Dystopia Essay Part 3

Throughout reading 1984 we have met in our groups to talk about what we believe is going on, and to ask any question we might have had. Through this I was able to have a new understanding of what we were reading and look at it from the different perspective of group members. While discussing the novel some important question were asked. The first major question asked was how did the Party take over and how are they so powerful? This question wasn’t easily answered but we began to brainstorm on it. We thought that maybe it was done through propaganda or in a peer pressure kind of way. We weren’t too sure if O’Brian was going to play a big of a role as he did. At first I didn’t even notice what to think of him and I didn’t think much of his character at all. My group helped me realize how big of a part he’d most likely play in this novel and predict what may happen. These are only a few things that we touched on in our discussion but my blog that is titled “1984-Disscussion Ideas” goes into it a little bit more. My group helped me to think a little bit differently. By thinking in a different way then I usually do I was able to come up with new ideas that I didn’t even think would happen.
As for blogging: I personally like blogs and think that they are a good way to express my ideas in a public form. I also like the fact that I can see what my classmates have written in my class and outside of it. The one thing that I think helps me out the most is that I can comment on other peoples blogs and they can comment on mine. This helps me understand the book better and shows me different ways to think and new ideas that I can come up with. Overall I think that blogs are a great idea.

Dystopia Essay Part 2

Last blog I talked a little bit about the different warnings that Orwell was making notice to in his novel and I talked a little bit about the parallels between the world of the novel and our world. I spoke a little bit about The Patriot Act, Electoral College and how the government can strip us of our rights. Right now I’m going to talk a little more about how our country’s government can put on an act and make us feel that we have rights in our government. It is very true that our government is one of the best in the world and that they do give us rights as people of the United States. In 1984, Orwell shows the people in his society without any rights. There aren’t any laws but a lot is against the law. In today’s society we have laws, but we don’t know some of them. We can break a law sometimes and not even realize it. So in our case it almost seems like our society is similar because we can’t completely realize what’s wrong and right. In the novel people won’t ever speak out against the government so much because of the fear that they have towards what may happen to them. In our world today, at least in the United States, we feel that we are allowed to speak out against our government. Many people do so, it could be in a speech or even a song, but none the less we do speak out against our government if we don’t agree with how they work. In other areas of the world people can’t do that. Just like in 1984 they fear what their government can do to them. Recently in the news people in Venezuela were protesting peacefully and the leader of the country told the riot police to open fire on them with rubber bullets and tear gas. Orwell, I think, was warning us of this, not so much where the United States stands. He showed us what will happen if governments take too much control or power. People who get extreme amounts of power will not give it back and so far many countries in the world suffer because of this.

Dystopia Essay Part 1

1984 was a warning sign to many things in the world today. Since this book was written in 1948 they weren’t true at the time. George Orwell was trying to warn us of what will happen if we keep acting the way we do. The warnings that he gave us were simple to understand but almost too hard to stop. Orwell was trying to tell us how if we give too much power to the government that they’ll use it all, and never give it back. We live in a country where we have the power to vote for our officials in the government, but do we really have this power? The Electoral College has then final say in all of this. They “represent” the people, but only the majority. If everyone had a say in the elections like the government really says then we should not have to rely on a system like we have. Another major thing that Orwell predicted was the loss of privacy. Recently in our nations history we passed a bill called the Patriot Act. Just by the name it seems to be something good and patriotic, but it’s far from it. This bill allows the government to tap your phone lines without you ever knowing. It allows them to take away your privacy if they suspect that you’re involved in any kind of criminal activity. In 1984 the society they live in has no privacy also. They went as far to create “thought police” which could arrest you for thinking. They are also constantly reminded by a poster which says “Big Brother is Watching”. The government in this book is all about fear tactics and how to try and scare their people into doing what everyone they want, and so far it’s working. A select few people in the book realize what’s going on but they are faced by a giant power which is almost impossible to fight even in today’s times, the government.

Two Minutes Hate

In Liz's blog she talks about "Two Minutes Hate" and how she thinks people feel about it. I can agree with her when she says that there must be other people like Winston who want to make things better. My question is this: Do you think that people in this society really do believe that "Two Minutes Hate" is rediculous and they just do it so they dont get hurt or do you think they do it because they are all brainwashed? Both ideas to me make sense to me but I'm not too sure which one it most likely could be.

Matt Rules Everything

The title has nothing to do with this post, but Matt told me to do it, peer pressure can get the best of you. Now I'm posting this blog to talk about how the society in 1984 was taken over by the Party. In my last post kind of touched on this subject but not in detail. After reading up to the point I am in the book I still cant imagine how the people fell to a government like this. I mentioned peer pressure in the beginning of this post for a few reasons. One of the reasons was because of Matt and his need to have me put him in my title. The other was that I feel that i can link peer pressure to 1984. I still don't know why or how they were taken over but I think it might have involved peer pressure. I say this because when the Party took over maybe a group of people wanted this new government. From there on out they probably convinced everyone that it was good and the better way of life. If your friends want to go to a certain place and you don't but everyone else does, you're most likely going to go to that place. In this case it probably wasn't a bad form of peer pressure but it was peer pressure none the less. Do you think that this could've been the type of situation also?

1984-Discussion Ideas

When we first started to discuss 1984 in class we brought up a few topics that I believe can make you think and try to predict what will happen in the novel. There were many good points thrown into our conversation, among them was the question on how did the Party take over so easily? Even though I couldn't think of an answer for this question i was able to relate it. Hitler took over a large area of land and "created" a super power or super race of people. He told everyone what was right and what was wrong, in his opinion. How can somebody just take over a large area of land and so many people just by saying what they believe is right or wrong? I know that there is a lot more to it then this but I'm just trying to relate it to something that everyone can somewhat understand. It just seems to be inconceivable that one person or one group can take a whole race of people over and its easy to see that in 1984 that this is similar.

Rules of Blogging

This is in response to Mr. Miller's Blog. Some things you should be careful of while blogging is what kind of information you give out. Also you want to make sure that anything you write in a blog or link to your blog is something that you understand and want to be associated with. If you associate yourself with a group that you don't necessarily know then it could be bad. If you make sure that you follow these rules then blogging can be a safe and efficient tool. After all this is a school project.

1984 First Thoughts

This is Shane and I am reading 1984 by George Orwell. So far the book is pretty good. It's about a futuristic society where everyone is constantly being watched. There are no laws but almost anything can be against the law, even if you just think it. The main character, Winston, is an average citizen of London in 1984. He isn't too thrilled about how the government is constantly watching everything he does and he occasionally will try and do things that are illegal (even thought there are no laws). He is reminded every second of his life that "Big Brother is watching him" by the propaganda like posters posted everywhere. So far this seems like a good book and I'm looking forward to see what is going to happen.