Animal Farm By George Orwell
Animal Farm Major Symbol
Author: George Orwell
Page: 36
Topic: Identify a major symbol (or what you think will become a major symbol) within your novel. Explain its significance.
Major Symbol: Pigs
Quotes:
1) “The pigs had set aside the harness-room as a headquarters for themselves. Here, in the evenings, they studied blacksmithing, carpentering, and other necessary arts from books which they had brought out of the farmhouse” (Orwell 31)
2) “As for the pigs, they could already read and write perfectly” (Orwell 32)
3) “It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples” (Orwell 36)
Significance:
Soon after the humans lost control of the farm, the intelligent animals assumed a higher position of authority over the other animals. …show more content…
Although they said that all animals were equal, they already set aside a place for their kind to reconvene, while no other animal has done so. If all animals are equal, then all animals should receive the same amount of food, but it seems that the pigs are eating more food than the others using their intelligence to meld the minds of the other animals, making them think that the pigs are consuming more food so that they could live better. I think the pigs are a big symbol in this story. They represent corruption. The animals believe that they are truly free, but that can never be true. The pigs are taking more and more for themselves and soon I believe that they will be taking more from themselves out of the other animals’ food. The animals will become more and more weak while the pigs turn into the very thing they were trying to prevent.
Animal Farm Literary Elements Passage
Author: George Orwell
Page: 36
Topic: Find a passage that has effective, striking word choice with strong literary elements. Copy the passage and explain its effectiveness.
Quotes:
1) “The very first question she asked Snowball was: ‘Will there still be sugar after the Rebellion?’ ‘No,’ said Snowball firmly. ‘We have no means of making sugar on this farm. Besides, you do not need sugar. You will have all the oats and hay you want.’ ‘And shall I still be allowed to wear ribbons in my mane?’ asked Mollie.‘Comrade,’ said Snowball, ‘those ribbons that you are so devoted to are the badge of slavery. Can you not understand that liberty is worth more than ribbons?’ Mollie agreed, but she did not sound very convinced” (Orwell 17)
2) “These three had elaborated Old Major's teachings into a complete system of thought, to which they gave the name of Animalism. Several nights a week, after Mr. Jones was asleep, they held secret meetings in the barn and expounded the principles of Animalism to the others” (Orwell 16)
Significance (1st quote):
The ribbons and sugar that Mollie enjoyed were compared to the badge of slavery. Although these don’t seem like a big thing to mourn over, to Mollie, ribbons and sugar were the things of the human life she enjoyed. You could compare those things to our technology today. We spend so much time on video games and cell phones that we could be considered “slaves” to technology. If someone took all our tech away, we would feel the same way as Mollie.
Significance (2nd quote):
The irony of this is that the pigs are developing a “system of thought” from “teachings” and are having “meetings” where they “expounded the principles”. This comes really close to a religion, where there is a main idea coming from teachings centuries ago, and people go to meetings (example: church, mosque, temple) and the learn the principles of this religion. The animals don’t know it themselves, but by creating Animalism, they are doing something a human does, which is exactly what they set out not to do.
Animal Farm Character Relationship
Author: George Orwell
Page: 70
Topic: Describe a relationship between two characters. Explain how the relationship grows or changes throughout the novel, the importance of the relationship to the plot or themes, and explain your feelings about the characters’ actions.
Quotes:
1) "No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?" (Orwell 47-48)
2) “If a window was broken or a drain was blocked up, someone was certain to say that Snowball had come in the night and done it, and when the key of the store-shed was lost, the whole farm was convinced that Snowball had thrown it down the well. Curiously enough, they went on believing this even after the mislaid key was found under a sack of meal” (Orwell 66)
Significance:
The relationship between Snowball and Napoleon changes significantly throughout the story as well as the way the other animals look at Snowball and Napoleon. At first, Snowball is the “leader” and Squealer tells all the animals about the good Snowball is doing and so on. Pretty soon, Snowball is favored by the animals and Napoleon is losing. Snowball suggests building a windmill and Napoleon says that the animals shouldn’t do that, however later in the story, Napoleon overthrows Snowball with a pack of dogs he has been raising and he takes over control. Napoleon brainwashes the animals to think that Snowball has been on the humans’ side all along, even helping them in their first battle. Pretty soon, every single problem or mistake is blamed on Snowball, who seems to have disappeared to another farm and Napoleon is master. Napoleon takes more food for himself and the other pigs and starves the other animals, who still think that they are in better condition than when Farmer Jones was in control, when they are not.
