Blog Post 2
Winston has done it again-- he cracked open the doors and in came flooding waters.
Just by writing in that diary, he set a precedent for himself-- at that point, he knows he’s at risk of being taken. He’s done countless risky things to get himself in trouble, and at this point, he seems numb to the threat of being taken away. He goes back to the same store, knowing he’s making a mistake-- but he can’t shake this interest in pre-revolution times. In fact, we can see different instances where he’s taken back to his childhood and sparks some almost-forgotten memory. However, he can never quite put his finger on it. He seems to shrug it off and go about his day even though they could be a window into the truth of what used to be like. In fact, what I found fascinating was that he couldn’t remember any solid childhood memories other than his family, most likely the result of years of conditioning to believe that there was no pre-revolution time. But that brings us to the old man he talks to, the one who lived half his life before the revolution but still can’t tell Winston what he wants to hear. At this point, I wondered what they did with this generation, the one that actively lived through the transition of pre-revolution to post-revolution. Did they get taken as a threat to the Party? Or were they left to live in fear and complacency, cherishing the freedom they once had?
What do you think?
It seems to me like that generation had two options: resist (even passively) and be killed, or submit and live. Even the act to remembering what it was like before the Party took charge was considered dangerous, so those people were killed. Seeing this, much of that generation probably forced themselves to forget (at least on the surface). Training yourself to not express any of your emotions definitely means that will stick over time, which is what happened to Winston. I think the members of the proles were too stupid to be deemed a threat (i.e. they were drug addicts).
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with Alice. There's absolutely no way they didn't kill off the pre-revolution people. They would definitely become a threat because they know how life is supposed to be lived. The only other think I could think of would be giving them a drug that makes them forget but I think the killing idea is more plausible.
ReplyDeleteIt was really interesting that you also wrote about the old man in your blog. I definitely see his interaction with Winston as one of the most striking moments so far. As a prole, he was probably deemed to not be a threat and was allowed to survive. He might be considered to be too complacent to even care about having freedoms.
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