Brien in the Golden Country. He gains weight and is allowedto write on a small slate. He comes to the conclusion that he wasfoolish to oppose the Party alone, and tries to make himself believein Party slogans. He writes on his slate “FREEDOM IS SLAVERY,”“TWO AND TWO MAKE FIVE,” and “GOD IS POWER.”

One day, in a sudden, passionate fit of misery, Winstonscreams out Julia’s name many times, terrifying himself. Thoughhe knows that crying out in this way will lead O’Brien to torturehim, he realizes his deep desire to continue hating the Party. Hetries to bottle up his hatred so that even he will not recognizeit. Therefore, when the Party kills him, he will die hating BigBrother—a personal victory. But he cannot hide his feelings. WhenO’Brien arrives with the guards, Winston tells him that he hatesBig Brother. O’Brien replies that obeying Big Brother is not sufficient—Winstonmust learn to love him. O’Brien then instructs the guards to takeWinston to Room 101.

Summary: Chapter V

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In Room 101, O’Brien straps Winstonto a chair, then clamps Winston’s head so that he cannot move. Hetells Winston that Room 101 contains “theworst thing in the world.” He reminds Winston of his worst nightmare—thedream of being in a dark place with something terrible on the otherside of the wall—and informs him that rats are on the other sideof the wall. O’Brien picks up a cage full of enormous, squirmingrats and places it near Winston. He says that when he presses alever, the door will slide up and the rats will leap onto Winston’sface and eat it. With the writhing, starving rats just inches away,Winston cracks. He screams that he wants O’Brien to subject Juliato this torture instead of him. O’Brien, satisfied by this betrayal,removes the cage.

Summary: Chapter VI

Winston, now free, sits at the Chestnut Tree Café, wheredismissed Party members go to drink. He enjoys a glass of VictoryGin and watches the telescreen. He accepts everything the Partysays and does. Without acknowledging it to himself, he can stillsmell the rats. On the table, Winston traces “2 + 2 =5” in the dust. He remembers seeing Julia on a bitter-coldday that March. She had thickened and stiffened, and he now foundthe thought of sex with her repulsive. They acknowledged that theyhad betrayed one another, and agreed to meet again, though neitheris truly interested in continuing their relationship. Winston thinkshe hears the song lyrics “Under the spreading chestnut tree / Isold you and you sold me,” which he heard when he saw the politicalprisoners there many years earlier. He begins to cry. He remembersa moment of happiness with his mother and sister, but thinks itmust be a false memory. He looks up and sees a picture of Big Brotheron the telescreen, making him feel happy and safe. As he listensto the war news, he reassures himself of both the great victoryhe has won over himself and his newfound love for Big Brother.

And perhaps you might pretend, afterwards,that it was only a trick and that you just said it to make themstop and didn’t really mean it. But that isn’t true.

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Analysis: Chapters IV–VI

Though his stay at the Ministry of Love has broken hismind and will and though his love for Big Brother precludes theneed to think for himself, Winston still envisions the day thatthe Party will shoot him. This apparent death wish has led to somespeculation that the key to Winston’s character is his fatalism,that he rebels against the Party not because he desires freedom,but because he wants the Party to kill him. Given Orwell’s politicalaspirations for 1984, this considerationseems to diminish the intent of the work. 1984 may includepsychological imbalance among its list of ill effects of totalitariangovernment, but it seems clear that it is not primarily about psychologicalimbalance. The main purpose of the novel is to chronicle the workingsof the Party’s control over the minds of its subjects in order towarn readers of the dangers of totalitarianism. If all of Winston’sproblems were caused by an innate, unusual psychological disorder,then this overriding theme would become irrelevant.

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Many consider 1984’spivotal scene—in which O’Brien threatens to release the cage ofrats on Winston’s face—an anticlimax. It has been argued that thecage of rats is not horrible enough to make the reader feel Winston’storment, and that it is an arbitrary device, unrelated to the powerful,sophisticated workings of the Party. At first glance, these criticismsseem valid. Winston’s collapse does follow hard upon his passionaterestatement of his love for Julia and hatred for Big Brother inChapter IV. However, it is important to remember the theme of physicalcontrol, which manifests itself in the Party’s manipulation of thebody: Orwell consistently argues that physical pain and the senseof physical danger can override human reason. Winston, facing awrithing swarm of rats prepared to devour his face, cannot act rationally.That his betrayal of Julia occurs so soon after he restates hislove for her is precisely the point, as physical pain eliminatesthe possibility of defending emotional conviction. As Winston notesearlier in the novel, he is a prisoner of his own nervous system.Turning against Julia is an instinctive lunge for self-preservation.Rather than the rats themselves, it is the awareness, foisted uponhim by the Party, that he is a prisoner of his own body that ultimatelybreaks Winston. Once he believes that he is limited by his body,he has no reason to think, act, or rebel.