Animal Farm Theme
Author: George Orwell
Page: 85
Topic: Identify 1-2 major themes in the story. Explain with specific examples how that theme is important to the plot and real world situations.
Theme: Total equality is to accept the faults in others.
Quote:
“No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?" (Orwell 47-48)
Explanation:
The pigs are taking control because they accept the fact that some animals aren’t bright enough to take decisions, so they are making the decisions for the other animals, telling them that they are doing it for their own good, and in the process, making life easier for themselves and harder for the other animals, who believe that the pigs are doing them good.
The pigs represent russian leaders, for example, Napoleon would be Joseph Stalin, second leader of the soviet union, and Snowball represents the first, Leo Trotsky, who was expelled from the politburo in 1925 by Stalin as he rose in power. This is similar to how Snowball was chased away from the farm by Napoleon as he became stronger.
"If she herself had had any picture of the future, it had been of a society of animals set free from hunger and the whip, all equal, each working according to his capacity, the strong protecting the weak... Instead - she did not know why - they had come to a time when no one dared speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere, and when you had to watch your comrades torn to pieces after confessing to shocking crimes." (Orwell …show more content…
73-74)
In the beginning, the pigs took control because they thought it was for the good of the farm, as they became more intelligent, they could not accept equality and killed those who had a chance of overcoming them. The pigs surround themselves with dogs, who would protect them from another overthrow by the other animals. This can be compared to Stalin getting a military to protect him.
Animal Farm Resolution
Author: George Orwell
Page: 118
Topic: At the end of the novel, do you feel a sense of revolution? Do you think that was the author’s goal? If you do not feel a sense of resolution, how would you change the ending? Think back to the title of the novel, what is the significance of it now that you have finished the entire story?
Quotes:
“ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS” (Orwell 112)
“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which” (Orwell 118)
Significance:
These were the two sentences which stood out the most to me in the epilogue. It showed how in the end, the pigs turned into humans, which was what they were against in the beginning. As the story continued, the pigs did things that were forbidden from the original seven commandments, such as wearing clothes, sleeping in a bed, and drinking alcohol. As they did these things, they kept changing the commandments while the other animals were asleep to favor themselves, such as “No animal shall drink alcohol-to excess”, the italicized part added on after the rule was broken. After every single one of the seven commandments were broken by the pigs, instead of changing the rules, they replaced it with a single sentence, “ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS”, thus qualifying the pigs to drink, sleep in beds, and wear clothes, but none of the other animals can, because the pigs are more equal-equal to humans. In the end, the characteristics of the pig were so closely related to that of a man, that the other animals could hardly distinguish one from the other. The pigs were no longer animals at all. I felt a sense of resolution in this book, the theme was strong towards the end of the book and I think that was what Orwell was trying to accomplish. The title of the book is “Animal Farm” and it’s about a farm run solely by animals, but the farm becomes more and more corrupted until the animals were worse off than any other farm in the country, but still they think that they are living good because they are “free”. The real question at the end of the book is: are they really free?
1984 Major Symbol
Author: George Orwell
Page: 40
Topic: Identify a major symbol (or what you think will become a major symbol) within your novel. Explain its significance.
Major Symbol: Big Brother
Quotes:
“BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”(Orwell 3)
“With its grace and carelessness it seemed to annihilate a whole culture, a whole system of thought, as though Big Brother and the Party and the Thought Police could all be swept into nothingness by a single splendid movement of the arm”(Orwell 34)
Explanation:
In this book, Big Brother is above all. He watches the actions of everyone. Big Brother symbolizes the secrecy the government has in this book. The government monitors everyone, but makes them feel secure by using the term “Big Brother”, so it seems as if they’re a protective older sibling who has only the best interests for you (if by best interests, they mean watching you while you sleep). But Big Brother is also menacing, and people fear him because he is the leader of the Party, Big Brother is watching you, Big Brother sees all. In the end, when Winston asks O’Brien if Big Brother exists as he does, as a human, and O’Brien replies that since the Party exists, then Big Brother exists, but Winston does not exist. At first, Winston rebelled against Big Brother and the Party’s attempts to rule the memories and the records, giving them power over the past. Winston is tortured into loving Big Brother, so now he can be killed, because he will not be a martyr.
