The different groups are, Big Brother and the leaders of the government branches, then the citizens of Oceania. Then at the bottom, there are the proles. 

Big Brother and the leaders of the government branches control the daily lives of the citizens of Oceania. Making sure that they are strictly controlled and not being an individual. Then the citizens of Oceania are listening to the higher authorities, listening to everything they say, following orders, and being in a strict life. The Proles are living a less strict life, they live in a poorer area and have a harder life but they have more liberty.

The leaders and higher authorities of Oceania are heavily in control of the citizens of Oceania, they listen, see, and control their daily lives. With the Proles it is different, they are relatively isolated to the higher authorities and the citizens of Oceania, even if they live in the same city.

The difference between the Proles and the citizens of Oceania is so different that the whole culture, way of life, and thought are different. 

The higher authorities of Oceania are extremely strict to the citizens of Oceania, on the other hand, they are pretty loose when it comes to the proles. 

This is important because the remnants of the society before Oceania is within the Proles, how they are the ones who are going to teach Winston on what was life like before Ingsoc.

After learning more about Julia’s life and what she believes, what does Winston learn about himself?

What biases does the reader experience from the way the author writes Winston’s views and experiences? 

Julia’s view of the Party is very similar to Wistons, however she is so young that she has no prior knowledge or curiosity of life before the Party. She hates the Party and speaks about it in the cruelest words, however she makes no general criticism of it, except when it involves her own life. Because she knows nothing more, she simply tries to evade the Party rather than try and rebell like Winston would. Pg 131- “He wondered vaguely how many others like her there might be in the younger generation- people who had grown up in the world of the Revolution, knowing nothing else, accepting the Party as something unalterable, like the sky, not rebelling against its authority but simply evading it, as a rabbit dodges a dog.” 

Prior to meeting Julia, Winson thought the worst of her– that she was a member of the Thought Police and was following him to kill him. His thoughts of her immediately changed when she sent the letter saying she loved him. Once they had a chance to talk and Winston realized she was not as pure as he imagined he loved her even more. Winston realizes that he likes things messy and animal-like because they represent freedom and no control. So when Julia told him she had been with many guys before, he began to like her even more.  

Based on the fact that the novel is written in the first person, as a reader you are very influenced and exposed to Winston’s biases. He has a very fixed view of society, and he feels that he needs to get out of it and rebell. As a reader you are definitely influenced by this and begin to feel the same way about the Party. It is interesting however, that the author adds in what Julia’s beliefs are so that Winston’s beliefs aren't as one sided. 

Julia and Winston’s connection began with Winston being paranoid and actually trying to kill Julia. Over time, Winston allowed himself to bring his guard down slightly and become more comfortable with her. In the beginning of Part 2, where Julia fell on her face while approaching Winston. “The girl had risen to her knees. Her face turned a milky-yellow color against which her mouth stood out redder than ever. Her eyes were fixed on his, with an expression that looked more like fear than pain.” At this point in time Winston felt bad for her and realized that she was also a human being. Later in the 3 chapters, Winston and Julia met in the country and “broke the law.” Julia also further explained on how she likes to do sexual things because of the rules. Julia saying this makes Winston like her even more since she is rebellious just like him. Julia’s character was also further explained in these chapters, showing how she doesn’t care about the rules and The Party’s intentions. I think that this sets up the rest of the book by showing us that Julia might not actually be what Winston believes her to be, and just wants to join together in order to stop The Party’s harsh ways of life. Julia’s understanding of sexual repression as a mechanism against The Party renders her sexual activity as a political act of justice.

Questions & Response

-How does the society in Oceania view sexual activities?

Oceania views sexual activities as a taboo topic, seeing it as a necessity for the party rather than to individual thought. They try to maintain a pure lifestyle for themselves and the rest of the citizens in Oceania. 

-How does the citizen within Oceania maintain this pure lifestyle?

The citizens in Oceania seem to be maintaining this anti-sex mentality due to the mixture of fear and propaganda from the Ingsoc Party. This can be seen by Winston reflecting on the memory of his wife. Winston’s wife did not like the idea of sex, she called it “Our duty to the party,” which seems to be said by married couples of Oceania. 

The party members of Oceania, the ones who are proud of the party, seem to not maintain the celibacy that they preach about. This shows the corruption, hypocrisy, and reality of the Ingsoc Party. How they’re not living up to what they preach, since they are having sexual activities while preaching about how everyone should remain celibate. This can be shown by Julia, whos part of the Junior Anti-Sex League. In the story, Julia and Winstons became intimate and this is where Winston learns about how Julia had a lot of intimate experiences with other party members. She even stated how she had “done it” with hundreds of other party members, which shows the amount of corruption that is actually inside the Ingsoc Party. 

