• "WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH" - 1984, And Why It Rocks.
    116 replies, posted
I love Big Brother.
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8]Youtube[/url]
The ending was actually one of the best I read in years. [sp]"He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother."[/sp]
[img]http://kenfrost.0catch.com/bigbrother.JPG[/img] Mine is better, though (I think it has to do with the fact is because it was from the Movie Version.)
[QUOTE=Will Wright;15111646]The ending was actually one of the best I read in years. [sp]"He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother."[/sp][/QUOTE] I know! It was brilliant. But I'd have preferred it if [sp]Winston had died with his integrity intact.[/sp] I guess there are no happy endings under such a regime, although [sp]as several critics have noted, the epilogue on NewSpeak is written in normal English and in the past tense, so maybe the regime got taken down after all?[/sp]
[QUOTE=Splurgy;15111666]I know! It was brilliant. But I'd have preferred it if [sp]Winston had died with his integrity intact.[/sp] I guess there are no happy endings under such a regime, although [sp]as several critics have noted, the epilogue on NewSpeak is written in normal English and in the past tense, so maybe the regime got taken down after all?[/sp][/QUOTE] Well of course you'd have preferred it. Everyone would have preferred it. But that's partially the idea.
[QUOTE=Uberman77883;15111551][sp] Winston gets tortured and re-educated[/sp][/QUOTE] [sp]I felt like he just conformed to survive, which I think he did.[/sp]
[QUOTE=-Ben_Wolfe-;15111741][sp]I felt like he just conformed to survive, which I think he did.[/sp][/QUOTE] Go back and look at the quote at the end of my OP, and you'll see why I somewhat agree with you. :v:
[QUOTE=Boyblunder;15111775]Go back and look at the quote at the end of my OP, and you'll see why I somewhat agree with you. :v:[/QUOTE] Yea, he pretty much just [sp]conformed to survive.[/sp]
Everyone should read 1984.
[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;15111659][img]http://kenfrost.0catch.com/bigbrother.JPG[/img] Mine is better, though (I think it has to do with the fact is because it was from the Movie Version.)[/QUOTE] I personally don't like either. I'm not sure what it is about them, but without wanting to sound gay, I alsways picture Big Brother to look more "rugged"
[QUOTE=Splurgy;15111666]I know! It was brilliant. But I'd have preferred it if [sp]Winston had died with his integrity intact.[/sp] I guess there are no happy endings under such a regime[/QUOTE] Of course you'd have preferred it so, that's exactly why it didn't end that way.
[QUOTE=-Ben_Wolfe-;15111836]Yea, he pretty much just [sp]conformed to survive.[/sp][/QUOTE] He didn't survive though. He was shot seconds later by someone.
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;15112024]He didn't survive though. He was shot seconds later by someone.[/QUOTE] Er, have you even read the book?
Double plus good.
Yeah, it certainly is an amazing book. It's also incredibly inspiring and was quite ground breaking in its' time.
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;15112024]He didn't survive though. He was shot seconds later by someone.[/QUOTE] No..
[QUOTE=Mac2468;15112392]Double plus good.[/QUOTE] Unless you're an unperson, this book is doubleplusgood, instead of doubleplusungood.
[QUOTE=Splurgy;15111414]It's a very good book. Do you know what one critic proposed? I'll put it in spoilers. [sp]There IS no war, and no EastAsia or Eurasia. It's just the UK has gone mental and is terrorising its own people while outside of the UK everyone's fairly normal. The only evidence we have that the war is waging is what we are told by Big Brother, so it could just be a massive horrific scheme (as Julia suggests)[/sp][/QUOTE] I read a theory that Oceania actually controls the whole world and just tells people there's a war to keep them shitting their pants.
[QUOTE=Lankist;15111919]Of course you'd have preferred it so, that's exactly why it didn't end that way.[/QUOTE] I both loved and hated the ending.
I read this when I was 11 or 12, surprisingly enough I understood quite a lot of it. I'm gonna re-read it though, because there will certainly be bits I missed.
[QUOTE=-Ben_Wolfe-;15112497]No..[/QUOTE] Now I need to reread the book. [sp]I swear that someone is waiting to take his life at the place where they serve gin with cloves.[/sp]
Read it a long time ago. I now regret reading it before a shelfload of other books, I didn't know enough to actually think deeply about the politics behind it and just thought it freaked me out.