1984 Literary Elements Passage
Author: George Orwell
Page: 40
Topic: Find a passage that has effective, striking word choice with strong literary elements.
Copy the passage and explain its effectiveness.
Quotes:
1) “WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”(Orwell 6)
2) "The past was dead, the future was unimaginable”(Orwell 28)
Significance (1st quote):
At first, these quotes were really confusing to me, but then I did a little research and it became more clear what the author was trying to convey in these three sentences. The Party made the people think that knowing your enemy unites your community as one, and that is peace. When “freedom is slavery”, a man with free will cannot be destined to win, the Party guides all of its people so they will not fail in their trust in Big Brother. And finally, “ignorance is strength”, if people do not know the manipulation the Party uses on the minds of civilians in order to change the past, if people do not ask why things are the way they are, then the Party has ultimate strength and Oceania can thrive.
Significance (2nd
quote):
The Party changes the past to make Big Brother seem stronger. The past is re-written and then re-written again. This makes the past so obscure, because it is constantly changing to favor Big Brother, thus favoring the Party. The real past has been written over, it has died. How are the people in Oceania to know how many times the future will be written over?
1984 Character Relationship
Author: George Orwell
Page: 300
Topic: Describe a relationship between two characters. Explain how the relationship grows or changes throughout the novel, the importance of the relationship to the plot or themes, and explain your feelings about the characters’ actions.
Quotes:
1) "At the sight of the words I love you the desire to stay alive had welled up in him, and the taking of minor risks suddenly seemed stupid”(Orwell 110)
2) "It was something in your face. I thought I'd take a chance. I'm good at spotting people who don't belong. As soon as I saw you I knew you were against them”(Orwell 126)
Significance:
The relationship between Winston and Julia changes during the story. People aren’t supposed to harbor love for anyone but the Party and Big Brother. Winston and Julia rebel against them by showing signs of love towards each other. Winston finds an “I Love You” note from Julia after he bumps into her. Just writing that note could get Julia killed, but she does it because of her rebellious feelings. They start to spend more time with each other as the book progresses. Winston rebels because he wants proof of a past. He remembers what happened, yet what the Ministry of Truth advertises is quite different. He argues to O’Brien in the end about memories before being converted into one of Big Brother’s minions. In the end, in Room 101, when Winston is threatened with rats, he betrays his love for Julia by begging them to torture her instead of him. They tell Winston that Julia had done the same. When he sees Julia the last time, he feels no love for her, Winston only loves Big Brother.
1984 Theme
Author: George Orwell
Page: 300
Topic: Identify 1-2 major themes in the story. Explain with specific examples how that theme is important to the plot and real world situations.
Theme: Corruption can often travel in the shape of progress.
Quote:
1) “Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious”(Orwell 74)
Explanation:
The people in this book live their lives blindly believing the Party’s words. They pose no threat because they don’t ask questions. As a result of this, they do not know what is going on around them, they are not conscious to the manipulation on their minds or on the past. This quotes explains how if the people don’t rebel against the Party and Big Brother, they will never see the harsh reality of their nature.
2) “...a nation of warriors and fanatics, marching forward in perfect unity, all thinking the same thoughts and shouting the same slogans, perpetually working, fighting, triumphing, persecuting - three hundred million people all with the same face” (Orwell 77)
This quote shows how the people under rule of Big Brother cannot be distinguished from each other. They are so corrupted that they do not have a single thought of their own, only what has been planted there by the Party. They believe what the Party tells them to believe and fight for what they are told to fight for. They don’t have anything but a name to show who they are, because on the inside, they are all the same.
