KevinFitzgerald

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I had many reactions and thoughts about Book One in 1984; one of those is the interesting choice by the author George Orwell for a main character. The main character that Orwell chose is not really special at all, he's just an average guy with no profound past or distinguishing characteristics, he just had ideas and thoughts about how things could be and how things were wrong in his society. This is important I believe because it shows that the government shouldn’t be afraid of the select few elite or the large majority lower class but of the “Average Joe” who in essence is actually part of that government. The character choice by Orwell was very good because Winston Smith could be compared with any of us just because he is not a big name of has a lot of power but is a replaceable member of the Party. Another thought that the book brought up was how thoughtlessly Winston acts, in the book Winston decides to write a diary, however he does not know to who or why or if it will make any change at all if someone reads it. Winston just acts on a whim and does everything without a clear explanation. Another example of this is in Chapter 8, when Winston simply wonders across London without even realizing it. It surprises me that in a system so devoted to structure and unity that people do not think of their actions effects on other people or on the benefit of everyone else. However Winston will think about his violent ideas first before he puts them into action. An example of this is when he is considering killing the “Dark Haired Girl” because he is afraid she is following him. He surprisingly decides against it showing that the Party’s propaganda advocating violence does not have as much of an effect on him as the Party would like. I feel that Orwell is making a lot of references to the Soviet Union in the book. For example Orwell’s characters match strikingly in resemblance to notable Soviets such as Big Brother and Josef Stalin both of whom are notable for their bushy mustaches and manly father like physiques as well as their totalitarian and controlling policies. I feel like Goldstein is based off of Soviet exile Leon Trotsky, who fled after the death of Lenin. Orwell even uses similar terms such as purges and parties that were used in both systems. In both systems there is anger at capitalists, reeducation, secret police, population unity, propaganda, and many more comparisons between the two. Finally I am surprised and puzzled that the people of Oceana are so willing to fall prey to the Party system. The people will believe anything that the Party tells them to regardless of how crazy it sounds. I find it interesting how this total change in so much can come in such a small time. This worries me as Orwell never tells us exactly how this strange world came about but only gives you the minimum information. I think he does this to get you thinking about if there are any signs of this ever becoming a reality in our own world.