How does the society within the Inner Party differ from the other people of Oceania?

Another difference is the way they live, this can be seen when Winston and Julia visit O’Brien’s house. This line shows the details of the setting in which the Inner Party lives, “The whole atmosphere of the huge block of flats, the richness and spaciousness of everything, the unfamiliar smells of good food and good tobacco, the silent and incredibly rapid lifts sliding up and down, the white-jacketed servants hurrying to and fro-everything was intimidating.” Compared with Winston’s living area there is a huge difference in the wealth. First, the Inner Party’s living area is spacious, has better food, alcohol, and tobacco, and has servants. Winston and non-Inner Party members have non of these luxurious living conditions, Winston himself talks about how there are many issues within the building he lives in. 

What does Winston learn about the proles that differ from his social group?

The difference between the proles and the citizens of Oceania, in simple words, is how the proles have kept their emotions unlike the citizens of Oceania who harden themselves. This can be seen in a passage on page 165 when Winston realizes how human proles are. “For the first time in his life he did not despise the proles or think of them merely as an inert force which would one day spring to life and regenerate the world. The proles had stayed human. They had not become hardened inside.” 

ThoughtsBased on this passage, my immediate thoughts are that this is what Winston has been dreaming to be a part of for a very long time. He had suspicions about O’Brien, and he was right. He and Julia have been talking for a while about wanting to be a part of the rebellion, and now that they finally are, I think they are a little bit surprised about what that entails. Winston has also been seeing Goldstein’ posters all over the city, so when he realizes he is now a part of this movement, I think he is experiencing a bit of shock but also relief. 




Questions
What is the ultimate goal of the Brotherhood?Why are Winston and Julia so quickly agreeing to die and sacrifice everything when they were just starting to enjoy their life together?Why does the Brotherhood immediately expect failure, and everyone to die?




EpiphaniesAfter reading this, I realized that the Brotherhood is more of a place of safety and community. What people love about this group is that it is a place where they can openly express their feelings of hatred toward  The Party as well as connect and feel a sense of community. Their goal is to slowly try and spread their message outward, even though they know they might die.




For Discussion:Will Julia and Winston’s feelings get them caught and eventually dead?

How does the permanent war between the three superpowers reflect current society?

“The war is waged by each ruling group against its own subjects, and the object of the war is not to make or prevent conquests of territory, but to keep the structure of the society intact”

The permanent war in the story is a reflection of current wars that are started by countries to keep their citizens distracted from their own lives. In this story, the war is exaggerated but it heavily connects to the war in our own world. An example of this is North Korea, a country that uses war as a way of keeping its citizens from questioning their position in society. The citizens of North Korea are heavily oppressed and in poverty, by having a war or using the fear of war kept them oppressed under the regime. 

How does Goldstein’s book connect with current social issues?

The passage, “If he were allowed contact with foreigners he would discover that they are creatures similar to himself and that most of what he has been told about them is lies. The sealed world in which he lives would be broken, and the fear, hatred, and self-righteousness on which his morale depends might evaporate.”

This chapter talks about many things, one of them being how the three superpowers are preventing each citizen from looking, listening, or knowing each other. The superpowers kept this way so that their propaganda, which is about fearing or hating the other countries, would be seen as lies. The reason why this reflects our society is because how people who are racist to each other is mainly caused due to the lack of knowledge about each other. Even though the issue in this story is caused by a totalitarian government making the people hate or fear each other, it still has strong connections with our own society on how the lack of knowledge makes us fear or hate each other. 

I think that this is very important foreshadowing of an event that might occur later in the book. The protagonist has been having a repeating nightmare without ever meeting the true ending. This is practically telling us that something is bound to happen in the near future that possibly has to do with this dream. This is also something that occurs in Harry Potter, where Harry has dreams that hurt his scar, these dreams end up being warnings most of the time. I don’t think Winston has powers, but this is just a common use of foreshadowing throughout books.

How will this event relate to Winston later in the book?

What is the significance of this nightmare and what does it have to do with Julia?

What do the rats have to do with Winston’s nightmare?

I see a connection between the rats and Winston. He understands that his fear of rats comes from something within that dream, yet he doesn’t know why yet. Now I understand that Winston will indefinitely face some sort of punishment or issue that has to do with The Party. 

ThoughtsMy initial thoughts are that Winston is fully being mind controlled and that the torture is getting to him so much that he is just simply seeing and believing everything that is told to him.



QuestionsDoes Winston really believe the things O’Brien is telling him?Based on the events that have happened to him, has Winston lost his trust for people forever?



