Liu 1

Xinrui Liu

Christian Green

English II

September 1st, 2021

Entry 1 - Part 1 - Chapter 1 - 4

Chapter 1 - 4 of part 1 in 1984 by Geoge Orwell introduces the setting of this novel,

which is about a future socialist dictatorship Party controlled by Big Brother that dominates

every aspect of people’s lives. Winston is secretly doing something forbidden by the Party,

writing a diary for his colleague, O’Brien. The reason to do so is that he speculates the Party

does not entirely control O’Brien’s thoughts, just like his. There are four ministries of

government, the Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Love, the Ministry of Peace, and the Ministry

of Plenty. Winston works for the Ministry of Truth, and his job is to forge some of Big Brother’s

predictions to make him predict the thing that happened. Winston doubts about the Party, and he

is confused about what the world looks like.

“Doublethink” is one of the principles of the Ingosic (English Socialism), and it means

simultaneously possessing two contradictory thoughts. The Party’s slogans “PEACE IS WAR,

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” are precisely the fusion of two

contradictory ideas. The Party’s reversal of right and wrong is a manifestation of doublethink and

a totalitarian rule. As Winston says, “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the

present controls the past” (Orwell 34), what people know is entirely controlled by the Party. The

Party could forge the present and then change the past and reverse the right and wrong. What

history is like is only up to who the victor is. The victor, the Party itself, often uses

“Doublethink” to make people deliberately forget the past they believe and trust what the Party
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tells them. “Doublethink” is a tool used by the government. Also, so far, some of the descriptions

in the book remind me of some parts of the real world, like the governor often build a

countrywide enemy to make people hate and then divert people's grievances and contradictions.

Entry 2 - Part 1 - Chapter- 5-8

Chapter 5-8 of part 1 described the Newspeak, the Party’s control of the relationship, and

Winston’s quest for truth. When Winston was having lunch at the cafeteria with Syme, who

works in the Research Department, Syme told him some of his deep understanding of Newspeak.

He thought that Newspeak was, in fact, also a tool for the Party to consolidate its rule. However,

Syme was still orthodoxy, but Winston believed he would be vaporized since he was too bright.

Winston had a wife, Katharine, but she was such an orthodoxy that she treated their marriage as

an obligation for the Party. One day after work, Winston went to the proles’ district and found

the place where he bought a notebook and a penholder. He thought the older people might tell

him something about life before the Revolution since he wondered whether people were better

off after the Revolution. However, he did not get the answer he wanted, and his colleague

witnessed the strange behavior that went through the prole’s area.

The way the Party rules the country is rude but is also carefully contrived. They

permanently hide the truth, and they rule the country by endless lies. They also control people’s

relationships, especially among Party members, to avoid the alliance that could make it

impossible to control. The Party’s attention is always paid to the Party members because they

think the Party members are the people that may make an impact on the Party’s rule. As a result,

Winston had a lousy marriage since his wife seemed to treat their wedding just as an obligation

to the Party, and they had no child. Since the Party lest the form of an uncontrollable alliance,

they were asked to be separated. This INGOSIC society is hierarchical, and the proles are at the
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bottom, despite the Party's outward propaganda that they exist to improve the lives of the proles.

It’s ironic.

Entry 3 - Part 2 - Chapter- 1-7

Chapter 1-7 of part 2 narrates the development of the relationship between Winston and

Julia and the rebellions against the Party by them. Winston attracted Julia because she found that

Winston also detested the Party, then they began meeting secretly and had sex. Afterward,

though both Winston and Julia knew that such an action would be dangerous, they rented a room

for them to meet. They were fed up with the Party but had their own beliefs and ways to rebel

against it. Winston cares more about some macro problems, such as the Party's falsification of

history, while Julia cares more about the issue that really concerned herself. Winston and Julia

yearned for a place that could live freely. Winston always wanted to join an organization that

could revolt against the Party, and he believed that O’Brien was a member of that kind of

organization. However, Julia didn’t think that there could be an organized rebellion that could

happen.

Even though a man with a rebellious ideology, like Winston, did not consider the

so-called proletarians in the Party's mouth as human beings even before, so it is easy to see how

a government-led propaganda has such a strong influence on people's thinking. Living in such a

circumstance could also deprive people’s ability to suspect; Winston even did not ever have

suspected that whether war really exists. People can no longer recognize lies that are contrary to

the truth. The Party paints sex as a dirty act, keeping people from venting their desires to vent

their emotions in the political movement to consolidate the Party’s rule. Winston and Julia hated

the Party; they yearned for the life that we have today. The author, Geoge Orwell, might want to
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warn the people that some governments nowadays may develop into regimes similar to the one

in the book.

