Inner+Party+Wiki

Part One- Max & Angela

History Alteration(where does information exist)
 * The fact that a Party can alter history is an extremely scary thought, because nobody knows what is the truth and what is not.
 * Winston has a very hard time determining what is true and what is a lie, and because he wrote that story on a person who never existed it demonstrates that you can really make up whatever you want and the Party will use it.
 * "Who controls the present controls the past."
 * The Party makes it clear that they can change anything they want to make it seem like they are always right, which can make it very difficult for others to understand that the Party is actually hurting them instead of helping them.

The War  
 * Something that I found very interesting is that all of us had different opinions on the war.
 * Initially, I did not even believe that there was a possibility that there was not a war. But Angela and Chloe had a very different insight on "the war" that was being reported in Oceania. In contrast to my belief, Angela elucidated upon the fact that war brings fear to the people, and therefore there is not really a war going on.
 * Some of us never thought of this idea, because a lot of just believed that there was a war going on between Eurasia and Oceania. Even this demonstrates that even the readers cannot tell what is true and what is a lie that is coming from Big Brother.

Fear  
 * The questioning of the war led us to the topic of fear next. We all agreed that the people of the Party fear the rest of the party and Big Brother because they will be vaporized if they do anything wrong.
 *  However, something interesting brought up was that the Party fears the people even more than the people fear the Party. //VERY INTERESTING POINT!//
 * The Party is so afraid of retaliation and overthrow of their government that they make sure that there are no alliances and put telescreens in everybody's rooms. This is kind of ironic, considering the the people believe that the Party is the boss of them and believe that they will be vaporized. //WHAT IS SO THREATENING ABOUT HUMANS AND HUMAN NATURE?//

Children and the Spies   Traits of those who are Vaporized  <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"> Evolution of the Dumbest <span style="font-family: tahoma,arial,'nimbus sans l',sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: normal;">
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The children who becoming spies are only being bred to become a part of the Party and allows them to only think in favor of the party.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This stems from the belief that when you are young, you are shaped to become the person that you will be in the future. All of your personality stems from events that have happened in the past and will affect how people will be molded in the future.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The party intentionally does this in order for the children to turn on their parents and almost allow Big Brother to be a parent.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Throughout the first part we notice that the people who are vaporized have a variety of traits, including too mentally challenged or too smart.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Syme, who works with a dictionary, is too smart and thinks too much, and Winston believes he will be vaporized the government.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Party fears anybody who can think outside of what what they want them to think and do.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This stems from the idea that, "Ignorance is Strength," because if everybody thinks on the same level, they create a very large number, and there is strength in numbers.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the second half of Part One, we notice that there are more proles than Party members, however they do not pose a threat to the Party.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This is because over time, the proles have become uneducated and poor and the Party has no reason to fear people who do not know who to blame for all of this.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">These people have now become nothing to the Party, because the people do not realize who is suppressing Oceania at the time.

Hopelessness of having no freedom <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Speech and Language
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Having the freedom to do what they please is what drives people to try and make better lives for themselves.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Without freedom to choose your career path there would be no scientific or philosophical advancements.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The citizens of Oceania live in fear that if they aren't considered 'average,' they may be killed.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Because the living conditions are so bad for so many of the citizens and they cannot do anything about it, "Life [becomes] a moment to moment struggle against hunger or cold or sleeplessness,"(Orwell 103). The people don't even think to rebel because they have no freedom to express themselves and do not know of better conditions than the ones in which they currently reside.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Newspeak, the offici al language of Oceania, severely restricts the thoughts that can be communicated between people of the inner and outer party.
 * "Newspeak is the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year,"(Orwell 52).
 * By destroying language, the government is not only restricting its peoples' ability to communicate, but also to assign words to specific emotions or concepts.
 * It is a form of disconnection between people that is similar to the way the government is tearing families through arranged marriage and 'The Spies.'
 * They are literally destroying language in an attempt to destroy the emotions and concepts which they consider 'dangerous' for the inner and outer party to understand.

