1984 part 2

In my opinion, Winston is so conflicted between doing his job and doing what he thinks is right because he remembers a time when the Party wasn't in control. He remembers that there wasn't all of this hardship and suffering before the Party's revolution. He knows that the Party is a lie because it is his job to create their lies. His small acts of defiance are a form of protest because he is very slightly disrupting the order and the stability of the Party. His protests cannot be compared to the protests that are seen today. The people who are occupying Wall Street do not know what they want, and even if they did, they probably would not be able to unite and accomplish it. When Winston joins the secret Brotherhood, he has joined a complex society with it's own hierarchy and chain of command. The members of the Brotherhood understand what they are doing and know exactly why they are doing it. The masses see this type of protesting as futile and pointless. The government is probably a little more concerned, but that is just because it is natural for the government to be worried whenever some people are in a state of unrest. I do not think that the protest of today are anything like what Winston and the Brotherhood are doing to the Party.

"2+2=5" by Radiohead

1. The ideas of a utopia will backfire to create a distopia.
2. The music in the beginning is calm and peaceful. The music in the later part of the song is very chaotic and the sounds are strained and edgy.
3. In 1984, Winston said the one day the Party will control the truth so much that they will say the 2+2=5 and people will believe them.

Conflict

1. The Western values and the Muslim values.
2. The western values are clashing with the values of other areas.
3. The eastern people get new, western role models.
4. Muslims follow the Koran. Westerners follow the U.S. constitution.

What is a utopia?

1. A utopia is a perfect world.
2. In my utopia, I would be the supreme ruler of all things. I would be immortal and be able to create or change anything. This might not be the perfect world for everybody, but it wold be for me.
3. The background music for my utopia would fit whatever my mood was. There would definitely be a lot of White Stripes.

1984 part 1

The Party eliminates all conflict from their society by carefully monitoring the thoughts of all of the citizens of that society. If someone in that society has the potential of being a threat to the government, they kill that person and make it so that he never existed. This is shown in the book when Winston is very afraid of not going to the meetings or seeming like an outsider because he does not want to be seen as not part of the whole. This could cause him to get vaporized. They create conformity by making everyone wear the same clothes and act the same way. They have monitors in every room of the houses that they live in that make sure that everyone acts appropriatly even when they are alone. When they are not at work, the people of that society are expected to attend the public events and listen to propaganda with everyone else. They make everyone wear the same facial expressions all the time, and if you have an expression that is not approved, you will be vaporized. The Party forces happiness on its people by altering the historical records of what life was like before they came into power. They make everyone think that, before their revolution, everyone was a slave to tyrannical people called the capitalists. They convinced everyone that the capitalists were cruel rulers who were glutonous and made everyone under their domain suffer. This is completely false, but there are no records to prove otherwise. The society that they have created is not a utopia because people are either constantly living in fear that thier facial expressions will betray their ture feelings about their situation or they are so brainwashed by the Party's propaganda that they lose any semblance of individuality.

Reading Critically

The first step to reading critically is to read through the essay and take in it's general meaning. It also helps to know some background about the essay, the author, and when the essay was written in order to have an idea of what it might be about. You should also make sure and analyze the title and make a prediction about how it relates to the story. While you are reading, you should actively annotate the parts that you think are important. When you are finished reading the first time, you should summarize what you have read in order to understand it better. Then you look at your summary and your annotations and begin to think critically about the author's purpose in writing the essay. When you have a general idea or what the purpose might be, begin analyzing the essay by breaking it down into smaller parts. You can make inferences about the author's intentions and synthesize what the author is trying to accomplish. You can also critically evaluate the essay if you wish.