1984 Resolution
Author: George Orwell
Page: 300
Topic: At the end of the novel, do you feel a sense of revolution? Do you think that was the author’s goal? If you do not feel a sense of resolution, how would you change the ending? Think back to the title of the novel, what is the significance of it now that you have finished the entire story?
Quotes:
1) “It was like swimming against a current that swept you backwards however hard you struggled, and then suddenly deciding to turn round and go with the current instead of opposing it. Nothing had changed except your own attitude; the predestined thing happened in any case”(Orwell 280)
2) "But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother”(Orwell 300)
Significance:
After all the torture Winston had endured, he began seeing O’Brien in a new light. He tortures him and brings pain, but he can also withdraw and stop the torturing. After Winston is done being tortured, he is released and he spends his time in a cafe drinking gin and watching the telescreen on news for the war. He absentmindedly writes “2+2=5” on the dust, and the readers see that Winston is too, corrupted. When he sees Julia again, they don’t have feelings because their betrayal to each other overshadows the love they once had. Julia and Winston don’t meet again. In the end, after realizing that they had been successful in the war, Winston feels love for Big Brother. He is corrupted and can be killed, for he is not a martyr, he has love for no one but the Party and endless love for Big Brother. This was the ending that Orwell was trying to convey. He was trying to tell us that progress can also sometimes come with corruption and that can take away what make a man himself: individuality. When this book was written in 1949, this was what Orwell had expected to happen in 1984. Thankfully, humans haven’t mindlessly believed a source of information on a “telescreen”, information which is changed everyday, or have we? The invention of the internet and other forms of technology can be seen in a way, a less harsh reality of what Orwell was depicting in his novel. We can always be monitored through our Facebooks, Twitters, and other social networks.
Work Cited
Orwell, George, and Erich Fromm. 1984: a novel. New York, N.Y.: Signet Classic. Print.
"1984 Quotes." BookRags. BookRags, n.d. Web. 31 Aug. 2014.
"Animal Farm Quotes." BookRags. BookRags, n.d. Web. 31 Aug. 2014.
"Animal Farm." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 31 Aug. 2014.
"What dual purpose does Big Brother symbolize in the novel, is he real or just a symbol? - Homework Help - eNotes.com." enotes.com. enotes.com, n.d. Web. 31 Aug. 2014.
Author: George Orwell
Page: 36
Topic: Identify a major symbol (or what you think will become a major symbol) within your novel. Explain its significance.
Major Symbol: Pigs
Quotes:
1) “The pigs had set aside the harness-room as a headquarters for themselves. Here, in the evenings, they studied blacksmithing, carpentering, and other necessary arts from books which they had brought out of the farmhouse” (Orwell 31)
2) “As for the pigs, they could already read and write perfectly” (Orwell 32)
3) “It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples” (Orwell 36)
Significance:
Soon after the humans lost control of the farm, the intelligent animals assumed a higher position of authority over the other animals. …show more content…
Although they said that all animals were equal, they already set aside a place for their kind to reconvene, while no other animal has done so. If all animals are equal, then all animals should receive the same amount of food, but it seems that the pigs are eating more food than the others using their intelligence to meld the minds of the other animals, making them think that the pigs are consuming more food so that they could live better. I think the pigs are a big symbol in this story. They represent corruption. The animals believe that they are truly free, but that can never be true. The pigs are taking more and more for themselves and soon I believe that they will be taking more from themselves out of the other animals’ food. The animals will become more and more weak while the pigs turn into the very thing they were trying to prevent.
Animal Farm Literary Elements Passage
Author: George Orwell
Page: 36
Topic: Find a passage that has effective, striking word choice with strong literary elements. Copy the passage and explain its effectiveness.