Entry 4 - Part 2 - Chapter - 8 - 10

Chapter 8-10 of part 2 in the book 1984 describes the process of the joining of Winston

and Julia joining to Brotherhood, the interpretation by the Brotherhood of the nature of society,

the absurdity of Hate Week, and the arrest of Winston and Julia's in their rented room. After

Winston and Julia joined the Brotherhood at O’Brien’s luxury house, Winston had a busy week

filled with fatigue because of the Hate Week. When Hate Week reached its climax countrywide,

the target of the Hate Week had suddenly changed from Eastasia to Eurasia. Ironically, people

seemed to ignore the change, and all the previous Hate Week poster slogans towards Eatasiawere

thought to be spy-made. After this hectic period, Winston read the Brotherhood’s book that

interprets the Party’s slogans in the rented room. The book mainly argues that the inevitable

social hierarchy and war are just tools to keep society hierarchical by consuming excessive labor

and products. When they woke up in their rented room above Mr. Charington’s store, they were

arrested by the Party.

The book by Brotherhood perfectly illustrates the function of the war at that time. The

war is not only a war, but it’s also a tool to keep society functioning. One of the slogans of the

Party, “WAR IS PEACE”, is well represented here. After the Industrial Revolution, the advent of

machines has weakened social stratification. Over time, people at the bottom will aspire to

challenge the social elites who rule them. This can lead to the increased social instability and

unrest. To keep the society hierarchical, the rulers need to find a way to weaken people's wealth.

As Geoge Orwell mentioned in 1984, “The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of

human lives, but of the products of human labor”. The war could be a way to weaken people’s
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wealth, which could also help stabilize stabilize stabilize the society. When I first read this part, I

had a weird feeling because it was the first time I saw the war in a different light and way of

thinking. The war is the war because it takes millions of people’s lives; the war is not the war

because it is a necessary tool to rule the country in the book 1984.

Entry 5 - Part 3 - Chapter - 1 - 6

Part 3 of this book mainly tells about what happened after Winston was arrested and the

process that Winston lost his mind in the Ministry of Love. O’Brien was a Thought Police.

Winston was tortured, and he lost his dignity in front of O’Brien. In the beginning, he wanted to

make Julia feel less pain and know the Party’s absurdity like they used bunches of lies to rule the

country. When O’Brien tortured him, his mind was gradually changed completely. O’Brien used

pain and the thing that Winston feared most to “purify” him, in other words, O’Brien used

elaborate methods to coerce and assimilate his views of the Party. Winston did not know the

exact time he stayed in the Ministry of Love, but he knew that must be long. They freed Winston

at last and gave Winston a sinecure. At the end of the story, Winston was shot and died.

The changes in Winston’s mind were noticeable. He was a person who had his own way

to view politics, society, and the world. He saw and knew the lies by the Party around him and

yearned for freedom. He fell in love with Julia and even thought about bearing her pain when she

was tortured. He once had strong hopes of overthrowing the Party. However, when Winston was

really in pain, it was at first just a verbal compromise to get his torturers to reduce his torture, but

his inner thoughts did not really change. But in time, O 'Brien, the man Winston had once

trusted, tormented him and delusional him, giving Winston a sense of the Party's charitable side

by suddenly changing his attitude while torturing him. In the end, Winston lost his feelings and

thoughts as a real human and became a puppet. As a reader, I am deeply impressed by the power
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of the Party to control people's minds. Under such a rule, all people will lose their feelings and

thoughts that they should have as human beings, and eventually become tools of the Party's rule.

The Party is doing all this only because of its greed for power.

Entry 6 - List of 8 Most Important Characters

Winston: The main character of this book, is a member of the Party and works at the

Ministry of Truth whose jon is to forge the present to change the history for the Party. He has his

own mind and he crave for freedom. He falls in love with Julia and they tried to overthrown the

Party, but they failed completely at the end.

Julia: Julia is also a member of the Party who pretends herself very well for her thoughts

for the Party. She fell in love with Winston and they rent a house together for meeting. She

joined the organization called Brotherhood with Winston to revolt against the Party.

O’Brien: O’Brien is an inner Party member who owns a luxurious house. Winston and

Julia joined the fake rebellious organization through him. Winston once believed he also has his

own idea and doesn’t like the Party. However, Winston is wrong.

Mr. Charrington: Charrington has a shop below the room that rented by Winston and

Julia. Winston thought he will keep this secret. However, he is a Thought Police.

Big Brother: The Party's leader. He may not be real, but may only be an object created by

the Party to be worshipped by the masses, and a representative of the Party’s own image.

Katherine: Katherine is Winston’s wife. Her ideas were completely controlled by the

Party and she became a puppet of the Party. Winston and Katherine are separated.

Syme: Syme is a intelligent person whose occupation is to is writing Newspeak

dictionaries. Since he is too smart, he is vaporized by the Party.

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Winston’s mother: Her husband disappeared, and she struggled to raise Winston and his

sister on her own. Winston believes he indirectly killed his mother.