__Brainwashing__ __Existence__ __Proles__ __Parallels to //A Clockwork Orange//__
 * The brainwashing techniques used by the government include, but are not limited to:
 * Group Psychology: During the Two Minutes Hate that takes place each day a video is used to spark hate within a crowd, spreading through it like a fire until everybody is riled up. Because everybody in the group seems to have the same strong emotions toward the video, the others follow their lead and tend to agree with and try to blend in with the crowd they are in, even if it means chanting along with them. Even if an individual in the crowd feels opposed to the opinion of the group, in the end, the opinion of the group always rules and changes, slightly, the opinions of those opposed to the group. Another purpose these meetings serve is to show those who are doubting the government that they are alone in their beliefs, even if they are not. They cannot help looking around at the passion of those around them and following suit.
 * Conditioning through Example: The people of Oceania are conditioned to fall into the 'average' profile. The government has no laws but, instead, it suggests things. If these suggestions are ignored for too long become a black mark on the records of the individuals who ignored them. These individuals come to learn, by watching others disappear, which actions are rewarded and which are punished.
 * "It was true that there was no such person as Comrade Ogilvy, but a few lines of print and a couple of faked photographs would soon bring him into existence,"(Orwell 46).
 * Here, Orwell presents the question: What does it mean to exist? When his main character, Winston, creates this person out of thin air for the purpose of an article. Did the man ever truly exist? Was it enough that he existed in Winston's conscious thought and then on paper and in photograph? Can it be determined that the man actually did exist if the person reading the article believed it so?
 * "It struck [Winston] as curious that you could create a dead men but not living ones,"(Orwell 48).
 * Orwell now presents the question: If you imagine a person and create facts and evidence of their lives, did they ever really live? Or the inverse: If you completely erase somebody from the earth, did they ever exist here in the first place?
 * With most of the arguments of existence in Part One, one all encompassing question can be derived: Does an objective reality exist? At first glance it seems as if Orwell is arguing that there isn't, since you can create people on paper that lived in past tense but have never and will never exist in any present tense. On closer inspection, however, it is obvious that Orwell is saying that there must be an objective reality because we know those people did exist and simply the presence of a third person narrator suggests that the world we are observing thorough text is objective on some level.
 * It seems an underlying theme in the novel 'if there is no proof of your existence, did you ever really exist?' which can also be derived from Addie Bundren's death and replacement in //As I Lay Dying.//
 * "Until they become conscious they will never rebel and until they have rebelled they cannot become conscious,"(Orwell 70).
 * The narrator is referring to the Proles of the nation, the outcast lower class that will never move up in life. It is ironic that the society seems to treat all 'men' as equals and yet 85% of the nation is living below the poverty line and is not even considered 'human'.
 * They are the largest part of the population and yet they are treated with the least security. Since they live in poverty and are given food, the rations, and hope, the lottery, they remain dormant. They will probably never rebel against the government because they are kept in a state of contentment.
 * Irony: The government talks about the evils of capitalism and yet the proles are treated like any other lower class only they have no chance of bettering themselves.
 * Similarities
 * One interesting detail is that the lift 'never works' in either novel. Perhaps this is an intertextual reference, a common symbol for a government that is too above its people to supply reliable electricity.
 * Both societies breed fear.
 * Contrasts
 * The governments in the two novels are exact opposites: //1984's// restrictive government controls its people to the point of taking away their individuality and //A Clockwork Orange's// lax government isn't strict enough to control its crime.

//**Comments: Clearly you had a lot to discuss! Textual analysis is good. Perhaps try and also discuss connections to __A__**// //**__Clockwork Orange__**////**, as well as society today. Also, make sure your spelling and grammar is correct and MLA is correct (there is no comma before the quotation marks that close the quote and precede the citation).**//

__**Part 2: Michelle and Sarah**__

__Differences Between Winston and Julia:__ //This further raises the question that is she self-centered because she is young?// //A point to think about: Because Winston is older, he has seen better times when he was younger, unlike Julia.//
 * Julia
 * Julia has the capability to become a good leader; looks somewhat innocent but able to act in a controlling manner.
 * Could this be why she has not been caught for any of her previous rebellious acts? Since she appears innocent, the government does not pay any attention to her - a flaw in the government's system.
 * Or is it the fact that Julia is a woman? Probing the thought of a sexist government that believes the inability for women to be affiliated in rebellious activity. (all possible explanations)
 * Julia is the perfect person to start a rebellion; activist.
 * She is very nonchalant about the process she and Winston are about to venture upon.
 * Her motives are self-centered; wants change only for herself.
 * "You're only a rebel from the waist downwards..." (Orwell 156).
 * She is very young, naive, and vivacious.
 * Product of the party
 * Winston
 * Winston is more interested in the secrets of the Inner Party.
 * Wants permanent change for the world
 * Fears that the paroles will never rebel
 * Finds the book to be thrilling, exciting and a great discovery
 * Julia has not seen another world, which makes the past insignificant for her