[QUOTE=HubmaN V2;15118365]Read it a long time ago. I now regret reading it before a shelfload of other books, I didn't know enough to actually think deeply about the politics behind it and just thought it freaked me out.[/QUOTE] Read it again! :v:
[sp]O'Brien held up his left hand, its back towards Winston, with the thumb hidden and the four fingers extended. 'How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?' 'Four.' 'And if the party says that it is not four but five -- then how many?' 'Four.' The word ended in a gasp of pain. The needle of the dial had shot up to fifty-five.[/sp] Hell yes. I was brutally mindfucked for about two days after finishing it. I'm almost 15 now but I read the book a few months ago so that's why. I'll read it again in a couple of years; it's going to be fun to see what I missed.
[QUOTE=VladH;15118553][sp]O'Brien held up his left hand, its back towards Winston, with the thumb hidden and the four fingers extended. 'How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?' 'Four.' 'And if the party says that it is not four but five -- then how many?' 'Four.' The word ended in a gasp of pain. The needle of the dial had shot up to fifty-five.[/sp] Hell yes. I was brutally mindfucked for about two days after finishing it. I'm almost 15 now but I read the book a few months ago so that's why. I'll read it again in a couple of years; it's going to be fun to see what I missed.[/QUOTE] One of my absolute favorite parts of the book.
Good book, depression ending.
2+2=5
I recently read this book for my Hist100X class, and I had to do a 500 word essay. Here it is if anyone is interested. [quote]Rewriting the Past to Control the Present, How “1984” Distorts Objective Reality In the novel “1984”, facts and history are constantly warped to create an ever changing reality. With the act of “doublethink”, the Party can hold two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, while accepting both of them. Even while using the word “doublethink” it is necessary to use doublethink to forget about the act of tampering with reality. Thus creating a chain of lies, one lie covering up the other indefinitely. In 1984 the entire purpose of the Party was not to glorify God, gain riches, or institute democracy, but for the sole purpose of acquiring undisputed power and governing in such a way that the power never shifted from the Party. Another example of tampering with the past, is the memory hole, in which any objects that go against the Party’s currently held viewpoint are thrown into, and obliterated in the flames of an incinerator. Winston Smiths’ job at the Ministry of Truth involved creating new propaganda for the Party. Since the facts of history are always changing, there is a continuous cycle of creating propaganda, and then destroying it. In the book, Winston finds a picture that disproves the Party’s propaganda. He ends up throwing it down the memory hole, but it is shown to him later while he is being tortured in the Ministry of Love. The purpose of the memory hole is to destroy (or at least withhold until the time needed again) any historical documents that provide evidence against the Party’s view of the past. “He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.” Thoughtcrime (or “crimethink” in newspeak), is when an individual has a thought challenging the rule of the Party. In “1984” the thought police monitor citizens through a telescreen, which both transmits and receives video and audio 24/7. Even having a certain facial expression at the wrong time, or not having one at the right time is interpreted by the thought police as crimethink. Remembering a historical fact that the Party has denounced is considered crimethink. Hating Big Brother was crimethink. Not only did the Party control any documentation of a historical fact, but the minds of the witnesses to that event. It wasn’t enough just to control bodies and actions, the only way the Party could be in ultimate control was to make sure no thought escaped that would jeopardize the authority of the Party. Through the use of doublethink, the memory hole, and the enforcement of thoughtcrime, the Party had the definitive answer for any dispute that might arise challenging their authority. The reason for the existence of the Party was to control power without ever having a revolution. There would never be any uprising, because the only reality and view of the past that the Outer Party and Proles had, was the propaganda that was fed to them, created in the Ministry of Truth. The wars change, the facts change, the people change, but the eyes of Big Brother remain ever watchful.[/quote] I got an A in the class. :3 My teacher and I also had a conversation regarding the term thoughtcrime, so I'll post that too, if anyone is interested.
[QUOTE=Wakka;15111271]Didn't George Orwell write other books like the Animal Farm (didn't read it). He was a Socialist. :)[/QUOTE] Hahahahahahahahahaha. Hahahahaha. Haha. No, he wasn't.
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