Part 1 Chapters 7-8

    In chapters 7-8, I especially noticed the economic gap when Winston goes on the walk to where the Proles live. It seems like he judges them to some extent - he talks about the lottery and their appearances, for example, and sounds like he looks down on them. This reminded me of a picture and an article I saw a few days ago. I think it was on Twitter, and it talked about a very poor area in South Korea that neighbored a big, modern city. The picture showed a stark contrast between the two areas, with the sheds and overgrown trees of the poor area in the foreground and the shiny skyscrapers of the city in the background. When I read about Winston’s adventure, I imagined the area with the pub as the rougher area, and I imagined the ministries in the background as the more well-off area.


The picture can be seen here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-17/seoul-slum-near-gangnam-guryong-exposes-south-korea-wealth-gap

Comments

  1. L. MoffittFebruary 11, 2021 at 7:45 AM

    Good connection to our world, and a stark image. There are a lot of ways 1984 doesn't seem relevant to the year 2021, but the disparity between haves and have-nots persists today, in examples like you mentioned.

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  2. AnonymousFebruary 11, 2021 at 7:48 AM

    This is especially interesting because the Party claims that they eliminated all inequality, and yet the gap between the Party and the Proles is so recognizable to modern-day readers living in a society that never "solved" inequality.

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