__Thoughts On Winston and Julia's Capture:__
 * Why did Mr. Charrington and the Thought Police wait so long to capture them?
 * Did the Thought Police want to see what they would accomplish by reading the books? Did they want to see what they would do with the power of the books?
 * Does Julia have anything to do with the brotherhood? Is she a spy? She is very controlling and manipulative - controlling Winston at many times ( in the beginning, when and where Winston would meet her, etc.)
 * Was it the Thought Police's experiment to see Winston and Julia would do? Maybe they have been following them for awhile?
 * Right before they stated "we are the dead", Winston saw the red-armed prole woman (Orwell 221). Her singing seems to be the only source of inspiration and legitimate hope for the future of the society. Somehow there is still beauty, emotion, and passion deep down inside of her and that the proles will one day overthrow the Party. Winston also talks about the woman's pregnancy and that maybe someday her children will become part of the future generations that will challenge and rebel against the Party.
 * Is there some hope that the brotherhood truly can't remove all of one's personal thoughts and emotions?
 * Why else would she be singing? Is she like the bird that sang for Winston and Julia upon one of their first passionate moments together?
 * Maybe both the woman and the bird sing for hope and freedom in matters of the heart and mind
 * The use of omnipresent telescreen behind the St. Clement's Church painting is a representation of the lost past.

__"Sanity is not statistical" (Orwell 217).__
 * "Being in a minority, even a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad" (Orwell 217).
 * This means that things are objectively true or false. Things don't become true because everybody believes them, or false because no one believes them. Winston insists upon the right to assert that two plus two is four, even if everyone else is saying that it is something else. In other words, even if millions of people believe something is false and only one believes it is true, that one person is not necessarily crazy and incorrect.
 * Especially within this society, sanity truly cannot be based on facts, for there are no true facts.
 * Majority does not decide sanity.
 * Offers Winston hope, falls asleep murmuring this phrase.
 * Connection to //As I Lay Dying//
 * sanity cannot be defined as a statistic, it is more of a perception

__Goldstein's Book:__ What do you think about the change of the font within the novel when Winston reads Goldstein's book?
 * Chloe made an interesting point in saying that this change in font expressed a distinction between the truths within Goldstein's book (the righteous in his book), and the lies and wrongfulness that are within Orwell's novel (ideals of Big Brother).
 * Is Orwell speaking to the reader in the future as many perceived him to be doing with Winston's diary?
 * Perhaps Orwell wanted to put the reader in Winston's shoes, reading the Goldstein's book
 * allowing the reader to form their own thoughts on Goldstein's book as if they were with or were Winston in the corrupt society of Oceania

What do you think about Goldstein's explanation of the social classes (high, middle, and low)? - "The aim of the High is..." (Orwell 201). -The High "either lose belief in themselves, or their capacity to govern efficiently, or both" (Orwell 202).
 * This is a plausible thought, for such is still true within today's society - the High class want to remain in their stature, the Middle class strive to obtain higher stature, and the Low class either do or don't take action towards their own prosperity. While every other class has goals, the lower class can either stay the same, or band together to change their stature, which would be possible because there are usually many of them (very truthful idea, for this occurred within the American and French Revolutions).
 * Such unified rebellion may take place soon, for there are secret anti-Big Brother activists (the Brotherhood), who are willing to go to the extremes for their cause.
 * Possible foreshadowing on Orwell's part?
 * Another interesting and possible idea that certainly can be the eventual end of Big Brother's reign, for as previously explained, Big Brother most likely greatly fears the people maybe even more than the people fear Big Brother.

