The Party Life Sucks

"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows." (81)

I found this to be a very important quote since it indirectly pinpoints the biggest conflict in this world of Oceania. Winston wrote this because he unlike almost everyone has started to realize the reality of the world he lives in. A world where one group has the power to do as they wish. This sort of absolute power is defined indirectly by this quote. Since freedom is defined by ones ability to say that two plus two equals four, the oppression of the party as Winston believes can be seen by how they could tell you that "two plus two made five, and you would have to believe it." (80)

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"And yet, just for a moment, what almost frightening power had sounded in that cry from only a few hundred throats! Why was it that they could never shout like that about anything that mattered?" (70)

Winston believes that the power to overthrow the party lies in the hands of the proles. I agree with him in that if eighty-five percent of the population are proles like he states, then they can easily overthrow the government. The issue here is that the do not realize that they have this power. The quote I chose is an example of their incompetence when it comes to this topic. Although they, in reality, are being imprisoned by the system the party has set for them, they are instead fighting amongst themselves over simple things like cooking pots. It seemed as if the crowd of a few hundred women frightened Winston. If the whole of the prole population understood the circumstances they are in, the party would have no chance. They party seems to have taken measures against this issue. People have been so brainwashed to see their distorted government system as proper and accepted it as their reality. You can see this for example when looking at my first quote and how if the party told you that two plus two made five, you would believe it.

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"On it was written, in a large unformed handwriting: I Love You." (108)

Winston has been killing himself stressing about this person that had been stalking him for a while now. He was almost sure he was dead but to his surprise, his interaction with the girl left him speechless. This note she left him brings up another issue with the party that really irks me. It might not be significant to others but that fact that love is sort lost in history doesn't sit well with me. It is another negative quality of life for the citizens that sex is only a method of reproduction. Does anyone else feel the same way or is this issue an insignificant one?

Book 1: Disturbing Moments

"'Up with your hands!' Yelled a savage voice...Winston raised his hands above his head, but with an d uneasy feeling, so vicious was the boy's demeanor, that it was not altogether a game." (22)

Junior spies are youth that act as spies for the party monitoring adults for any disloyalty towards the part. The kind of power they hold is just crazy. I was quite surprised by this. I understood that there were junior spies but the fact that they are so outwardly opinionated, especially at their young age, is crazy. When you normally think of spies, you would think of some man in a suit with glasses sneaking around collecting info. However, these kids are a whole other story. When realizing just how much power these kids hold, the power that the party has over the people seems that much more dangerous. Is it right to use kids in this manner?

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"'They're disappointed because they couldn't go see the hanging, that's what it is'...'Why can't we go and see the hanging?' roared the boy in his huge voice." (23)

Kids seem to be a powerful tool of the party. This quote really shines a light on just how chaotic and dystopia-like the world had become in 1984. A world where kids enjoy seeing hangings is another level of intense. First there was the fact that they openly spy of adults for the party which was disturbing enough. But the fact that kids see public executions as a sort of entertainment is sad. This system is worsened even more by the fact that the adult, the children's parents even, aren't seeing the issue here. The way Mrs. Parsons talks about her kids not being able to go to see a public hanging makes it sound like she is telling there teenage kids they can't go to a party. The reality of it sadly, is that adults have adopted this sort of life for their kids and themselves. Even if they live in a dystopian world, is it right for parents to leave their kids at the hands of such a seemingly corrupt system?

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 "Withers, however, was already an unperson. He did not exist: he had never existed." (46)

The last disturbing quote that I came across in these chapters had to do with Winston's work. The word "unperson" is used to signify that someone is dead. And during his job, he was trying to figure out why Withers had been disgraces. The only clues he found were the words "refs unpersons". He believes that this means the Withers is dead.

When looking at the paragraphs covering this topic, I am starting to see more and more that Oceania and the whole of this 1984 world is a true dystopia. The system has developed to a point where people who oppose it can be made to disappear. This classifies them as "unpersons" implying that they are most likely dead. When you see the letters "un" before a word, you can predict that the whole world is a negative to something. This is demonstrated by the word "unperson" because once a person is labeled this, they are nothing. They "did not exist" and "had never existed".