Brotherhood+Wiki

Part One- Max T. and Dan > **Comments: Good work in fleshing out a theme in your first discussion. For you following discussions, attempt to bring** // **A Clockwork Orange** // **into the discussion and connections to present day. Also remember to use proper MLA when citing the text.**
 * __Propaganda__ - how does someone like Winston exist in such a brainwashed society?
 * Because he has a **past** - mother sacrificed herself to help to open his eyes to higher emotions and thoughts like love and kindness...
 * __Question__ - because people are being brainwashed and conditioned, will the Party's power and control ever be absolute?
 * __Control of Information__ - solidifies the Party's power because they can feed people false information, propaganda...
 * __Control of Past__ - people have no knowledge of life before the "Revolution" so feel that this style life is the only option
 * __Control of Language__ - language is whittled down to the bones to prevent higher thought, intellect, ability to experience refined emotions, and rebel
 * __Control of Privacy__ - the Party and Big Brother are always watching via telescreens, spies, children...
 * People not even safe in their own minds - sleeptalking, subconscious facial tics, "abnormal" behaviors closely monitored
 * Also, no communication betweeen people of different regions
 * So all information comes from Party - Party able to feed people bogus information without their knowing because of social/communication isolation
 * What is the rest of the world like? Are conditions everywhere else as bad as they are in Oceana?
 * __pg. 35__ - discussion of the concept of //doublethink//
 * Essentially organized hypocricy - to be able to believe two contradictory things at the same time
 * But this philosophy has many current applications - //Is Orwell trying to warn us against this bleak future?//
 * __pg. 81__ - discussion of "2 + 2 = 5"
 * The Party is trying to twist reality to gain greater control over people
 * Essentially, they argue/brainwash idea that reality is //subjective// and //mutable// - if they assert that two and two make five, people have no choice but to accept it as the truth
 * Also leads to a question: Is reality something that is absolutely true, or is reality defined by our own perceptions?
 * The three Party slogans serve both as propaganda and a perfect example of the Party's manipulation of language to gain control
 * __Ex:__ IGNORANCE is STRENGTH - people are IGNORANT of their plight, so the Party is STRONG
 * Even the names of the ministries are ironic and paradoxal:
 * __Ministry of Peace__ - concerns itself with war
 * __Ministry of Truth__ - concerns itself with lies
 * __Ministry of Plenty__ - concerns itself with famine and shortages of vital goods
 * __Ministry of Love__ - concerns itself with torture and hate
 * The proles are the only group not directly under the influences of the Party's brainwashing
 * They are the largest group of people in society
 * And as such Winston predicts that mankind's only hope lies in the proles - they have strength in their numbers
 * If they become aware of their plight, they can rebel and overthrow the Party
 * But unlikely to ever happen - extremely ignorant of the larger picture and are essentially mindless sheep
 * Proles themselves are reminiscient of Marxism
 * Short for proletariat - the opressed working class as seen in the novel
 * Essentially, Orwell is making a social commentary about the purity and hypocricy communism and socialism - although they claim to be about equality, eventually an opressed working class will arise and be exploited
 * Major theme - He who controls knowledge, the media, and the past controls all of the power
 * the Party is essentially omnipotent in this regard - can control past to glorify themselves, use false media and knowledge to brainwash the people...

