Individualism in 1984 by Daniel Doran https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4 en-us 2023-03-10 15:46:24 UTC 2023-03-15 02:10:21 UTC hello@padlet.com Theme: Individuality can be destroyed by a political system. doran_d_2023 https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2512024834 2023-03-10 15:51:04 UTC https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2512024834 1 doran_d_2023 https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516828067 "A kilometre away the Ministry of Truth, his place of work, towered vast and white above the grimy landscape"(Orwell 5).

In the opening chapter, the reader understand that the members of the party are assigned to one of four ministries to work. The individuals do not have a say in their career path, and are forced to come into work each day to work for minimal pay. Winston works in the Ministry of Truth where he helps out with propaganda and manipulates information for the betterment of the party. Although Winston heavily disagrees with this idea, he must do his job to avoid punishment.]]> 2023-03-14 23:12:21 UTC https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516828067 2 doran_d_2023 https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516828185 “The thing that he was about to do was to open a diary. This was not illegal (nothing was illegal, since there were no longer any laws), but if detected it was reasonably certain that it would be punished by death, or at least by twentyfive years in a forced-labour camp”(Orwell 9).

Every action is being watched by some form of surveillance. A telescreen is placed in everyone's living quarters to keep an eye on any suspect behavior made by members of the party. In this case, Winston avoids being on frame of the telescreen as he hides in the corner to write in his diary. He understands the consequences if his diary filled with individual thoughts were to be found. These consequences can go all the way to the extent of being sentenced to death just because of a simple diary.
]]> 2023-03-14 23:12:33 UTC https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516828185 3 doran_d_2023 https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516855287 “It was quite simple. All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. ‘Reality control’, they called it: in Newspeak, ‘doublethink’”(Orwell 44).

Oceania believed it was necessary to implement a new vocabulary that eliminated all words that were "useful." By shortening an individuals vocabulary they would be unable to produce intelligent thought because they did not have the words to describe their thoughts. Newspeak eliminates any threat to the party by reducing insightful thinking.]]> 2023-03-14 23:53:25 UTC https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516855287 4 doran_d_2023 https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516871719 “His earlier thought returned to him: probably she was not actually a member of the Thought Police, but then it was precisely the amateur spy who was the greatest danger of all”(Orwell 78).

Winston is unable to trust anyone because everyone is under the same government and anyone can be a thought police member. In this case, Winston is debating weather or not the "dark haired girl" is a spy. Members of the party are unable to say anything out of the ordinary because the political system drives this fear into everyone's mindsets.
]]> 2023-03-15 00:13:10 UTC https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516871719 5 doran_d_2023 https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516885486 “The aim of the Party was not merely to prevent men and women from forming loyalties which it might not be able to control. Its real, undeclared purpose was to remove all pleasure from the sexual act”(Orwell 83).

Sexual activity was heavily frowned upon by the Oceania government. If any members were caught engaging in a relationship they would be punished without second thought. In this political system sex is controlled and love is a nonfactor meaning. Members were only encouraged to engage in sex when they were doing a duty for the party.]]> 2023-03-15 00:26:14 UTC https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516885486 6 doran_d_2023 https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516897986 “In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it”(Orwell 102).

Whatever the party wanted you to believe, you must believe it. There is no room for debate in Oceania. If a government official told you something, you must believe in that idea. This leads to an inability to pose any structural argument against the idea that 2+2=5. Without the ability to argue a political system is able to take away all individualism.

]]> 2023-03-15 00:35:39 UTC https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516897986 7 doran_d_2023 https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516915333  “You could not have pure love or pure lust nowadays. No emotion was pure, because everything was mixed up with fear and hatred”(Orwell 159).

Pure love was impossible under all of the surveillance 24/7. If Winston wanted to have any relationship with Julia it would be a struggle to make it work in this political system. Love is a key motor to keep people motivated. Without being able to love people lose their motives and do not have someone to give insight to.
]]> 2023-03-15 00:49:59 UTC https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516915333 8 doran_d_2023 https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516958198 “You wanted a good time; ‘they’, meaning the Party, wanted to stop you having it; you broke the rules as best you could. She seemed to think it just as natural that ‘they’ should want to rob you of your pleasures as that you should want to avoid being caught”(Orwell 165).

The party's control over the people extends all the way to not letting anyone have fun. Having fun was a waste of time in Oceania's eyes. In reality, humans need to have fun in order to live their life to the fullest. By stripping entertainment, members are unable to enjoy life.
]]> 2023-03-15 01:22:55 UTC https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516958198 9 doran_d_2023 https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516961709 “Individually, no member of the Party owns anything, except petty personal belongings. Collectively, the Party owns everything in Oceania, because it controls everything, and disposes of the products as it thinks fit”(Orwell 260).

How can members thrive in this economy? They cannot. Proles do not own anything, the party owns everything including the members decision-making. A political system can take away everything a person stands for by taking away one's ownership.


]]> 2023-03-15 01:25:18 UTC https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516961709 THE END doran_d_2023 https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516961947 "He loved Big Brother"(Orwell 376).

All, in all, there is only so much an individual can do before everything they love is stripped away by a higher power. When a political system hold all authority over their people, they can take everything away to the point where an individual has nothing left. Political systems can take away, self thought, relationships, entertainment, and intelligence if they do not care about the individual aspect of a society. The idea that, individuality can be destroyed by a political system, is perfectly demonstrated in the novel "1984."

]]> 2023-03-15 01:25:28 UTC https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516961947 10 doran_d_2023 https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516994646 “Can you not understand that the death of the individual is not death? The party is immortal’”(Orwell 339).

Basically, the death of the individual means nothing. If nobody can create a relationship with someone, than nobody will care if they die. if an individual is restricted from making mark in their society, than why would anybody care? O'Brien claims the party will never die, because if the individual means nothing, than the party will always remain undefeated or immortal.
]]> 2023-03-15 01:50:28 UTC https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2516994646 11 doran_d_2023 https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2517008618 “‘I betrayed you,’ she said baldly. ‘I betrayed you,’ he said. She gave him another quick look of dislike. ‘Sometimes,’ she said, ‘they threaten you with something something you can’t stand up to”(Orwell 369).

At the end of the day, political systems can often times hold too much power and ultimately have the ability to destruct a person. In this case, Winston and Julia betrayed each other because they were mentally stripped of everything they owned. They both lost the love they once had for each other because the system held too much power.

]]> 2023-03-15 02:02:02 UTC https://padlet.com/doran_d_2023/gct3dpi4gksbpgh4/wish/2517008618