__Continuous War Between Eurasia, Eastasia and Oceania:__
 * You know the setting of the novel, but you don't know how the setting became the setting.
 * The war never really advances significantly; two allied nations cannot defeat the third. The war is simply a fact of life that enables the ruling powers to keep the masses ignorant of life in other places—the real meaning of the phrase “WAR IS PEACE.”
 * But if one country were to drop out of the war, then Oceania wouldn't be equally matched anymore; this balance of power would be gone and Big Brother wouldn't be able to manipulate the happenings of the war, for he wouldn't be able to continuously change his enemies and such - thus, stopping Big Brother from keeping the people of Oceania ignorant.
 * Big Brother also fears this situation and the consequences of losing a war.

__Paperweight:__
 * Angela wondered why "the primary aim of modern warfare...is to use up the products of the machine without raising the general standard of living" for Oceania (Orwell 188)? Why would they want the standard of living to come to a halt? Why would they waste wealth - all this cheap labor that can go towards making anything, why use those jobs for war?
 * By creating a situation in which people are not content, the government manipulates the people into believing that the government is trying to help them as much as possible - they are trying to win the war, so that society will be a better place to live (a lie that the reader is aware of).
 * People are more likely to follow a dictator when they are not content - they will consent to that dictatorship if that dictatorship is offering such aid.
 * This situation in which it appears as though the government is helping its people discourages people to rebel for they fear the enemy nations (nationalism based on their fear of the unknown).
 * Symbolizes a link to the past
 * It's smashing when Julia and Winston were being taken away could be seen to represent the loss of other links to the past, Winston, who remembers the past, and Julia, who lives a life that would only be acceptable in the past.
 * The Thought Police's and Mr. Charrington's urgency in cleaning up the shattered paperweight further exemplifies how Oceania's society strives to vanish anything that may remind others of past society.

__Parallels:__
 * Other than a previously explained parallel to //As I Lay Dying//, there is also a parallel to //A Clockwork Orange//, for Big Brother tries to change the members of society into "clockwork oranges" or droids that cannot make their own decisions (unconsciously forced to act a certain way that society considers to be appropriate), which was what Alex's society attempt to do to many. Alex from //A Clockwork Orange// and Winston are one in the same, for they are both knowledgeable about their societies' corrupt nature and they both refuse to change according to the "norms" of their societies. Of course, both Alex and Winston are persecuted and captured for their rebellion (yet another similarity between them.)

** __If O'Brien is really as intelligent as he seems and he knows everything about The Party, why has he chosen this lifestyle?__ We came to the conclusion as a group that O'Brien has chosen this lifestyle for two reasons.
 * __Part III - Chloe & Sarah__
 * First, there really is no other option.
 * Secondly, he has a pretty good life the way it is. He is a member of the Inner Party, meaning that he receives many of the luxuries that the majority of people are not allowed. For example, he is able to turn off his telescreen, and have luxuries such as wine, something that Winston and Julia had never tasted before. Also, at his position, he receives a great amount of respect and is an authority figure, in other words, he has power (which is what The Party is all about).
 * Raises the question: Why doesn't everyone receive rewards for being a Party participant (rewards meaning wealth, housing, and just overall life stability)?
 * All of the Party participants do not receive a reward because eventually all of them would expect such rewards - exemplified by a study known as classical conditioning (i.e. Pavlov's dog). If this were situation for Oceania's society, then the people of society would control Big Brother and powers of the party, possibly the Inner-Party.

__Does O'Brien actually believe in what he is preaching?__
 * His job is to be convincing, it does not matter if he believes in The Party or not.
 * Angela brought up the point that in Catholicism, priests and nuns turned to the church not because they were particularly religious, but because they were taken care of (food, clothing, shelter).
 * Max brought up the point that how could he be so convincing if he did not completely believe that the Party was good?
 * However, I said that he knows how rational people think because he seemed to know exactly how Winston thought and therefore he must know that there is something better out there.
 * We could not make up our minds about O'Brien's loyalty, but we decided that either O'Brien is a believer in the Party or he is just extremely good at doublethink.