Part II- Wakana Horiuchi and Kim Chan

>> You owe me three farthings, say the bells of St. Martin's, >> When will you pay me? say the bells of Old Bailey, >> When I grow rich, say the bells of Shoreditch."
 * Sex with Julia
 * "Political act" (Orwell 126) - Both hate the party. Sex is a forbidden act, so it is ultimately a political act. They want to rebel against the Party in one way they know how
 * The Party cannot control feelings of love or lust
 * Danger of sex
 * Pregnancy a possibility?
 * What would happen if Julia had gotten pregnant?
 * Gender dispute
 * Women tend to be mindless followers, yet men are more of leaders/have authority in the Party
 * Irony
 * Julia in Anti-Sex League, but was part of Pornosec
 * Also the fact that she enjoys having sex with members of the Party, but is a volunteer for the Anti-Sex League
 * "I love you" (Orwell 108)
 * Strange- had not talked to each other and do not know each other
 * Connections with __A Clockwork Orange__
 * Descriptions of violence- Winston mentions how he had hated her- violent terminology
 * "I hated the sight of you...I wanted to rape you and then murder you afterwards. Two weeks ago I thought seriously of smashing your head in with a cobblestone. If you really want to know, I imagined you had something to do with the Thought police" (Orwell 121).
 * Politics
 * Government = anti-sex
 * Sex creates a world that they cannot control
 * Sex induces happiness and energy used for sex rather than support for leaders/Party
 * Julia does not understand - generation gap
 * "We are the dead"
 * Julia believes that nothing can be done so enjoy life in the present
 * Winston believes that things can be changed, but long after they are dead
 * "small groups of people banding themselves together, and gradually growing, and even leaving a few records behind, so that the next generation can carry on where we leave off"(Orwell 156).
 * Winston's obsession over 3 guys who he had made "disappear" in past
 * Julia did not care or saw significance
 * Winston realizes the importance of the past => past events completely forgotten
 * Language manipulation and war
 * Goldstein's book- Oceania is never actually in war
 * Idea of constant war = constant peace
 * No land is gained or lost- no one actually knows - who is the enemy?
 * Relation between present day and __1984__
 * War nowadays => go to war in order to try to create peace
 * Ignorance is Strength
 * Perfect oligarchy
 * Oppressed by higher powers- middle/lower class cannot move up
 * Difference between politics in theory and reality
 * Importance of rhyme
 * Remembrance of the past? Possibly see who can remember, or tries to remember, things from the past. Is it a test?
 * "Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St. Clement's,
 * Both Winston and Julia said that their grandparents were vaporized when they were 8
 * Mr. Charrington a part of the Thought Police
 * Lies and deceit => can hope really lie with the Proles when even the Thought Police are hidden within them?
 * Can the Thought Police, such as Mr. Charrington, influence others around him (other Proles) so that there will be no rebellion in the future?

Part Three- Kathy and Lauren


 * O'Brien
 * Always suspicious of O'Brien from the beginning
 * Still surprised that he was against Winston, thought he would help Winston out
 * Strong speaker, able to convince/turn Winston to support the Party because of the way he presents it
 * Why does Winston have so much respect for him?
 * "'Do you remember writing in your diary,' he said, 'that it did not matter whether I was a friend or an enemy, since I was at least a person who understood you and could be talked to? You were right. I enjoy talking to you. Your mind appeals to me. It resembles my own mind except that you happen to be insane" (Orwell 259).
 * So much disconnect in society=> to be able to talk to someone is a huge connection
 * Who's crazy? Winston or the Party?
 * Existence
 * Questioning existence, similar to //As I Lay Dying//
 * "Until this moment you had never considered what is meant by existence...not controlled mine" (Orwell 248).
 * "'Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past'" (Orwell 248).
 * Existence is doublethink
 * 2+2=5 =>doublethink, convinced but not convinced at the same time
 * What is the point in curing everyone, even if they are going to vaporize them?
 * No martyrs
 * Control and power
 * "The more the Party is powerful, the less it will be tolerant" (Orwell 268).
 * When you have so few people against you, you don't want that number to grow
 * Party can take someone who is against them, change him/make him love Big Brother, and then have the power to take his life away
 * If the Party cannot change someone, the Party is not perfect
 * Room 101
 * Huge anticipation built for readers; thought it was the room where they would vaporize Winston
 * Somewhat of a letdown
 * Room 101 contents are different for everyone
 * You don't know what it is, so it becomes one of the things you fear most. When you go to it, it holds one of the other things you fear most
 * The Rhyme
 * Significance- history/past is still there, but it does not mean anything
 * Chestnut Tree is the place where you betray people
 * Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford went there after their treatment and betraying each other at the Ministry of Love
 * Winston goes there after his treatment and betraying Julia at the Ministry of Love
 * Absolute power – stricter rules pg. 268
 * Too many rules – people want to break them
 * Fewer people to oppose party stricter the rules – don’t want the number of opposers to grow
 * No laws nothing to break – party is trying to design something that there are no laws – no displayed laws – everyone already knows and are restricted
 * The Ending
 * Thought the ending was fitting
 * Not overdramatic
 * Casual ending makes it more meaningful
 * Symbolically he is dead – completely changed – shell of himself