Quotes:
1) “The very first question she asked Snowball was: ‘Will there still be sugar after the Rebellion?’ ‘No,’ said Snowball firmly. ‘We have no means of making sugar on this farm. Besides, you do not need sugar. You will have all the oats and hay you want.’ ‘And shall I still be allowed to wear ribbons in my mane?’ asked Mollie.‘Comrade,’ said Snowball, ‘those ribbons that you are so devoted to are the badge of slavery. Can you not understand that liberty is worth more than ribbons?’ Mollie agreed, but she did not sound very convinced” (Orwell 17)
2) “These three had elaborated Old Major's teachings into a complete system of thought, to which they gave the name of Animalism. Several nights a week, after Mr. Jones was asleep, they held secret meetings in the barn and expounded the principles of Animalism to the others” (Orwell 16)
Significance (1st quote):
The ribbons and sugar that Mollie enjoyed were compared to the badge of slavery. Although these don’t seem like a big thing to mourn over, to Mollie, ribbons and sugar were the things of the human life she enjoyed. You could compare those things to our technology today. We spend so much time on video games and cell phones that we could be considered “slaves” to technology. If someone took all our tech away, we would feel the same way as Mollie.
Significance (2nd quote):
The irony of this is that the pigs are developing a “system of thought” from “teachings” and are having “meetings” where they “expounded the principles”. This comes really close to a religion, where there is a main idea coming from teachings centuries ago, and people go to meetings (example: church, mosque, temple) and the learn the principles of this religion. The animals don’t know it themselves, but by creating Animalism, they are doing something a human does, which is exactly what they set out not to do.
Animal Farm Character Relationship
Author: George Orwell
Page: 70
Topic: Describe a relationship between two characters. Explain how the relationship grows or changes throughout the novel, the importance of the relationship to the plot or themes, and explain your feelings about the characters’ actions.
Quotes:
1) "No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?" (Orwell 47-48)
2) “If a window was broken or a drain was blocked up, someone was certain to say that Snowball had come in the night and done it, and when the key of the store-shed was lost, the whole farm was convinced that Snowball had thrown it down the well. Curiously enough, they went on believing this even after the mislaid key was found under a sack of meal” (Orwell 66)
Significance:
The relationship between Snowball and Napoleon changes significantly throughout the story as well as the way the other animals look at Snowball and Napoleon. At first, Snowball is the “leader” and Squealer tells all the animals about the good Snowball is doing and so on. Pretty soon, Snowball is favored by the animals and Napoleon is losing. Snowball suggests building a windmill and Napoleon says that the animals shouldn’t do that, however later in the story, Napoleon overthrows Snowball with a pack of dogs he has been raising and he takes over control. Napoleon brainwashes the animals to think that Snowball has been on the humans’ side all along, even helping them in their first battle. Pretty soon, every single problem or mistake is blamed on Snowball, who seems to have disappeared to another farm and Napoleon is master. Napoleon takes more food for himself and the other pigs and starves the other animals, who still think that they are in better condition than when Farmer Jones was in control, when they are not.
Animal Farm Theme
Author: George Orwell
Page: 85
Topic: Identify 1-2 major themes in the story. Explain with specific examples how that theme is important to the plot and real world situations.
Theme: Total equality is to accept the faults in others.
Quote:
“No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?" (Orwell 47-48)
Explanation:
The pigs are taking control because they accept the fact that some animals aren’t bright enough to take decisions, so they are making the decisions for the other animals, telling them that they are doing it for their own good, and in the process, making life easier for themselves and harder for the other animals, who believe that the pigs are doing them good.
The pigs represent russian leaders, for example, Napoleon would be Joseph Stalin, second leader of the soviet union, and Snowball represents the first, Leo Trotsky, who was expelled from the politburo in 1925 by Stalin as he rose in power. This is similar to how Snowball was chased away from the farm by Napoleon as he became stronger.
"If she herself had had any picture of the future, it had been of a society of animals set free from hunger and the whip, all equal, each working according to his capacity, the strong protecting the weak... Instead - she did not know why - they had come to a time when no one dared speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere, and when you had to watch your comrades torn to pieces after confessing to shocking crimes." (Orwell …show more content…
73-74)
In the beginning, the pigs took control because they thought it was for the good of the farm, as they became more intelligent, they could not accept equality and killed those who had a chance of overcoming them. The pigs surround themselves with dogs, who would protect them from another overthrow by the other animals. This can be compared to Stalin getting a military to protect him.