__White vs. Black imagery__ > __2+2=5__
 * "He was back in the Ministry of Love, with everything forgotten, his soul white as snow" (Orwell 297).
 * This quote represents white vs. black as purity vs. impurity. In the last chapter, Winston sees his previous life and ways of thinking as being almost contaminated, but now, thanks to the Ministry of Love and O'Brien, he is able to see the Party in the "right light."
 * "In no chess problem since the beginning of the world had black ever won. Did it not symbolize the eternal, unvarying triumph of Good over Evil? The huge face gazed back at him, full of calm power. White always mates" (Orwell 289).
 * "He could hear just enough of what was issuing from the telescreen to realize that it had all happened as he had foreseen: a vast seaborne armada secretly assembled, a sudden blow in the enemy's rear, the white arrow tearing across the tail of the black" (Orwell 296).
 * In these cases, the white vs. black references good vs. evil. This imagery reinforces just how much Winston's views of the Party have changed. In the first two parts, Winston was a opponent of the Party, and saw the Party as the epitome of evil and corrupt society. Now he is a strong supporter, and sees the Party as a symbol of goodness.
 * Our group found this concept both intriguing and confusing
 * Winston says that stupidity is just as hard to gain as intelligence
 * We agreed that it is probably easier to become wiser than to become less intelligent and unaware.
 * However, we discussed that the conditioning Winston is going through is not intended to make him unintelligent, but it is to make Winston understand that there are concepts that he has to accept. With The Party, there is no proving anything false because there is no false. You cannot make sense of it, you just accept it as truth.

__Why do you think the women are so robust and unattractive (the women that are loyal Party members)? Is it proof of their loyalty?__
 * Angela touched based on how in this society people are forced to have marriages that are not fueled by the partners' attraction for one another, ensuring that their sex lives will not be enjoyable (merely a means of reproduction).
 * Basically, the society of Oceania is "de-evolving" because the most unattractive are reproducing.
 * The less attractive a woman is in her overall appearance, the more loyal she is to the Party, for such a woman would have isolated herself from loved ones and her own feelings - acts that are highly praised by the Party.
 * This society is the opposite of our society today. Whereas today everyone strives to be more attractive and more intelligent, in the society of //1984//, the best way to survive is to be plain and mindless.

__What is the significance of the final war victory that Orwell makes note at the end of the novel?__
 * The main point of this war victory is to prove Winston's complete transformation to a loyal member of The Party.
 * "Ah, it was more than Eurasian army that had perished! Much had changed in him since the first day in the Ministry of Love, but the final, indispensable, healing change had never happened, until this moment" (Orwell 297).

__Literary Connections__
 * //As I Lay Dying//
 * Just as O'Brien explained to Winston that reality is subjective, and that reality is how one perceives it, this was like when Cash says, "Who's to say who's sane and who's not?"
 * //A Clockwork Orange//
 * This section, even more than the others, particularly reminded us of //A Clockwork Orange//, with Winston being in a similar setting to Alex.
 * They are both getting treatments to cure them of their personalities, which are not deemed acceptable by their societies. In both cases, they are cured of their so-called "problem" in a way that seems cruel to the reader.

__Unanswered Questions About Room 101:__
 * Has anyone ever gone through with the tortured death that Room 101 entails?
 * It is very likely that no one actually dies within Room 101 because this torture device is set up to almost ensure that no one will die, for while in the face of their worst fears, people will be forced to prove their loyalty to the Party. Such an idea is really ironic, for the novel's characters define Room 101 as being synonymous with death.
 * What is Julia's worst fear? What did they do to her to make her sellout Winston?
 * Julia never says that she is afraid of anything, but she has stated that losing Winston would a very traumatic event for her, which allows one to suggest that she could have been watching Winston in Room 101 as he was on the verge of being tortured to death.

__Novel's Messages__
 * If people control reality, then those people will always win. ("people" can be the government, a small reigning group of people, a single supreme power/ruler, etc.)
 * A person will do anything for their own protection, security, and stability. (Winston believing in the Party at the end; possibly O'Brien's belief in the Party, etc.)
 * Throughout the novel, Orwell hinted at the necessity of unification among the citizens of a corrupt society because that is the only solution to overthrowing a controlling government. Otherwise, such a dictator-esque government will persevere, for everyone in society will strive to protect themselves - individualism within a society like Oceania's is destructive to the future of such a society.