EpiphaniesAfter reading, I realized that this is what the Party does to Oceania as a population. Even though they aren’t using torture, they are using distraction and a form of mind control to keep everyone only believing the things that the Party believes. The war is simply a distraction so that the people have something else to focus on instead of their lives. As Winston is being tortured, his mind is slowly starting to be controlled based on how much pain he is in.



For Discussion:Does Winston still have thoughts of his own and does he still have feelings for Julia? Is O’Brien good or bad? 

He started and almost cried out. A pang of pain had shot through his body. O’Brien had pushed the lever of the dial up to thirty-five. “That was stupid, Winston, stupid!” he said. “You should know better than to say a thing like that.”

Thoughts:
This is O’Brien manipulating Winston. O’Brien is using his torture methods to create another reality for Winston to pursue but it is seemingly not working on him. Winston keeps countering O’Brien’s claims and answers. This passage shows similarities to the climax of Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, where Lord Voldemort brings Harry to him and tortures him endlessly, while spitting information about his plans to return. Both antagonists have an enemy who they are trying to express their ideas to. This is why it leads me to believe O’Brien will kill Winston, if he is telling him the truth about his intentions with power and society.

Questions:

How will O’Brien conquer Winston’s mind?Does Winston eventually escape with his current state of mind?How does this book relate to ?

Epiphanies:

I realize that O’Brien isn’t actually telling Winston the truth of everything. He is spitting information that might be partially true but his main goal is to get Winston to believe it. If O’Brien is speaking the truth, He might decide to kill Winston, unless he becomes so mentally damaged he won’t have to.

“On the contrary,” he said, “you have not controlled it. That is what has brought you here. You are here because you have failed in humility, in self-discipline. You would not make the act of submission which is the price of sanity. You preferred to be a lunatic, a minority of one. Only the disciplined mind can see reality, Winston.”

Thoughts: The usage of O’Brien’s words is clearly trying to manipulate Winston to believe in how Winston was the insane one. This can be seen by the words of “sanity” “lunatic” and “reality” 

Questions: Why would O'Brien go through all of this to manipulate Winston? He had tortured, manipulated, and oppressed Winston even though Winston was strongly holding on to his beliefs. It would be easier to kill Winston in the position of O’Brien. 

Epiphanies: The reason why O’Brien goes through all of these stages to manipulate Winston is because of how the party changes people rather than killing them. O’Brien changes Winston by depriving, humiliating, and torturing him but also using certain words to make him think of how he was the one that is insane, how the party is there to “save” Winston. This is important because it shows how much the party goes through to control their citizens, they are torturing and manipulating for years to change them into their own ideal citizens. The ending of Winston is yet unknown but from the way O’Brien is going through years of trying to change Winston’s mind and Winston slowly changing his way of thinking, I believe Winston would give up and accept the party’s ideology.

For Discussion:

How does Winston’s hate for the Party affect his actions throughout the book?

What leads to his decision to gain knowledge about life before the Party even though he knows he could die? 

As this book is told through Winston’s perspective, he describes the fact that he can’t stand living in this type of society. Based on the fact that his parents and sisters died, I think this created initial pain and anger toward the Party. He also had a wife, but they separated, and so I think he blames a lot of his loneliness on the Party in general. The repetitive and controlled life that he is forced to live is not something he is interested in anymore. Because he has no freedom, he has even more curiosity and a want to learn about a time when the world wasn’t how it is now. 

Based on the hate that Winston has for this world, he begins to act out by committing thoughtcrime as well as buying a diary and writing in it. Something that also leads to Winton’s rebellion thoughts and curiosity is that he sees the life that the proles live and thinks that their life is free and amazing compared to his. Seeing them live, gives him a certain curiosity for what the past was like. 

How does Winston’s hate for the Party affect his actions throughout the book?

What leads to his decision to gain knowledge about life before the Party even though he knows he could die? 

As this book is told through Winston’s perspective, he describes the fact that he can’t stand living in this type of society. Based on the fact that his parents and sisters died, I think this created initial pain and anger toward the Party. He also had a wife, but they separated, and so I think he blames a lot of his loneliness on the Party in general. The repetitive and controlled life that he is forced to live is not something he is interested in anymore. Because he has no freedom, he has even more curiosity and a want to learn about a time when the world wasn’t how it is now. 

Based on the hate that Winston has for this world, he begins to act out by committing thoughtcrime as well as buying a diary and writing in it. Something that also leads to Winton’s rebellion thoughts and curiosity is that he sees the life that the proles live and thinks that their life is free and amazing compared to his. Seeing them live, gives him a certain curiosity for what the past was like.