Animal Farm Resolution
Author: George Orwell
Page: 118
Topic: At the end of the novel, do you feel a sense of revolution? Do you think that was the author’s goal? If you do not feel a sense of resolution, how would you change the ending? Think back to the title of the novel, what is the significance of it now that you have finished the entire story?
Quotes:
“ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS” (Orwell 112)
“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which” (Orwell 118)
Significance:
These were the two sentences which stood out the most to me in the epilogue. It showed how in the end, the pigs turned into humans, which was what they were against in the beginning. As the story continued, the pigs did things that were forbidden from the original seven commandments, such as wearing clothes, sleeping in a bed, and drinking alcohol. As they did these things, they kept changing the commandments while the other animals were asleep to favor themselves, such as “No animal shall drink alcohol-to excess”, the italicized part added on after the rule was broken. After every single one of the seven commandments were broken by the pigs, instead of changing the rules, they replaced it with a single sentence, “ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS”, thus qualifying the pigs to drink, sleep in beds, and wear clothes, but none of the other animals can, because the pigs are more equal-equal to humans. In the end, the characteristics of the pig were so closely related to that of a man, that the other animals could hardly distinguish one from the other. The pigs were no longer animals at all. I felt a sense of resolution in this book, the theme was strong towards the end of the book and I think that was what Orwell was trying to accomplish. The title of the book is “Animal Farm” and it’s about a farm run solely by animals, but the farm becomes more and more corrupted until the animals were worse off than any other farm in the country, but still they think that they are living good because they are “free”. The real question at the end of the book is: are they really free?
1984 Major Symbol
Author: George Orwell
Page: 40
Topic: Identify a major symbol (or what you think will become a major symbol) within your novel. Explain its significance.
Major Symbol: Big Brother
Quotes:
“BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”(Orwell 3)
“With its grace and carelessness it seemed to annihilate a whole culture, a whole system of thought, as though Big Brother and the Party and the Thought Police could all be swept into nothingness by a single splendid movement of the arm”(Orwell 34)
Explanation:
In this book, Big Brother is above all. He watches the actions of everyone. Big Brother symbolizes the secrecy the government has in this book. The government monitors everyone, but makes them feel secure by using the term “Big Brother”, so it seems as if they’re a protective older sibling who has only the best interests for you (if by best interests, they mean watching you while you sleep). But Big Brother is also menacing, and people fear him because he is the leader of the Party, Big Brother is watching you, Big Brother sees all. In the end, when Winston asks O’Brien if Big Brother exists as he does, as a human, and O’Brien replies that since the Party exists, then Big Brother exists, but Winston does not exist. At first, Winston rebelled against Big Brother and the Party’s attempts to rule the memories and the records, giving them power over the past. Winston is tortured into loving Big Brother, so now he can be killed, because he will not be a martyr.
1984 Literary Elements Passage
Author: George Orwell
Page: 40
Topic: Find a passage that has effective, striking word choice with strong literary elements.
Copy the passage and explain its effectiveness.
Quotes:
1) “WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”(Orwell 6)
2) "The past was dead, the future was unimaginable”(Orwell 28)
Significance (1st quote):
At first, these quotes were really confusing to me, but then I did a little research and it became more clear what the author was trying to convey in these three sentences. The Party made the people think that knowing your enemy unites your community as one, and that is peace. When “freedom is slavery”, a man with free will cannot be destined to win, the Party guides all of its people so they will not fail in their trust in Big Brother. And finally, “ignorance is strength”, if people do not know the manipulation the Party uses on the minds of civilians in order to change the past, if people do not ask why things are the way they are, then the Party has ultimate strength and Oceania can thrive.
Significance (2nd
quote):
The Party changes the past to make Big Brother seem stronger. The past is re-written and then re-written again. This makes the past so obscure, because it is constantly changing to favor Big Brother, thus favoring the Party. The real past has been written over, it has died. How are the people in Oceania to know how many times the future will be written over?
1984 Character Relationship
Author: George Orwell
Page: 300
Topic: Describe a relationship between two characters. Explain how the relationship grows or changes throughout the novel, the importance of the relationship to the plot or themes, and explain your feelings about the characters’ actions.
