NathanZawacki

Nathan's Page

After reading book one in 1984, I am left with many thoughts about Oceanai. My first is that the city seems too be in a state of disrepair, yet the people dont seem to notice or consider this a problem. I think this could be because of several reasons. First, i believe that the people of Oceania are not even aware that the city is falling apart. this could be because they dont remember the times where the city was whole and maintained. this is similar to the way Big Brother said that they had always been at war with Eurasia, yet Winston remembers that four years before, they had been at peace with them. i feel that the people do not even question what they are told or what they experience anymore. it could be out of fear, or just because they learned over time that everything Big Brother or the government tells them must be true, and their confidence in it is so great, they dont even feel that there is cause to question anything.

Another thing that I thought about was the way the people of Oceanai were maniplulated. I found it interesting that they were so easy to fool, and also the way that tgey were manipulated. the fact the the government went through the trouble of changing every historical document every time Big Brother was wrong just implied tha they had many other systems and ways to trick their people. especially when the book stated that some documents were changed dozens, even hundreds of times. it seems that Big Brother (if there is such a person and he hasnt been created by the government as a "savior") will stop at nothing to keep complete control, both mentally and physically, over the people of Oceania. An example of this is the two minutes hate. it uses the people's own primal instincts against them, uniting them against one enemy and making them easier to manipulate and control.

I also find myself relating the society in 1984 to our own society today. there are several similarities. for example, there always seems to be a common enemy that the entire country focuses on. this is like the way the people focused their anger on Goldstien (and away from Big Brother) and ,for example, Osama Bin Ladin. these two examples both unite people against one enemy, and make them pay less attention to other things. However, there are also many differences. one is that our social classes are not as extremely separated as they are in Oceania. there are some striking differences, but not enough that the lower classes are limitted by the government in how they can interact with the upper classes. also, i believe in our society, if the slums were being bombed several times a day, the upper and middle classes would be inclined to help in some way, and not "kick" the problem "into the gutter" as Winston did with the hand in chapter 8 without any form of expression. these are some of my thoughts on book one of 1984.