Quotes:
1) "At the sight of the words I love you the desire to stay alive had welled up in him, and the taking of minor risks suddenly seemed stupid”(Orwell 110)
2) "It was something in your face. I thought I'd take a chance. I'm good at spotting people who don't belong. As soon as I saw you I knew you were against them”(Orwell 126)
Significance:
The relationship between Winston and Julia changes during the story. People aren’t supposed to harbor love for anyone but the Party and Big Brother. Winston and Julia rebel against them by showing signs of love towards each other. Winston finds an “I Love You” note from Julia after he bumps into her. Just writing that note could get Julia killed, but she does it because of her rebellious feelings. They start to spend more time with each other as the book progresses. Winston rebels because he wants proof of a past. He remembers what happened, yet what the Ministry of Truth advertises is quite different. He argues to O’Brien in the end about memories before being converted into one of Big Brother’s minions. In the end, in Room 101, when Winston is threatened with rats, he betrays his love for Julia by begging them to torture her instead of him. They tell Winston that Julia had done the same. When he sees Julia the last time, he feels no love for her, Winston only loves Big Brother.
1984 Theme
Author: George Orwell
Page: 300
Topic: Identify 1-2 major themes in the story. Explain with specific examples how that theme is important to the plot and real world situations.
Theme: Corruption can often travel in the shape of progress.
Quote:
1) “Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious”(Orwell 74)
Explanation:
The people in this book live their lives blindly believing the Party’s words. They pose no threat because they don’t ask questions. As a result of this, they do not know what is going on around them, they are not conscious to the manipulation on their minds or on the past. This quotes explains how if the people don’t rebel against the Party and Big Brother, they will never see the harsh reality of their nature.
2) “...a nation of warriors and fanatics, marching forward in perfect unity, all thinking the same thoughts and shouting the same slogans, perpetually working, fighting, triumphing, persecuting - three hundred million people all with the same face” (Orwell 77)
This quote shows how the people under rule of Big Brother cannot be distinguished from each other. They are so corrupted that they do not have a single thought of their own, only what has been planted there by the Party. They believe what the Party tells them to believe and fight for what they are told to fight for. They don’t have anything but a name to show who they are, because on the inside, they are all the same.
1984 Resolution
Author: George Orwell
Page: 300
Topic: At the end of the novel, do you feel a sense of revolution? Do you think that was the author’s goal? If you do not feel a sense of resolution, how would you change the ending? Think back to the title of the novel, what is the significance of it now that you have finished the entire story?
Quotes:
1) “It was like swimming against a current that swept you backwards however hard you struggled, and then suddenly deciding to turn round and go with the current instead of opposing it. Nothing had changed except your own attitude; the predestined thing happened in any case”(Orwell 280)
2) "But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother”(Orwell 300)
Significance:
After all the torture Winston had endured, he began seeing O’Brien in a new light. He tortures him and brings pain, but he can also withdraw and stop the torturing. After Winston is done being tortured, he is released and he spends his time in a cafe drinking gin and watching the telescreen on news for the war. He absentmindedly writes “2+2=5” on the dust, and the readers see that Winston is too, corrupted. When he sees Julia again, they don’t have feelings because their betrayal to each other overshadows the love they once had. Julia and Winston don’t meet again. In the end, after realizing that they had been successful in the war, Winston feels love for Big Brother. He is corrupted and can be killed, for he is not a martyr, he has love for no one but the Party and endless love for Big Brother. This was the ending that Orwell was trying to convey. He was trying to tell us that progress can also sometimes come with corruption and that can take away what make a man himself: individuality. When this book was written in 1949, this was what Orwell had expected to happen in 1984. Thankfully, humans haven’t mindlessly believed a source of information on a “telescreen”, information which is changed everyday, or have we? The invention of the internet and other forms of technology can be seen in a way, a less harsh reality of what Orwell was depicting in his novel. We can always be monitored through our Facebooks, Twitters, and other social networks.
Work Cited
Orwell, George, and Erich Fromm. 1984: a novel. New York, N.Y.: Signet Classic. Print.
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